Conch Homes

It was a lovely afternoon and I was in town and Rusty needs to practice urban walking without fear of every least noise...so off we went.

Above the Banana Cafe a French place that has thrived in its newer larger digs. I remember it fondly when it was across the street in a little hole in the wall that felt like it belonged in Martinique. However the food is still good and worth a visit.

Above we have an eyebrow home of which I have spoken often and which I found discussed on this Architecture Blog at some great length. Below we see the official permit required by the city to rent your home out for short periods ie: less than 28 days at a time. They chose 28 to make monthly rentals legal on even the shortest month of the year...for the useless information file.

While we were walking I snagged a few pictures here and there of houses that appealed. This one was not exactly when you think of when you picture Old Town Key West. Interestingly this one looks like an old Florida home, the outdoor terrazzo tile and jalousie window makes it all quite cool in its own way.

This is what the punters line up to buy in Key West and hang their Conch Republic flags from to show their credentials to all the world. For Rusty a 90 degree afternoon was proving to be a bit of a burden which surprised me a bit. I expected him to be better acclimated to Florida summers. Life on the streets must have been tough for him, and its lucky he has an air conditioned room with a couch to retreat to these days. Lucky for him and for me.

I keep wondering how the city is going to overcome it's housing shortfall for working people. Highway One is jammed every day now and I have to suppose in part that is thanks to endless tourism year round these days. But I also see a lot of single occupant vehicles on the road during commute hours and the commuters are coming from as far as Big Pine Key, an hour away.

These little homes with no parking and no garages within a block or two of the noise and bustle of Duval will sell form perhaps three quarters of a million dollars. Add amenities like parking or central air or even a pocket sized swimming pool and the prices go stratospheric. Which doesn't give a working stiff much of a chance.

The little seafood shack on Catherine Street has been here forever but I have never seen it staffed and I've never seen  much in the way of advertising. Until now.

Check this out, clear and to the point. A proper family enterprise.

Back home my hot dog stretched himself out and dreamed of all that he has seen in the past couple of months and what he has yet to see on this strange adventure we call life.

Fort Jefferson

This essay from December 2009 is a reminder to me and you to pay a visit to the Dry Tortugas 70 miles west of Key West.

Sunrise at the Dry Tortugas National Park. I took these pictures while on my last trip to the island known as Garden Key, home to Fort Jefferson built around the period of the Civil War. The coaling docks which were built on these pilings were added in time for World War One:Nowadays they make for excellent snorkeling. The fort and it's moat on the east side of the island, looking southeast:On the opposite side of Garden Key there is Loggerhead Key (named for the turtles that used to reside there in abundance). The lighthouse, three miles west of Fort Jefferson is the last speck of land before Mexico some 300 miles west. National Park volunteers staff the lighthouse and live on a house there, weeks at a time. The only access is by private boat with a dinghy landing on the beach. The Park Service supplies the volunteers at their private dock on the east side of the island.The fort itself has a bunch of antennae, including satellite access to television and Internet for the National Park personnel stationed there. There is a satellite payphone (by credit card) on the dock for the public, but cell phones don't work on this island 70 miles west of Key West.Next door is Bird Key, separated by this strip of water that was filled in, then emptied in turn by hurricanes. The island is closed to the public as it is a nesting ground for migrating birds.
Fort Jefferson is a speck in a very large ocean. A surprisingly civilized speck all things considered.They say the place is constructed out of 16 million bricks, imported from Up North from two different factories which explains the two different shades of red of the bricks in the outer walls. The top of the wall is a grassy, sandy walkway.The five acre interior of the fort, whose construction plans were never completed, is like a park:

Some reconstructive surgery has been completed to prevent buildings, like the domed powder magazine from crumbling.

Looking southeast from the northwest corner:Looking east from the same spot one can see the rectangles of dark grass that show where the barracks were located and beyond them the domed powder magazine once again.This ancient fort looks more like a crusader fortress in Syria or a European castle than a North American building.Darkness falls suddenly at the fort, as is the way at these tropic latitudes:

Campers and the National Park Rangers are the only people left on the island, after the ferries take the day trippers back to Key West, leaving at 2:45pm and getting back to the city around 5:15pm. For campers it's time to cook dinner:And every day succeeds the previous day in the same way. A view south from the main entrance. The covered building is the dock with an information room and some changing rooms for people who need a place to put on, or take off a swimsuit:
The other covered buildings are the composting toilets, four of them, near the campground:They work very well but are only available to campers after the ferries leave. While ferries are docked campers are supposed to use the toilets on board and only use these when the large number of day visitors have left so as not to overwhelm the island facilities.The fort is open during daylight hours and even when the ferries are docked there is plenty of room for everyone. After the boats leave the fort is a private place, and that's when the interior of the fort is one photo opportunity after another:The moat wall was designed to keep marauding boats at a distance from the fort itself to give gunners time to sink enemies before they could get close, but it also keeps wave action away from the delicate foundations of this fort built on sand. Swimming is not allowed in the moat:This is a US National Park so there are informational signs everywhere. My pink crocs are happily barely visible:Bird Key beyond the eastern coaling dock pilings just visible in the foreground:
The unfinished windows in the case mates:The US Coastguard downgraded the old lighthouse at the fort and now it's known as a harbor light. At night it glows with a steady yellow gleam and all boats at anchor in the National Park are required to anchor within one mile of this light:There are some bushes sprouting on the eastern side of the fort and among them I found this prickly pear.......and this I-know-not-what:And here is a view from the salon of the Yankee Freedom ferry taking us home to Key West:It costs $180 round trip on this boat but every trip to the fort is an adventure and an exploration.

Big Torch Dawn

With the onset of humidity in the Keys the morning sky is turning interesting with the clouds and refracted sunlight, here seen from the top of Niles Channel Bridge.

I'm never quite sure how this picture came out this well but thanks to the iPhone here it is:

When we walk Rusty trots ahead and when he feels he's too far ahead he stops and sits and waits for me, the slow poke to catch up.

And when we get home my little Carolina Dog finds a spot her prefers to stretch out - and it's not always the couch.

Summer Thunder

I have no idea where it came from but yesterday I awoke to a giant black thunderhead centered over the Lower Keys. My only thought as I drove Rusty to his morning walk was that we might see an end to the oppressive mugginess that has plagued the Keys leading up to this giant downpour.

I could see the rain coming south but I figured Rusty needed his exercise and I had an umbrella so we might as well go walking while the going was good. Local mosquitoes on Ramrod Key saw me as a last chance to stock up on fresh blood before hunkering down for the weather so I strode and slapped as I went (I keep repellent in the car and forget to apply it 60% of the time before Rusty walks).

It rained a bit, Rusty didn't care and I had the umbrella but we were alone on the streets which was nice. because I'm a misanthrope. It looks like they need more houses on Ramrod Key so they are clearing a lot below and they have a clear lot, after a fashion above: 

The cause of all the trouble, the reason I was walking under an umbrella instead of lying in bed listening to the raindrops on the tin roof:

When I first got Rusty in February he hated being out in the rain, perhaps thanks to his many months on the streets of Homestead. Nowadays he seems to be much more casual about getting wet and he was ready to walk yesterday morning, so walk we did.

It was a good walk in the end as we timed it right and got back to the car before the heavens opened. I had to go meet my wife in Marathon later that morning and Rusty, though reluctant decided he wanted to come too. It was absurdly dark under the cloud.

I find the Overseas Highway very easy to drive in the rain. It's mostly straight, the road markings are very clear, there are lots of reflectors and very little puddling. But put a little rain down on the road and terrified drivers seem to lose their common sense. I leave lots of room and turn up the radio.

As you can see there was quite the cloud cover over the Seven Mile Bridge so it didn't look like it does in the propaganda pictures under cloudless skies. I like summer rain in the Keys, not least because its the hot season and a typical storm brings temperatures down to 75 from 90 degrees so it's never really cold. The rain usually passes quickly and in fact by yesterday evening the sun was back out, my plants were watered and all was well with the world.

Summer thunderstorms bring drama: noise, lightning strikes, strong winds and thrashing palm fronds and its really nice to sit out on the porch and watch the scene. Its okay to be in the car with your dog:

My wife got to work at the height of the storm's fury so she parked her sea bean right up against the back door to minimize exposure. Standing around in wet clothes in a classroom is a pain: 

We had lunch at Keys Fisheries and I tested Rusty tied on his leash. He did well and declined to chew through it - at last! For our road trip next month we have the harness he came with a brand new six foot leash made of metal so he can't chew through it and get lost somewhere in the wilds of Quebec.

We went for a walk and the post storm waters looked so astonishingly serene away from the winds.

I remember living on my sailboat hunkered out of the rain. That was not a great memory as part of the pleasure of living on the water is the open air lifestyle. Not on a day like yesterday.

It's May so the poinciana trees are in bloom and this one in front of my wife's work provides a nice splash of color on which to end this dreary dank tale.