Sugarloaf Loop

I took this walk before the coronavirus things started spreading into our lives. The weight of opinion is starting to flop in favor of social isolation and other measures, late though they may be to delay spread of the disease. Lots of that everywhere. Here, today a few pictures of a walk in the woods. I miss that serenity.

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Rusty baffles me as he has a mind of his own and he likes to use it. Most of my dogs have felt free to express disagreement with me at various stages of their lives with me. Cheyenne used to stand and stare at me when she didn't like the direction of the walk and she would lay down, preferably ina  puddle when she was tired. 

Rusty takes it a step further, he changes preferences according to some inner compass that I cannot for the life of me divine. He will take a treat and put it aside and eat it or not as the mood takes him, maybe later maybe never. He likes his routines and then breaks them without a hint of a reason why. 

It was a lovely morning and there were no cars parked at the entrance to the Sugarloaf Loop walk so I thought what the hell, instead of driving further down Sugarloaf I might as well stop here and see if it takes. It took and here's the proof if any were needed, Rusty on the Jumping Bridge:

It was sunrise when we got to the bridge.

Google Map "jumping bridge sugarloaf" and won't you be surprised to see this place pop up. The water in the canal below is deep and safe for people to leap. So they do with and without encouragement:

The day promised a good start and I hoped Rusty was ready to indulge me. 

The canal running north of the bridge looked as placid as you like.

It was cut into the rock to provide boating access to a planned community that didn't happen. Nowadays it serves houses at the far end of the canal that were in fact built, so a few boats do travel back and forth here. 

There is a sort of trail along the bank that serves people and dogs and apparently Rusty was in the mood to run.

The trail was dry but I got fooled. There is one shallow point where no matter the tide dirt turns to mud so i did the only thing I could and removed my shoes and socks.

Crocks have been sucked off my feet here. I sat on the edge of the canal and washed my feet, dried them with my socks and got on with the walk.

It was early still and the sun was low. This side trail with ruts scooped out of the rock put me in mind of Roman cart tracks at Pompeii, a stretch I know but I have always been accused of having an over active imagination by people who don't know me.

back on the asphalt loop Rusty indicated a willingness to walk deeper into the mangroves through the development that never was.

I think it was a harmless black racer sunning itself on a cool day. They are excellent hunters and squeezers of pests that you don't need in your life so they are best left alone. Normally they scoot off out of the way but this one was out like a light in the warm roadway. I could practically hear it snoring.

We were not entirely alone in the wilderness, some guy got separated from the Tour de France and came pedaling by in tight fitting cycling clothes.

It was wilderness alright. I wonder how many people walking Duval think of the Florida Keys looking like this?

It was a tad bit warm.

Another cyclist, the last we saw out on the loop.

It just goes on and on.

A boat! In the lagoon!

Back near the bridge again we saw people. Rusty saw bicycles and so sat by the side of the road, prudently as taught.  I like him to go to the shoulder and sit when he sees a vehicle which produces the occasional impasse when he sees distant lights in the road and he automatically sits. God boy. And makes us wait till they pass out of sight which can take an age. He takes his traffic rules very seriously.

Well we eventually connected with Tom visiting from the Panhandle of Florida with a young dog he was out exercising. Rusty had the decency to play with the rambunctious puppy while Tom and I talked.

He is a commercial fisherman on vacation which I thought was a rather interesting idea to come to the Keys where fishing is a vacation. I set him straight on some places where he could let his over energized hound run and we parted ways.

A lovely sunny morning had developed over the course of our three hour walk.

Paddlers were now awake and paddling on the canal under the Jumping Bridge.

Rusty and I paused and caught our breath.

More boats, more people and thus time for us to make ourselves scarce.

I didn't even wave goodbye to the lone swimmer who was peering into the depths:

One small brown dog headed home to a long nap and a quiet afternoon's sunbathing.

Sepia Boca Chica

It was a gray dull day but the dog will not be put off.

So I said to myself this is a flat dull day, let me light it up with my camera filter.

Sepia seemed indicated and warmed everything up.

So I made Boca Chica beach look different. 

Happily there are no Key Deer around here, and there were no people either.

Coronavirus: Mixed Messages

The state of Florida is slowly starting to get serious about coronavirus even as we hear how early testing and isolation saved Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea from the Italian Disaster. Whatever the slow pace has set us up for in the weeks ahead, right now public opinion is moving away from empty bravado and more towards trying to figure out what social distancing means and how to protect oneself, if not one's neighbors.

The City of Key West has closed all sit down facilities in restaurants allowing only delivery and take out. Monroe County has ordered eateries to halve their seating and keep diners six feet between tables. All bars and nightclubs in Key West are closed and some other businesses have agreed to close as well. Public attractions are closed including Smathers Beach and famously now the Southernmost Point which. friend of mine described as "nothing to see here." From Facebook:

The state has ordered all schools closed until April 15th and testing is apparently suspended for the year. All this stuff is subject to change as you well know but finally Florida is moving to isolate the damned virus. There are rumors the county health department has virus testing kits and apparently a few have filtered down to doctors, a mere handful. The problem now is that testing is reserved to confirm obvious symptoms not to plough through the population to see how far the disease has spread and who to isolate. 

I am preparing to go back to work in a week and  I continue to carry with me the fear that I shall infect my immune deficient wife. Being the family front man in the grocery stores and walking the dog and avoiding human contact while out, would not be so bad were it not for the ever present fear of contamination. What makes it easier I suppose is that more and more of us are understanding the need for action, however weird our lives become. Actually that's crap.

This nightmare is now going to go into high gear and money is going to evaporate alongside many peoples' health. You know things are bad when Republicans are falling over themselves to give ordinary people money, and I suppose we should be grateful this is an election year. Goldman Sachs will make out like they always do but we have to hope working stiffs will get help with rent and medical bills and buying supplies because for all that we hear most people have no reserves we only see what that means in times like these.

I took these pictures a while ago as Rusty and I walked past the Green Parrot before dawn, before the pandemic when the bar was closed as a matter of course.  We've seen similar crises during and after hurricanes of a certain severity but this mess is not like a hurricane when there is precedent and damage and closure lasts days and not for the foreseeable. Politicians are finally moving to force people to separate and stop the spread but no one is hazarding a guess when the virus will go away and normality will be restored. 

I don't suppose anyone gets elected planning to cope with the zombie apocalypse and I find myself unable to generate the kind of outrage about each decision the way you see on Facebook. Beyond partisan politics and our president's bizarre leadership I am glad to see Congress stepping up and working to give assistance.  I got a bit irritated I confess reading about how piddly European countries were promising help to there citizens and our lot were learning to play their violins while the virus took root. I see lots of hope ready to blossom even as things get creepy in our towns and things shut down. 

I have been reading lots of comparisons to the Spanish Flu and the early AIDS epidemics and even though I'm not at all sure how relevant those nightmares were to the current problems, history still has lessons to offer us. Its early to be asking how long these straitened conditions will last but we hear the worst appears to be over in China, that's the good news, but the bed news is they started to see symptoms, even if they didn't under stand them, last November. The virus was identified as a flu derivative at the end of the year.

That means if we extrapolate the times this outbreak in the US could similarly last say four months...Imagine we are cautiously celebrating the glorious Fourth of July by saying good bye to the virus and its effects. And to the people it killed. Such a timeline seems a bit inconceivable but everything goes into a dystopian continuum when pondering Covid-19 and its effects on society.

Key West and the Lower Keys are going into a new phase, a response to the threat. Sitting on the sidelines and watching is interesting. Indeed we are living up to that over quoted Chinese curse about wishing your enemies might live in interesting times. A bit too interesting for my taste.

Windy Waterfront

During  the recent spell of prolonged strong winds I got a 911 call from a man who, in a panic filled voice asked to be transferred to the Coast Guard. I stayed on the line in case the Coasties requested help, an ambulance perhaps or an officer depending on what was happening.

 It turned out the would-be sailor was in no danger but was freaked out by the gusts that were pushing water into his dinghy and sinking it. The Coastguard operator did an excellent job of sorting him out and calming him down and I hung up reminded that it's all very well wanting to live like a devil-may-care boater but when the winds blow you still have to be able to cope. Self sufficiency doesn't come easy.

The commercial boats were sensibly secure at the docks. I joked with this guy about reading a paper book and he laughed. I have actually bought some books recently lacking electronic versions but in a life of limited space a pocket sized library is a thing of wonderment to an old man. Especially when you can read in line, in the dark, in the wind with ease.

They say the Coronavirus is emptying out hotels and cruise ships and restaurants and all manner of large gatherings. It has also been said young people are the least affected by the 'flu visiting us all from China, which may explain why Spring Break is keeping much of Key West busy.

While re-evaluating my position in respect of electronic books I am also forced this Spring Break to reconsider my feelings about mobile phones. I love my iPhone with all the features it offers me in the palm of my hand. I have to say though that it may also be too much of a good thing. I get numerous calls from parents who worry that their off spring haven't answered their phones for the past six hours or similar. It seems parents have an extraordinary ability to imagine their little dears don't drink and seek out new friendships, even brief ones, while on Spring Break. I should have hated to be on a cell phone leash when riding around Europe on a motorcycle in my misguided youth..

 For the old timers in Key West who live on the margins of the youthful frenzy of swimsuits and pool parties and indulgence  life goes on on, for him the commercial fisherman, and me the office worker. We stand back and ponder and watch.

In the middle of the chaos an al fresco picnic to celebrate the fact that snow is never seen in Key West, not all winter long.

Entering the harbor it was fortunate the man at the front of the boat was not the driver for he was facing backwards. 

Some visitors appreciate the winter sun more than others. Or perhaps it was  a hang over cure in a quiet spot?

 The couple I saw headed out into the wind and waves looked ready to get  wet:

Wind  driven waves don't get huge around here but there was plenty of spray to make their precautions justified.

I got back on my trusty electric bicycle and rode back to work. Head winds are no problem even with a small 350 watt motor.

The entrance bridge to Key West is supposed to start getting torn up one lane at a time next week. Thats when my bicycle rack and my electric bike will come into their own.