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[RedSanders]

I'm looking forward to trying to start a colony in our new location, Lake Charles, LA. Eight Troyer gourds and pole are to be shipped to me today. We have a 8 acre yard, few trees and a neighbor with an active colony, albeit small. I plan to closely follow the guidelines provided here for the location of the housing.

As a new member of the PM Forum, I was hoping to find other members that are in my area of the state that I might visit. However, I see no way to locate them in the Members List. In fact I see no way to find members that are just in my state. A search using "Louisiana" is of some help, since some members from Louisiana have made postings. However, having to wade through the 875 matches from such a search is somewhat daunting. And I'm sure some members are "lurkers" and have never posted a comment or question here, so they would not appear in the search results. A search for "LA" returns nothing.

The Mentor/Mentee page is a little help. But persons listed there provide their actual name, and not their user name. It would be interesting to read their posts (if any) before contacting them, but the Member List page only shows user names. Is there any way to cross reference such?

This is definitely NOT meant to be a criticism of this forum, for I have already found it very helpful and has provided me hours of interesting, funny and informative reading. I'm just trying to find my way around.

[go4]

Raymond,
One way to search is from the "scout report". From the home screen. Piick research/scout reports arrival. Select LA. Go to 2013. You will see towns and names of land lords in your area. Hope this helps. Stephen

[RedSanders]

Hi Stephen,

Thanks for taking a crack at this...lots of folks viewing the question, but yours is the only response so far. Yes, I've visited that area of the forum to help me anticipate when to expect PMs here, very informative. And, every little bit helps.

But I'm running into that cross reference problem again. Names listed there are not user names. And doing a search using their actual name either searches for posts containing the first name and/or the last name. And, I'm sure many folks never make a report.

Oh well, guess I'll just make a post and ask for any members in my area to contact me and look for responses.

Again, thanks.

[Louise Chambers]

Part of the problem is that many forum users report scouts, but not all scout reporters are forum users by a long shot. Scout reports require real city but people do not have to share their names, or even their reports, publicly. We encourage forum users to use names rather than handles, but since it's a public site, some want to protect their privacy.

[KathyF]

Hi Raymond,
I'm from DeRidder - and still have family there. I only know of a couple of people in DeRidder that host martins. Sam Fertitta lives in DeRidder and has a large colony.

Steve Kroenke is in Shreveport and when you get a chance you might consider visiting his most awesome site!

Virgil McCoy now lives in Alexandria - can't recall how far that is from Lake Charles though.

I would recommend taking a drive around several neighborhoods and dropping in on some places that look like they have a good colony. Most martin landlords will talk your ear off, given a chance at helping a new landlord.

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

I too think that it is a privacy issue. People use fake names on this forum, they will not list any info about themselves, they often do not post, do not want people to know anything about them.

I list my real name, and have never had an issue with it, list my home city and state, so people are often scared of harassment

[RedSanders]

Thanks for the observations and suggestions! So much fun being on this forum.

Since I returned to Lake Charles a couple of years ago, I've been watching for any places hosting PMs, there are very few, and are usually small houses. But of course, I'll keep looking. Considering this scarcity, I'm very fortunate to have moved next to a neighbor with an active PM house.

Kathy, I was just in DeRidder a couple of day ago getting seeds for my garden! (My, you are a long way from home.) Years ago a Sam Fertitta owned quite a bit of property in the Leesville area, and met him once. He might have been the father of the Sam in DeRidder. Anyway, I'll certainly try to check out the DeRidder colony. And I hope to make a trip to Shreveport in the not to distant future to see relatives. If so, I'll definitely give Steve a shout and see if I can go by his place. I've already seen a number of his postings here.

Gourds and pole are making their way here, via UPS. Really excited about getting them in place in time for a chance to host this year. I'll post results, if any.

[DebA]

Hello Raymond!
Welcome to the PMCA and the forum. This will be my 6th season and I cannot wait. Just before arrival last year I too ordered new systems and was nutso with anticipation. Your comment reminded me of that and so I know just how you are feeling.

I learn something new every year from the forum. Sounds like you have been all over the site manuevering well. Except of stalking nearby landlords. hahaha

Here's hoping you attract your first breeding pair! I printed out the ID pics and would sit out with binoculars and reference them. It really helped. Except last year I'm afraid I was tricked by a dark ASY female into thinking I had my first sub-adult male. But the subbies came in not too much later anyways.

Good luck, welcome, and I look forward to your posts!

Deb