Everyone But Thee and Me by Ogden Nash

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


aAnotgher wonderful colelction of poetic ditties. Favorites are ‘All’s Noel that ends Noel’, ‘The Miraculous Countdown’, ‘The Kipper’, ‘All Quiet Along the Potomac, Except the Letter G’ and ‘Shall we Dance?’.

This collection is not 100% excellent.There are a few clunkers here. But all is sure a lot of fun to read!

Bottom line: I recommend this book. 8 out of 10 points.



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Date with a Dead Man by Brett Halliday

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


“Brett Halliday” was really David Dresser. Dresser wrote teh series from 1938 to 1959. This is the first book after Dresser written by a ghost writer and it shows.

The writing is good and the mystery is better. The plotting is OK with some sloppy parts here and there. The characters are also OK. Mostly distinct.

But this is all a far cry from Dresser’s work. The writers botches the two decades of books continuity with un-Mike Shayne moves. There are also many blue areas in the book placing the book in the pulpier side of pulp. Dresser never went as far as the ghost writer did with blue material.

But, I’ll judge the book as a single entity.

Bottom line: I recommend this book. 6 out of 10.



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Florida Politics In The Gilded Age, 1877 1893 by Edward C. Williamson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A terrific and balanced study of Florida politics before 1877 and just after 1893. Unlike others I find slanted to the Democrat party, especially those recently written, this gives both sides and fills in perplexing gaps left in other books I’ve ready that just doesn’t want to write about anything good done by Republicans. This books writes as bad of Republicans as Democrats depending on the situation.

This books is very honest about the plight of former slaves and the quicksand created by Democrats working to return to the days pre-Civil War. Which they were mostly successful doing.

This also includes a very good bibliography, footnotes and index. Something else something else those earlier books I’ve read leave out or are slight of.

The writing, though, is like others expecting the reader to know of people and issues before reading. That is a draw back for the history novice. This is also another history that, as it nears conclusion,the writer gets very loose with names and places and could be confusing to the reader.

Bottom line: I recommend this book. 8 out of 10 points.



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Rattlesnake Valley by J.A. Johnstone

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


A fine tale with a few finer twists that makes a good book. There are troubles, though.

One of those troubles is that this tale has been told a number of times within the various Johnstone Clan series. This one,as others, has a different ending, but much of the mechanics of the book are very closely repeated. Of the ones I remember, this one is one of the better re-tellings by the Johnstone Clan.

The tale is of a bad guy with land wanting more land of an uncle with a daughter and there still another Johnstone attempt to “tree” a town. As I understand,in American western history, there were a few efforts to take over a town and none succeeded. In the Johnstone many series of books, I believe I’ve read a good 2 dozen. This one has a more than one alteration to the details of the story that is more of a surprise due to expecting a complete repeat of other Johnstone novels.

There are also a number of inconsistencies with earlier ‘Loner’ novels. Also time frame issues involving the series where years turn into months turn into years.

Botoom line: I recommend this book. 7 out of ten points.



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Linda Hughes contributed Silver Springs State Park to the MerMay list. So here is a mermaid being a sight for the riders of a glass bottom boat.

Jennifer Huber added to the mermaid list of her chasing mermaids for a story she’s working on. So, here is Jennifer interviewing, taking photos, filming, etc. a talkative mermaid. I believe we all know mermaids that talk a lot!

Before Selma: The Harry T. Moore Story by Florence Alexander

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


How the heck did author Alexander get a PhD if this is an example of how she approaches anything? What a disaster. Following three excellent books of Florida history, I stumbled into this mess in the stack. Unlike Alexander, who wants to present popular ideas than substantiated facts, I will back up my problems with this slight volume.

First and foremost is the vast inaccurate history presented. She starts with assuming the subject, Harry Moore, came from Africa and states that as fact. In that not all dark skinned people came from any one part or at all from Africa the assumption is further aggravated a few pages later as she uses the word “assumed” herself involving where his grandparents came!!! Augghhh!!!

But, wait! It gets worse!! Much, much worse!!! Throughout the entire volume Fort Mose is spelled as Fort Moses. Fort Moses!????!!! How the hell did that happen??? Quite clear she never went there, though there is a claim she did.

She entirely botches the history of dark skinned people and the Spanish conquistadors by, apparently, only referencing volumes involving Gary Mormino, the Florida revisionist “historian”. A tiny, tiny amount of real research would have had her discover the documents that refute the silliness she helps get repeated.

She writes of the Democrats working to undermine dark skinned people and then doesn’t note the irony of Moore then working to boost the very party that did that and was fueling the Klu Klux Klan. Of course, that has always been part of the speculation that Moore was working with the Democrat party as he undermined the NAACP and the party he helped create. Leading to the possibility that any of those could have also been responsible for the bombing. None of this is presented or questioned.

Her best effort is writing of Sheriff Willis McCall. Pretty clear she read ‘Devil in the Grove’ before this and repeated much of what she read there. She should have read of the other subjects I noted, including much, much more about Moore.

This goes on and on and on. And the book is only 84 pages long!!!! A third are a scattering of documents that were just stuck in with out explanation. And the rest is self promotion.

Beyond that, the writing is nearly juvenile. If I was in the position, I would question Alexander’s PhD. She could redeem herself by producing a serious book about this serious subject. Otherwise, there are now volumes covering this history and go to those, not this.

Bottom line: I don’t recommend this book. 1 out of 10 stars.



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Prop Roots Vol. II: Hermits The Mangrove Country of the Everglades by Everglades City High School

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Considering the very high quality of the writing and layout of this publication, it’s very unfortunate this isn’t 200 pages longer. This is very well written and thought out. Each person examined is given just the right touch of revelation and storytelling.

Particularly good is not just that the folks documented are hermits but the whys, hows and whens are answered well, too.

There is a scattering of photos they are rather unprofessional and add little to the volume. They should’ve added more to each story.

This is a rich little volume and, if you can find it, well worth reading.

Bottom line: I recommend this book. 10 out of 10 points.



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A Florida political aside: An effort to get the governor to kill a bill.

As most know, I’m pretty involved with politics but post nothing of it here. Here I make an exception because I notice a bulk majority on all sides of the issue are against a ridiculous plan in front of our governor to approve a proposal by our legislature to approve 3 nebulous highways in our state of Florida.

There is no set idea where exactly the three go, how they will be built, what they might be designed as and – most importantly – the actual number of Billions to build three highways that only those that can make a cut of the project want. One of these highways extends to the Georgia border where there is no highway on the other side to meet it!

I hear environmentalists upset and they have reason. There has to be further damage to our water supply to build, specifically the redirected “Heartland” highway. But I think the REAL anger should be to what a sloppy mess this is and how it’s set up to cost us endless supplies of taxpayer cash to build these needless roads. Two of these highways are old projects the people rose against and killed. So, not to leave road builders and their ilk out of the cash flow, the politicians just moved the roads in a different direction! 

There are preposterous numbers being thrown around by the Chamber of Commerce of 4.5 million moving here by 2030. First, the average person who moves to Florida is indigent and aren’t buying a home anytime soon after moving here. Nevertheless, in the Chamber’s logic, we need to pay for these roads which have little residential development but land owners wanting to develop. The politicians and Special Interests want us taxpayers to pay for a mighty expensive driveway to developer yet-to-be-built projects. 

What’s not mentioned is that, by 2030, a good deal of Baby Boomers are gone and we have a far poorer tax paying population that doesn’t drive as much. Something we saw coming 30 years ago. 

The governor has until the 28th, I learned today, to sign this boondoggle. Usually the deadline is later in June, but obviously there are those with hands out waiting for checks to start being written.

So, today i put a call to my pal Ken Culotta and started hammering out some good gag ideas and tonight, with pen in hand, have started drawing the lot. Hope to get these out before Friday and hope others will help get these around.

The push is to encourage Governor DeSantis to kill this bill and not blow Billions for needless highways for special interests when we have hundreds of current existing roads in need of help first or how about some REAL help to those still in tent cities in the Panhandle after Hurricane Michael ….or, better yet, with all that money saved, we all get a tax break!??!!

(By the way, I’m giving just the briefest argument. I can get real nitty gritty as to why these projects are Florida Swamp projects and just how needless they really are.)

#MerMay has two mermaids! This contributed byPaula Mendoza. 
Them manatees are almost as plentiful as love bugs, but they don’t fly….. yet.

Feel free to leave your suggestion as to where you’d like to see a mermaid in Florida below!

Later Tuesday took a couple of trails at Silver Springs State Park. 

Trying to get a bit more fit to be ready to put my all into my time at the Florida Parent-Educators Association – FPEA convention next week at Rosen Shingle Creek.

More photos at my Swampy’s Florida.