ANTS IN THE COFFEE POT

Live on a sub tropical island like Key West and inevitably you will run into all kinds of bugs, insects and other creatures. Recall last week. It was a rock lizard who had taken up residence in my home.

This week it is ants. The tiny tiny small ones. Almost invisible to the naked eye. They are in my Keurig coffee maker. The one that uses small K-cups.

Five or six days ago, I noticed the ants swimming around in side water holder on the unit. Ugh! The thought immediately occurred that I might have drunk some in the previous 24 hours.

My problem. These little ants are impossible to get out of the Keurig machine. Everything has been done. Anna washed everything three times. No help. I finally placed the water unit in the dishwasher. That did it for the water unit! Ants gone.

The ants still are in the main unit. The part I cannot put in the dishwasher. There are fewer, but still there. I went to TERRO two days ago. The best ant killer in the keys! Not this time.

There are not nor have there been ants on the kitchen cupboard on which the coffee machine rests. Only on and in the machine itself.

I am at wit’s end. Guess I will be throwing out the coffee maker and buying a new one.

I have also been suffering withdrawals symptoms. No coffee, no caffeine.

My blog talk radio show Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou went well last night. I finalized the show during the day. Added a section on Steven Sotloff who had been beheaded earlier in the day.

Only six subjects covered. All heavy.

Post show comments indicate the topics were equally liked/enjoyed. First time. Another first time was no one disagreed with me. A big first time!

Dinner at Roostica before the show. Two pieces of Italian sausage. Delicious! Ran into Ray Sigsimondi. A good guy. He came to Key west about the time I bought my home here 16 years ago. He plays a mean electric guitar. I miss his playing with Larry Smith on occasion at the Wine Galley.

The Key West Citizen had a heart warming front page story this morning.. It concerned Julie Johnson who was in Key West for several hours. She was traveling through on a cruise ship. Julie is 46 and blind since birth. Her friends were going to take a bike tour around Key West. She wanted to go, also. She found bicycle provider Lloyd Mager. He provided a tandem bicycle as the solution. Lloyd drove and Julie had the back seat. She pedaled along and took in the sounds and smells of Key West.

Lloyd makes stops so the tourists can enjoy first hand many of the special delicacies Key West has to offer. Julie got to enjoy key limes, sea grapes, touching a turtle and animals. Everything everyone else on the tour was doing.

God bless Julie! God bless even more Lloyd Mager who was here in Key West and knew exactly what to do to make Julie’s experience the pleasure it was.

My back, my back, my back! What a pain! Spasm! It is causing my shoulder to hurt because of the strange movements I make. Especially in bed.

Enjoy your day!

WHO IS WINNING…..ANTS OR ME?

Living on a sub-tropical island is always a joy when it comes to bugs! They are a given. You become accustomed to them. On those occasions when they invade your home, you deal with them.

The ants came in several nights ago. The very small ones. Tons on my kitchen counter and sink area. TERRO is the solution. Everyone’s hero in the Keys! Does the job with ants.

I went to Home Depot and bought TERRO. Little plastic houses with gook inside. You lay them out where the ants are. The ants go in and eat the stuff. They do not die there, however. The ants  return to their nest where they contaminate the rest of the flock and they all die happily together.

No more ants!

Did not work that simply this time. The ants were gone overnight from where they were. However, they moved to another area of the kitchen. The ants moved four times. I put TERRO out on four different days in four different places.

No ants this morning. I think I won.

This was my week for bugs. Saturday night around 6, I took a shower. Picked up a clean towel to dry myself. Felt a sting to the back of my left hand. Something had bitten me. What, I do not know.

My left hand is now almost the size of a softball. I see the doctor at 11:30. Itching was the initial problem. All saturday night and most of sunday. I went on the internet to see what to do. The oracle of our wisdom.

The most popular relief is to use a hair dryer. On the bite area. Has something to do with the proteins bugs leave under the skin. Aim the hot air on the bites. I have no hair so I had no blow dryer.

The backup remedy was hot water. As hot and as long as you could stand it. It worked. The relief lasted about four hours. Then the hand under the hot water faucet again.

Sunday dinner at Lisa’s. Salmon. Delicious.

I had a prearranged meeting with two ladies afterwards. Business. We had a drink and talked.

Happy Columbus Day!

There was no Columbus Day in my earlier years. Italo-Americans wanted a national holiday for one of their ancestry. Columbus got the nod. The Sons of Italy, of which I was a member, was very instrumental in the drive to have Columbus Day recognized.

Enjoy the holiday!

 

 

STAY OUT OF MY BEDROOM!

 

Two years ago, I wrote a KONK Life column entitled Stay Out Of My Bedroom! It had to do with the morning after pill and politicians who were against it.

I find the need to write a brief bit bearing the same title. Stay Out Of My Bedroom! This time regarding the Catholic Church.

One of the topics discussed last night on my blog talk radio show involved Bishops and birth control. It was revealed monday that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops had written a letter to the House of Representatives requesting THE GOVERNMENT BE SHUT DOWN, unless religious employers were given a special right to deny birth control coverage to their employees. In effect, an alteration of certain provisions of Obamacare.

I was confused. I am confused. Just two weeks ago, Pope Francis said the Church had been too obsessed with gays, birth control and abortion. Too doctrinaire. The issue required a new look.  The Bishops apparently did not hear the Pope. The U.S. Bishops are involved once again politically with regard to the birth control issue.

The Good Book says…..render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, to God the things that are God’s. Sounds like separation of Church and State to me as set forth by Jesus himself centuries ago.

I am willing to listen to my priests preach whatever they like from the pulpit. That is their venue. I am adamantly opposed to the Church becoming involved in the political arena, however.

Another part of this whole thing that bothers me involves food. The House of Representatives recently passed a bill removing $40 billion from the food stamp program. A program that helps feed the poor, old and young alike. Free breakfasts for children are on the way out. Milk for babies  whose mothers cannot afford the sustenance is being denied to babies at this very moment because of the government shutdown.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York is the President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. A very humorous man. A very fat man. Extremely. His body structure suggests he is eating. And eating well. Though many in his flock are not.

Somewhere along the way, Cardinal Dolan forgot two things. First, the Pope is his boss. How can he come out so forcefully against an item that the Pope recently said was subject to review? Second, how can he support a government shutdown that is contributing to the poor having less food available, especially milk fed babies?

Cardinal Dolan and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops are wrong, wrong, wrong! They are the Tea Party of the Catholic Church.

Enjoy your day!