JENNA AND IRIS

Jenna asked to interview me for the TV talk show she hosts. The interview took place yesterday. It will run next week or the week thereafter. When I know for certain, I will let you know.

The interview was taped in the living room at my home. The cameras and everything else were lugged in and set up. Jenna was assisted by her summer intern Iris. Jenna is 28 and has been doing TV work for seven years. Iris is 24. She is presently attending Boston University where she is working on a Masters in TV work.

The ladies told me to stay out of the living room. They needed ten minutes to set up.

The set up, Jenna’s questions, Iris’ filming, all professional. The ladies knew what they were doing and did it.

What did Jenna ask me? When are you going to take me out to dinner again, Louis? Not really. She covered my legal career as an environmental attorney to retirement in Key West. Followed by an internet show, then a TV show, now blog talk radio, and of course my book The World Upside Down.

Fun and interesting.

Since I was up, dressed and shaved, I decided to go out for lunch. The humidity was heavy again. I needed a place with air conditioning. I opted for the closed in dining room at the Pier House. I sat looking out at the water and bathers while reading two local newspapers. Quiet and comfortable.

My intention in the afternoon was to write my KONK Life column for this week. Never got to it. I was in a lazy frame of mind.

Dinner last night was at Boondocks. Boondocks is an open air restaurant just short of Big Pine. About 30 miles up US 1.

The overhead fans kept me comfortable. The mosquitoes were a problem. The Big Pine area is loaded with them. Fortunately, the locals in the area came to Boondocks prepared. Everyone seemed to have a spray can to ward off the mosquitoes. The woman at the bar next to me was kind enough to share her spray with me.

Mitsutoki Shigeta is a name in the news. He is a 24 year old Thailand businessman.  He provides surrogate babies for sale world wide. Sixteen this year so far.

His operation a bit different than most. He fathers the children. All of them. He pays the women and cares for them. Sixteen this year. He is in good shape and never tires. He wants to continue the business till he dies.

Everything appears legal. His name goes on the birth certificates as father. Nevertheless, the police are investigating him. They cannot seem to come up with any illegal activities. They refer to the matter as the Baby Factory Case.

The placement of the babies is private. The going rate for a Thailand child is from $15,000 to $40,000. The babies are sought by prospective parents world wide.

Enjoy your day!

CHINA OWNS EVERYTHING

Joyous news! The giant panda Mei Xiang gave birth to a baby panda that survived! Weighed just under 5 ounces. Amazing that such a huge mother delivered such a small baby.

It is reported mother and child are doing well.

The delivery was at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, D.C.

This is one of those did you know items. Were you aware…..China owns all pandas in United States zoos? China does. As well as us. The United States owes China so much money. We will never be able to pay it back.

Stopped at the Bank of America ATM yesterday. Out of order. I tried the drive in one and fortunately it worked. I was down to $2. I can recall an occasion when all of Bank of America’s ATMs in Key west were down. A tragedy.

Interestingly, Bank of America does not own and operate its ATMs. Nor do most banks. Brinks owns and operates them. I found out once when the ATM would not return my card. Bank of America was no help.

Stopped at Salute around 5 for a drink. A change moment.

Good crowd! Busy! Especially out doors.

I was impressed at the cost of my drink. $6 for a Beefeater on the rocks. Good sized. A bargain in Key West. Most places are in the $8.50-$10.00 range. Except for Don’s Place. $4.50.

Stopped next at Don’s. Only 5:30. Nate bartending. Only 4 people at the bar. I did not know any of them. Chatted with Nate a bit and left. Did not have a drink.

The Chart Room was next. Mary bartending. Me and tourists.

I enjoyed the parting conversation between two couples. They had made plans to meet tonight at Garden of Eden. They were all giggly and excited.

I have only been to the Garden of Eden twice in the many years it has been open. It is a clothing optional bar for adults on a roof top on Duval. I am a voyeur. I was disappointed. Never saw anyone without clothes! Not even a topless woman!

Since Larry Smith has stopped playing, I have not been to the Wine Galley. I walked to the back side of the Pier House to visit last night. The outdoor hostess asked if she could help. I asked if the Wine Galley was open. She said, yes. It is our formal dining room. She insisted on entering with me.

What a joke! A sad one.

The room is the same. Except for three tables and the piano. Gone. The room was deserted. It smelled strongly of disinfectant.

She was gracious. Asked if I wanted a drink. A bartender had suddenly appeared. I said thank you, but no. It would not have been the same.

The front page of this morning’s Key West Citizen had a photo of the drone the Mosquito Control Board is trying out. Small. Weighs only 2 1/2 pounds. I was impressed. Our Mosquito Control Board does a hell of a job. Were it not for them, people would find it difficult to reside in the lower Keys.

Another lapus lingua. I referred to Bradley Manning recently as Bruce Manning. Second time in a week I have made a mistake. The prior one was referring to George Clooney as Robert Clooney.

Dementia must be setting in.

Tonight Tuesday Talk With Key West Lou. My blog talk radio show. At 9. One half hour. Fast moving and interesting. Revealing on occasion, also. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou.

I intend to speak about Bradley Manning and transgendedrism, China owning all pandas in the United States, and a proposal to urine test all high school athletes in Florida.

Join me.

Enjoy your day!

JET LAG

It finally hit me big time. Jet lag! It is 2:30 in the afternoon and I am just getting to today’s blog. My head is not functioning, my body tired.

Interestingly, today is the first day I have knowingly experienced it.

I tried working on this week’s KONK Life column this morning. Good luck! No way, Jose!

I have been pacing myself since my Wednesday night return.

Yesterday, I worked a while with Sloan. A pleasure to have her!

Then visited the grandkids. I had not seen Robert and Alley in two months. They just returned from a two week vacation at their grandparent’s home in north Florida.

Both grew. Especially Ally.

They make me feel good.

Laid in bed and watched some golf. Hope Jim Furyk wins. I met him several years ago at the Indian Casino outside Utica. Turning Stone. He was staying there a few days with his family. Soft spoken. A regular guy. He has won 16 times on the tour. One of the wins a major. He has not won in a few years. A win here would be big. It would guarantee him a place in the Golf Hall of Fame.

The Chart Room was packed last night. Like sardines in a can.

Saw JJ, Peter, Jean, and Sheila. Met Dori, a friend of Sheila’s.

Though I was not able to observe, Dori has some sort of disability. Ergo, she has a specially trained dog to assist her. I met the dog.

Big!!!Bigger than that!!!

A great dane. Great being the operative word. He had to be the biggest dog I have ever seen.

White with black spots. Like a Dalmatian. It would take at least four Dalmatians to make one of him.

Very quiet and reserved. Sat by Dori. Never moved in spite of the people mulling around. Then laid down behind Dori’s bar stool.

When I went to leave after kissing Sheila good bye and meeting Dori, I stepped on the dog’s paw. He never moved. Lucky me!

A bug and fish are in the news.

The lower Keys has a Mosquito Control Board. It does an excellent job. Without the Board, living in Key West would be primitive.

This year the Board started introducing something into the mosquito population that made the males sterile thereby preventing the females from getting pregnant. Pretty smart, I thought. The results of the endeavor are not known yet.

Starting late in August, the Board is going to experiment with drones. Planes without pilots.

Water pooling is a natural habitat within which mosquitos breed. The drones will fly around and identify the locations so personnel can go out and get the pools cleaned up.

The Keys mosquito guys do not screw around!

Now comes a crocodile. The croc has been named Crocodolly. Keynoter recently reported the following.

Crocodolly is eight feet long. A female. She has been showing up in an area off Plantation Key since 2010. She has been captured three times. Tagged the first time so there is no question it is the same crocodile. The tag on her tail is #5 in case you run into her.

Crocodiles are endangered species. Each time Crocodolly was captured, the authorities took her far out into Florida Bay. Crocodolly returned each time. Like the dog that can find its way home from many miles away.

The people of Plantation Key do not fear her. They look forward to seeing her in their canals.

Crocodolly has over 400 friends on Facebook.

What a world!

I am back on the air Tuesday night. Blog talk radio. Nine in the evening. A quick interesting half hour. Greece and the growing power of the Greek Nazi Party will be the topic. Join me. I guarantee you will find the talk revealing. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou.

Enjoy your Sunday!

MOSQUITOS

 

The major item of importance in my life yesterday was a stress test. Part of ongoing tests because I had a chest pain last week. Tests completed. Next wednesday my cardiologists gives me the results.

The testing took over 2.5 hours.

I did not do the tread mill stress test. Mine was strictly nuclear. I sat in a huge easy chair. Some nuclear chemical was shot into my arm. The result was immediate. I started breathing heavy. Gasping a bit. These results were expected and I had been forewarned to expect them.

It was all over in 30 seconds. The picture taking before and after is what took up most of the time.

The gulping for breath was similar to that experienced on my ill fated attempt to climb to the top of the Santourini volcano.

My cardiologist gave me the option of the tread mill or shot. He said both were equally good from his perspective for what he needed. I have become lazy in my old age. Always hated the tread mill. It was hard! Especially at the end. So I opted for the shot of nuclear whatever.

I published another article on Amazon Kindle yesterday. The Forefather of Three Presidents and Two Actors. The John Holland of Mayflower fame tale. He gave us Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the two Bushes. Plus Humphrey Bogart and Alec Baldwin. Were in not for Holland, we never would have had Social Security or the Iraqi War. Who knows how Casablanca would have turned out. 30 Rock might never have won any Emmys.

As I was getting ready for my night in Key West, the telephone rang. It was Jean Thornton. She has been back 2-3 weeks and we had yet to get together. Jean suggested we meet at the Chart Room for a drink.

It was Jean. And Sean, Sheila and Emily at the Chart Room. Good people all! A pleasant time.

I invited Jean to dinner. She had to pass. Had a dinner engagement already scheduled for later in the evening.

Emily bartends three nights  a week at the Chart Room. The more I see of her, the more I like her. She is intelligent and engaging. Beautiful as well.

I was not that hungry. Wanted to go to some place close and easy to the Chart Room. I decided on Sloppy Joe’s and an order of sloppy fries. It was fun.

I walked a couple of blocks down Duval after “dining” at Sloppy Joe’s. A good crowd of people. Not great. Enough for the merchants to make a buck, however.

Tomorrow is the day! My internet show. The Key West Lou Legal Hour. Ten in the morning my time. World wide. www.konkbroadcasting.com.

Join me. Share some interesting time with me.

Some topics to be discussed include the Dallas mosquito problem/West Nile Virus which is killing people, why U.S. companies prefer manufacturing in China (it is not the cheap labor), Social Security’s recent ordering of 174,000 rounds of hollow point bullets, Germany beginning to hurt economically because many of their container vessels sit idle, a high ranking Catholic priest sentenced to 3-6 years for being part of the cover up, Presidential campaign setting a poor example for our children, nude maid service in Lubbock, Texas not tolerated, and more.

Again, please join me if you can. I love doing the show and I assure you that although you may not love it per se, you will enjoy watching it.

Enjoy your day!

 

DAY 19

What a difference a day makes!

My first night on Mikonos I went to the action area. The Chora. Old Mykonos by the waterfront.

My first night was two nights ago.

I reported yesterday that I did not like Mykonos. Too many people. Too much hustle and bustle.

I went back to Chora. Deserted compared to the evening before. Small crowds. Easy to get around. Restaurants basically empty. No one rushing you.

Why the change? I asked around. A simple reason. The night before there were three large cruise ships dumping their passengers off. Last night, no cruise ships.

I sat at an outside cafe the first night by the water. A large place. Expensive. Just watching the people and drinking. Not eating. All the tables were full with cruise ship people eating. Spending big dollars. Last night I was the only person sitting at the same outside cafe. Still only drinking. The owner and staff fell all over me. Glad you returned, anything you want, etc.

Business is tough. It is the euro situation. A major election Sunday that will determine the economic future of Greece for the next 20 years. It could also determine the subsequent rise and fall of the euro.

The local merchants were available to talk with me last night. One retailer told me his business was down 70 per cent in the last five years. The restaurant owner where I was taking up space said his business was down 40 per cent.

They all speak with fear in their eyes. They all hate Germany and Merkle. For two reasons. Germany is the only nation eating big time under the euro. Greece hurting the worst. The other reason is World War II and the Nazi domination of Greece.

After last evening, I started liking Mykonos. So much so that I may be staying a few extra days. Fourni comes into the decision making process, also.

Again, the difference a day makes. Fourni excites me. I wanted so to visit Fourni and spend some time there. Like a couple of weeks. That is how good I thought it would be.

I have no firm schedule. I was told that Fourni was a short 2 hour speed boat ride from Mykonos.

I went to buy my speed boat ticket yesterday. No boat to Fourni. They discontinued the run a couple of months ago.

Alternative ways. I could fly to Athens. From there fly to Somos. Stay overnight in Somos. Take the morning boat from Somos to Fourni.

I want to see Fourni badly, but not that bad. Too much time and too expensive.

There are no flights to Fourni from Mykonos.

I took a walk down to the waterfront. Chatted with several fisherman. Small boat owners. Would they take me to Fourni with their boat. About a 4-5 hour trip in a small boat. All said no. Too dangerous and too long. We never even got to money.

So it is Mykonos for a few days.

The electric power goes off occasionally in Key West. Yesterday the water went off in Mykonos. A frequent occurrence I was told. No water for six hours! Key West power is never off that long.

Apparently a pipe broke somewhere. I, and I assume most other vacationers on the island, were all greased up from sunbathing and no way to remove it. When the water did come back on after six hours, it was rusty for another half hour.

I was not upset. Only sticky. Happenings such as water breaks come with island living.

I finally found Terri White’s old stomping grounds last night. The piano bar she worked in several years ago. I tripped upon it. A small two foot long sign over a door on one of the alleys said Piano Bar. In I went. The place opened up into a large bar and dining room. Overlooking the water.

I met Nikki, Terri’s friend who owns the bar. I met his partner. If his family was there, I would have met each and every one of them. That is how it is in Mykonos and the rest of Greece.

It was 7. I wanted to hear Bobby Peaco play. Not till 10. Said I would return. Doubting that I would as that generally is my bed time.

Nikki was obviously pleased with Terri’s successes over the past few years. He spoke of her and it constantly.

Mykonos has to be dengue fever paradise. The mosquitos got in my room last night. I finished the evening with at least a dozen bites.

Super Paradise Beach was my destination yesterday. I never made it. I lay by the hotel pool. It was quiet and soothing. The breeze perfect. The water the right temperature. Why leave.

Perhaps today.

I enjoy doing this blog daily and the other things I do. Yesterday, I published a new article on Amazon Kindle. Title: Unpaid Taxes. A portion of the article deals with the Greek unpaid tax problem. No one likes to pay taxes period. No one pays taxes if they can help it in Greece. This is one of the problems affecting the euro in Greece.

When there is an election, no one is pursued or prosecuted for unpaid taxes. The vote is more important than the tax dollar! When finally apprehended and charged, the individual still is not too concerned. Tax Court cases take 7-10 years to finalize.

I will try again for Super Paradise Beach today. Tonight, I have no idea.

Enjoy your day!