WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE

So I made it down to ol' Hogtown -- Gainesville, Florida -- my new home for the foreseeable future.  I live out in the woods with three funny dogs, some lizards, palmetto bugs, ferns, banana spiders, tiny green frogs, and at least two deer.  I'm hammering away at the new King-Cat (#71) which will be out before I leave for tour next month, and staying in the AC!  IT'S HOT.

I am a little bewildered and overwhelmed by all the new flora and fauna surrounding me, but I'm doing my best to get a grip.  Here are a few pictures I took of my new neighborhood.

This is where I live now.

L: Pete, R: Eddie

Ginger Spice: Leader of the Pack.

 

The girls knocked over their skate ramp again.

(L to R: Posh, Baby, and Ginger)

See those delicate little hairs on the caterpillar?  THEY'LL STING THE SHIT OUT OF YOU IF YOU TOUCH THEM.

One day I was walking peacefully down the street, when I ducked under an overhanging tree branch and walked into the stringiest, thickest web I'd ever felt.  I practically bounced back!  And there staring at me face to face was

Yes, it is a four inch spider with a HUMAN SKULL painted on its back!  WHERE THE HELL AM I???  The natives say they're called "Banana Spiders."  That's like calling a Great White Shark an "Ice Cream Fish."

So I became a little obsessed with these so-called Banana Spiders (Nephila clavipes).

Unknown woodland flower.

 

Crepe Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica)

 

Unknown fern.

 

Lantana camara (?)

No doubt some other ferocious beastie lives here.

 

Millipede.

 

Pete and his Filthy Disgusting Ball™.

The Cee-Ment Pond.

 

Banana trees (Musa sapientum).

 

Unknown Lily (?)

Unknown woodland flower.

The Old Pecan Tree.

Spanish Moss.

My Li'l Buddy.

Linus (Canis lupus familiaris)

Still unknown woodland flower.

Did I mention there were spiders?

 

Don't know.

 

Sort of looks like a Yucca.

 

Nope.

Tamarind tree? (Tamarindus indica)

 

No idea.

Some kind of Aloe/Agave type thing.

(Note tell-tale zig-zag pattern in the webbing.)

(Note gold sheen to threads.)

 

Opuntia spp. ?

And that's why I stay indoors and draw comics all day.

* * *

 

ALABAMA REST AREA

On my way down to Gainesville I tried to stop (to sleep in the car) in some little town just inside the Tennessee border, but it was so damn hot and humid I could barely breathe.  I figured if I kept driving I could at least have a breeze, so I drove on into the wee hours of the night, stopping at last at a rest area just inside the Alabama border.  I slept fitfully for three hours or so, waking at dawn, and headed back out on the road.  I made it to Birmingham by 7:30 AM.

Couldn't get enough of the space rocket.

Or the trash barrels.

NEXT TIME:  Banana Spiders and other Strange Floridians.

GOD'S GREEN EARTH

I spent the last week back at home in Illinois, visiting my family.  I forgot how green things are out east-- plants everywhere, good smells, and critters a-poppin'...  Ah, my beloved Midwest...

* * *

WEED AND WILDFLOWER INVENTORY

JULY 2010 -- NORTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS

(Partial)

Chicory (Cichorium intybus)

White Sweet Clover (Melilotus alba)
Yellow Sweet Clover (Melilotus officinalis)
Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)
Perennial Peavine (Lathyrus latifolius L.)
Wild Lettuce (Lactuca canadensis)
Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)
Compass Plant (Silphium laciniatum)
Curly Dock (Rumex crispus)
Red Clover (Trifolium pratense)
Queen Anne's Lace (Daucus carota)
Yellow Coneflower (Ratibida pinnata)
Smooth Sumac (Rhus glabra)
Hedge Bindweed (Calystegia sepium)
Field Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis)
Purple Milkweed (Asclepias purpurascens)
Great Mullein (Verbascum thapsus)
Lamb's Quarters (Chenopodium album)
Wild Grape (Vitis rotundifolia)
Purple Aster (Aster laevis)

A field of Queen Anne's Lace, with Curly Dock and some unidentified thistle.

Field Bindweed.

I should know what this is called.

Unidentified Aster family (Asteraceae).

Young Queen Anne's Lace (Wild Carrot).

Wild and Woolly!

A roadside field of Chicory, Yellow Coneflower, and Clover.

Chicory, one of my favorites.

Yellow Coneflowers.

Ah, sweet mystery of life...

More info:  http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/

PLEASE NOTE:  All or most plants are probably misidentified.

MIDWESTERN FANTASIA

As noted in last week's post, I'm am currently homeless, travelling from Denver to Gainesville, Florida, via Northern Illinois.  After three days of loading lots of heavy books down two flights of stairs and into a moving van (thanks Noah!), I set out on I-76 last Wednesday afternoon, making it, with the help of Diet Dr Pepper®, all the way to the rest area at Milford, Nebraska (a couple miles west of Lincoln), before pulling over to sleep.  And sleep I did.  When I woke up in the cab, I could barely move, but I hobbled over to the restrooms to perform my morning ablutions.  Behind the facility were a few concrete paths leading down to the Big Blue River, a typically lazy, non-blue Midwestern stream.  A few concrete observation decks overlooked the sluggish lagoons, and a bridge led over the water to a green park-like setting.  Pretty nice for an Interstate rest area!  The whole place was bustling with life: green everywhere, birds calling, and critters scurrying every which way.  I managed to snap some pictures of the very abundant wildlife.

--Views from the rest area--

"The Big Blue River"

This li'l guy was about the size of a closed fist...

Avoca, Iowa.  When I stopped the truck to take this picture, a lady roared past me in her car, shouting, "Stopped in the middle of the road!!!"  (Avoca Six.)

At my Ma's house in Illinois: Lincoln AKA "Das Boot."

Millie AKA "The Singing Nightingale."

Daisy AKA "Moptop."

* * *

LIFE

At the time this is posted I will most likely be somewhere in Nebraska, sleeping in a Wal-Mart parking lot in the cab of a rental truck.  Yes, Ol' John P. is homeless once more.

Why, you ask?  It has something to do with chromosomes and lizards:  I'm moving down to Florida, child.  I figured any town named after the founder of Mad Magazine is OK with me.

Please continue to use the Denver PO Box for all orders and correspondence, unless you have personally heard otherwise from me...  I'll be in Gainesville for a month or so, knocking out the new King-Cat (#71), which will be available just before I leave for my West Coast Tour in mid-August.  West Coast Tour, you ask?  Yes.  Noah and I are gonna be hitting up Minneapolis (West Coast of the Mississippi?), followed by Portland, Seattle, Vancouver BC, Berkeley, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Joshua Tree, Albuquerque, and Santa Fe, before alighting once more in our fair city of Denver, where we're gonna shoot out the lights with a KC 71 Release/Tour-ending/Birthday/Farewell Denver Party at Kilgore.  And then I'm going back to Gainesville.  Details on all this will be forthcoming.

Meanwhile, thanks everybody!  See you on the road!

John P.

My Mom getting kissed by a monkey in Florida, circa 1967.