Poison ivy is much worse than "a nuisance" it is evil - undoubtedly the worst thing about living in this part of the US. I have got into it in a big way on three occasions, plus numerous minor encounters, and it itches so bady that I wanted to tear my skin off, it really is that bad. The only thing that is worse is burning it - the oil that causes the allergic reaction is driven off by the heat and blows around with the smoke. .... Then it gets in your lungs, and you end up in hospital!

West Nile is now prevelant in every state in mainland USA.

IT WOULD BE PERFECT!!!!!

I haven't seen many bugs around here, but I had a nasty incident in Houston. I got bitten all over by, what must have been, giant mosquitos. The bites looked small but within a day I has red spots about 4-7cm wide all over my legs, back and arms.

black flies perhaps? or ticks?

No idea, the 'Texas natives' who I was staying with said they were mosquitos.

Texas bugs just love new meat

They nicknamed me 'skeeter' after that.

I was so mad having those bites, I was flying onto Atlanta, then to Miami where I would be meeting up with my future fiancee for only the second time. For four days after that I was frantically rubbing cream onto them in the hope they would disappear.

We live about 15 miles east from the foot of Pikes Peak in Colorado -
where the plains start, but our house is still around 7000 ft above sea level. We live in a small, new community which has a local supermarket, bar, stores etc., so we don't have to travel far for supplies - but it only takes me about 20 minutes to get to Colorado Springs if I want to go into town instead.

Pro's:
* Beautiful views
* Fresh air
* Not too many 'bad' critters (apart from the risk of west nile, the odd Black Widow spider, visits by bears and mountain lions and rattlesnakes...).
* Plenty of recreational facilities, parks, trails etc.,
* Over 200 days of sunshine a year. It's not uncommon to be able to wear a T-shirt and shorts in the middle of January.

Con's:
* Hail the size of baseballs sometimes. Car Insurance is expensive because of hail damage.
* Violent summer storms with vicious lightning (I love the storms as long as I'm inside LOL!).
* Very windy out on the plains where we live - your house gets very dusty too.
* Visitors from home are at high risk of getting altitude sickness. Some of our relatives have lung or heart problems and cannot visit us at all because of the 'thin' air. Most visitors do fairly well though, and recover after a day or so.
* Big tourist area - but the only real problems it causes are a longer wait for a restaurant table in the Summer LOL!
* Many school closures due to snow/ice in the winter.
* Very dry conditions (we're classed as 'desert'), which means no lush green gardens unless you are prepared to pay $$$$ in water bills (and water use is mostly restricted anyway).
* You get sick of fir/pine trees. They are EVERYWHERE. I long for a nice English Beech or Oak woods.

Paint.

If it was ticks giving that sort of reaction, you'd want to get down to your doc smartish to get checked for Lime Disease.

ROTFL.... well, you endured an initiation rite. I've spent plenty of time slapping skeeters and itching skeeter bites though with the advent of West Nile virus I am no longer as willing to stay out when there are skeeters (here in Austin far less of the beasties).

Next initiation rite? Having an insect fly into your mouth while you're talking or eating out of doors. Michael Stipe of REM was performing a couple of summers ago here in Austin at an outdoor gig; bug flew in mid word and he just wiped it out and went on. He's lived here before though.

Best bug story: outdoors opera in Houston, the fat lady sang, mouth wide open, and in went a June bug. Boy do those things buzz around.

You're fine. Phoenix, AZ, is West Nile capital of the US. Send fatbrit and Pimpbot some 'off karma'...

Why Phoenix? not exactly got a lot of rain.... but I guess in the heat the skeeters and the virus could reproduce and replicate more quickly.

It's all the swimming pools that people never bother cleaning. Last year Phoenix had more than half of the total human cases of West Nile in the US.