Finding Wakulla

So how did this Yankee end up in Wakulla County, Florida? Population 32,815,  A far cry from Boston’s population of 645,169.

Wakulla County is the fastest growing county in the state. (are Y'all following me?)

I remember the day that I arrived here. It was the summer, I did hear the stories of the humidity and all and thought that I was prepared for it. After all, I was coming from Boston where it was 83 with a slight breeze this day.. 

Landing at the Tallahassee airport, I located my luggage and went to the electronic door that opened to the outside....

Swoooooooooooooooooosh! 

The humidity hit me like a brick, it had a sound and a fury all it's own. The combination of the door opening and the humidity hitting me all at once sounded like an F15 fighter strafing from above. I will never forget that sound. My eye glasses......

.......fogged immediately. I first thought to myself, how can they live in this? Can a Yankee live and breath down here? I asked a Cabbie "is it like this down here all the time?  

He answers "yes, It is not so bad today"


Oy! 


I immediately started to sweat in places that I was not use to...

I went to work in Tallahassee for a fortune 500 company on a specific contract, when that contract was up, I had two choices, move to Trenton NJ for another contract or stay in Tallahassee and look for another job.

I stayed in Tallahassee. Nothing against Trenton, I did not know anything about that city and was familiar with Tallahassee.

While living in Tallahassee, my wife and I would take frequent trips to Wakulla County: We eventually moved to the county  4 years ago. 

Wakulla County was created from Leon County in 1843. It may (although this is disputed) be named for the Timucuan Indian word for "spring of water" or...................

....... "mysterious water." This is in reference to Wakulla County's greatest natural attraction, Wakulla Springs, which is one of the world's largest freshwater springs, both in terms of depth and water flow. In 1974, the water flow was measured at 1.23 billion gallons per day—the greatest recorded flow ever for a single spring.

Wakulla Springs was/is famous for something you might have seen.....The filming of....

Creature from the Black Lagoon was filmed and originally released in 3-D requiring polarized 3-D glasses, and subsequently reissued in the 1970s in the inferioranaglyph format (this version was released on home video by MCA Videocassette, Inc. in 1980). It was one of the first Universal Pictures films filmed in 3-D (the first wasIt Came from Outer Space, which was released a year before). It is considered a classic of the 1950s.

We are proud of this movie!

 Beat that, Boston!!

Speaking of the creature from the black lagoon, one thing I do miss is the culture Boston has to offer.....

from..

 The Museum of Fine Arts....to..

The Museum of Science...

I also do miss the Boston skyline.....

Wakulla does have a skyline of its own...

We also do have some culture here in the County.....

We educate our fish!!!! 

Some things in the Wakulla County wild you will not find in Boston:

Florida Statute 372.667 states: Do not feed the alligators- I am a good Yankee and follow this statute at all times. 

Manatees will come right up to your canoe (Never thought I would say that as a city kid) ) They are very docile 

  Wakulla Springs..

The higher, the better

To all my fellow Yankees, Wakulla County is light years way from Orlando and Disney World! In distance and in culture. I think many of my family and friends think of Florida in terms of Disney world, when I tell everyone I live in Florida, the next thing out of their mouth is “Nice, so how far are you from Disney World?” I explain that I am in the Tallahassee area, 4 hours drive from Orlando. But a million years in time. Wakulla is a very southern minded County it borders two other southern states-Georgia and Alabama.

So, yes I live down south nowadays. I don't hear much of-"you can't get there from heeya" But how about this one: The pickup truck with the gun rack, and a bumper sticker that reads, "Guns don't kill people. I do." always has the right of way.

Gotta love the south! 

Funny Monkey Pictures

Funny Intelligent Monkey : I think this guy really knows a lot. 

Funny Tech Monkey : I think they are using facebook !!!

Funny Monkey Couple : Romeo & Juliet .

Funny Model Monkey : Top Model 

Funny Monkeys : Loading ...!!!

Funny Stupid Monkey : He is really a stupid !!!

Funny Monkey Smoking : Hey !!! Which brand ??

Funny Teasing Monkey : oooooooooo ...

Funny astonished Monkey : Whats up ??

Funny Biker Monkey : !!!

Funny and Cute Monkey Twin 

NB: All pictures are collected using google image.

Funny illustrations of Serious Quotes

1. " Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and fu*k the prom queen" - The Rock (movie).

2. " Love is a mental disease"  - Plato

3. " Pick battles big enough to matter, small enough to win"  - Jonathan Kozel

4. " Think before you act" - Anonymous . If you don't think before act then..... 

source: funnyfailpictures.com

5. " Do what you can, with what you have, where you are" - Theodore Roosevelt

Bathroom blogger and bookface !!!

Found a funny t-shirt in the store today called bathroom blogger ! The idea is not bad at all !! :p

Bathroom Blogger Funny T-Shirt by JaZilla
Use Zazzle's shirt designer

Another interesting t-shirt i found was bookface!

Bookface Shirt by glenndesigns
Design your shirt at zazzle

Clicking those links or pictures above you can check those t-shirts from different views and modify them as you like !

Everyone would be rich if ...

Almost everyone of us could be rich very easily and quickly if and only if  we would:

1. Get paid for facebooking !!!

2. Get paid for using toilet !!! 

3. Get Paid for sleeping !!!

4. Get paid for flirting !!!

5. Get paid for  every single shout of your boss !!!

this picture is collected from google image. Source unavailable

Yankee Musings - A Hot Mess

Being a Yankee in the South and experiencing the southern culture leaves me with much to write about. You would think I would have a backlog of writing ideas - I wish!

I don’t have a 5 year master plan of blogs to write, I can’t just go looking for my next topic, it doesn’t work like that, it has to come to me while I am not thinking about writing, or just not thinking about anything (I can actually do this) . I have to get out and experience people, places and things.

My best keyboard experience comes from my day to day experiences, the kind that just happen. If I have to look for it, it’s not there. Not only is it not there, I tend to force it sometimes and am very unhappy with the results. When I do get stuck and things are not just coming to me………..

.........I have to kick start my creative juices. It does not take long for me to get in the zone…An Ipod and a long walk somewhere/anywhere …get’s me in a writing zone quickly..

I am somewhat  eclectic with my musical tastes. I can listen to a song and get so deep in thought that my mind takes me away to a  creative place . Music stirs my emotions. 

Here are a four tunes that will put my mind on the right track..and get me thinking about many things in life..

This one reminds me that I am still here and survived many difficulties...


Something about this song hits a deep chord with me..



This one is a fun song and motivates me




This I will listen to when I run out of coffee...(music starts 10 seconds in)

Bopping to the beat entering a southern grocery store like a Winn Dixie with my headphones on and music blaring is not very southern like. Not very neighborly.

Recently, I did go into the local Winn Dixie just like this, got to the register and moved  the items on to the counter to the beat of James Brown’s  "Get Up"  the lady looked at me as if I was from mars. Here I am with one ear bud out of my ear (to hear anything spoken to me) and the other one in my ear blasting James Brown..all the while checking my blackberry for messages my wife was sending for any last minute grocery items. The cashier  looked at me and called me a “hot mess”. I said “Thank You?”

What is a hot mess ? Talk about creative juices. At first, I was flooded with images not so nice…

I was confused with the statement and had to run home and do what we all do in order  to understand something better - I googled it.

hot mess

English

Pronunciation

(US) IPA: /ˈhɑt.mɛs/

Noun

hot mess

1.     (military) A warm meal, usually cooked in a large pot, often similar to a stew or porridge; or, service of such a heated meal to soldiers. [ quotations ▼]

2.     (slang, idiomatic, chiefly US South) A person, thing, or situation in such a state of disarray or disapproval by peers, often in reference to physical appearance, perceived to be disastrously embarrassing, pitiful, or beyond repair.

I don’t think she was calling me a warm meal.

So I took explanation number  2 as her meaning. I would admit, I must of looked a bit in disarray at the counter, but it’s a northern thing..we will multi task everything.........

…… even on shopping trips

The disastrously embarrassing part I did not get at all. Maybe that’s a good thing? 

Hot Mess is not to be confused with the other southern uses of the word mess, like....

A mess of greens :

Southerners love their greens. A time-honored tradition in southern kitchens, greens have held an important place on the table for well over a century, and there is no other vegetable that is quite so unique to the region. Greens are any sort of cabbage in which the green leaves do not form a compact head. They are mostly kale, collards, turnip, spinach, and mustard greens.

In the Southern states, a large quantity of greens to serve a family is commonly referred to as a "mess o' greens." The exact quantity that constitutes a "mess" varies with the size of the family.

There are a  few uses of the word mess down here...the only mess I ever knew about up North was.....

......my living room..

So you see, I had to get out and be myself, go to the local store and have the cashier call me a hot mess, gave me something to think about. While not thinking about writing, I had a writing thought. 


Oh...and If I want to have Southern thoughts..I will listen to this :-)