With my passion for music and for professional wrestling’s masked wrestlers it’s no surprise that I am also a fan of Los Straitjackets, the best known masked instrumental rock & roll combo in the country. Their style is 60′s California surf music and their videos reflect that era with a touch of retro beach movies. Here are two of their videos from YouTube, “Mad Scientwist” and “Twistin’ Gorilla” featuring the Pontani Sisters. Also included is video from a live appearance in California. I love their guitars.
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Posey’s Up The Creek Seafood Steam Room and Oyster Bar
U.S. Highway 98 in Panacea, Florida
Saturday, my wife and I decided to drive down to Panacea to dine at Posey’s Up The Creek Seafood Steam Room And Oyster Bar once again. We enjoyed ourselves so much a little over a week ago we made it a point to go again as soon as we could. And since our tax refund arrived, it gave us the excuse we needed to go back especially for some gumbo. Besides, it was St. Patrick’s Day and what better way to celebrate than with a heaping helping of Irish Gumbo, right? Right?
Well, at least it has green okra in it, so it’s close enough.
Interior at Posey’s
This is a view of the interior of Posey’s. The table at which my wife and I sat is on the lower right of the photo.
Old picture on the wall at Posey’s
One of the owners told me a little about this picture and the unique frame. She told me that it’s a photograph from the Steinhatchee River taken in the early 70′s. She told me an interesting story about one patron who came in to eat for the first time there and remarked that the picture was of the Steinhatchee River. When he was asked how he knew, the man replied that one of the boats in the photograph was his grandfather’s. Small world, ain’t it? I asked how the frame was crafted to have barnicle and I was informed that the frame was tied to a pier for about three or four months to allow barnicles to attach and grow upon it. A frame with brackets instead of glue had to be used since the salt water would cause any glue to dissolve.
A close-up of part of the frame
Blue Crab On A Plaque
Above the photograph is a fairly large blue crab which was caught by one of the owner’s sons and had put on this wooden plaque. There is a second one further to the left as well (you can see the second one in the interior photo of Posey’s above) to make a matched set. As far as blue crabs go, it’s pretty large but the owner told me that her son has caught plenty bigger ones out in the area. Those must have been some pretty good-sized blue crabs.
Not only did we enjoy some outstanding gumbo (in my opinion the best in the region if not of any restaurant to that I’ve been at any time in my past) but some delicious crab cakes as well. I also indulged in some steamed oysters with garlic and parmesan cheese (I don’t consume raw oysters anymore per doctor’s orders). The whole meal was delicious. I heartily recommend dining at Posey’s Up The Creek Seafood Steam Room And Oyster Bar if you are visiting Tallahassee, Panacea or Apalachicola.
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Both my wife and I are avid readers. We always have been. Unfortunately we don’t get as much time to read as either of us would prefer. However we do manage to read from time to time (my wife more than myself) and we tend to keep an eye out for interesting books. We found some while on a day trip to Apalachicola, Florida last Friday. I haven’t had time to read them yet but have skimmed through parts of each out of curiosity.
The first is entitled “Hobo-ing America” by Richard Edward Noble and is a collection of personal tales from “places where Charles Kuralt was afraid to park his bus.” There are stories about fishing in Canada, meat-cutting in Miami, picking peaches in Michigan and other adventures of Richard and Carol.
The second is also by Richard Noble and is entitled “A Summer With Charlie.” It tells stories of Richard’s old friend Charlie who developed a terminal illness and his last days. It has a cast of characters that seem to be from a Hollywood casting call but are from real life. There’s a lot of emotion in this book and even skimming through it was a bit difficult because a lot of sadness is contained in some of the stories. There’s also a lot of humor, too. I personally feel it could and should be made into a movie. One of those independent films that brings some up-and-coming director, producer, actor, whatever to the forefront. I look forward reading this book.
Third up is “Spring Creek Chronicles” by Leo Lovel which is self-described as “stories of commercial fishin’, huntin’, workin’ and people along the Gulf Coast” and it is exactly that. Many of them take place in and around the small community of Spring Creek, Florida which is a “small commercial fishing village located at the end of County Road 365 that deadends into the Gulf of Mexico.” I’ve taken the time to read a few of the short tales and so far all have been interesting.
The final book of the quartet is “Spring Creek Chronicles II” which is a book of more short stories from Leo Lovel. There’s not much more I can write about this book that I haven’t already written about the first book from Mr. Lovel. I only have read a few of the stories in this one as well and found them just as interesting.
I look forward reading them all. I picked them all up in a couple of shops in Apalachicola, Florida and each set has an address where I assume you can order copies for yourself. In case you are interested, here they are…
Leo V. Lovel
Spring Creek Restaurant
33 Ben Williams Road
Crawfordville, FL 32327
(850) 926-3751
Both addresses came from the books themselves and hopefully are current. All four books seem to be very interesting and entertaining based upon the limited amount of reading I have done with each. And even with that, I recommend them.
UPDATE [Jan. 14, 2009]: The books by both Richard Edward Noble and Leo Lovel are available on Amazon.com and can currently be ordered. Click on their names to see their books that are available.
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But not just any travel mug, but a 20 oz. insulated travel mug manufactured by Aladdin having a heavy-duty plastic exterior and sold in 7-Eleven convenience stores in the Sarasota area (and probably elsewhere). When my wife and I were down in Sarasota last week, I picked up a couple of these when I was in a 7-Eleven getting coffee for the both of us. We don’t have 7-Eleven stores in north Florida and all the convenience stores sell really cheap plastic travel mugs. This Aladdin mug is really good quality and I regret not getting more while I had the chance. They don’t have them on the Aladdin website nor do any of the local megalo-marts like Wal-Mart, Target and KMart carry them.
If any fellow bloggers live in an area with 7-Elevens and happen to be in one getting gas or coffee or whatever, I’d really appreciate it if you’d check to see if they carry these. I’d like to get some more.
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Today marks the passing of a legend in the world of professional wrestling as well as professional football. Ernie “The Big Cat” Ladd passed away today after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 68.
Ladd, a Texas native, played college football for Grambling before having an eight-year career in the American Football League during the 60′s. He was drafted by the AFL’s San Diego Chargers with their 15th pick in the 1961 draft. He joined the Kansas City team in 1967 playing with Buck Buchanan, a former Grambling teammate where they formed what was probably the biggest defensive tackle combination at that time. Ladd being 6’9″ and 315 pounds while Buchanan was 6’7″ and weighed 275 pounds. He earned the nickname “Big Cat” for his unbelievably quick reflexes, agility and speed. During his AFL career he played on two different Championship teams (S.D. Chargers & K.C. Chiefs).
Ernie Ladd began his wrestling career in 1961 while still in the AFL playing pro football in the winter, and wrestling during the off-season summer months. Ladd soon became a huge draw in the Los Angeles area. In the 1970′s Ladd became one of wrestling’s most hated heels. He would often use his taped thumb as a weapon, which Ladd would claim was from an old football injury. Ladd’s giant boot to the face was an exciting, unique move at the time. On the mic he was arrogant, abrasive and quite often funny. He could draw heat with or without words, but his interviews were most often classic and should be shown to current up-and-coming wrestlers as an educational tool. I saw Ladd wrestle on TV in the 70′s in the Mid-South territory promoted by Bill Watts. I fondly remember his feuds with the Junkyard Dog during that time.
From all that I have read by his fellow pro football players and professional wrestlers (Percy Pringle’s blog and the Cauliflower Alley Club have tributes), Ernie Ladd was a beloved member of the both communities. He was inducted into the San Diego Chargers Hall of Fame in 1981; the WCW Hall of Fame in 1994; the WWE Hall of Fame in 1995; the Breitbard Hall of Fame (San Diego Hall of Champions) in 2005; and also the AFL Hall of Fame. The man was impressive as a football player and as a wrestler. He will be missed. I offer my sincerest condolences to the family and friends of Ernie “The Big Cat” Ladd.
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Friday, March 9th, my wife and I just had to get out of the house and away from Tallahassee for a day where we wouldn’t have to worry about much. We decided to take a day trip down to Apalachicola to do some possible window shopping, beach combing (on nearby St. George Island) and whatever was interesting. On the way back we stopped at Posey’s Up The Creek Seafood Steam Room and Oyster Bar in Panacea for dinner. Pretty doggoned good food. The gumbo however was fantastic. Best gumbo I’ve had in this area. It had shrimp, oysters, crab claws, crabmeat, fresh okra, tomatoes, scallops and sausage in a rich brown roux-based liquid. Outstanding!
If you’re in the area of U.S. Highway 98 in Panacea, Florida (also known as Coastal Highway), drop by Posey’s for a good ol’ fashioned country seafood dinner (or lunch). Look for the sign shown above. Their phone number is 850-984-5243.
For whatever it’s worth, I took some pictures of some interesting things along the way. I’ll try to post them in upcoming entries.
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Interesting. If one goes to Olbermann Watch today, one will see the image above. Could this be a cryptic message from Robert Cox and Company that Olbermann Watch isn’t truly dead but is merely playing possum? {And if you don’t know what “playing possum” is, look it up.} Stay tuned. This may get interesting.
ADDENDUM: I looked at some blogs to see if they have noticed this image and several have. But many of them, amusingly enough, fail to recognize the animal as a possum (more properly spelled as opossum) and even more amusingly have no clue as to the term “playing possum.” So as a public service to those unfamiliar with the term:
play possum, Informal. to feign sleep or death
Let’s see where this leads. It may be nothing. It may mean something. As far as I can fathom, only God and Robert Cox know for certain.
I am, however, astounded by the intentional misinformation, misrepresentations, vitriol and other negativities being written on numerous anti-Olbermann Watch blogs and by anti-Olbermann Watch bloggers. It’s astounding, but frankly not surprising.
SECOND ADDENDUM:Olbermann Watch is BACK! Apparently they were indeed playing possum (see definition above) and have revamped the site with a new vigor and sense of purpose. The liberal blogs who were crowing over Olberman Watch’s demise apparently were premature.
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In my prior post, I mentioned that my blogging was going to be cut back due to a new job I got. Well, the reason I wasn’t going to be able to blog was that the training I was going to undertake would be way down in Sarasota and would last for an undetermined amount of time. Yesterday I was offered a better job locally so the Sarasota training is over after only one day and I should be starting a better job sometime next week. And the blogging should continue.
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As some of you may know, I have been unemployed since August of 2006. I have been looking for work ever since that time and finally it has paid off. I received word last week that I have been chosen as a new employee for a regional company. However I begin training Monday morning and that’s going to take up a lot of my time. As a result I am scaling back my blogging activities until further notice. I’m not completely ceasing but at least during the week it looks as if I will not be able to do much online. If things go as planned I should be back on a more regular basis in about 2 months. Until then I will have to suspend comments and trackbacks as of Sunday evening in order to not have a massive backlog of mostly spam when I do return. Keep checking in from time to time and hopefully I will have new material on soon.
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Robert A. Cox has decided to discontinue OlbermannWatch. He writes:
There is no disguising the fact that we have been extremely unhappy with the recent decision of NBC Universal to not only retain Keith Olbermann for four more years but to elevate him in an unprecedented fashion. We had held out hope that MSNBC would allow Olbermann’s contract to expire even up until the last few weeks. But the deal is done and our Countdown Clock expired at midnight on March 1, 2007.
Given this, we have come to the conclusion that we have done more harm than good over the past 2+ years in keeping Olbermann in the public eye at a time when few were watching his show and even less cared about his assault on the journalistic standards we hold dear. So, after careful consideration and consultation with the entire staff, we have decided the time has come to retire OlbermannWatch.com.
It’s been a great run. We certainly had a lot of fun running the site but it’s just been increasingly difficult to maintain our enthusiasm as Olbermann’s ratings have increased and a compliant media has done everything to boost Olbermann and his show.
We wish all of you the best over the next four, painful years.
Sincerely,
Robert A. Cox
Managing Editor
OlbermannWatch.com
I honestly am disappointed that Mr. Cox has decided to end OlbermannWatch. I, for one, appreciated his documentation of Keith Olbermann’s continual assault against truth. I tried watching Countdown for a week but couldn’t complete the whole week due to Olbermann’s overwhelming arrogance, vitriol and complete lack of honesty. The man exhibits all the worst traits of the stereotypical used car salesman with twice the smarminess. MSNBC felt the need to extend his contract and that is their perogatave. However considering his ratings remains one of the lowest on cable news and MSNBC, from top to bottom, is basically the bargain basement of cable television then in the grand scheme of things, Olbermann & MSNBC aren’t significant enough on which to waste time. I looked at reactions in the blogosphere and noted many well-known liberal blogs and pro-Olbermann blogs crowing over Mr. Cox’s decision. In their comments, I also noticed a great amount of misrepresentations and lies concerning Mr. Cox, OlbermannWatch and its contents in general. I need not defend Mr. Cox and OlbermannWatch from such disingenuousness from the extreme left. The facts speak for themselves. The extreme liberals can vent their hatred and vitriol as they are wont to do. They can lie and write untruths. That is what they do. It’s their nature. It’s abhorrent and there’s nothing I nor anyone can do to change them. However this shows why liberalistic extremism never wins. It is also one of the main reasons I find liberalism of that nature repugnant, repulsive and plan evil. I loathe such liberalism and will continue to oppose it.
I thank all those who contributed to OlbermannWatch and wish them all well. I sincerely hope someone will take up the banner, so to speak, and continue to document Olbermann’s activities and expose his continued dishonest and hateful nature.
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I know Al Gore has a large home in Tennessee and I seem to remember a second one in another state (I seem to remember hearing it was in Maryland or Virginia). It’s been widely reported that his home in Tennessee uses more electricity than he’d care to admit. In order to practice what he preaches, perhaps Al Gore should sell his energy-hog home and build one that described thusly:
The 4,000-square-foot house is a model of environmental rectitude.
Geothermal heat pumps located in a central closet circulate water through pipes buried 300 feet deep in the ground where the temperature is a constant 67 degrees; the water heats the house in the winter and cools it in the summer. Systems such as the one in this “eco-friendly” dwelling use about 25% of the electricity that traditional heating and cooling systems utilize.
A 25,000-gallon underground cistern collects rainwater gathered from roof runs; wastewater from sinks, toilets and showers goes into underground purifying tanks and is also funneled into the cistern. The water from the cistern is used to irrigate the landscaping surrounding the four-bedroom home. Plants and flowers native to the high prairie area blend the structure into the surrounding ecosystem.
Wow! What liberal wealthy hippie freak eco-warrior owns such a home? A home that can only be called “green” in every tree-hugging, global warming nuttiness sense of the word?
Ed Begley, Jr.?
No…..
Richard Branson?
Again, no….
No, this is not the home of some eccentrically wealthy eco-freak trying to shame his fellow citizens into following the pristineness of his self-righteous example. And no, it is not the wilderness retreat of the Sierra Club or the Natural Resources Defense Council, a haven where tree-huggers plot political strategy.
This is President George W. Bush’s “Texas White House” outside the small town of Crawford.
George Bush??? The same George Bush all the liberal extremists claim to not care about the environment? The same George Bush all the liberal extremists claim won’t do anything to help the environment?
Now, I realize the rest of the article goes on to bash Bush as an enemy of the environment, but while Al Gore is talking the talk, President Bush is walking the walk… not just at home, but at work, too, where he’s issued an Executive Order to implement energy efficiency in federal office buildings.
Bush is actually doing something to reduce energy consumption… not merely pretending to offset his glutonous lifestyle, while preaching empty words to the masses for a buck. An inconvenient truth, indeed.
Now, now TR, don’t confuse liberal extremist wackos with facts. It will only cause despair in their little imaginary worlds.
I seem to remember that many years ago, certain clergy in the Catholic church allowed parishioners to buy penance as if money had the power to wash away their sins. In todays religion of environmentalism there now exists an equivalent in the form of purchasing carbon offsets. Purchasing carbon offsets really is nothing more than a feel-good measure for well-to-do liberal enviromentalists. It has no real value and only strokes the well-to-do liberal enviromentalist’s ego. It’s hypocrisy at its most shameful form disguised as activism. A false activism, but an effective disguise in the eyes of the well-to-do liberal environmentalists use to impress the not-so-well-to-do liberal environmentalist wanna-bes. All hail the chief-grand-wazoo-poobah of the religion of environmentalism, Pope Al Gore I.
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Eric Poulton, a self-described “art nerd, a computer geek, and a grammar dork” has created a series of art pieces taking elements of the Star Wars universe and recreating them in an artistic steampunk style. It’s a very unique interpretation and I hope he continues with it.
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