I am finding the weight of Spring Break this year to be heavy. Calls for service at work have been at levels not seen on my shift since before the economic meltdown in 2008. I come home from work exhausted and fall into a deep sleep as soon as my head hits the pillow. 
I know I'm stressed because when I wake up I have a headache, a phenomenon that hits me only when I feel under pressure at work. It's good for the economy of course, lots of youngsters high on life and expensive alcohol, but they make for a crappy way of life. "Job security" they say, when you answer 9-1-1 for a living, but these days, working for the government is no panacea.
My relief is to go to the woods or the beach with Cheyenne and watch her run back and forth sniffing around and showing me how to let go. As a result I am out enjoying Florida, far from Spring Break, in the woods admiring Nature's handiwork.
This is the end of dry season, the end of winter, the time when the sun gains strength and humidity gets ready to return and flush out the salt ponds, fill the roots with water and bring life back to dormant, dessicated plants. The mud flats look more like the surface of the moon than summer's salt ponds, this time of year.
The skies are an amazing shade of blue, almost cloudless, and the humidity level is entirely comfortable, one can walk on an 84 degree afternoon and not break a sweat.
The mud is drying and going gray giving the flats a lunar appearance. This would be an entirely satisfactory place for Jack riepe to visit. He is not a camper, no fear of him breaking regulations here.http://jackriepe.blogspot.com/ for details on riepe's preference for hotel camping.
You wouldn't know it but half a mile away the Overseas Highway is hauling tons of traffic to and from Key West. 
This is the perfect antidote to work related stress.
This is a great walk for Cheyenne even when the heat builds as the wooded trail is breezy with winds off the ocean combined with lots of shade.
For me it's a stress reducer, for the Labrador it's a retirement, no puppies no children no obligations except to amuse herself as she pleases.
I know I'm stressed because when I wake up I have a headache, a phenomenon that hits me only when I feel under pressure at work. It's good for the economy of course, lots of youngsters high on life and expensive alcohol, but they make for a crappy way of life. "Job security" they say, when you answer 9-1-1 for a living, but these days, working for the government is no panacea.
My relief is to go to the woods or the beach with Cheyenne and watch her run back and forth sniffing around and showing me how to let go. As a result I am out enjoying Florida, far from Spring Break, in the woods admiring Nature's handiwork.This is the end of dry season, the end of winter, the time when the sun gains strength and humidity gets ready to return and flush out the salt ponds, fill the roots with water and bring life back to dormant, dessicated plants. The mud flats look more like the surface of the moon than summer's salt ponds, this time of year.The skies are an amazing shade of blue, almost cloudless, and the humidity level is entirely comfortable, one can walk on an 84 degree afternoon and not break a sweat.The mud is drying and going gray giving the flats a lunar appearance. This would be an entirely satisfactory place for Jack riepe to visit. He is not a camper, no fear of him breaking regulations here.http://jackriepe.blogspot.com/ for details on riepe's preference for hotel camping.You wouldn't know it but half a mile away the Overseas Highway is hauling tons of traffic to and from Key West. 
This is the perfect antidote to work related stress.
This is a great walk for Cheyenne even when the heat builds as the wooded trail is breezy with winds off the ocean combined with lots of shade.
For me it's a stress reducer, for the Labrador it's a retirement, no puppies no children no obligations except to amuse herself as she pleases.
For Florida it's a waiting game, waiting for summer, for rain and for some peace and quiet statewide, a pause before the summer hordes descend on us demanding entertainment and relaxation, best found when they are absent.
7 comments:
I enjoy reading your blog about Key West from a law enforcement perspective. The keys do have way too much crime. (And I am not even talking about the smuggling) I cannot tell you how many times my homes were broken into or how many bikes we had stolen. Once when we lived on Big Pine, we awoke to gunshots. The people living behind us shot one another. One of them died. We left soon after that, never to return to our beloved Key West. I will always miss it though.
Wimmen everywhere!
I told you on Friday to gird your loins - hordes of breakers were on their way to invade the Keys. I see that Donie requested reinforcements...
One week down, three to go.
Chuck on Fleming.
Many many (and I'd better throw in another many) years ago, I was one of those spring breakers, down from the University of Iowa. We would camp at Bahia Honda and drive into KW each day. Hopefully they will have their sober moments--which is what I recall the most.
Dear Conch:
I think you have provided us with some charming pictures of nature's garden in sun-spot drought. Next week, see if you can include some deer skulls next to the shrinking pools of alkalai water.
Stop shirking... Get down to the beach and walk around handing out drink coupons for some needy establishment. And as the ladies reach up to take them, snap a picture. You could call the series, "Migratory Exotics In Key West."
Fondest regards,
Jack • reep • Toad
Mr Conchscooter:
this doesn't make sense. I've never known you to get flustered. You are the Master . . . you are trained to handle stress. I could send some Tylenol down if you need it
bob
Riding the Wet Coast
If you don't get paralytic, and you don't screw strangers or drive while intoxicated your chances of getting invovled in drama is pretty low. Violent crime between strangers is rare, but theft is always a problem where people lack money and everyone lives crammed together. Living outside the city helps on that front.
Spring Break is extra busy this year plus I am training on the main police channel so i spend twelve hours a night talking the trainee through the hairest calls we get eveyr year. That is ehausting. Unlike the Sage of Lancaster County I do not have bronchitis.
I am tough.
dear turnip: burn in hell. I ma sure you were aghast;ly troublemaker.
My brother, our friends, and I were hellions. I recall a night that involved my brother's broken jaw, a stolen car, a hotwired bulldozer at the salt ponds and gasoline.
Misguided/uninhibited youth, boredom and drugs/alcohol are a bad combination. Growing up is the cure, and hopefully the crazy kids you're dealing with now will someday realize the err or their ways. Good luck sir.
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