Southern mishigas

Mishigas meaning: — Mess. Disorder. Disarray. Craziness. Mishigas is yet another fantastic yiddish word that has worked its way into the English lexicon. Example:

"What's all this mishigas?!" What's all this mess!
"I didn't understand a word Moishe said, he kept talking some strange mishigas!"

This explains a day in the life of this Yankee's day down south - Mishigas

So I wake up this morning looking forward to the USA soccer game and anticipating a victory to the next round. At 10:30am my wife appears in the living room dressed for the beach and asks me if I want to come. This was not just any ordinary beach day she says..this is hands across the sand beach day........

I learn that this is a world wide event. Hands Across the Sand is a movement made of people of all walks of life and crosses political affiliations. This movement is not about politics; it is about protection of our coastal economies, oceans, marine wildlife, and fishing industry. More info here

I asked if we would get back by 2:30pm (USA soccer game start time) she says ..”no problem”

So we head out to a little town down here called Carrabelle, destination Carrabelle beach. We first meet Janet Lightfoot who organized this event locally, just started the organization 4 days ago.



We also met a spirited group of local people and some from other parts of the state and country.





Carrabelle is a small fishing community that is bracing from the threat of the BP oil spill. The town is well known for having the smallest police station in the world.



On to Hands (and feet) across the sand:





We had a great time meeting people and discussing all things oil spill including the potential hurricane looming out in the gulf........BUT....



I took some of these photographs while I was chest deep in the water. After taking all the photos, I left the water. While on shore I reached into my pocket and could not find my wallet. Yup…I had my wallet in my pocket while I was deep in the water. I don’t know so much if that was a Yankee move or just plain stupid..anyway, I realized that my wallet fell into the water while I was in the gulf.

I looked at my wife and without saying a word we both realized that it was probably gone. So now flashing through my head...............



.......was all the things that flash through your head when you lose your wallet. Got to call the bank and report that my credit and debt cards are lost, got to go to the motor vehicle department to replace my driver’s license, need to call work and let them know I lost the company card..was that the wining multi million dollar lottery ticket at the bottom of the gulf...and my social security card!! “can I change that?”

All this was too much for me, so I went straight back into the water again to the place I was taking the photographs ..or was this the exact place? or more over there? and did the current send my wallet of to Mexico? I flailed around with my feet trying to feel for something all the while looking at my wife as if it was a lost cause..

I did this for 15 minutes or so, and just when I was about to give up, I felt something..does it feel like a wallet or is it seaweed?? I hold my nose and take the plunge.. can’t feel it with my hands…I thought I lost it..but using my feet again, I was able to squeeze what I thought may be my wallet between my feet and brought it up in a sort of somersault move. YES! it was my wallet with every thing in tact. Talk about oh what a relief....

now to take care of the soggy wallet and all of the things I had in it...



The above photo is not that of my wallet drying, but if I had this contraption I would most definitely have used it. Funny how you don't realize the needless things you keep in your wallet until you have to dry out it's contents. Do I really need this receipt from 1987? Well, now I can at least pay for lunch.

On our way back home we come across this place:



I said to my wife it looks like a biker bar….but we went in anyway. (nothing against biker bars, we just did not have the proper attire)

WOW! Great place and great eats! We had the Seafood plate and loved it!

While we were eating, we chatted with the waitresses about the oil and business and their T shirts!



My wife had to have one.

We also met a gentleman who came into the restaurant to sell the owners home made honey, jams and syrup.



I followed him outside to get his story. What a great man. Meet Marvin.



Marvin is a very proud American and a WWII veteran. He is now retired and spends his days as a cane syrup maker in Moultrie Ga. What a great American. I told him today that if it wasn't for people like him, we would be in a world of hurt today.

On the way back, we wanted to stop and take some photos of the local go to places



When I first came down south and saw this sign and RV park, I though how boring! Over time (and as I get older) I really enjoy looking at the park and feel relaxed just by thinking about how peaceful it must be to hitch up and just do nothing. I do understand the need to be Ho-Hum at times, take it down a notch Gordon!

I am always fascinated with old and deteriorating places,





I love to think about these places in their hay day, what was it like?, how did it look then, are people still around that can tell me about these places?

In the end, I did catch the US soccer match, they lost, but I won the day! An opportunity to meander down here nice and slow in a ho-hum sort of way.

Northern Vs. Southern Sports fanatics

I could have just as well been talking another language when I would mention to my Southern friends about being a major Boston sports fan, I had a lot to talk about..Red Sox, Bruins, Celtics, Patriots and the Revolution.



Icons like Ted Williams, Bobby Orr, Bill Russell, Larry Bird, Tom Brady to name a few. The stories I tell about being a Red Sox fan growing up and how painful that was - doesn't do well down here. Come on..remember Bill Buckner? Local Tallahassee sports icons ? Charlie Ward, Bobby Bowden, Mike Martin (has coached the FSU baseball team for 167 years).

Comparing two non player Northern and Southern sports icons:: In Boston when you thought of a cigar and victory, for many years you thought of Red Auerbach:



As general manager and team president of the Celtics, he won an additional seven NBA titles, for a grand total of 16 in a span of 29 years, making him one of the most successful team officials ever in the history of North American professional sports.

Down south, when you see this:



You think of only one man- Paul William "Bear" Bryant



During his twenty-five year tenure as Alabama's head coach he amassed six national championships and thirteen conference championships. Upon his retirement in 1982 he held the record for most wins as head coach in collegiate football history.

I don't remember a fan up north with a tattoo of Auerbach......



Serous stuff there!

College football down south is religion: I would go into work the day after a Monday night pro football game and ask the sports fans down here if they enjoyed the game..9 times out of ten I would get the response “oh,I don’t watch pro football”

Southern sports fans may occasionally support a pro team, from where I live, there are no major pro teams around, so some may adopt the Atlanta Braves, TB Rays, TB Buccaneers etc…

Southern Football fans are major college football fans. Imagine the Super Bowl and the 7th game of the World Series rolled into one..that’s every Saturday down here in the south during college football season. Up east, college football was not so much in the limelight, usually relegated to the second or third page in the sports section behind all the major pro teams. Go Eagles!

Here, it’s headline news, even during the off season.I happen to move to Tallahassee from Boston during Florida States run for a national title. What and experience and one that I will never forget.



Nowadays the team is not doing so well. The mood of the whole town is in the hands of the Seminole football team. I mean, everybody, EVERYBODY gets in a really bad mood with a loss: They start asking for the heads of anybody related to the team. And when the boosters start to question the team....





But win..and....



Now, I am not saying that the fans of Boston sports teams did not suffer after a loss, it's really different down here...maybe because FSU Football is the only major game in town?

During my first FSU/Florida Gator game at a local establishment, I had to use the men's room, pulling up to the urinal, I noticed that I would be peeing on a Steve Spurrier (Gator coach at the time) urinal deodorizer. That was a first for me. Why do I remember this?

I would wonder what was in the toil...errr never mind....

Oh, and in Tallahassee they do not sell any alcohol in the stands at game time,that doesn't stop the students from thinking of ways to bring it in...



Yup, plasma bags..fill it up with your favorite libation tuck it under the arm put on a shirt and off you go..

My experience with rivalries was Yankees/Red Sox - Celtics/Lakers; here it’s Seminoles/Gators - Seminoles/Hurricanes. Wearing orange on game day here (Gator colors) is like wearing orange at a St. Patrick's day parade in South Boston- You just don’t do it. Plus...they do things like this...



NASCAR:


I never got race car driving while up North, and I still don’t get it now that I am in the South. Maybe because as a Boston driver we were actually in a race to survive the roadways everyday - no big deal?



I don't know, Watching vehicles go round and round and round and round…and round does not want to make me paint my face and sit in the stands for any amount of time. But as you know, these races pack em in.



If someone could let me know what it is that I am missing with NASCAR, I would really appreciate it. I respect all who enjoy this sport, I have yet to understand why.

Green Acres ~ Redux

I can relate:


Green acres is the place for me.
Farm livin' is the life for me.
Land spreadin' out so far and wide
Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside.

New York is where I'd rather stay.
I get allergic smelling hay.
I just adore a penthouse view.
Dah-ling I love you but give me Park Avenue.

...The chores.
...The stores.
...Fresh air.
...Times Square

You are my wife.
Good bye, city life.
Green Acres we are there.


I remember watching the old episodes of green acres never thinking that I would be in a somewhat similar situation today. For starters, Just look at the town name similarities:

Town name in green acres: Hooterville

The town that I currently live in: Crawfordville

Farm livin' is the life for me

We don’t actually live on a farm, but if we wanted to, we could have livestock on our little plot we call home these days. We do have a VERY annoying rooster next door that is cock-a-doodle–doooing at 5: am every morning on schedule, never missing a day.




To my delight, I did find this:

Corfu Rooster
Serving size depends on the bird
1 rooster, cut into pieces
7 garlic cloves, smashed
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoon olive oil or lard
1 tablespoon tomato paste (or use some tomatoes)
2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar (or cider vinegar)
2 medium onions, halved and thinly sliced
3 ½ cups water
½ cup dry white wine (or vermouth or other booze)
1 teaspoon sugar

........One day

We don’t have a pet pig like Arnold Ziffel, around the house.



Arnold was an amazing pig, he could knock on doors, sign his name, and turn on the television. An urban legend says that Arnold was cooked and eaten by the cast after the show ended. In reality, several different pigs were used during the shows run, none of which was eaten by the cast.

Despite not having a pig around the house, I have learned a lot about pig parts down here-Ham hocks and neck bones to name a few. Don't put too many of these pig parts into your collard greens, just a taste!

We did have an opportunity to watch over a horse for 6-8 months. What a trip, and very educational.



The chores........

I have always been afraid of horses-yup, I know,wimp! (I am always thinking they are going to bite me...must be something in my childhood). I had to be up at 5:30 am to feed and replace water, put out the hay, check the salt licks (“what the hell is that?”) and various other items and duties for horse caring.

One thing I will share with other Northerners coming to the rural south-Buy a pick-up truck! They are very useful for hauling things such as hay and do better on dirt roads than a car. When buying hay, I had to use my Ford Taurus to stack the hay in the trunk..what a Sight! Might have been better off doing it this way:




You are my wife.......

Do you think AJ would let me get away with this?



On a sad note, the horse, Jessie, passed away. It was a horrible thing for my wife, AJ, to witness first hand.

She calls me from home and says Jessie is acting crazy..trying to jump over the fence, he did finally jump a fence and right there in the middle of the dirt road, he died. That was a first and hopefully a last for us. You can imagine the details of removal and burial…



Fresh air.....

The night sounds are very different down here. In the city you would get the sounds of cars/trucks passing, emergency sirens, people yelling etc..etc..

Down here at night, it sounds like the Amazon rain forests. All sorts of creatures a yapping to a cadence, listen here

Mix that sound with the sounds of tree frogs and owls and other creatures yet to be identified and you have a wildlife Hootenanny <--love that word.

[Hootenanny is an Appalachian colloquialism that was used in early twentieth century America to refer to things whose names were forgotten or unknown. In this usage it was synonymous with thingamajig or whatchamacallit, as in "hand me that hootenanny." Hootenanny was also an old country word for "party". Now, most commonly, it refers to a folk-music party] Who would think a little creature like this could be so loud. Theses green tree frogs have a special sound, I swear they are all saying Gordon….Gordon…..Gordon



Owls are cute little animals but………



They don’t play......

Good bye, city life.......

We have heard stories of little pet cats and dogs being carried off by owls.



In the city you will notice people walking carrying long sticks, canes etc..in case of stray dogs, stray people…Down here ......they are used to beat off snakes!




We have seen many a snake on our front lawn and have found the ultimate removal technique,ignore them

Dah-ling I love you but give me Park Avenue........

What happens when city folk move to the country...

City folk do not now much about country wild life as depicted in the lost cat poster below:



Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside.....

We do love it down here, I think we have assimilated well or as best as we can being a Yankee and all :)

From City Streets to Country Roads

I firmly believe that when you grow up in the streets up north in the city, you never lose your “street smarts”. They stay with you and they even come in handy in your daily life, especially at work. There is something about being from the inner city and having many interactions with all sorts of people, places and things. I firmly believe that I can pretty much size up anyone’s intentions good or bad within a 3 minute conversation. It has worked well for me, I trust and rely on this gift from the streets.



Watching your back was a full time job, in the city, you needed to size someone and or situations up quickly, lest you be robbed or even worse.

I just remember everything being so close and cramped. Everything on top of everybody. I always joked with my mom about living in our Triple Decker......



and saying that if you sneeze, our neighbor would say god bless you. We were forced to have good relations with everybody; we had to, they were all right there with us.

The street you lived on had a “vibe” a certain feel and tempo. When you opened your door to go out, you took a deep breath and gritted your teeth a bit, getting ready for the city cycle and making it a point on surviving the day Or just seeing what mischief you could get in to and out of.



Most of my southern friends don’t get this mentality, I just say to them like they say to me, you have to experience it to understand. It wasn't something we actually liked. it was just the way it was - from birth.

We did have plenty of fun times though….

Stick ball was the game of choice…



You know how it went, that red dodge dart is first base, the manhole cover is second base Charlie's mom is third and home is where I am standing. The ball we used was a classic:

Pimple Ball:



And when we wanted a different game, we would toss baseball cards against our front stoops to see who got closer to the bottom steps…the person who threw the card the closest won all the cards on the ground..the more that played ..the more cards there were for the taken..



And when it got REALLY hot, the city via the fire department would open up the hydrants.



It was amazing to watch a city literally cool off collectively and see the tensions ease by this little deed. I can remember the whole neighborhood being out in the streets and enjoying a hot summers day - wet.

Window fans did not cut it!



and noisy too !


So different is the lifestyle of growing up in the city versus now living in the rural south. It's more laid back and not intimidating for starters, more emphasis is placed on hunting and fishing than stick ball or baseball card throwing.





I don't do either, the only thing I ever "hunted" for was my reading glasses.

You really don’t have to watch your back as much down here, not all are out to get you. Don’t get me wrong, we have crime, but not 24/7. I did stop joking about the local news reports of cats stuck up in trees because I realized that this news was far better than the 11:00pm news in Boston.



Fact: Northerners NEVER lose their impatience for all things:

There is one pet peeve I have developed down here though. At work up North, I remember asking a tough business question via e-mail and always getting a response, a response that I may not like but I still received one. Down here. on numerous occasions, I would ask a business question via e-mail and get no response at all - zip, zero. nothing.



And the interesting part of this for me is that I would meet the person I questioned via e-mail in the hallway later the same day or next and there would be no reaction at all. Not even the standard , “oh, I am sorry I haven’t gotten back to you yet” or “about that e-mail” I get nothing-If they don’t want to answer or if they think the answer is going to start a dust up, they do not respond. ~ maybe I am a tad impatient? :)

I do think my Northern attitude comes across as confrontational.



It’s probably from growing up in the surroundings I mentioned above. Up north we communicate with the in your face method down here its step back and don’t be so rude.

I am a nice guy, really. And if you don’t like it, you can kiss my......................(just kidding)

What do my streets look like now?



My blood pressure eases just looking at this.....


The experience from both worlds have left me a little richer in thought, my attitude is a little less confrontational down here, although my friends and co-workers don't think so. I liken it to being on prozac and speed at the same time.