CAPTAIN PETER RETURNS

Captain Peter is back. For a visit, not for good. Even for a few days, we are happy to have him.

Peter moved to Washington or Oregon where he had a home he was renting out. He is back in Key West to visit with friends.

I have not seen Peter yet. However tomorrow night, I will. Sheila is having a big Thanksgiving dinner for those who love Peter. I will be there.

Still cold during the night. Heat again. Only got down to 64, however. Going to 74 today. A warming trend in the making. We should be back to normal in a few days.

I was speaking with someone in Utica yesterday. Utica is in upstate New york. I mentioned how cold it was in Key West, that the temperature had dropped to 57 the night before. I was told in effect to stuff it. It was 17 degrees at the time in Utica.

I was pushing my cart around Publix yesterday. Few shoppers the day after Thanksgiving. Enjoying the emptiness of it. Music was playing. The words came forth….,.I’m dreaming of a White Christmas. Too early!

Syracuse beat Holy Cross last night 72-68. I could not get the game on TV. It was on ESPN3. Michigan tuesday night. Watched Boeheim on a video this morning. His post game interview. He was not happy with the team’s offensive shooting. Especially the three outside men.

Syracuse football this afternoon. I will not be able to watch the last football game of the season. Syracuse’s record does not warrant TV time.

The game is Boston College. At Boston College. For many years, I used traveled to the Boston game in Chestnut Hills. A party weekend. Out on the town friday evening. The game saturday. Home sunday.

Boston College’s stadium is an outdoor one. Open air. Always cold this time of the year Sometimes extremely cold. I used to sit and wonder what the hell I was doing there!

It was the trip. Not the game. The trip was fun.

After the game, we would head into Boston proper. To a place called the Blue Marlin. A casual fish bar restaurant on the water. Actually on Lewis’ Pier. A couple of blocks from South Street Seaport.

Fresh Maine lobsters and fried clams! To die for!

Today ends one of Syracuse’s worst football seasons. There is only one way to go. Up. I feel sorry for the kids who played this year. A dramatically losing season is hard to take. Going into today’s game, Syracuse has won only 2 games.

I spent most of yesterday researching next week’s KONK Life column. I hope to write it today. I decided on a change of pace. The article will be the story of how Venice came to be.

I did not go out last night. The reason my diet. It is easier to eat at home. In a restaurant, there are too many temptations.

Enjoy your day!

COW KEY CHANNEL BRIDGE RUN

The 1st annual Cow Key Channel Bridge Run is scheduled for Saturday. The race begins at noon. Registration is at 10. The post race party is at the Hurricane. Alcohol will be served. There are a number of friday night spaghetti parties all over the island.

The race is unique. Whereas most races/marathons are the full 26.4 miles, some are less. Five and 15 K races are popular all over the United States. The Cow Key Bridge race is of a lesser distance. Zero K. Zip.

Cow Key Bridge is 360 feet long. That is the length of the race. It is assumed most will walk. It depends on each participants’ athleticism. A water station will be located mid way on the bridge.

The Cow Key bridge is the last bridge into Key West and the first one going out.

I hope to participate. Depends on my back. I was getting in shape by walking Publix and Home Depot.

Perhaps Robert and Ally will be with me. If I falter, they can carry me across the finish line.

Lunched at Schooner Wharf today with KONK Life’s publisher Guy de Boer. At Guy’s suggestion, we ate upstairs in the open. A great view of the harbor! First time up there for me. I was under the impression the new part was the restaurant upstairs. I went up. Special stairs. It was enclosed. I thought how nice. Air conditioning! No food and drink. It was Schooner’s offices.

Took care of the food problem. Did some grocery shopping at Publix. In anticipation of the Cow Key Bridge race, I walked the aisles pushing a cart two times!

I intended to play bocce tonight. My back is/was better. Around 5, I fell in the garage while taking out the garbage. I missed the one step in the garage. A step I have traversed several times a day for 16 years. My back is twitching. I am not gambling. Telephoned Captain Dave and told him the team would have to win without me.

I seem to have a sense of humor this morning. Good!

Love my Italian friends. They have seen my TV show, read the blog and KONK Life column, and listened to the archived portion of my blog talk radio show. They think I am big time! I explain not, but they do not listen. I am their American celebrity.

They email or Skype me when something newsworthy occurs in Italy. A couple of days ago, it was Venice. Home of the gondolas.

Economically, Italy is in the toilet. Unemployment is sky high. Real property taxes have been increased several times a year for several years. People are getting desperate. Desperate people do desperate things.

There is a group in Venice who wish to secede from Italy. They are serious. This is not a Conch Republic thing. The group has been preparing. They created/made a tank. A bulldozer covered with metal plates with a phony cannon on the front.

The Venice police became concerned. Especially with the arms they were gathering. The arms were for real as opposed to the tank. The police concluded they had become terrorists. Twenty four were arrested.

After Greece, Italy is in the worse financial shape in Europe. The police fear real protests, fights, physical confrontations, etc. as have occurred in Greece.

Parliament is seriously considering a new child abuse law in England. Parents who drink alcoholic beverages in front of their children will be guilty of child abuse. The thrust is the children would be learning a bad habit. A similar law in Key West would find most parents in jail charged with child abuse.

Benghazi seems susceptible to fights and war. We know what occurred a couple of years ago. On this date in 1941, the Germans conquered Benghazi.

Enjoy your day!

 

SOAP BOX DAY

My apologies up front. I am on a soap box today. Two issues. Yesterday’s Supreme Court decision and the cost of food.

We need a new Supreme Court! Plain and simple. The Court has gone so far to the right that it appears to be a tool of the 1 per cent. In a 5-4 decision yesterday, the Court rendered a decision that basically allows more personal private money to political candidates. The millionaires and billionaires can donate effectively with no limits.

Government of the rich, by the rich, for the rich.

Breyer in his dissent said the decision creates “…huge loopholes in the law…that undermine, perhaps devastate” a free and unbridled election system.

At issue was the right of the super rich to donate as much to a political campaign as desired. The majority said it was the rich guy’s right, that the rich should not in effect be limited in their giving because they are rich.

I am concerned. You should be also. I include my Republican friends. Never forget that he who pays the fiddler, calls the tune.

Food. I have become close to the issue in recent days. My back kept me down for almost a week. Ergo, no grocery shopping. The refrigerator, freezer and cupboard are bare. Easy to fix. Go to the supermarket!

The situation has brought to the forefront an issue I have addressed many times in this blog, on my TV show, on the radio, and in my newspaper column, the past few years. The ever increasing cost of food!

It has been reported that the cost of food went up a staggering 19 per cent last year. Wow! Lets examine the cost of meat as an example. The food  industry claims two reasons.

The first is the cost of whatever cows eat to make them plump and fat. Foodstuffs like corn and soy beans. The cost of items such has these has risen.

The second is the growing middle class world wide. Most of the developing countries now have a middle class. They want all the goodies our middle class enjoy/enjoyed. Especially beef and protein. The demand is up, the supply low. Simple economics. The price of meat must go up.

The preceding may be a contributing factor. I believe there is something else. Four large corporations control 85 per cent of the meat packing business. Cargill, Tyson Foods, JBS, and National Beef Packing. A monopoly, in effect. They control so they can charge whatever they like. Even if it amounts to gouging the public a bit.

I remained in last night. Wanted to be sure my back was really ok. Today, I plan to be out and about. Besides grocery shopping, a business lunch on the new roof at Schooner Wharf, and bocce this evening. It has been 4 weeks since I last played. I look forward to the evening.

Even more, I look forward to tomorrow evening. A few drinks and dinner! I need to get out!

Enjoy your day!