Don’t Have “A Failure To Communicate” With Carter Crabtree

Carter Crabtree says: “Okay. You Brought The Jack Daniels. Good.” Learn more and Leave a message below.

Let’s start with this. Carter Crabtree is a Florida Boy, NOT a “Florida Man” who comes in many shapes, sizes, and mentalities. Florida Man is a modern, scarily accurate, representation of the crazy shit that occurs daily in The Sunshine State. Little known secret: There aren’t that many Florida Men, they just know how to show up in weird situations when the cops are involved.

A ‘Florida Boy’ is a totally different creature. The photo on this page is of my great-grandfather and his family taken in 1915 in North Florida not far from Steinhatchee. The young lady in the center of the photo is my grandmother, Letha Faulkner. Much of my family Was born and raised in Florida. Family history goes back to at least the mid-1850s, best I can tell.

You may be asking what all this has to do with Carter Crabtree. Well, Carter Crabtree is me, Wally Balleau. The great-grandson of Thomas Faulkner, a Florida Boy (on my mother’s side). He’s the man with the moustache.

I was born in 1952 and did many things. Being from Florida, I watched this whole, insane shooting match unfold. And, while I cherish my youth here, the landscape has changed dramatically and not for the better. In my older age, I decided it would be a good thing to take my past skills and apply them. The result is this little corner of the Internet Universe:  www.badflorida.com.

I have stared at that photo and into the eyes of my great-grandfather, and the name Carter Crabtree came to mind. In order to do what I wanted, I needed a name change, and Carter Crabtree came to mind. Think pseudonym: Samuel Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain) or Benjamin Franklin (a.k.a. Poor Richard’s Almanack) as examples. In other words, a different method of getting a message across.

So, I asked the memory of my great-grandfather, “You okay with me using your picture and a different name?” His answer, “I don’t what the hell you’re doin’. But okay. Just eat what you kill.”

Thank you, great-granddaddy, for your patience and understanding. And, to those who actually took the time to read this, Carter Crabtree thanks you, too.

You are invited to comment or suggest something human and meaningful here:

You can also leave an email here: crabtree@badflorida.com

Thank you kindly,

Carter Crabtree