[Bill-n-Brillo]

Originally Posted by senior citizen

...... in our opinion, the majority of those rules and regulations were to actually protect the homeowners, their property and keep the place looking as good as it obviously does. ........

senior -

Here's another link from www.districtgov.org that lets you download the deed restrictions for homes in any part of TV. Always best to look through such things prior to buying:

http://www.districtgov.org/departmen.../download.aspx

Bill

[senior citizen]

Originally Posted by Whatever

What you are seeing is the Village Vole which resembles a mouse and/or rat and are quite prolific. They are also a favorite food of most of the other wildlife we have in The Villages. Primarily, they are the favorite food of snakes,owls, hawks and coyotes. IMO pehaps we ought have the VCDD invest in purchasing some additional snakes, and release them into our most overrun villages so as to feed upon the rodents and keep them under control. They, the voles, have about 4 litters a year and grow exponentially.

Next year we can discuss getting rid of the snakes.

I had no luck trying to copy the hyperlink........but this is what I found on voles.......the link would have been better as it showed various pictures.

Vole Species
Meadow Vole
Florida Salt Marsh Vole
Arctic Voles
Southern Red-back Voles
Bank Vole
Water Vole
Prairie Vole
CA Vole
Red-backed Vole
Snow Vole

Vole FAQ
What a Vole Looks Like
What do Voles Eat
What is a Vole
Mole & Vole Difference

Vole Control

How to get rid of Voles
How to Kill Voles

Vole Picture
Field Mice Classification
Vole Species - Approximately 70 vole species have been discovered which include: meadow Vole, Florida salt marsh vole, Arctic voles, southern red-back voles, bank vole, water vole, CA vole and red-backed vole.


The meadow vole is one of the most common species of vole. Meadow Vole behavior is consistent with that of most vole species in that it is mainly nocturnal. The meadow vole life cycle is usually complete in less than a year.

Meadow Vole

Microtus pennsylvanicus is the most widespread vole in North America. Its east to west range is continuous from central Alaska to the Atlantic coast. South of the Canadian border, the meadow vole's western limit is the Rocky mountains. It can also be found as far south as the states of New Mexico and Georgia.

Meadow voles eat mainly green vegetation

This is invariably the familiar 'mouse' that you see scurrying about in grassy meadows or stubble fields on your outdoor rambles. Meadow voles have a body about 4 inches long and a tail of about 1 1/2 inches. They weigh roughly 1 l/2 ounces and their ears are short. The back and sides are grayish brown and belly is much lighter. These small mammals can be distinguished from mice by their relatively short tail.

The Meadow Vole is active usually at night and only occasionally during the day. The diet of this vole consists almost entirely of green vegetation and tubers, including many grasses, clover, and plantain. The animal produces grass cuttings as it reaches up and cuts off the stalk, pulls it down and cuts it again, until the seed heads are reached. The vole apparently consumes flowers, leaves, and all but the tough outer layer of the stalk, eating almost its own weight daily.


The most relevant links we could find, placed here free
FCPS - This page has information about meadow voles as well as pictures and video clips. www.fcps.k12.va.us

Animal Diversity - This page lots of information about the characteristics and behaviour of meadow voles. animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu


Like many vole species it constructs a system of surface runways and underground burrows. The spherical grass nest may be located in the burrows in summer or in a depression on the surface under matted vegetation. In the wintertime, the vole's life changes. They live above ground, but under the snow where it is warmer than the open air. Meadow voles must find food above ground and they will gnaw on the bark of bushes for nourishment, leaving behind fine tooth marks.

Meadow voles live in burrows

Female voles have three to six litters of four to seven young in a year and most voles live much less than a year. The vole population in any given area tends to pass through a boom and bust cycle over a three- or four-year period. Although these animals tend to live close together, they are aggressive towards each other. This is particularly evident in males during the breeding season. They can cause damage to fruit trees, garden plants and commercial grain crops.



Again, I TRIED TO COPY AND PASTE THE HYPERLINK TO THIS, BUT IT WOULDN'T WORK............but now it sounds like voles are common field mice???????

The Florida voles seem to be on the endangered species list. Those would be the salt marsh voles.....limited to a certain area near Cedar Key.

I do remember when a vole walked past President Obama's podium and was caught on camera; everyone thought it was the "other critter" but experts then claimed it was a vole.

Also, while in South Dakota enroute to Mount Rushmore we thought that the prairie dogs (big rat like things) who scurried around our feet in and out of their holes........were adorable. Guess other critters just get a bad rap. But up here, field mice have long tails........these voles are FURRIER with short tails.

[senior citizen]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

Oh Senior, wait until the first time you really come here and see this place with your own eyes..
Senior...reading is one thing, but NOTHING is like your first sojourn down the streets of TV...and I have said this before, each time we return from the "outside" and enter the greenness, the lushness, the perfectly paintedness, the prettiness, the plantedness, the sweet waving peopleness of TV, the colors brighten, the music comes on and the sun shines brilliantly.

It is just like when the color came on in the Wizard of Oz.

You do paint a lovely picture Gracie and I truly believe you.

Summer and autumn, Vermont sees many Floridian tourists who come up here to escape the heat......and they likewise enjoy our most unpopulated state roads and byways while viewing the beautiful emerald green mountains, tiny quaint villages and numerous horse and dairy farms............not to mention our gorgeous fall foliage which we call "leaf peeper" time....

Alas, the winters can be harsh as we age, the mountain road driving not the easiest thing to do and that is why so many Vermonters either winter in Florida or move down permanently.

I doubt if you could find a greener state than Vermont. It would remind one of Ireland. When my mom, who retired up here from New Jersey and enjoyed 30 years of retired life......would return from a Senior Citizen bus trip, she would say she felt like kissing the ground.....that it was indeed "God's Country" and she was right. It was a great place to raise a family.

Springtime with the tulips, apple trees in blossom and all the wildflowers along the roadsides, also is a lovely time of year..........of course up here, one always has to watch out for a moose or deer in the road (they do cause accidents).

Warmer climate is what we seek for our golden years. Hubby just retired in January but spent a few more months closing up the store and packing.
He ran himself into the ground and ended up with pneumonia......this is why our trip to TV has been delayed.......as they say, "Life is What Happens When You Are Making Other Plans".

Ohio is also a beautiful state which we've been to many times when our son lived in Cincinnati and worked for Proctor and Gamble Corporation. We always take the "road less traveled" and try to stay off the major highways if we can........we enjoyed the Ohio Amish countryside a lot. Very pretty.

[smalldog]

Smalldog SEZ
when in Honolulu in many areas you will see a section of tin arround the palm trees which is to prevent critters from climbing up into them and nesting
I heard on WVLG that when a gator gets to be 5 feet long it is removed and becomes shoes or a briefcase or on the menue of an eatery when you see gators in the wild it is hard to feel sorry for them but this seems somehow unfair
WE seem to beare missing our pet gator from the Pond at the corner of Baily Trail and Buena Vista ............ya don't suppose do ya

[swimdawg]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

Oh Senior, wait until the first time you really come here and see this place with your own eyes..
Senior...reading is one thing, but NOTHING is like your first sojourn down the streets of TV...and I have said this before, each time we return from the "outside" and enter the greenness, the lushness, the perfectly paintedness, the prettiness, the plantedness, the sweet waving peopleness of TV, the colors brighten, the music comes on and the sun shines brilliantly.

It is just like when the color came on in the Wizard of Oz.

And the only thing missing is Toto.......

Pack your bags, Lexi, we're heading south!

[senior citizen]

Originally Posted by bill-n-brillo

senior -

here's another link from www.districtgov.org that lets you download the deed restrictions for homes in any part of tv. Always best to look through such things prior to buying:

http://www.districtgov.org/departmen.../download.aspx

bill

thank you so very much bill and brillo....

[pivo]

Senior, reply to your husband hunting woodchucks, I originally came
from Pa. and we use to hunt woodchucks continually and my mother
use to prepare it just like chicken, if you never ate woodchuck you and your husband should try it its better than chicken
Pivo

[The Villager II]

Leave the gaters in the ponds. If you remove them, you will give dummies a sense of security and that is the real danger.
Leave the gaters in the ponds and follow the rules of nature that protects Florida Natives and anyone with good sense from harm. Gaters will come into the ponds from outside over and over again. Even if you could rid all the waterways in The Villages of gaters, you have snakes that live close to the water. Better to follow natures rules and cautions rather than try to alter it.

[GeorgeT]

Originally Posted by pivo

Senior, reply to your husband hunting woodchucks, I originally came
from Pa. and we use to hunt woodchucks continually and my mother
use to prepare it just like chicken, if you never ate woodchuck you and your husband should try it its better than chicken
Pivo

Reminds me of the Geico commercial where the farmer is yelling at the woodchucks to stop chucking his wood.

[senior citizen]

Originally Posted by pivo

Senior, reply to your husband hunting woodchucks, I originally came
from Pa. and we use to hunt woodchucks continually and my mother
use to prepare it just like chicken, if you never ate woodchuck you and your husband should try it its better than chicken
Pivo

Well, I do realize that some hunters eat that stuff as when he'd go up to deer hunting camp, some of the guys would bring stews made out of all types of these critters. (He just told me it was opposum / possum...and Gary the cop made it.......he also made soap from the fat and then with the meat he made a stew). I would send up chili made the normal way. Others made rabbit stew.

I didn't say he hunted the groundhogs, but that he trapped them in his have a heart trap in our back yard....then relocated them to the forest. He didn't shoot them. With all the ones he captured, he said I could have had two great fur coats, gloves, hats, etc. Kidding of course. I have pictures of these groundhogs (I mentioned woodchuck as it is another name for them).

Well, if our economy crashes we may all have to get your mom's recipe.

[l2ridehd]

I grew up very poor, however we never went hungry. And yes we ate woodchuck, squirrel, raccoon, rabbit, venison, bear, moose, and a few others I probably didn't know about. And we didn't exactly follow the hunting seasons if the animal was available. But there was almost always some type of meat on the table along with home grown vegetables. Mom used to can everything from the garden. We used to have cows, pigs and chickens so plenty of milk, butter, cream, eggs and bacon. We did our own maple syrup and made lard for pie crusts. We never had any money but we did eat well and very little was wasted. Extras would be sold to buy sugar and flour and a few other staples. Did our own dried beans and apples. Had a big root cellar where lots of food was stored through the winter. We made pickles and grape juice and jellies and jams and cured the hams. And the good news is I remember how to do most of that stuff.

[senior citizen]

Originally Posted by l2ridehd

I grew up very poor, however we never went hungry. And yes we ate woodchuck, squirrel, raccoon, rabbit, venison, bear, moose, and a few others I probably didn't know about. And we didn't exactly follow the hunting seasons if the animal was available. But there was almost always some type of meat on the table along with home grown vegetables. Mom used to can everything from the garden. We used to have cows, pigs and chickens so plenty of milk, butter, cream, eggs and bacon. We did our own maple syrup and made lard for pie crusts. We never had any money but we did eat well and very little was wasted. Extras would be sold to buy sugar and flour and a few other staples. Did our own dried beans and apples. Had a big root cellar where lots of food was stored through the winter. We made pickles and grape juice and jellies and jams and cured the hams. And the good news is I remember how to do most of that stuff.

So, maple syrup would mean you were raised in Vermont?

When we first moved up here in 1970 from New Jersey, we soon discovered that most of the native Vermonters did know how to live off the land, such as you described. They also made their own ketchup and soap, candles,, etc. in addition to consuming all the foods you've mentioned above.

It's hard to believe, but there were some parts of Vermont that did not have electricity until the 1960's. We've seen this on Vermont Public Television.

Being a very unpopulated state, people learned to live off the land and provide for themselves enough food to last through the long winters.

Squirrel and raccoon were the others that found their way into stews up at hunting camp.

Nowadays there are Price Choppers and Shaws Markets in all the larger towns, but in the old days, the simple life was led by most Vermonters.

Your family's ways are a lost art. We'd all starve to death nowadays.
I often say that if , by some act of terrorism, our electric grid nation wide was destroyed.......the supermarkets wouldn't even know how to tally up the customer's bills.......plus the food would eventually perish.....and the rest of us wouldn't know what to do.....once our dried pantry staples like rice and such ran out.

[rubicon]

I recently read an article that explained world wide the most consumed meat was goat.

[l2ridehd]

Actually NH not VT. If I grew up in VT, I would have been hunting the people, not the game, there way to liberal for me in VT.

[Russ_Boston]

Originally Posted by rubicon

I recently read an article that explained world wide the most consumed meat was goat.

Off topic - but I love Goat! Portuguese stewed style!