Mosquito Vector Control

They use helicopters to control the environment in which mosquitoes breed (their "vector" in weird speak).This chopper had two bins attached as it flew back and forth dropping clouds of pellets onto my car:Bacillus Thuringensis is supposed to control the pests by interrupting their breeding cycle or something. I first met BT when I was a reporter in California about 25 years (erk!) ago and fruit flies were causing problems. BT was viewed with deep scepticism by people who had fought to have DDT suppressed.BT dispersed this way looks harmless enough as it floats on puddles of rainwater:It was the first time I ever got up close to these things one day while I walked Cheyenne on Big Pine Key. She ignores human made noises and is as unmoved by a helicopter buzzing her as she is by a thunderstorm overhead. The pellets looked like some alien cereal to me. I half wanted to try them with some milk:And this stuff, unlike chemicals is not harmful to a car's paint (I hope!): As unlikely as it seems the Mosquito Control District of Monroe County is a hotbed of dissent and drama just at the moment. The county has been having issues one way and another with the State Attorney moving ahead on his campaign promise to wipe out corruption. The Bug Board as the headline writer for the Citizen newspaper likes to call them, have been arguing rather volubly and rather publicly.

The first problem arose when it was discovered the boss of the District is the highest paid public official in the county. And he head sup the smallest public agency in the county. As I recall his base pay rate was something like $185,000 a year and he took umbrage when it was suggested it might be rather too much money.Then the manager of the district appointed a deputy and board members got all in a huff saying he didn't have the authority. Then somebody else suggested two members of the board had been discussing stuff improperly between themselves violating Florida's Sunshine Law which requires the business of the public to be carried out in public... and on and on and on.Meanwhile I'm happy to see the business of suppressing mosquitoes and their abundant habitat goes on by the lower paid echelons of the district. All this standing freshwater produced by the abundant rains is excellent habitat for mosquitoes and were it not for the helicopters and trucks buzzing around life would be a living hell for any warm blooded mammal breathing carbon dioxide. Mosquitoes are attracted to CO2 so if you stop breathing they will reportedly loose interest. A better solution is to spray like hell and wait for the waters to recede...I hope the Bug Board gets their shit together after the upcoming election if not before so we can live to breathe another day.

Loaves Or Ethanol

The Earth Policy Institute a commie think tank, suggests that more than a quarter of US grain production was swallowed up in fuel production in 2009. They figure that the 107 million tons of grain turned (at vast energy expense) into fuel for auto mobiles could have fed 330 million people. Which is a horrid statistic.

Which statistic makes for a brilliant headline but I'm not sure what it means exactly. If you don't think too hard about it, a headline of 330 million people goes a long way for effect but does one person eat one third of a ton of corn in a year? Beats me. Beyond the headline which makes it easy for reporters to write the story, the fact remains that the world's largest producer of corn poured way too much of it into producing fuel. I'm not going to suggest that ethanol corn would make great quesadillas but you know that the energy that goes into producing one kind of corn (ethanol) could easily go into another (edible). But it isn't and the US government wants to keep it that way to keep mid Western cultivators happy.

Ethanol is going into our tanks and reducing our gas mileage by ten percent and it costs almost the equivalent amount of energy to produce a gallon of burnable fuel. But there is a Federal subsidy involved to promote this madness, so ethanol is now a political fuel and if a few people in very poor parts of the world well, Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill and Monsanto thank them. In the same way we produce sugar in South Florida with enough of a federal subsidy to put five cents of your tax dollars into each candy bar you eat. And to do that they import Jamaican cane cutters to do the work Americans don't have the stamina to get done. They could just let the Caribbean islands grow the sugar and harvest it but federal subsidies skew the market. And so it goes.

Now I read that Bill Gates, still I believe the Richest Man In The World is calling on scientists to work on producing clean energy. Perhaps he will have the clarity of vision and purity of purpose to do what our political leaders can't possibly do; which is to accomplish the obvious.

Veteran Dawn

I was moved to get up for a dawn walk last week and I knew exactly where I wanted to go.It wasn't a particularly colorful sky by the time I parked the car at Veterans Park but it had been a long time since I'd seen a sunrise on a morning off work, so it looked good enough to be going on with.Veterans Park enjoys quite a lot of visitors of course in winter but also in summer when the shallow coastal waters are warm enough to wade in. There are plenty of waterside tables and barbecue grills making it a fine destination for a picnic.Your dog might like it too. Cheyenne did but she isn't very discriminating at all... she likes rooting around everywhere I take her. I hear from people who don't like the beaches in the Keys which isn't surprising. These are rocky islands and the "sand" you see is in reality finely ground up rock with a completely different consistency. The real sand found on hotel beaches in Key West is imported from the Bahamas by barge.The dark colored stripes on the beach are successive waves of sea grass washed up and left to rot in the sun. It is not an appealing mixture to people who want long sandy beaches, such as those found on the mainland of Florida. However I am not that fond of beach vacations so these modest efforts do well enough for me. Then let us not forget that Highway One is never far from sight:That car headed north was about to enter the famous Seven Mile (11 km) bridge to Marathon. Veterans Park is not much more than a dip at the side of the roadway:However even though the sound of traffic is never very far away the waterfront Tikis offer a pleasant view to the south: And the washed up seaweed is an object of fascination for wading birds like these sandpipers:

It was lovely and peaceful standing at the water's edge with no one in sight, just me and the birds and a big yellow dog worrying the dumpster.I have no idea what got into her head but she started running down the beach, not going in the water as she has never been taught to swim.

I just stood there with Nature doing it's thing all around me.

I don't think I should like snow and ice and all that seasonal stuff. I would hate to be standing around Up North envying birds migrating south in the Fall.Veterans Park is very civilized with splendid clean bathrooms and a special cement Tiki:The straw Tikis aren't entirely accessible seeing as how they built on sand:

Veterans park is small and tucked in the shadow of the Seven Mile Bridge but it is barely 15 minutes north of my house and it is one of my favorite stops. I suppose it is the last stop before one gets on the bridge so it is really the turn around point when I come this way.

And there out on the water south of the bridge one can see the spoil islands in the morning mist:

And the long line of power poles marching north alongside the bridge.

But by then, the sun was coming up...

...and as it broke free of the clouds I decided it was time to go home.

West Summerland Key

I used to come out here to walk and look at the water and there was no sign anyone else bothered to visit this break in the mangroves. Now we have improvements to the area, and the blight of signage is everywhere. I was rather wondering where the French and Vietnamese editions of this sign were located, but entry is forbidden so I turned away.

If like me you get stuck trying to remember what things are called there is a helpful sign for that too. However if you are caught with an undersized fish you will go to court and pay a very large fine. That sort of thing is taken seriously around here. We shit in our coastal waters thanks to not having a sewer system but we hate it when people don't obey size limits as it ruins the reef by reducing the wildlife that hasn't been kiled by our toilet pollution. Please don't be surprised there is no lifeguard here, but I suppose people can be stupid and think someone else will always be there to save them from themselves.The big tube is where you put your excess fishing line to avoid killing sea birds and turtles and stuff. I live in the keys and I do not fish. Go figure, it's like living in Pennsylvania and not being Amish. I like the views if that makes up for my inability to cast a lure:On the north side of West Summerland right before... well never mind exactly where, but there is a place somewhere around here where a curious hook of land juts out into the water creating a basin and a promontory where you can sit out in the sun and feel like you are at sea. And when you look north you can see the bridge between No Name Key and Big Pine Key that crosses Bogie Channel. No Name Pub is up there to the left:I don't chase fish but I do like to swim. Other people dive: Cheyenne was fishing too, looking for carcasses still lying around from the great freeze die off last month:

Behind the propane tank that probably fell off the deck of a boat one can see the new Bahia Honda Bridge.

Big Spanish Channel is deep, forty feet and as vast as an ocean. Especially when seen from Labrador height:One of the things I like about walking the Keys is how much it reminds me of being out sailing. In remote places the first sign of land frequently looks like this in the picture below. I included the rather sophisticated bubba stick for perspective. An island out in the ocean first appears as a shimmering line of disconnected dots that slowly merge to form continuous land and then become trees as you get closer:Like I said, dead fish everywhere:

We were out at the end of the promontory:

Sea level rise will put an end to this (as it will to all Keys living, hopefully after I'm dead) so I am determined to enjoy it while I can. My dog feels the same way:

If you forget to bring your Kermit chair, Nature has provided rocks for you and seaweed for your dog.

On cold winter days I don't envy other people out in their skiffs. On hot summer afternoons I'm out on mine.

And there I was- thinking about setting up a hot dog stand...

Imagine, Cheyenne and I had this idyllic spot to ourselves. It's there waiting for me to return and I'll bet when we do we will be alone again.

Some people manage to stumble across the parking lot but going for a walk is an odd thing for most visitors. I've seen a few cars parked here but their occupants at most wander disconsolately around the lot and then bugger off back to the Highway One Rat Race. Bad for them, good for me. By the way, West Summerland Key is located between Big Pine Key and Bahia Honda Key. It is east of the larger and better known Summerland Key and why it got it's name no one knows. Have a nice day.