I don't have the sense to come in out of the rain.

I have 305 tumblr followers as opposed to 200…something…lj friends. But, most people who read my lj are not on lj, at least according to my hit counter. They’re people off site who come in and read anonymously, and that varies greatly - I have months where I get tens of thousands of hits per week, and months when I get like, 500 unique hits the whole month. *shrug*

I think it’s ridiculous that she’s being prosecuted at all. I think that when teenagers are in peer-relationships with each other (her and the other girl were both on the basketball team), it’s natural for crushes, kisses and so forth to occur in a totally non-predatory way, and over time that generally develops into more. I think it’s ridiculous to imagine her labeled a sex offender for the rest of her life, or spending a bunch of years in jail. It also grosses me out how it started when she was 17 and the other parents called the cops after she turned 18. Like last week it was legal - but THIS week, it’s a crime! Come on. They go to school together, get over it.

The thing is, as far as the LGBT part goes, the younger girl’s parents were freaked because KH was also a girl. I am betting that if they’d had an older boy making out with their daughter, they would not have resorted to calling the police. Or if the younger teen had been a boy, HIS parents probably would not have. In a way I get what you mean, but the younger girl’s parents are homophobic, have been against the relationship all along (including when Kaitlyn was still 17)  and blame Kaitlyn for making their daughter gay O_o They’re using the law to keep their daughter from homosexual activity in general (as in, it was lucky for them that Kaitlyn happened to be older and hence, able to be prosecuted).  

I don’t know man. Ananda naturally hangs out with (good) kids much older than herself. It would make total sense to me, if in a couple of years she was in a relationship with one of them. That calls for certain warnings and some guidance but not POLICE INTERVENTION. 

You may or may not find it noteworthy that I have been appalled by the concept of statutory rape laws every since I was the 18 year old being threatened with them. 

Also: petition to stop the prosecution is here - http://www.change.org/petitions/assistant-state-attorney-brian-workman-stop-the-prosecution-of-an-18-year-old-girl-in-a-same-sex-relationship?utm_campaign=friend_inviter_chat&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&utm_term=permissions_dialog_false

If you’re a Florida resident you can find your representatives and let them know what you think, here - http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Welcome/index.cfm?CFID=295718277&CFTOKEN=95887900

And this is the (moderated) Free Kate facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/groups/FreeKate/members/

I have never encountered anything like that in the wild - although there are a lot of exotic pet stores and exotic animal shows that I think mean I do see them more than other people might (my kids have multiple friends with large constrictors for pets).

Mostly in yards and fields what you encounter here are corn snakes and black racers. I did once see a flattened cottonmouth dead in the road. 

Food for fascination: I see lizards EVERYWHERE, ranging from the standard brown “porch lizards” that scurry out of my path on my front porch and back deck every day to the more colorful collection of foot long things that live in my bank’s parking lot (mostly cuban lizards and red headed agamas), and on up to the 3-6 foot long iguanas that are taking over in an invasive, non-native way. We can hear geckos from the surrounding blocks at night, too.