Last night’s local news reported Tallahassee is ranked #3 in America’s Top-100 Sweatiest Cities, a ranking done by Old Spice. A deodorant company ranking sweaty cities? Imagine that!

It’s warm here, but I didn’t think it was really that much warmer or any more humid than north Alabama. Oh, wait! Huntsville is #11 and Birmingham is #13. Isn’t that what I just said?

The Sweatiest Cities rankings are based on computer simulations of the amount of sweat a person of average height and weight would produce walking around for an hour in the average temperatures during June, July and August of 2007.

At least it was a computer simulation. Imagine having the job of measuring all that actual sweat? Ew!

Here are the top 25 cities:

1. Phoenix, AZ (but it’s a dry heat, right?)
2. Las Vegas, NV
3. Tallahassee, FL
4. Tucson, AZ
5. Memphis, TN
6. Miami, FL
7. Houston, TX
8. Tampa, FL
9. Baton Rouge, LA
10. Fort Myers, FL
11. Huntsville, AL
12. New Orleans, LA
13. Birmingham, AL
14. Jacksonville, FL
15. West Palm Beach, FL
16. Montgomery, AL
17. Orlando, FL
18. Dallas, TX
19. Little Rock, AR
20. Corpus Christi, TX
21. El Paso, TX
22. Waco, TX
23. Austin, TX
24. Columbia, SC
25. Mobile, AL

Recently we have taken to loading up the family into the van, dog included, and driving the five minutes to Southwood. It has the loveliest walking trails …

… and a nice shaded playground for Miss Munchkin to play on. She loves the slides and climbing and a chance to play with other children.

Penny (the dog) loves the open spaces, other dogs and animals, and cooler walking area.

Bill and I like the scenic (and shaded) walking trails.

There are geese and other birds and squirrels everywhere, along with signs of other wildlife, such as armadillos.

It is almost like taking a stroll through the back lanes of our farm years ago, only with Spanish Moss hanging from the trees!

Saturday is the Farmer’s Market in Downtown Tallahassee at the Ponce de Leon Park. For some reason we have only managed to make our way down there once in the year we’ve been here. I think we just like our lazy Saturday mornings. But today we remembered at noon that we wanted to go and get some fresh produce. Bill suggested we eat lunch at Dog Et Al, so we headed off for an early afternoon adventure.

Dog Et Al, located on South Monroe Street in Tallahassee, boasts 10,230 different ways to fix a hot dog. The four of us each tried a different combination, so we only have 10, 226 more to go! My turkey dog with sweet relish was very good. I also had cheesy French fries, which were different from any I have had before. They had a very light yellow smooth cheese sauce drizzled over them and then shredded cheddar cheese sprinkled on top of that. Yum! Bill ordered a combo meal, so his came with potato chips and an apple pie. His potato chips appeared to be fresh made and were delicious.

At the Farmer’s Market there were artists and basket weavers and jewelry artisans and street singers. Miss Munchkin had never seen anyone play music live and she found the musicians quite fascination. Until she discovered the water fountain, that is. Then she needed pennies to throw in the fountain.

We bought enough produce to get us through the week, I think.

• Sweet corn – on the menu for supper tonight
• Zucchini
• Tomatoes – local, so no fear of salmonella
• Blueberries – organic and they actually taste like blueberries
• Peaches – ripe and ready to eat
• Cantaloupe
• Sweet potatoes

And the lovely cut asters pictured at the top!

We will definitely have to get off our lazy butts on Saturday mornings and make this a weekly excursion. Well, maybe not the hot dogs, but if we leave early enough, we could eat fresh fruits and veggies for lunch and maybe save the hot dog trip for once a month or so. At that rate, it would only take us 2,556 months to try all the different combinations possible at Dog Et Al if the four of us go each time. I think we better convince David to go along with us next time!