Scorpions! Why'd it have to be scorpions?

Because it's too dry to have sea snakes?

Scorpions! My heart! Every day of his life, my second father turned his boots upside-down and shook them before he put them on, and I bet there was never a single scorpion in my mother's house after they married.

How is sweet-girl-Abbye-dog adjusting to the new house and yard?

I've been very careful not to leave my shoes on the floor since we moved in, out of an abundance of caution and an anticipation of the inevitable.

Abbye has learned to find her way from her crate to the bathroom where her water dish (and cool tile floor) are located, and from there to the dining room where her food dish resides. But she doesn't know where the doors to the outside are located, so we have to watch her pretty carefully for signs that she needs to visit the yard. And we still find her in the oddest corners of the house, sometimes just "staring" at the wall, and other times scratching listlessly at it as if that will open some magical doorway back to where she understands her environment.

She's never been much of an outside dog, so the yard isn't a big deal. We don't let her out unattended anyway. But she still goes on two walks a day, morning and evening. We're not fast, but we are consistent.

Ack, scorpions! See, that's a SERIOUS downside to the current contemplations of moving to the Austin area.

Lynellen, I have no idea whether scorpions pose a pest problem in the Austin area, but compared to the traffic and political climate, they might be the least of your challenges. ;-)

Dude. I nearly believed the 12 inches long.

I must need a nap.

Yeah, but it's a well established fact that you'll believe pretty much anything you see on this here blog-like thing. ;-)

Scorpions are right there with alligators/crocodiles in my book -- sinister looking critters that seem to have been built with one and only one purpose in mind, to terrorize me. May Steve Irwin rest in peace, but I thought he was totally nuts.

What was that Far Side comic -- how nature says, "Stay Away?"

Clearly it's time to sell the house and move someplace safe. And where all the bike routes are downhill and downwind.

My first thought was, "Mr. Scorpion, meet Mr. Nokona.

And where all the bike routes are downhill and downwind.

And can we have lollipops and hear bluebirds singing!?

My first thought was, "Mr. Scorpion, meet Mr. Nokona.

It was more like, meet Mr. TV Guide. Not as manly, but just as effective. (I don't wear my boots in the house; I'm afraid they might have scorpions in them.)

I guess that's a reference to photoshopping barbed-wire? **snort**

Oh, no...now that was actually real. ;-)

Eric,
Tell Lynellen that scorpions do, indeed, reside in the Austin area. Kyle has a ton of them in Georgetown, only 30 miles to the north.
On the other hand, I can attest that their sting does hurt terribly, but doesn't kill (in most cases)

Tell Lynellen that scorpions do, indeed, reside in the Austin area.

I think you just did!

I can attest that their sting does hurt terribly...

Oops! There goes Lynellen, back to Virginia! ;-)