Oh look Honey, visitors!

When LDHB and I bought our house one year ago, one of the things that sold us was this incredible nature preserve in our own back yard.  No backyard neighbors, no noisy highway, just the quiet sounds of nature...

All of that was true until this summer.  All of a sudden, our peaceful oasis turned into the Florida Zoo! 

Some were cute.

Some were creepy, but harmless.

Teensy weensy garter snake that was desperately trying to escape DH's lawnmower!

Others were down right UNWELCOMED.

This friendly little visitor is a Florida Water Moccasin, a highly venomous, highly aggressive member of the pit viper family. We fondly named him "Denver" since that is exactly where our next door neighbors packed up and moved shortly after meeting him. He's staring at us as we were huddled up, open-mouthed at the bedroom window.  Everyone say "Hi Denver!"  He was kind enough to visit us TWICE.

So needless to say, we decided we needed to do something.  We couldn't exactly live in Florida and not ever get to go outdoors for fear of being EATEN.

Introducing our brand new screened-in lanai, just one day before lovebug season!

And if you don't know what a lovebug is, you'll never know how significant this screen has become...