Author Archives: Floridays

Ants: Kill Them With Kindness

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Ants are active in South Florida all year round due to mild weather conditions. Keeping ants out of your RV can be a challenge. No one likes to find ants in the sugar bowl, crawling along baseboards, or leaving behind carcasses in light fixtures.

It’s a hard fact that if you see one, you probably have many, and they aren’t giving up the free rent that easily. It’s time to get tough on ants, but you don’t have to use toxic chemicals!

1. Death by Scratching. Diatomaceous Earth is an inexpensive non-toxic powder that sticks to their feet and legs and makes its way into the exoskeleton of the ant. The dust’s tiny jagged edges work like broken glass to scratch open and dry out an ant’s body. As an ant killer, it is cheap, safe for pets and kids, and effective on other bugs too. It works on roaches, fleas, bed bugs, and most creepy crawlies. Use a powder duster to get into those deep pockets and cracks and wear gloves to keep it off your skin. As bugs move across the powder, it sticks to their feet and legs only to get into their joints and exoskeleton. The particles are jagged and so it works like broken glass to scratch the insect’s body then dries it out. While it is not poisonous, it is an irritant. Avoid breathing in diatomaceous earth or getting it on your skin. Be patient, it’s not instant death but super effective.

2. Bonked by Borax. Another ground mineral that’s a natural ant killer is borax. In this case, when the ants eat the borax, it interferes with their digestive system. Unfortunately, it is not an instant killer either. Worker ants take the borax bait back to the colony for the other ants to eat, eventually eliminating the queen ant and the rest of the colony. Ants aren’t enticed by borax, so to get them to take the bait, mix it 50/50 with sugar and place the mixture along probable ant trails.

3. Boil the Queen. Really. If you can locate the ant colony and the queen that lives there, why use chemicals at all? Just follow the ant trail holding a pot of boiling water carefully and pour it over the hills. Repeat if needed. You will not be popular with the ant colony but you will have used a chemical-free method to take back your RV from the ant invaders.

4. Make ‘em Stiff. When you spot a parade of ants using an ant trail, sprinkle dry cornstarch on their legs or put it in their path where they will be forced to walk through it. Wait 24 hours. Then take our spray bottle of water and spray all visible ants. The cornstarch and water act like cement. The ants can no longer walk, so they just die. Just sweep them away after a few hours. You can use this method on groups of ants too. 

5. Seduce Them. Essential oils may smell seductive to us, but they repel ants – and some even kill them. Peppermint oil sprayed on door frames and windows naturally repel pests and Tea Tree Oil is specific to killing ants. Just pour a little scented oil onto a cotton ball and lay them around where ants hang out. At least your RV will smell great while you soldier on to save your home from invasion!

There are certain ants in Florida that need pest control efforts. Here’s the list:
these ants can sting Denotes the ability to sting

  • Big Headed Ants
  • Carpenter Ants
  • Fire Antsthis ant can sting
  • Ghost Ants/Sugar Ants
  • Pharaoh Ants
  • Twig Antsthis ant can sting
  • White Footed Ants
  • Velvet Ants/Cow Killer Antsthis ant can sting

For a guide to the various species of ants in Florida, how to control them using natural methods, and how to identify the ones that bite, visit Port St. Lucie’s pest control Green Pest Services.

The Thrill of Sailfish Fishing

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Floridays is located in Martin County, the Sailfish Capital of the World! Avid anglers from all over the world — including presidents, commercial fishermen, and world class sport fishermen come to Martin County to fish the waters off our beautiful coast.

Image credit: TCPalm Fishing Report

The Elliott Museum in Stuart is currently showcasing sailfish fishing with The Lure of Florida Fishing exhibit now through May. You’ll learn about the rich history, evolution and art of this age-old sport and its impact on a local and statewide scale. 

Explore vintage as well as state-of-the-art equipment, mounts, sculpture, and hand-crafted lures for fresh and saltwater fishing. 

For those who fish, and for those that dream to fish the big catch, the Elliott’s fishing simulator offer the experience of reeling it in!

Visit the Museum Monday through Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at 825 NE Ocean Boulevard in Stuart.

Our Hometown Gets a Makeover

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Hobe Sound is a small, mostly residential town of locals who prefer the quiet, “old Florida” look and feel, and like to know the names of the local business owners. But “going downtown” in Hobe Sound has, in the past, been defined as parking in the huge Winn-Dixie parking lot and heading out on foot along old sidewalks in need of repair. But that’s all changing right now.

Downtown Hobe Sound is in the home stretch of an 18+ month dramatic redevelopment project along Bridge Road that connects US Highway 1 (where Floridays is located) to A1A, locally known as Old Dixie Highway. In fact, US Hwy 1 is Floridays’ front door, and Old Dixie Highway is our back door. 

For years, Hobe Sound has been trying to update their town’s usability without losing it’s small-town charm. It looks as though they are about to succeed! Improvements include brick pavers, new trees and planter areas, spacious sidewalks, better parking — all pedestrian-friendly from US Hwy 1 to A1A.

The local businesses are doing their share too! Excited for their future, many local Bridge Road businesses are making storefront improvements in a huge effort to attract new visitors and better support the locals.

If you’re staying with us right now or plan to, take a stroll down Bridge Road to see how a small town can come together to inspire local pride. Drop in on our local shopkeepers like Dawn at Village Bicycle where you can rent a bike or paddle-board, Joyce at Joyce Herb Flooring to talk flooring, curtains and blinds, Chrissy at Dusted Off Pretty for hand-crafted home accessories, Tammy at Clothes Mentor for high quality gently used women’s fashions, and George or Jan at Hobe Sound Beach Shop for custom tees, seashore-inspired clothing, souvenirs, and even flip-flops made from recycled tires. Alongside Winn-Dixie Plaza on the stroll back to Floridays, stop in at Courtney’s for ice cream or The Grove for real Italian pizza.

Reasons to Follow the RV Blogs

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There are a few things most of us in the RV lifestyle can agree to:

  • Freedom is a daily occurrence
  • Every window can be a picture window
  • If you don’t like your neighbors, move on
  • Experiences are worth more than possessions
  • Learning that who is more valuable than what
  • Travel is the best way to experience life
  • Boredom is optional

RVers learn from one another, and there’s no better and quicker way to learn than following the blogs.

Of of the best is The Wandering RV, a camping and travel magazine that shares the fun of the RV lifestyle from reviews to guides. Their blogs cover a little bit of everything from product reviews, financing, insurance, and to how to fix almost anything.

Free As Wheel Ever Be keeps you up to date on their adventures as well as opportunities to learn from their experiences and live a more intentional life. 

Camp Addict comes from a couple of RVing friends, Marshall and Kelly, part-time, unmarried, young RVers who are big fans of boondocking. Their goal is to share “real, dependable” RV consumer information that is (and we quote) “not like some of the ‘misinformation’ you can get on the web”. They even take reader questions!

For laughs, if you haven’t yet met John and Mercedes, the RV Odd Couple, it’s not too late to laugh. Our favorites:

RVers: We All Do It

Mask Mandate on Federal Lands

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Who can forget the optics on President Biden’s first day in office with a stock of executive order folders on his left and a pen in his right hand?

One of those EOs issued a federal mask mandate for certain areas of the United States under which the President has authority to issue policies — and one of them is federal lands, i.e. all lands operated by the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and other agencies. 

Since so much of this land is recreational and used often by RVers, it’s caused some confusion about when to use a mask while camping on federal land. Reading the actual text of the mandate is vague.

In a nutshell, while camping on Federal lands, follow CDC guidelines currently in place for social distancing when around people outside your family or RV-mates. The guidelines simply states: “Masks may not be necessary when you are outside by yourself away from others, or with other people who live in your household.”

You certainly don’t need a mask while hiking, fishing, biking, or taking a stroll under the stars…or doing anything else outside away from others. If we all use our common sense, camping on Federal lands should be no different than the CDC guidelines for anywhere else, including right here at Floridays RV Park.