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The Gators took on Hawaii and for the second game in a row, the Warriors were sent paddling back with another good, old-fashioned SEC butt-whipping. The team we faced was nothing like the one last seen being so easily dispatched by Trey’s Dawgs in the Sugar Bowl.

Hawaii may have lost their coach and their quarterback, but they did not lose their swagger as they came calling with every intention of pulling off the upset. In fact, Hawaii reminded me a lot of tonight’s opponent — Miami — in their trash-talking ways, their propensity to hold their blocks just a few seconds beyond the whistle, and their premature celebrations after “big” plays.

I feel lucky because FSU has had two weeks to work on Western Carolina. Surely, there is plenty of stuff to report about this match up. I guess this was one last going-away present from Athletic Director Dave Hart.
I am not really sure why we took an opening-week bye, but I bet it was some of the same smart thinking that keeps scheduling us in Thursday night games. We have not had much luck with those games. If we can survive the Michigan curse, we should be alright.

Luckily, we are no where near a fifth-place ranking and the only thing WC has in common with Appalachian State is they are both from the Carolinas. Then it is on to Chattanooga, who has obviously made someone very mad. They should be pretty tenderized by No. 4 Oklahoma (their first week opponent) by the time they get to FSU.

The chapel bell rang loudly Aug. 30 after the Dawgs beat up on the Georgia Southern Eagles like a big brother picking on his little brother. The Dawgs took a 38-0 lead before calling off the Dawgs, so to speak, and letting their little brothers from Statesboro touch the end zone.

It was a beautiful and very hot opening day in Athens. The atmosphere was electric – you would have thought the Dawgs were taking on an SEC, ranked rival, not their little brother to the south, the Eagles, the team built by the legendary Erk Russell.

Adding to the excitement, was the introduction of Uga VII (Loran’s best), to the 93,000 packing Sanford Stadium and an army of photographers. Uga VII didn’t disappoint. He stood like royalty at midfield while being fitted with a red spiked collar. Uga VII also made the Dawg Nation proud by restraining from doing any of those things a Dawg could do while being introduced to the world, if you know what I mean.
Being new on the job Uga VII stalked the sidelines for nearly three full quarters before retiring to his air-conditioned Dawg House for a quick nap. He will learn to pace himself and stalk the sidelines all four quarters by the time we get into SEC play, hopefully.

Jeffrey Block displays an impressive redfish he caught in the Nassau Sound on Aug. 28. 

Hopefully, as predicted, Hanna will have passed us by, leaving Nassau County with a beautiful sunny weekend. The schools of mullet are still cruising our beaches along with an incoming tide all morning. This should give the local surf angler plenty of action this weekend.

The low tide will be falling around 9:14 a.m., leaving a perfect tide to fish this morning. Whiting, pompano, blues, trout and small sharks were in the reports this week. The point at Amelia Island State Park has been producing reds, trout, flounder and small sharks.

September is a wonderful time of year. Here on Amelia Island, like other parts of the country, kids are back to school, the nights are a bit — OK, just a little bit — cooler, and we all look toward getting back into the groove of life. Even though we are lucky enough to wear our flip flops for a few more months, we are getting back to routines, and it’s a great time to step up our organizational strategies.

Everyone knows the phrase “tools of the trade.” It’s the gear that’s needed to get a particular job done. When we talk about organization, if we gather our own “tools for the task,” we can save time, make our responsibilities more pleasant and reduce frustration.

Thursday's Nassau County football scores:

Fernandina Beach 61, Bishop Snyder 0

Hilliard 34, Matanzas 0

West Nassau County 35, Episcopal 34

Menendez 23, Yulee 0

High winds and surf advisories will remain in effect in Nassau County until 8 a.m. Saturday as Tropical Storm Hanna passes along the coast today.

Winds are expected to shift to the north at 25 to 35 mph with gusts to 45 mph late in this morning and then northwest this afternoon, according to the National Weather Service alert. West winds of 25 to 35 mph with gusts to 45 mph this evening will slowly diminish late tonight.

There’s a high risk of rip currents and breakers will increase to 6 to 7 feet with
occasional 8-foot breakers possible as Hanna reaches its closest point.

This weekend my father mother and I went to our summer home in a small town called Tučepi. It is n ear Split (if you want to look at a map.) The drive was about four hours, I slept the majority of the way. When we arrived at the house in Tučepi, I got my bathing suit on and headed down to the sea. It is literally 2 seconds away from the house! The water was a beautiful tint of aqua that darkened as it deepened. It was a bit colder than the Atlantic. The beaches were not sand instead they were small pebbles. It was a change, and I have still not decided whether I like the sand or stones better. I guess I could just love them both. The summer home is very nice. It has two bedrooms and one bathroom. The flat has a nice open kitchen and living area that leads to the porch. The little view that is, is beautiful. Downstairs there is another flat that my parents own. But they rent this one out during the summer because it is a little smaller than the other one. We spent the weekend in Tučepi where I soaked up all the sun and Adriatic that I could take.We left Tučepi Sunday evening. On our way out of town we stopped by this beautiful outdoor church (I would have taken pictures but there was a service going on.) We arrived back in Zagreb later that night. I went to sleep thinking about the next day and how my first day of school might go. I have to admit I was rather nervous to think that I will go to a school where I will know nobody and I know very little of the language. I woke up the next morning and jus t waited. School did not start until 2 o´clock that day. There was much anticipation. I soon decided that I could start getting ready for school. So I did just that. My mother arrived home from work and we left the house headed for school. I had a meeting with the principle before school. She introduced me to my homeroom teacher. My homeroom teacher is 4 foot nothing with heels and she is also my history teacher. I went to her classroom where I found old-fashioned tables and chairs. I took a seat as other students entered the classroom. All of the sudden it was a mad rush to meet the foreigner. God forbid you be the last one to introduce yourself to me! Of course I remembered not one of my peers names. As the teacher tried to settle the class down a girl came and sat down next to me and introduced herself again. Her name was Nina. Nina speaks very good English and she explained to me what my schedule was. She explained that we are in class 2C. Which means we are in the 2nd grade (they count down instead of up.) And the C is just one of the many different classes within my grade. The school over here is very complicated so I will briefly explain. I have about 15 different subjects, all of which I will take in a different classroom with the same group of students. My schedule changes daily and every week I alternate times that school starts. For example, this week school starts in the afternoon and next week school will start in the morning. So far I love my school, my friends and my family. I will have a meeting with my Rotary very soon and I will let you know how that goes.                                    Sincerely,                                           Emily

After the sweet goodbyes at the Jacksonville airport I proceeded through security. My first flight was to Washington DC, where I met up with the other Rotary Youth exchange student from Maine named Allie. In DC I decided that I would show Allie how we live in Florida and I took her to the Red Carpet Club (thanks to Jeanie). After spending the duration of our layover there we proceeded back to our gate. Allie got the pleasure of accompaning me on the 8 hour flight to Frankfurt Germany. Where we sweet talked the flight attendant into letting us sit together. In Germany we sat around playing cards with a nice guy from California. He was on his way to visit his family in Saudi Arabi. He showed us this really cool card trick. After playing cards for a while we went to our gate where we met two other Rotary Youth exchange students headed for Croatia.. The next leg of the trip was probably the best. It was about an hour and 30minutes. Then we soon arrived in the Zagreb airport were we picked up our bags and walked out of frosted sliding glass doors where my host father Ratko and host sister Josipa were waiting for me hold up a sign with my name. The ride home was about 20 minutes, all the while my dad was pointing out the sights that I might need to know. Ratko speaks very nice english as well as Josipa. My mother on the other hand is just about as good at English as I am at Croatian. My mothers name is Mislav.. They say the female names are always harder to pronounce thank the male names. When we arrived at my house where I met my other host sibling... While Ratko carried my luggage up 3 flights of stairs to my bedroom (spavaća soba). Which I am sharing with my host sister. I began unpacking while creating a sisterly bond with Josipa. Soon after I began unpacking I was called down to lunch where my mother had prepared veal with peas, mashed potatoes, rice, salad and tomotoes. This meal was accompied with a homemade juice of which fruit I am not sure. I soon learned that lunch (ručak) was the main meal of the household. This is the meal that the mother prepares.The other meals such as breakfast and dinner are very casual. Usually you are supposed to prepare them yourself. After lunch I continued unpacking then my sister and I walked the dog Johnny. Josipa showed her neighborhood to me during the walk. She explained that every neighborhood has a differnet name and in every neighborhood there are many differnt houses with a number of flats within each building. There is one flat per family. After the walk we decided to take the dog back home while Josipa and I went to a coffee bar. We sat at the coffee bar for about 30 to 45 minutes as we did some more of that sisterly bonding! We soon found our way home and joined the family for a small dinner. My first Croaitan dinner consisted of cottage cheese with salt and a cream sauce. We also had an assortment of ham, bread and tomatoes to accompany our cottage cheese.                                                    Sincerely,                                                          The Foreigner                                                          (Emily Garvin)