If it’s any consolation, I did say small lobsters. They were about 8" long and about as big around as a thumb. I’m sure you’re going to say “whew, Florida here I come” now…
I had a pool when I first got to Fl and bitched all the time about cleaning it. The wife hated going out to use it due to bugs, and I found three snakes in it. Got it enclosed and we use it almost daily, never get bugs and the screen itself is rated to 80 mph winds, of course a stick can be flung through it quite easily. and it keeps itself remarkably clean with very little maintenance. In fact a lot of floridians have screened in areas with no pool at all.
The more immediately useful equation would be E=.5mv²
That’d be me. I lovelovelove my screened patio. I’d never be able to sit outside and enjoy a nice summer evening without the screen, because the mosquitos’d carry me off!
Bugs and leaves. They still get in there, but not nearly the same number. My condo pool has no screen and it’s always got leaves in it. They clean it pretty much every morning so I know they’re different leaves.
Having the pool area screened in also makes life easier for Floridians to hang about their pool area for 10 months out of the year.
The idea of the screen protecting against hurricanes is pretty funny.
The thread reminds me that I haven’t shared a Ron White quote in a while.
Are you sure they weren’t actual lobsters?
could be crawdads.
i heard the keys had the scorpion things over the palmettos the rest of the state has. although i’m sure the palmettos (such a nice name for a very, very, scary insect that FLIES!!)have migrated to the keys by now. lots of cars and luggage to travel with.
and don’t forget the love bugs!
Bingo. I’ve lived in Florida, and while the gators are nothing to play with, the palmetto bugs are the true enemy. Bigger than the gators sometimes, and mean as hell.
I heard the screens are there to keep out bugs that can give you nasty diseases.
I grew up in Florida - pools without screens are susceptible to horse flies that eat the kids, and those with screens allow the adults to sit on the back porch mosquito-free. It also keeps out leaves. I don’t really think alligators are that big of an issue in most areas, I grew up on a big lake and only saw 2 alligators the entire time.
Non-screened in pools work just as well though, I’ve swam in both and never really noticed much of a difference.
I dunno. 8" would be one hell of a crawfish, and they are freshwater creatures. Maybe they could live in a brackish waterway, but I’ve never heard of a saltwater crawfish.
Besides keeping out bugs & other animals, they serve an important legal purpose.
Pools are often legally considered an ‘attractive nuisance’, meaning that they tend to attract children, and that if a child were to get injured or drown in your pool, you could be held legally liable. Even if the child was trespassing on your property, the reasoning is that the child was ‘attracted’ by your pool, and was too young to know about trespassing laws.
But putting your pool behind a fence or screen enclosure like this shows that you took steps to prevent a child from entering and being accidentally hurt in your pool – that effort will reduce your legal liability. So even if it doesn’t prevent such an accident – a determined child could probably get through the screen – at least it shows that you tried to prevent such an accident.
Probably because they are more commonly known as crayfish in academic circles.
But in most other parts of the country, that means installing a chain-link fence, not screening that covers the entire pool.
Could be. Where I grew up, crawfish are food. Tasty food. Served in any number of delicious ways.
Damn…now I want some.
Alligators have mouths that are absolutely full of big, sharp teeth and feet that terminate in big, sharp claws; those enclosures are typically just sort of heavy duty screening and an alligator can simply rip it to shreds if he is so inclined. Or, as you suggest, a large enough alligator can simply apply its weight to it until it tears or collapses.
The fact that you own a swimming pool, enclosed or not, will not guarantee that an alligator will take up residence. We’ve lived in our townhouse for eight years now without an alligator making an appearance.
Checking back in; no, definitely not crayfish or lobster. I know what those look like. This had the stinging tail of a scorpion. I don’t recall, however, that it had the shield-shaped carapace that most scorpions do.
Well, there was the night a couple of years ago when my Darling Marcie and several other women went skinny dipping at the conclusion of a sort of spontaneous block party. No one brought Cheetos, though.
Missed the edit window; it looked like this, only bigger.