One Last Cold Front?

Well bugger, winter returned with a vengeance to the Florida Keys yesterday afternoon. The big winner was Cheyenne who got her wooded beach walk with myself Wayne and Chuck and their dogs, just before the cold black clouds rolled in from the north.It went from 86 and muggy with a summer sun scorching the ground, to dark dank horizontal rain and wind gusts strong enough to put one in mind of a hurricane.

On the whole Cheyenne is pretty much undisturbed by thunder but direct overhead claps of Thor's door knocker had her worried enough to follow me around under the house as I put away the laundry and secured the sheds. Then we sat and watched Nature's display of awesomeness.The wind howled and shook the branches and the rain flew in under the house. The canal in front of my dock developed little wind waves racing toward the exit fighting the homecoming boats.The rain seemed endless and my house cleaner was upstairs sorting out our twice weekly mess. Skinny looked at the rain pouring down and looked at the Bonneville sitting there waiting to ride... "You aren't taking that tonight...are you?" It's more fun to have a challenge every now and again I told her, beside I have waterproofs. She walked away shaking her head at my pig headed stupidity. It has been a long dry spell so no doubt this rain is a welcome thing and I watched the sea grape leaves nodding their wet leaves in agreement.

When the cold hit temperatures started to drop - and of course I will get grief from the Amish Nude Photography Club for saying this but - the wind was cold, even though the thermometer didn't seem to agree.This weekend temperatures will drop below 60 at night and that is too low thanks. Cold dry air is undoubtedly good for the laundry.Cold wet air sprinkled the Bonneville with rainwater. I shrugged my shoulders as the cleaning crew upstairs restored order to the house and I got out my polishing rags and tire gauge and went to work looking over the Triumph while I had time on my hands.The power boats were all home with dripping wet crews but the slower sailboat was back just in time to see the end of the rain. A pity I got a slow shutter speed on this lovely catboat.

I had planned to go see what was what at Smathers Beach, but this was no day to go to work early to look for lovelies in bikinis. And I had to have a few photographs to prove it.

Nature Walk Drought

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.

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.

Higgs Break

Drought has Florida in it's grip. The wildlife pond at Higgs Beach is as dry as a bone as a result, and i decided to take advantage to walk across the floor of the pond.Cheyenne was off enjoying the shade and she indicated the smells outside the dried up pond were much more interesting.I've always enjoyed the sculpture on the post in the middle of the pond but yesterday I got a chance to see it up close and keep my feet dry at the same time. Higgs beach is well known as hang out for all sports including the residentially challenged especially in winter.The floor of the normally wet pond had a healthy cover of greenery for Cheyenne and I to cross. I used to enjoy prolonged droughts in California because the rain came in the cold season and added to the misery of winter. Rain in Florida usually comes in summer but winter rains, as modest as they are, help to keep the state green. Not this year.

Higgs Beach runs alongside the southern end of White Street, a main road for cyclists heading to and from the beach and the White Street Pier. It's also the place where funky campers tend to congregate.

Cheyenne was having fun poking around and sniffing this and that.

Not everyone stays in hotels for Spring Break. This Florida tagged car had bedrolls on the hood.

There are two schools of thought in Key west about birds on the streets. Some like the chickens and roosters despite their noise and aggressive scraping in the dirt. The argument goes they kill noxious insects. I prefer the local birds, the natives, like the ibis that also kill noxious insects but do it with a quiet dignity the invasive chickens completely lack.

I am quite fond of the spacious dog park built (with money collected from the public) on the corner of Higgs. Cheyenne is not as keen, preferring to wander on her own in the rest of the park. Suits me.We sat in the shade while I pondered the meaning of "Blue Dog Park." From Higgs we took the car and headed to the other beach at Smathers. Key West has enjoyed a busy winter tourist trade. I'm told the only Florida hotels that have had a smash hit winter are those in the Keys. Which is good of course but explains the crowding and the slow waddling traffic on the Overseas Highway. And now Spring Break has started, with the city filling up with rowdy youngsters.

Spring Break is turning into the kind of orgy we used to have every Spring. The past few years things have been much quieter but this year the Police Communications center has been insanely busy every night. I am coming home exhausted in the morning sleeping like a dead man as soon as my head hits the pillow. Here's a taste of what will be in town for the next several weeks.I will be obliged to bring you more pictures like this or face the wrath and dripping sarcasm of the Scribe of Amish Country and his sodding BMW. I am a slave to Jack riepe's taste buds in photography- Twisted Roads for Twisted Minds.

This is not a good time to be speeding in Key West. It is a good time to take it easy and watch the scenery shimmer by.I am in love with my own blonde bimbo.

Cheyenne is all a man needs when he's out looking for a young bit of fluff.

Varela Street

I was in town at about that time of day, setting sun, glowing homes under a blue sky.Father Felix Varela was born in Cuba in 1788 and moved to St Augustine, also part of the Spanish Empire where he studied to become a priest, and at the age of 23 was ordained back in Havana.
Father Varela's support for human rights set him at odds with the Spanish monarchy and he went into exile to New York in 1823. He ministered to immigrants and the poor in new York for 30 years before returning to St Augustine and dying there in 1853. There is now a move afoot to have him made a saint, in the meantime he gets a street named after him in Key West... It's a typical Key West street, pretty especially in the evening sunlight.

I have been trying to grow my own bougainvillea, a plant that refused to grow for me when I lived in coastal California. We had a spell of heavy rain after I potted the plant and it apparently drowned. I have been hoping to see signs of life in the little brown twigs in my pot, but I think it has gone to it's reward. Everyone else seems to have difficulty controlling the size of their bushes.In fact, everywhere I look there are signs of flourishing bougainvillea.In the next picture I was looking at the varied roof lines and there in the bottom corner is a spray of red, as though mocking me.Another down here:A cyclist came whizzing through enjoying his ride and distracting me for a moment. And there was the Bonneville, about to be devoured by the bougainvillea monster.A quiet Old Town street, looking toward the site of what will likely be the next City Hall, currently Glynn Archer school.

There has been a prolonged spell without rain across much of Florida but in Key West greenery keeps on growing.

And where there are no plants there are instead representations of plants.

Just another typical street in Old Town indeed.