So this is where my blog is meant to be, among the mangroves and salt water of southern Florida. 
Tomorrow is Earth Day and all the high anxiety of rising water levels, increasing carbon dioxide and exhaust gas pollution will dominate the news cycles for twenty four hours. Here in the Keys where the sun shines and dogs ramble, every day is Earth Day for me, drinking my rainwater, recycling my trash, composting and growing vegetables.
In another critique of modern life we are told a household pet like Cheyenne produces as many harmful emissions as a gas guzzling vehicle, a critique I shrug off on the grounds she was saved from a shelter not purchased as a toy. Perhaps she misses mountains and valleys but she seems to enjoy these rambles where the views are not of leafy hills but salt water and empty horizons.
Landscaping without watering is the theory of modern gardening. Support local plants they say not evil Brazilian peppers flowing prettily, as many nasty invasive species are wont to do. 
The Florida Keys, where the gumbo limbo peels coyly... 
...and the sea grapes lose their leaves...
...and cretinous humans feel compelled to leave their idiotic marks:
Puffy summer clouds are building... 
...bringing a promise of future rain. I have no doubt someone will warn ominously of an unusually powerful destructive hurricane season to come, starting June 1st. 
The heat is building and Cheyenne needs water. She prefers muddy puddles a choice not preferred by humans around the globe many of whom lack access to clean reliable drinking water.
A broken trap looks like a lounge chair from a distance, garbage washes up on every coastline including ours. 
Mud is drying as we wait for the end of the dry season.
The sun is already scorching hot and I am glad to have put 50 degree (10C) days well behind us. My fervent hope is that climate change isn't a harbinger of permanently colder winters for us down here. 
Not many beach combing snow birds are left. 
Blue skies and green water and a very narrow strip of gravelly sand. 
Home Sweet Home.
Tomorrow is Earth Day and all the high anxiety of rising water levels, increasing carbon dioxide and exhaust gas pollution will dominate the news cycles for twenty four hours. Here in the Keys where the sun shines and dogs ramble, every day is Earth Day for me, drinking my rainwater, recycling my trash, composting and growing vegetables.In another critique of modern life we are told a household pet like Cheyenne produces as many harmful emissions as a gas guzzling vehicle, a critique I shrug off on the grounds she was saved from a shelter not purchased as a toy. Perhaps she misses mountains and valleys but she seems to enjoy these rambles where the views are not of leafy hills but salt water and empty horizons.Landscaping without watering is the theory of modern gardening. Support local plants they say not evil Brazilian peppers flowing prettily, as many nasty invasive species are wont to do. 
The Florida Keys, where the gumbo limbo peels coyly... ...and the sea grapes lose their leaves......and cretinous humans feel compelled to leave their idiotic marks:Puffy summer clouds are building... 
...bringing a promise of future rain. I have no doubt someone will warn ominously of an unusually powerful destructive hurricane season to come, starting June 1st. The heat is building and Cheyenne needs water. She prefers muddy puddles a choice not preferred by humans around the globe many of whom lack access to clean reliable drinking water.
A broken trap looks like a lounge chair from a distance, garbage washes up on every coastline including ours. 
Mud is drying as we wait for the end of the dry season.
The sun is already scorching hot and I am glad to have put 50 degree (10C) days well behind us. My fervent hope is that climate change isn't a harbinger of permanently colder winters for us down here. 
Not many beach combing snow birds are left. 
Blue skies and green water and a very narrow strip of gravelly sand. 
Home Sweet Home.For more words and fewer pictures:
====== http://conchscooterscommonsense.blogspot.com/ ===============
====== http://conchscooterscommonsense.blogspot.com/ ===============
9 comments:
Your debris on the beach and mention of Earth Day bring to mind the articles about the "great Atlantic garbage patch" they located the other day, and of course we've known about the north Pacific one for a while now. Yay humans.
Check out http://www.5gyres.org/ for more details.
D
Nothing worse than somebody carving into a tree.
Informative site about the ocean plastic thank you.
Remember, the Gumbo Limbo is the tourist tree, red and peeling.
As far as a dog producing harmful emmissions, so what, study something else. I can't believe what some people get money to do studies on.
My choc lab prefers to drink out of the goldfish pond, even though there is a clean fresh bowl of clear sparkling water 10 feet away. I guess its not flavored enough.
My daughter is on her way home after visiting her sister. She wishes she could stay longer and had a great time. But the real world is calling(that and the bills will keep coming)lol
I've never understood why people have to carve into tree either. D probably cant stand V by now.
Judi
Dear Conchscooter:
Welcome home (two weeks ago) weary traveler. Walk again the fecund shores of Key West, about to bake in the seasonal heat of summer. Take great personal comfort in the company of your dog. And advise those who see our relationships with these animals as frivolous, that they may kiss your arse.
I meant to tell you that I was very moved by your response in a previous blog about being the odd man out in Britain, and finding yourself in the same position in your natve Italy. It was ther same way for my Irish grandfather when he came to America, to find signs that read "Blacks, Irish and Catholics need not apply."
He worked hard at menial jobs, studied the system, and became an American. He ended up a supervisor of transportation for Public Service (trolley cars and buses) and lived to see Irish cops, Irish firechiefs and Irish politicians running the city, state, and country.
Welcome to America, Michael. Work hard and prosper.
Fondest regards,
Jack • reep • Toad
Twisted Roads
to have to leave key west now is criminal. the weather is perfect, sunny breezy and bright. it is good to be home.
Welcome home, although I have missed the previous posts. I'm just catching up.
It kind of shows that you are reacquainting yourself. I found it relaxing in a strange sort of way.
We try to live simply and tax the global resources minimally. At the same time I shake my head at the industrial waste of things like water. What we do seems too small to offset it all.
At least you adopted Cheyenne, versus getting a dog from a breeder. Sort of like purchasing a used car instead of buying a brand new one. Fewer emissions to worry the earth minded populace.
Enjoy the weather, in June I'll be trading the temperate Pacific Northwest clime for your scorching, muggy bliss, if only for seven days!
ahhhh andy I'll be in key west over the 4th of july..............i dont know what i was thinking lol
I am just about ready to pack it up and spend the final days watching water levels rise in Key West. I'd more gladly starve on the shores of Zach Taylor than freeze in snowbound Colorado (it's still cool here. We've had only a handful of 70 degree temps which is odd for Colorado at this time of year. It's raining today and a weatherperson mentioned the four letter S word again for tomorrow!!! ARGH! )-- and we'll be fairly short on food here when gas prices rise. Colorado has native fruits and veggies for about 3 weeks out of the year! So I will freeze and starve here when the end comes.
If it weren't for my son, there would be some serious discussions in this house about relocation!
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