Intro

Finally. After months of saying I was going to do it, I’ve set up a blog. I’m more lurker by nature, so it was all too easy to procrastinate. Since I’m one of those quiet people who are compulsively secretive, you won’t find any deep, dark secrets here. On the other hand, I’m also compulsively interested in a wide variety of topics. Let something catch my eye and I’m on it like a duck on a june bug. So I’ll be posting lots of interesting stuff on romance books, space, history, archeology and whatever else captures my fancy.

For instance, Florida has the longest history of ranching of any state in the United States. And those who worked cattle were traditionally called cowmen or cow hunters. If you are familiar with Florida’s dense ground growth and timbered rangeland, it’s easy to understand why. Unlike in the American West, these “cowboys” or cowmen, herded with dogs and 10-12 foot long braided whips, hence “Cracker”, and often rode smallish, rugged horses known as cracker ponies.

Many of the difficulties of Florida’s cowman faced would have been familiar to the American West cowboy. Just like the more famous cowboy, they had to fight off panthers, wolves, bear and cattle rustlers. Did I mention the range wars, posses and gunfights?

What unusual fact about where you live, or have lived, do you know?