Nutty Weather

Currently 50 degrees with a windchill of 44 with colder temperatures to follow tonight after the wind blows the clouds and rain away. These conditions are nothing for people Up North but are extreme for the Keys. I could see my breath today which was a bit of a shocker, when I braved outdoor conditions to pick some lettuce.

So we got a special weather statement, just for us tonight:

THE STRONG NORTH WINDS WILL DRAW COLD AIR SOUTHWARD THROUGH TONIGHT... WITH TEMPERATURES FALLING INTO THE 40S. UPPER KEYS COMMUNITIES WILL BE COLDEST WITH LOWS AROUND 40 BOTH TONIGHT AND SUNDAY NIGHT. WIND CHILLS WILL DIP INTO THE 30S IN MOST UPPER AND MIDDLE KEYS COMMUNITIES WITH WIND CHILLS DOWN TO AT LEAST 40 IN THE LOWER KEYS.

A WIND CHILL ADVISORY WILL LIKELY BE REQUIRED TONIGHT FOR THE UPPER KEYS AND PORTIONS OF THE MIDDLE KEYS.

FLORIDA KEYS RESIDENTS ARE ENCOURAGED TO DRESS WARMLY... TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE WET AND RAINY CONDITIONS. ALSO... CARE PROPERLY FOR ANY SENSITIVE PETS OR PLANTS.

THE FOLLOWING IS THE LATEST COLD WEATHER SHELTER INFORMATION...

THE BURTON MEMORIAL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH... LOCATED AT 93001 US HIGHWAY 1 IN TAVERNIER... THE ISLAND CHRISTIAN SCHOOL... FAMILY LIFE CENTER... LOCATED AT 83400 OVERSEAS HIGHWAY IN ISLAMORADA... AND ST. PETER CATHOLIC CHURCH... LOCATED AT MILE MARKER 31.3 IN BIG PINE KEY WILL BE OPERATIONAL AS COLD WEATHER SHELTERS WHEN THE TEMPERATURE IS BELOW 50 DEGREES. HOURS OF OPERATION ARE FROM 900 PM TO 700 AM.

As odd as it sounds there are many people with no form of heat in their homes (or boats) and the cold is exacerbated by people not being at all used to it, not having cold weather clothes and the particular nature of the damp air in these marshy islands, which makes it all extra bone numbing. My hope is that we will have a quiet night at work as it will hopefully be too cold for people to go outdoors...It is an ill wind that blows no one any good!

Before The Freeze

"I've got to get out," the lady walking her dog said," before the Big Freeze." Oh, I thought, haven't we had enough already? I do understand the pleasure that one can feel when the heat and humidity of summer is broken by a strong cold front, but rolling around enjoying prolonged temperatures below 70 degrees (21C) merits deportation in my opinion. I had an appointment in town and the idea was to tire Cheyenne out with a long street walk and as we ambled and sniffed I got it into my head there are a lot of small odd things about Key West that keep catching my eye, even after all this time. Perhaps Christmas turtles aren't particular to Key west (there must be a Chinese factory somewhere spewing out these absurdities) but they look odd to my jaundiced eye.
It might have been pre-freeze but Friday morning dawned cold and clear. My feet were cold after I got out of bed and I was sure I should have been able to see my breath as we scooted downstairs to look for the car. Frankly at the moment I'm glad Cheyenne is my excuse not to ride. This rooster was sunk in the dirt and unwilling to leave his snug nest even when the dog rolled on by. That's how cold the locals feel it around here:Someone had hung a pair of skimpy purple panties on a tree in Bill Butler Park. I have come across such trophies while walking in the mangroves and I wonder if it is some new fad I am missing.Orin of Old Skool Scootin of Portland Oregon mentions a campaign to "Keep Portland Weird" and I recall a similar campaign in Santa Cruz, California during my twenty years in that city. I came to the conclusion that by the time such a campaign is underway (and I've seen such bumper stickers in Austin, Texas when we were checking out if we wanted to live there), it's too late. Key West has no need of such a motto as people already work hard to keep things weird and the newcomers have been overwhelmed by the weirdness. This is the time of year the whiny snowbirds fill the Citizen's Voice with complaints about noise, and trash and so forth but the weirdness continues unabated. I find small things much more interesting than the display of forced eccentricity played out for tourists. This aircraft flew overhead when I had my camera out and the combination of salmon pink, aquamarine and flower power graphics struck me as very weird indeed. Perhaps it is just advertising something: So I figured to myself a sign telling people not to trespass is always silly when it's obviously private property. This is the US after all. In England trespassing is not illegal but of course here it is, yet people feel the need to reinforce their fear of trespass with the oddest sense of what's needed. I mean would anyone consider trespassing here if they hadn't put the sign up? "Private Property" and welcome to it I say. This next one is in urgent need of a dumpster, and there were no signs on this yard. perhaps they are hoping someone will trespass if only to take away the refrigerator under the tarp?

I don't know if pink flamingos are odd when found holding up the eaves of a house but that was how these charmers struck me: "The Stumbledoor" - I always feel like I'm missing some obvious cultural allusion when I see stuff like this:Key West continues to be packed with normal people, visitors and their money and sometimes they are more obvious than even they imagine. The rolling suitcase was a dead giveaway in this case, but the flip flops? Damnation:they are on vacation and one wears sandals on one's tropical holiday. Never mind the temperature.I have enjoyed a couple of nights off but when I went out to dinner last night I was reminded work is never very far away. In the middle of the meal a woman at the next door table got up and started yelling for help, as her husband had passed out in his chair. "Anyone know CPR?" I called out hoping against hope. Unfortunately in a restaurant full of people there was only me. Happily he had a pulse, I remembered what to do (training works) and before I had to give him a kiss he started to come round. Rescue was on scene surprisingly quickly and they wheeled him away. It occurred to me that calling the Red Cross or the American Heart Association or asking at your local hospital about CPR classes might be a good thing to do if you haven't already. If I hadn't been there, of a hundred people in the building, there was no one else who knew what to do.

It turned out he was from Quebec and if I'd known that I would have held back and just finished my cheeseburger while it was still hot. (That's a joke. Not sarcasm, okay?).

Cold People

The National Weather service predicts Sunday's night time low for Key West should be 46 degrees (8C). In light of the fact the lowest temperature ever recorded is 41 degrees (5C), this is will be a weekend to be remembered.I was talking about this main subject of conversation and we thought back to the winter of 2002 which i remember as a week of temperatures around 50 degrees (10C), when i rode the bus around town as the scooter froze my bones. The only people we took out sailing was a family from Alaska who thought the weather was summery. Perhaps it is even now, seeing as how flowers still bloom on the streets of Key West:
A powerful fish sandwich and heavy weather clothing will keep patrons comfortable in outdoor seating at Buddy Owen's Fish wagon on Caroline Street:It's the tourists who have so little time in town and find themselves caught in the middle of a prolonged cold spell. This one doesn't appear likely to ease up before Wednesday at the earliest and that's enough time to swallow a whole vacation. So much for shorts and t-shirts in January: Not everyone seems to feel the frigid cold of low temperatures and biting northeast winds. And the sight of a bare knee these days is worth appreciating around Key West: I'm not kidding when I tell you this weather is hard on some people. If you think I'm joking and this secretly feels warm you have no idea how one adapts to warm climates year round. Blood really does thin in response to perpetual heat:

The owner of the coffee shop was congratulating himself on buying the gas heater/blower. He uses it at home where he has no heat at all, but he brought to his Cuban Queen Coffee Shop to help the customers who perforce stand outdoors. I laughed and told him I had figured out my reverse cycle heating system in short order. The sky hasn't been completely blue either which lends a slightly menacing air to the day. Another cold front is expected this weekend bringing a chance of rain and absolutely no let up in the cold.

It may seem odd to see people riding scooters and bicycles in bare hands but not everyone has gloves. And not everyone that has gloves can find them.Sometimes, when you lack proper cold weather gear the best thing to do is smoke a cigarette and just look cool, rather than cold.

The idea that the Key West sun may be harmful is hard to let go, even when your ears are burning from the cold:
I have to be honest; the idea of taking a tour is to me anathema just at the moment. I have forced myself to commute by Bonneville the past couple of nights when my wife was home to take care of the dog, but it is a cold joy to be riding once again. The engine takes forever to warm up properly and I wonder what people who routinely ride in colder temperatures do. I remember in my callow youth being cold a lot of the time, but the fun of the chill is not as acute at age 52.Ooh, look! A scarf! I think that's what that is...

Bloody tourists showing off their lily white knees and enjoying the cold.

And what, I ask you, is the point of a padded jacket that has no sleeves? This guy at least has an excuse- he's working:

For women a cold snap is an opportunity to show off some real winter wear, like fuzzy boots and jackets and stuff:And hoodies ( the Harley in the background is purely a coincidence). Churches have been opening their doors to people who need help, and that's not just for homeless people but for people without heat- including homeowners and people who live on boats. I have lots of unhappy memories of cold nights on a boat, and the blessing of 110 volt electricity is not to be overestimated when the nights are cold. Fireplaces are as rare as hen's teeth in Key West. You are more likely to find flames ...on a jeep?

It's too cold for me to think about lighting up my outdoor fire pit, I'd burn one side of me and freeze the other sitting around a fire. However some demented wastrel was running an outdoor fan on their porch:

When the sun did put in a timid appearance it was a pleasant scene to ride a bike through, even though when I got back to the car the temperature gauge read 57 degrees (14C) at 2:30 pm.

The equator is about where I'd like to be right now, sweating like an honest tropical dweller:

I found bitter irony in this Portuguese (or Brazilian) named home. "House of the Sun" indeed! This dude had it figured out, a hat under a helmet, heavy gloves, sweat suit, socks and a big shaggy sheepskin on the saddle to keep his bum warm:

This lady on Summerland Key had it all color coordinated too. She must be prepared for cold snaps:There are a few hard core riders still out on the Overseas Highway (Notice everyone wearing a snug warm helmet? Those lids have a purpose after all!):

So what is the well dressed Labrador wearing this cold winter season? A snug fur coat of course, all enveloping, with a color coordinated green nylon collar and a nice purple and yellow pair of id and rabies tags to set off the ensemble.
And a great big shit eating grin as these temperatures are what Labradors live for.

DuPont Lane

Key West managed somehow to elect a black Sheriff in 1889 and his name was Charles Fletcher Dupont, the son of freed slaves. He has a lane named for him east of Duval off Petronia Street.

DuPont wasn't the first black Sheriff of Monroe County, that was James A Roberts who was appointed in 1877 and the first lawman killed in the line of duty in the county was also black as it happens, a Sheriff's deputy called Frank Adams was shot to death while trying to effect an arrest in the city in 1902. You'll hear his name come up at the head of the mercifully short roll of officers who have died every time there is a memorial service in their memory.
The entrance to this very short lane is marked by this rather startlingly imposing wrought iron fence. The lane itself is short, but half a block long though unusually for these kinds of streets in Key West it has an ample turn around at the dead end. It is lined with plush mansions:

And at the dead end it makes a sharp turn into this tunnel like walkway.
The fence is so high that I felt like I was in a cave looking out at the sky:
And seeing hurricane shutters still up, blocking out the sparkling winter sun:

These are my favorite Key West colors, white and green and sky blue:

A carpenter was busy improving some already magnificent home, his workshop was outdoors though his concession to the season was a sweat shirt:

"Good fences make good neighbors" is an ironic quotation frequently attributed to the poet Robert Frost (whom the hospitality industry make great play of as a winter visitor to Key West) and on DuPont Lane they do certainly make the little street rather more blank and uninteresting than others of it's type.This example of over sized, protective picket fence was staffed by two extremely yappy little dogs who stuck their obnoxious snouts between the pickets and dared Cheyenne to approach. She ignored them, reminding me once again that the prejudice against silent, easy going big dogs, and in favor of noisy small brats is arbitrary and misplaced.
This picture I took looking east along Petronia toward Simonton, a much more varied neighborhood street than DuPont.
And this night picture of DuPont I used in my post New Year's Eve essay contrasting the peace and quiet of the lane to the trashed nature of Duval street the morning after.
There is a very complete article with photos at this website if you want to see and learn more about Charles DuPont:
http://thenewtimesholler.com/ARCHIVE/chaldupont.html