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Brush up on Sir Edmund Hillary. Break out your Marlin
Perkins safari jacket. Today we scale the withering – if not
Wuthering – heights of Mount Dora, Florida, in search of
the oddest migration known to man.
Yes, right here in the deepest, darkest heart of Lake County,
in an area cleverly disguised as an ordinary dog park,
strange and unusual creatures are even now going about
their own unique migration rituals.
These include the Southeastern Basketweevil, the Full
Metal Jackanapes, the frightful Adironyourback and
the deceivingly delicate molted, molded WalMartin.
Traveling in herds and flocks far smaller than, say, the
wildebeests of the Serengeti or the Emperor Penguins of
Antarctica, these masters of camouflage have nonetheless
prospered under our very Mount Doran noses.
Of course, to the untrained eye, these unique creatures
might seem to be nothing more than a mish-mash of
discarded lawn furniture, exiled from patios and lanais
across the town – victims of age, fashion and overzealous
decorators. Nothing could be further from the truth.
For example, while the Southeastern Basketweevil may
bear an uncanny resemblance to woven strips of vinyl
wrapped around a metal frame, it is, in fact, a four-footed
cousin of the Venus Fly Trap, luring unsuspecting victims
into an inescapable web of stickiness on hot, sunny
Florida afternoons.
The Full Metal Jackanape, meanwhile, may appear to
be about as mobile as a hunk of cast aluminum, yet it
is capable of crossing great distances under the cover
of night.
The frightful Adironyourback is so cunning and so well
disguised that countless dog park patrons have fallen flat
on their backs thanks to this creature’s puckish habit of
imitating an actual wooden Adirondack chair and then
suddenly collapsing its hind legs sending the sitter into a
backwards sprawling heap.
The molted, molded WalMartin is equally insidious. Its
slight frame allows it to go largely unnoticed among the
larger creatures of the park and it grazes among them
The Mysterious
Migration of
Lawn Furniture
by TOM LLOYD | illustrations by JENNIFER CAHILL HARPER
Continued on Page 33
PULSE ? SUMMER 2013 | 31

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Excluding grant expenditures, well over three quarters of the LCLS budget goes
towards the technology, services and programs that directly benefit the community,
while only about 13 percent of the budget is allocated towards actual operating
expenses. The library has proved to be both efficient and mindful of the costs
associated with its upkeep, while still providing worthwhile resources and services
for those most in need and for the greater Lake County community.
Perhaps the health of local libraries is indicative of the intellectual curiosity and civic-
mindedness of the people who live there. The library culture is certainly alive and
vibrant in Lake County, and patron-run societies such as Friends of the Library prove
instrumental in advocating for, preserving and gathering interest in municipal
libraries. However, the looming threat of budget cuts and reallocation of funds away
from the library is always present.
We must start thinking of our libraries as more than just depositories of books and
yellowing newspapers, but more as community gathering points, egalitarian in
nature and open to all who seek sanctuary within them. We need to think of libraries
not merely as buildings, but as communal front porches, always with their lights left
on so that all can see – even those left in the dark.
So Lake County, are we going to leave the light on or not?
Many thanks to Judy Buckland, Programs Coordinator, Lake County Library Services,
for all her hard work and as a source of information. Learn more at mylakelibrary.org.
almost undetected. Like the Adironyourback, the WalMartin’s chief defensive strategy
is to collapse its legs as soon as it senses any weight being placed upon it. As lawn
furniture, it would be a failure, but as
a rare and largely unappreciated
exotic specimen of this mythical
animal world, it is a star.
On a daily basis, all four of these
exotic beasts migrate from one
section of the dog park to another.
This is almost always done at night
when humans are unable to detect
their movements.
By sunrise, they have reformed their
herd – usually in a circular formation
– and await the onslaught of the only
animal they are known to fear … the
dreaded leg-lifting male dog.
FURNITURE, continued from Page 31
LIBRARY, continued from Page 24
PULSE ? SUMMER 2013 | 33

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The Mysterious Migration of Lawn Furniture

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The Mysterious Migration of Lawn Furniture