FIRE ANTS

If you live or visit Key West, it is difficult to escape the scourge of the fire ant. It is inevitable. You will be bitten. You will be attacked by several or a swarm at one time. Then comes the itching. And more itching. The white heads with black tops. It takes three weeks for the symptoms to disappear.

The place is an Amazon village somewhere in Bolivia. Two young men stole a couple of motorcycles. Their captors tied them to trees swarming with fire ants. Both ended up in the hospital. One in intensive care. The other required dialysis for kidney failure.

And we thought we had it bad!

Interestingly, fire ants originally came to Florida from South America. Most believe Bolivia. They immigrated in 1918 and then again in the 1930s on ocean going vessels.

Spent most of yesterday getting ready for last night’s blog talk radio show. Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou. It must have been a good show. Immediately received several telephone calls following the show. Each caller appeared excited about what they had just heard. One call came from Milan, Italy. Another from Calitzdorp, South Africa. The others from the USA. The Italian and African calls came in the middle of their nights. I was impressed.

The telephone calls and comments that followed did not reflect a particular topic as the most interesting. Apparently each found the entire show to their liking.

If you missed the show, it is archived. Also on You Tube. Archived it can be found at www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou. You tubed under Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou. I am not sure last night’s show has been You tubed yet.

Prior to the show, I enjoyed a quiet dinner alone at Roostica. Reading the newspapers, of course.

There is a war going on in Key West. The War of the Plastic Chairs. At the tennis courts at Bayview Park. Rick Boettger has an excellent column on the conflict in this morning’s KONK Life E-Blast.

This week’s edition of KONK Life hits the stands at 5 this afternoon. My first column under the caption Key West Lou COMMENTARY appears. The article concerns Muslim influence in what once was a sedate Sweden.

The columns are the same. Decided a new title was required. Over the years, the column had undergone a transformation. What started as legal observations slowly evolved into political and social commentary.

Enjoy your day!

CRAZY ANTS

 

How many of us have said on occasion…..I hate fire ants! What with the intolerable itch and puss heads.

The fire ant may not be long for the Florida keys. The crazy ant is coming. It totally eliminates the red ant. The red ant is no more when the crazy ant arrives. The question is whether the crazy ant will migrate to Florida.

Maybe.

The crazy ant is from South America. It got to the United States on ships, in people’s clothing, etc. It likes neither cold nor dry. The dry may save our butts. The crazy ant is presently in Georgia and Alabama in the southeast.

Whereas the fire ant bit humans big time, the crazy ant does not physically bother humans. It will get into our homes, however. In the walls. Eat our electrical wires.

The crazy ants move in large swarms.

The crazy ants are expensive to eradicate from one’s property. The pest control person becomes your best friend. About every three months, he is needed to get rid of the most recent infestation.

Which is better? The fire ant or crazy ant? Until the crazy ant arrives, we will not know. From what I understand, the fire ant will have been a picnic. We will regret its departure.

One last crazy ant observation. Jeff Zucker is an ant expert. The scientist stated in a recent article that the crazy ant is the “…..single most difficult ant to control in the southeast.”

Man cannot win.

I enjoyed a unique experience last night. I was not that hungry. Stopped into the Hot Tin Roof. Ordered six oysters. I have not had oysters in years. When I finished the first six, I ordered another six.

That good! Big and juicy!

Stopped into the Chart Room first. Emily, Peter and Jean Thornton there. Plus four strangers. English friends John and Ali stopped in to say hello.

Apparently the Chart Room never closed down. A good thing!

Many employees have been let go and replaced. From what I understand, the whole security team, except for one. The parking lot attendant. Top echelon, of course. And others.

Began my yesterday with the Key West Lou Legal Hour. My tv/internet show. Went well.

Post show comment indicated two topics garnered the most interest.

The first was Benghazi. I did not get into the details. We have heard them repeated for months. I conveyed a simple observation. Twenty 6 year olds were killed in Newtown. Four Americans in Benghazi. Congress has spent significant time arguing Benghazi’s event. Little regarding Newtown. They even failed to vote for a new and simple gun control law.

Our politicians’ priorities are screwed up!

The other involved Syria. Whether government or rebel forces, they are crazy. Both sides behead. Assad’s group gang rape rebel  2-11 year olds.

I made mention of the film wh ich was all overthe internet this week. The video of a rebel leader cutting the heart out of an enemy soldier and eating it. While the crowd behind him shouted in their language…..God is Great!

My point. These are crazy people. Let us not get involved. They have been killing each other for hundreds of years. They are different from us, have different values.

In my opinion, Syria is not worth one American life.

Grocery shopped after the show. I always seem to be grocery shopping.

I spent most of the afternoon writing next week’s column for KONK Life. Stay Out Of Syria. Basically consistent with my comments made earlier in the day.

My tv/internet show is You Tubed. It has also been recorded and will run at 4:30 today on Comcast Channel 87 and U-Verse Channel 19.

Enjoy your day!