DRINKING AND SMOKING…..WHEN YOU STOP

It has been a month since my last drink and cigarette. Did not really bother me till last night.

I only drank and smoked when out. Never at home.

I had been out a couple of times before last night with no problem. Last night, a double edged sword!

I was with Mary at the Chart Room and Pier 1. I wanted a drink. Not badly, but the desire was there. What I really wanted was a cigarette! Wow! The desire fantastic. It continued through dinner.

I handled it. I will continue to handle it.

David was at the Chart Room. Chatted with him briefly. Always good to see David.

Little Money and Coco returned to their ocean home this weekend. Both had been injured and had been treated at the Turtle Hospital.

Different turtle types. Little Monkey a 365 pound mature female green sea turtle. Coco a 250 pound loggerhead.

More than a thousand persons were on the Marathon Beach cheering their return to the sea.

Keys people love turtles!

The Hemingway Look-A-Like contest next month July 18-21. At Sloppy Joe’s, of course.

Over the years, the contest has grown. Last year more than 150 men participated.

Celebrity chef Paula Deen’s husband Michael Groover won last year. Took him 9 years.

No one wins the first time out. Takes about 10 years. Many have been participating 20 years and longer. Know they will never win. However return each year for the comradeship and fun involved.

I particularly enjoy the Running of the Bulls event. All 150 plus dressed in Spanish attire as Hemingway would have been. Running down Duval trying to escape the bulls.

Baltimore Oriole’s star Boog Powell played professional baseball in the 1960’s and 1970′.

His family moved to Key West when he was 15. He played baseball at Key West High School. On this date in 1959, Boog signed his first contract with the Baltimore Orioles.

He had a distinguished career. Played on the World Series Championship teams of 1966 and 1970. He was American League Most Valuable player in 1970.

Boog’s real name was John Wesley Powell. His dad nicknamed him Boog and it stuck. Seems in the South they called little children who were constantly getting into mischief buggers. His dad shortened it to Boog.

The Key West Citizen continues to carry excerpts from William Hackley’s diary. Hackley lived in Key West in the 1830’s.

Mosquitoes were very bad. No Mosquito Control Board. Hackley wrote in his diary for June 13: “Sauntering about and looking for a vessel to leave this place. The mosquitoes are very bad. Wind calm.”

The U.S. Open begins today. It is being played at historic Pebble Beach in California.

I was probably the worst golfer ever. Nevertheless, I enjoyed playing. The comradeship, the sights, the 19th hole.

I used to take golf trips with friends. I was fortunate to play Pebble Beach twice. A tough course! You would not believe how hard! I normally shot around a 100. When I played Pebble Beach, it was around 145.

Besides tough, the course absolutely beautiful! Adding to its beauty and difficulty, it is located on the ocean.

I will be watching the Open the next few days.

No question I am not a Trump supporter. For good reasons.

He was recently interviewed by ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. Excerpts of the interview have become available. The full interview will be aired Sunday evening.

Some Trump responses have already been reported or commented on. Including: He treats his oath to serve the U.S. faithfully with the same contempt he’s given to his wedding vows and business contracts.

Another involved his receiving dirt on his political opponents for the 2020 election from a foreign country: He might not alert the FBI if such information was offered.

This one blows me out: “I like the truth…..I’m naturally a very honest guy.”

His responses bespeak the soul of the man.

The difference between reactive and proactive. Some nations deal with a problem as it occurs. Others anticipate years earlier the possibility, and prepare how to act/counter the problem.

The U.S. is reactive. Pearl Harbor the best example. We had been warned of possible Japanese retaliation re cutting off Japan’s oil supplies. Did nothing. Took a crushing defeat at Pearl Harbor. Fortunately, the American spirit took hold and eventually made it possible for the U.S. to defeat Japan.

The U.S./China tariff war an example of proactive. China prepares for everything. Must be the working of the Asian mind. Ten years ago, China began preparing for a tariff war such as the U.S. has initiated.

Huawei’s Chairman said protective measures must be in place just in case. A decade of planning has gone into how to replace U.S. supplies. A Chinese economist said, “You don’t know what will happen, so you prepare for the worst.”

Interestingly, the Chinese people are reacting now re the U.S. tariffs as the American people did following Pearl Harbor. A determined new nationalism is evident in China. A Don’t Tread On Me attitude. Described also as don’t urinate on me!

New York Times internationally known columnist Nicholas Kristof had some comments in his article today. Concerned child malnutrition. A neglected topic from his perspective.

He wrote, “On the Upper East Side of Manhattan, you can spend $1,000 on an ice cream sundae. A Dubai shop sold a cupcake sheathed in gold leaf for just over $1,000. In America, 56 percent of dogs are overweight. Meanwhile, almost one quarter of children worldwide are stunted from malnutrition in ways that will hold them back and the world back for half a century to come…..Malnutrition is a factor in 45 percent of deaths of children under 5 worldwide, yet gets less than 1 percent of foreign aid (and much less than 1 percent of international headlines).

Enjoy your day!

16 comments on “DRINKING AND SMOKING…..WHEN YOU STOP

  1. What!!! You aren’t a trump supporter?… you could knock me over with a feather.

    Maybe we can get a meeting with him. We’ll send him a message telling him we are from Lower Volta and we have dirt on all of the Democratic candidates plus Nancy Pelosi. We’ll even have a lowervolta email address: Lewis&Kokomo@lowervolta.com. Trump won’t be able to resist it.

    KokomoMan

  2. The hypocrisy of Donald Trump and those who support him is unrelenting and overwhelming. His latest blast about willing to take and use negative information about a political opponents from foreign governments (especially the part about not alerting the FBI when appropriate), is just one more outrageous example, particularly after he very aggressively tried to get the Justice Department to prosecute Hilary Clinton for using just such information that the DNC had actually purchased from Republican operatives during the last election. Even SNL wouldn’t have made something like this into a skit. What is a matter with us for allowing this to happen?

    • Perhaps he’s trying to bait you TDS people? I rarely take what he says as serious. Try that and you will feel better.

      • The definition of TDS is irrelevant to this discussion and you are only using it pejoratively to make up for your comprehension issues on the gravity of the issue.

        The fact that you choose not to take him seriously when he says something only shoes how brainwashed you really are.

        Donald Trump is the president of the United States and when he says something, it need to be taken seriously. This particular statement was given as a serious response to a serious question (with a very concerned response intended as clarification) by a member of the press.

        Trying to cover for the president in this way clearly shows your TPB (Trump partisan blindness), which only makes you look like a fool and a troll.

        • “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor”. Oh, wait, I guess sometimes presidents say things they hope will be true, although it turned out he knew all along keeping your doctor wasn’t going to happen!

          • Nonsensical argument that has nothing to do with the topic or the gravity of the situation. It shows how willing you are to suggest ANYTHING, even when it isn’t true, or on point, with what’s being discussed. Why are you dismissing what a sitting president says about what would be treasonous and criminal behavior with what was an honest statement (at the time it was said) from a previous president that was at best a political hatchet attempt. I sincerely doubt it is because you just don’t comprehend the discussion, but rather because you are completely limited in your struggle to always apologize for Trump, regardless of the truth and to lazy to learn how to think on your own. Your lame arguments are the reason America need to be made great again.

          • I did keep my Dr., so did many, many others. Trump is a pathological liar who NEVER apologizes when he is wrong. That is because it takes courage to be a man.

    • Which is what makes Trump’s base deplorable. It would be smarter, if they spent at least a little of their time actually trying to make this country great again, instead of taking it further into decay and embarrasment.

      • HRC wasn’t entirely incorrect with her basket comment AND she gave the benefit of the doubt by setting the ratio at 50 percent.

    • Trump’s base worships him because they think he is a reflection of what they are, and their values. That is not a compliment in any manner nor is it factual. Trump is a player and they are the mark. Tearing down a unique government such as ours is not admirable. If there is room for improvement make it but to defile it, that is nothing but anarchy. Bannon and Trump planned to deconstruct America, the America that was, up to the 2016 election, revered and defended with the blood of many. America dumbed down on this one.

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