Why Does Everyone Hate Invasives?

Here in Savannah and most of south Georgia, Armadillos are called "Possum on the Half-shell". Any good possum recipe will work on 'em.

In MS as well. Where we actually DO eat Possums and Armadillos.

Did somebody say "chainsaw classes"?! I never heard of such a thing. Down South if you lop off a foot, that is considered part of the learning curve.

My good friend "Stumpy" laughed his @ss off when I told him that there were people who actually took CLASSES on how to use a chainsaw!

Chainsaw classes are quite common up North. Even the Forest Preserve District offers chainsaw classes to its volunteers. Certification with a chainsaw is required before one can volunteer on county or state land. Um, maybe you better send your good friend "Stumpy" up here by me to take a few free chainsaw classes while he still has an ass to laugh off and one good leg to stand on

Leaving for vacation for a few weeks. Don't you Southerners be losing any extremities to learning curves while I'm gone now ya hear! Plenty of free courses on how to operate pert near anything from chainsaws to backhoes up here and all are welcome.

They have classes on how to operate backhoes?! I thought it was trial and error. Or you can learn from this friend of mine, "Scratchy"...

I'm back. Does our friend "Stumpy" still have all of his extremities?

I'm probably going to be taking private backhoe classes this coming summer. They're free from the rental place and if I don't get the hang of it they will come to the site and try to coach me. My husband believes everyone should run for their life. Me, I have visions of the backhoe stuck in the hole I want to dig and a very expensive bill for winching it out. I'm not a trial and error person any more. Past experiences have proven this to be costly.

LOL...I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry at your situation. I'm sure with proper training just about any one can learn to use just about any tool! Good luck with the project.

I have a friend who works for the water company who has offered to dig any holes I need dug with their backhow. Kind of a good friend to have if you're in the fish hobby! He is always bringing me junk guitars to fix, so it pretty much works out even.

Hey Lorax, good luck with your backhoe lessons. I work at a hatchery and we have the backhoe here that all the hatcheries share and not one of the guys I work with has had the guts to teach me how to work it. I want to learn, but I think they worry putting me in something that powerful when one of them is in close proximity. The last excuse was we had to take it to another hatchery and next we had it longer they would teach me (never took it, still here 2 weeks later). I already learned to to work the bobcat with and auger attachment on it (I almost flipped it the first time I tried to drill a hole Actually now they're reluctant to let me do anything, geez blowout one tire on the stocking truck and suddenly they don't let me play with any of the cool toys. Hehehe.

When it comes to invasives i feel the only answer starts and ends with the bottom of my boot. Give them the stomp. i agree with teleost that they are trying to have an existince somewhere but it is just unfortunate that they land in my seine. Unfortunatly my pleasure of the boot stomp comes from others careless release of fish in the wrong places. i just hope i can do my part to keep the fish that belong in certain areas there and that invasives wont decline their numbers.

Our friends at carpbusters salute you

My husband is a landscaper. We hash out the native versus non-native issue daily. And we hash out the invasive versus non invasive daily. Lots of natives are invasive, lots of non-natives are not. There is not a one size fits all rule. We recommend natives for some things and non-natives for others. As a general rule, natives are a whole heck of a lot easier to maintain than non-natives.

People think I'm nuts because I tell them to plant their weeds, but it's true, unless you do absolutely nothing else with your life but weed your garden, you are going to have weeds, they may as well be weeds you can live with.