Fillets by the gallon bucket? Ice chests full of fish? A fish fry to feed the neighborhood? There aren't many species of fish left in Florida that permit such prodigious harvests, but the black crappie, also called speckled perch, is one. And December through April is speck time. ...more

December 14, 2008

AVON PARK — Just in case they haven't been paying attention to the news, Judy Puffen gave high school students a personal account of what Iraq is like: frequent sandstorms, constant danger, grinding poverty, unvarying boredom. "Please let me come home before I die," former Sgt. 1st Class Puffen said she would think. She was one of the first American soldiers to go there after Operation Iraqi Freedom commenced in 2003. "It was all sand over there," she said. "The first thing I wanted to do when I got home was kiss the grass. It was like biblical times. The houses were made of adobe — mud." "What kind of weapon did you carry," asked one student in Amy Love's American History class. "An M-16," Puffen said, a 22-year veteran. Even though her job was administrative and financial, she carried a rifle. ...more

February 23, 2008

A redneck was stopped by a game warden in Central Mississippi recently with two ice chests full of fish. He was leaving a cove well-known for its fishing. The game warden asked the man: "Do you have a license to catch those fish?" "Nawsir" replied the redneck. "I ain't got none of them there licenses. You must understand these here are my pet fish." "Pet fish?" ...more

January 31, 2008