Hello, I am new here

[Debp]

 
Debp, would you put up that other forum you go to, I forgot where it was at.  

I'm a moderator at Cpals.net and spend most of my time there.  Hope to see you there sometimes.

[islandboy]

Often times in my little,    section of the forum, we have talked about what life is like in Florida and about plant and animal life. I have just finished reading a really good book about Chokoloskee Island and Everglades City and the Everglades National Park. The book I am speaking of is called TOTCH and is written by Loren G. "Totch" Brown. He describes his life growing up in the very far reaching rural areas of South Florida. It is a hard to put down type of book, that tells tales of alligator hunts and about some of his lawbreaking activities that he engaged in in trying to support his family. I enjoyed reading this book very much.
Another book I just found is out of print but could possibly be found at Amazon.com  in their older used book section.  For that matter "Totch", can be found there as well. Anyways, the second book is called "They Lived In The Park", by Charlton W. Tebeau
This book starts out like a history lesson of the area, describing the various islands, land masses, and rivers and canels. It also speaks on the plants and trees that make up the landscape as well as, their purpose and how they are a part of the wildlife habitate. I have only started the book but I am find it very informative and packed with details not generally found in most books. If I get motivated I may include some chapters here to give you an over all idea of the scope of this book. If your really interested in Florida, these books are ones you should consider.

[islandboy]

Ok folks, this is a bit of info from the book, "They Lived in the Park". 
As the name indicates, the Everglades is chiefly a great flat, mostly treeless, complex of marshes and wet prairie with a scattering of islands and hammocks which stand out in it somewhat as the islands do in the offshore waters on the west coast. It is covered everywhere with saw grass dotted with small islands. Though it may appear to be part of a great level plain nearly thirty miles wide where it enters the Park, it is in reality a great drainage basin aptly designated a "River of Grass". The fall is so slight, being twenty feet from sea level at Lake Okeechobee, to sea level at it's end 150 miles south, that the flow of water is almost imperceptible. The waters of the Kissimmee River, and the other streams of the Lake Okeechobee watershed once flowed into the lake, and from the lake down though more than a hundred miles of Everglades and found their way into the Gulf of Mexico. But drainage of the lake and the upper Everglages has greatly reduced this source of water and every gallon of water diverted from this great area by use or drainage is also diverted from the Everglades National Park and alters the natural setting.

[islandboy]

Okay, now skipping ahead a few pages this is what I found to be really interesting:
To the aboriginal Indian and his successor in South Florida, the Everglades was a great highway of travel. Only in the driest years, and it must be emphasized that there were dry years even before drainage efforts began to lower the water table and was travel restricted. The white man too learned to navigate the river of grass. In the Seminole wars he used a shallow draft canoe. Later he devised a glades skiff, a long narrow craft built out of boards. Then a swamp buggy which is lightweight jeep-like, with powerful engines, and an extra low speed transmission with oversized tires. However, on the Eastern side of the Everglades there are larger outcrops of sharp rocks that ruin tires and bottoms of airboats, and so glades buggies with caterpillar type traction are more commonly used there. In the more watery regions of the western Glades the airboat, powered by an airplane type engine and propeller is used, as it can go over the grasses,  as well as, handle the deeper waters where the wheeled vehicles cannot operate.

[nChrist]

Hello Islandboy,

I watched a Discovery Channel show about Florida not too long ago and it was fascinating. They talked about a vast and unexplored system of caves beneath Florida. Most of them are full of water and too dangerous to explore except by absolute professionals. However, even the professionals lack equipment that will allow them to explore much of the underwater world. They did bring cameras with them, and it was beautiful. It was really just another example of how little we really know about GOD'S awesome and beautiful Creation. We've only seen a tiny fraction of GOD'S Creation. More will be revealed at HIS appointed time.

Love In Christ,
Tom

KEEP LOOKING UP!!

[Debp]

Thanks Islandboy for posting about the Everglades.....sounds like a great place to visit.  Tom, the caves sound fascinating, too.

[islandboy]

Skipping ahead, I will tell a bit about the mangrove trees in Florida. No where in Florida is the mangrove forest so extensive or well developed as in the Everglades National Park area. The term mangrove is strictly ecological meaning tropical trees that grow in flooded saline areas. The roots being bathed by fresh and salt water, as the land merges into the sea. Three trees in Florida bear the name mangrove, the red, the black, and the white. The red mangrove is clearly recognizable by its extensive prop root system; the black by the pneumatophores that its roots send up which suggest asparagus. The less commom white mangrove is not clearly distinguishable but has a characteristically different leaf. which is thick and oval shaped and looks alike on both sides. The three types of mangrove are sometimes said to grow in different zones, but in the Park, at least , they are commonly mixed. The big forest in the Park is roughly fifty per cent red, thirty per cent black, and twenty per cent white. Red mangroves make up the swamp fringes because it has a more efficient floating seedling. The black mangrove when partly decomposed has a punky quality that makes it useful to burn as a smudge to drive away mosquitoes and is sometimes used as fuel. The mangrove, as well as,  buttonwood trees have long been important sources of tannin and charcoal in the Orient. In Florida the buttonwood tree was an important source of firewood and charcoal in the early years. The so-called driftwood that is gathered along the more accessible inland areas, prized for it's weird shapes is usually buttonwood. No drifting is involved, it is simply storm-killed, weathered wood lying in the woods and sometimes on beaches.
The red mangrove has a high tannic acid content, but has been largely undisturbed in Florida.
The most remarkable strand of mangroves was or is in a stretch from the Little Shark River to north of Lostman's River, extending inland two to six miles along the rivers. The trees grow in a peat soil that is ten to fourteen feet deep and where they reach a height from eighty to one hundred feet with straight clear trunks, as much as eighteen to even twenty-four inches in diameter. The bark on the trees ranges from .2 to .7 inch in thickness and averages .4 inch. White and black mangroves do not grow as tall, but sometimes reach four feet in diameter. The single most thing that is destructive to mangroves is hurricanes.

[islandboy]

This will be the last skip ahead in and from the book "They Lived In The Park", but before I quote from it I would like to say that I have always enjoyed books written about history. Not all history, but history that defines the area of the country that I have lived or live in. In doing this it gives me a sense of home. It shows me what people went through in the early years and what makes any certain State, in the union different from all the other States. Florida is unique in many ways, but Florida also had some of the toughest pioneers, as in the ability to live in the area of the Everglades National Park, the Ten-Thousand Islands, Everglades City, and Chokoloskee. What makes this area worst than all the other areas in Florida, well one word to be exact mosquitoes. Not just any mosquito mind you, but mangrove salt water mosquitoes. They are the most pesky in my book. Don't believe me, next time you visit Florida, take a ride down that way and step out of your car with no repellent on,  oh and by the way they enjoy natives, almost as much as they like tourists. Now back in the early years in Florida, the Indians had their own ways of dealing with pesky insects and then along came the white man and he had to learn mighty fast or these books might never have been written. Just as learning our Bibles is important to learn how this world came into being and the words of our Lord and Savior, we must read and understand the histories of those men and women that broke the trails and made a living out of a little scrap of nothing, be it in the  north country or  on a shell mound in South Florida.
Now here is the last tidbit from this little book that makes all I have said above come into true focus for me as it may to many of you.
When the early setters came to live in the area of the Everglades National Park area, they came mostly with what was on there backs or in their boats. Most trade in the old days was with the Seminole Indians, as boats from up north were few and far between. Thus one had to learn how to make things out of what was available in the area, whereby the fauna of the islands came into play. The coconut tree furbished the Islander with house, house furniture, clothing, table utensil, food and drink. Panthers and Florida beaver, and a small species of deer and bear provided him with his winter hunting food as well as pelts although, there was little money to be made from pelts owing to the climate. The exception to this was the raccoons, whose fur was of exceptionally good quality and formed 90 percent of an Islander's pelt trade. The Islander's had seven unwritten laws, outside the observance of all other laws be they religious or moral systems. They are or were, either case maybe as I don't live in that area: Suspect every man, Ask no questions, Settle your own quarrels, Never steal from an Islander, Stick by him, even if you do not know him, Shoot quick, when your secret is in danger, and Cover your kill.  This book covers the date time frame of the early 1800's through 1963. It is an interesting and informative account of the early years of the before and after the Park came into being. A worthwhile book to read. May be available through libraries.

[islandboy]

We have come a long ways together you and I, as I have told of my life and about living in Florida, as well as some history of South Florida. Now I have decided to add a few Bible scripture quotes and poems to my little space here.
                                    Jesus said, "You are the light of the world."  (Matt. 5:14)

What does that mean to us as Christians?  Is it about making speeches about Jesus?  If not then what?
It is about what people see when they observe us. Many may not want to hear about Jesus, but you can be sure they are watching us, to see if having God in our lives makes a difference in the way we live. When Jesus said, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works" (Matt. v 16), He was saying that before we can speak to others about Jesus, we must live for Christ, by throwing away all our selfishness and unneeded wants, and show by our good works in compassion for others that we are living our lives as true, not false Christians. Turn on your light and shine for Jesus.

                                                          You are called with a holy calling
                                                             The light of the world to be,
                                                           To lift up the lamp of the Savior
                                                              That others His light may see.

                                         

[Debp]

We have come a long ways together you and I, as I have told of my life and about living in Florida, as well as some history of South Florida. Now I have decided to add a few Bible scripture quotes and poems to my little space here.
                                    Jesus said, "You are the light of the world."  (Matt. 5:14)

What does that mean to us as Christians?  Is it about making speeches about Jesus?  If not then what?
It is about what people see when they observe us. Many may not want to hear about Jesus, but you can be sure they are watching us, to see if having God in our lives makes a difference in the way we live. When Jesus said, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works" (Matt. v 16), He was saying that before we can speak to others about Jesus, we must live for Christ, by throwing away all our selfishness and unneeded wants, and show by our good works in compassion for others that we are living our lives as true, not false Christians. Turn on your light and shine for Jesus.

                                                          You are called with a holy calling
                                                             The light of the world to be,
                                                           To lift up the lamp of the Savior
                                                              That others His light may see.

                                         

Amen, Islandboy.  I agree totally.

[Soldier4Christ]

We have come a long ways together you and I, as I have told of my life and about living in Florida, as well as some history of South Florida. Now I have decided to add a few Bible scripture quotes and poems to my little space here.
                                    Jesus said, "You are the light of the world."  (Matt. 5:14)

What does that mean to us as Christians?  Is it about making speeches about Jesus?  If not then what?
It is about what people see when they observe us. Many may not want to hear about Jesus, but you can be sure they are watching us, to see if having God in our lives makes a difference in the way we live. When Jesus said, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works" (Matt. v 16), He was saying that before we can speak to others about Jesus, we must live for Christ, by throwing away all our selfishness and unneeded wants, and show by our good works in compassion for others that we are living our lives as true, not false Christians. Turn on your light and shine for Jesus.

                                                          You are called with a holy calling
                                                             The light of the world to be,
                                                           To lift up the lamp of the Savior
                                                              That others His light may see.

                                         

Amen, well worth quoting again.

[islandboy]

Question for Debp or Pastor Rogers, I went on over to the site cpals and joined up. However, everytime I go to post, I get an error message. The question is do they have a waiting period before you can post, or is this another wacky thing that happens only to me ??

This little poem seems to fit in this spot, matching the meaning of the verses above.

Lord, let me be a shining light
In all I say and do,
That Your great love displayed in me
May lead someone to You.

[Soldier4Christ]

Debp will have to answer that. I don't know anything about it.

[Debp]

Question for Debp or Pastor Rogers, I went on over to the site cpals and joined up. However, everytime I go to post, I get an error message. The question is do they have a waiting period before you can post, or is this another wacky thing that happens only to me ??

This little poem seems to fit in this spot, matching the meaning of the verses above.

Lord, let me be a shining light
In all I say and do,
That Your great love displayed in me
May lead someone to You.

Hi Islandboy.  I saw last night that you visited there....are you Islandboy there, as there was also an Islandgirl?

Anyhow, yes, there is a short waiting period (authorization).  The administrators will check each new member first, as we had been getting some porn and spam postings.  I'll look to see if your authorization went through yet.  Just getting on the computer now.

[islandboy]

I am registered as islandboy. I hope you can figure it out as I look forward to sharing posts with you there as well. The islandgirl name was someone who had use of one of my website, e-mail addresses and decided to use it for personal stuff. I told them in no uncertain terms that I did not want that and they were supposed to cancel the membership. Needless to say I was not happy about that. I hope that was done. I hate spam, except for the meat in the can.