ELECTRIC CART ACCIDENT

It was inevitable. I knew someday I would see an accident involving an electric cart. I did yesterday.

The carts are dangerous on the Boulevards and US 1. Their speed limited. Motor vehicles traveling at faster speeds. The carts frequently holding up traffic in one lane.

The accident was on US 1. Two hundred feet north of Cross Street in the northbound lanes.

It was about 7 pm. I was on my way home from Publix. Stopped for the light on US 1 at Cross Street. First in line in the passing lane.

I was not specifically watching anything. Merely sitting and waiting for the light to change. Suddenly, I saw it! Not the accident itself. Probably a split second after the accident occurred.

I could not tell from 200 feet that the cart was a cart. Looked like a big box broken and sitting in the road. Next to it a black car. It was only as I creeped up to the scene that I saw it was an electric cart. Two in the cart. Someone laying under the cart, head in a pool of blood. A woman trying to stand holding on to the cart roof. Both middle aged.

Cart and car were severely damaged.

Workers from the garages and other businesses came running out. I could hear the ambulance siren. Someone waved me past the accident scene and indicated to continue down US 1.

The bottom line…..Do whatever necessary to keep the electric carts off the roads. Especially US 1 and the Boulevards. The carts accidents in the making.

My day yesterday began with Tammy. A manicure.

Her place of business well air conditioned. Last week it was blazing hot. The air conditioning down. She and husband Rick had to replace the entire unit.

Decided to lunch at Harpoon Harry’s. A nice feeling about the place.

Parking was a problem. One o’clock in the afternoon in the summer and no parking places available in the large parking lot on Caroline Street. Three cars stopped in parking lot lanes waiting for a spot to open. I finally found one across the street.

The City Commission bears responsibility for insufficient parking. There and everywhere else in Key West. The City recently remodeled the lot. Put in shrubbery. Took out 3-4 parking spots to create another exit spot. One which I have yet to see anyone use.

It has also been announced that some part of the area is going to be used for the day buses coming in from Miami. A place for the buses to park. Taking away more vehicle parking places.

The ham and eggs were excellent. Read the newspapers and enjoyed.

Only a half dozen patrons in Harpoon Harry’s. Made me wonder where all the people with cars in the lot were.

The Chart Room last night.

Tom and Fran Dixon from Buffalo were to have arrived yesterday. Thought I would run into them. Did not.

Stayed about two hours listening to mini-lobster divers recount their experience of the day. Tourists. They enjoyed the experience.

Stopped at Publix on the way home to pick up a few things.

It was on my way home from Publix that I observed the accident scene.

The Florida Mosquito Control District has more problems. This morning’s Key West Citizen reports that Executive Director Michael Doyle resigned effective September 1. He is leaving for a position with the State of North Carolina.

The Mosquito board has experienced a number of foul ups since the first of the year. The Oxitec situation. The $4.4 million approval for a new building. Even Doyle’s salary was questioned as being excessive.

Doyle did a good job till this year. I never see a mosquito. Zeka and Oxitec proved his down fall. The way he handled it. The $4.4 million building did not help. It could have been built a year a year ago for $2.2 million. The 45 percent tax raise approved last week did not help either.

William Hackley’s 1855 diary runs daily in the Key West Citizen continues to garner my attention. It is history in Key West in 1855. A day by day story.

Today, Hackley reported Baby better. Good! I worry about the baby making it. Mother can’t supply enough milk. Goat bought in from Havana was dry.

William himself was sick during the night. Took 4 Wright VG pills.

Looked up Wright VG pills. Best I could come up for the time was sleeping pills or vagina tightening tablets. Best bet is the tablets were sleeping pills.

Mini-lobster season has ended. Yesterday, no accidents. Authorities report a limited number of lobsters. Most boats returned with less than the 6 per person limit. Suggests a poor harvest season ahead.

My KONK Life column this week is Bagles. It was run in this morning’s E-Blast. The last 8 paragraphs were left out. It will be rerun tomorrow or sunday.

Watched the conclusion of the Democratic Convention last night. Thought it was excellent. Obviously. Made the Republican Convention come up poorly. Trump’s comments last night and this morning make him look poorly.

An ass! Incompetent! Dangerous!

Enjoy your day!

NILE CROCS KILL HUMANS

We have had a crocodile sighting on a rock off Fort Zach Beach. Purportedly not a human biting one. There have been other croc and alligator sightings recently. Now we learn of Nile crocodiles.

Nile crocs are not native to Florida waters. They come from Africa. Big things. Grow to 20 feet. Eat humans.

So far three Nile croc sightings in Florida swamps. No one can explain how they got here.

As to native crocs and alligators, State authorities say we have shared Florida waters with them for centuries. The intimation being we should not be concerned. It is their territory as well as ours. We must learn to live together.

Hard to buy when one is discovered feet off For Zach Beach.

Today is day one of mini lobster season. It is off to a slow start.

I was up early this morning to sit on the deck and watch the boats rushing out. Fifty by my deck easily. For 16 years. not this year.

The water is choppy today. Cloudy and gray. Only two boats have gone by.

The weather is screwing up everyone’s fun.

My blog talk radio show last night. The topic I spent most time discussing involves protests at the Republican and Democratic Conventions. Outside protests. Little media reporting re same.

Black Lives Matter were out in the hundreds in Philadelphia yesterday. Marched to the fence of the convention center. Things a bit rowdy.

No comment from the media.  One TV reporter did comment last night that things were heating up a bit outside. He thought they were Sanders dissidents who had walked out.

I worry demonstration news is being kept from us intentionally.

The Mosquito Control Board members are an inept bunch. Their values misplaced. The Zika situation has removed their scab.

I wrote a few days ago that the Board paid its employees extremely well. They were in the process of beginning construction of a new $4.4 million building. And…..had approved a 45 percent tax hike

Now, I find out that being a Board member is a good deal. Each board member is paid $24,000 a year. Twelve meetings. Plus, they are part of the State retirement system and receive hospitalization.

Vote them all out!

Hillary officially nominated last night.

The Democratic Convention more enjoyable and better organized than the Republican one. Reflects how one would run the government.

Trump may be getting in trouble over his Putin relationship, if one exists. The rumor is he may have received financing for some of his enterprises via Russian banks.

Wikipedia causing many to sweat. Even Hillary. Money laundering the issue. Involving the Hillary Victory Fund and the DNC.

Today is wednesday. Screw off day for me. I spend saturday, sunday, monday and tuesday researching, writing, etc. Wednesday, thursday and friday are my days off. I even slept better last night.

Enjoy your day!

CROC AND SHARK RECLAIM WATERS

There is a sign this morning on Fort Zachary Taylor Beach: CAUTION and the picture of a crocodile. the picture taken yesterday. Shows a five foot croc lying on a rock just of the beach.

A hammerhead shark was sighted also. Friday. Again, just off the beach at Fort Zachary Taylor. The shark described as large. The shark was engaged in a battle with a large tarpon. Standing nearby in the water, two tourists. They got the hell out!

We are told crocs are shy and docile. Not dangerous. I don’t buy it! May be true, yet would scare me if I saw one.

I had a shark experience 15 years ago. In the waters off the Casa Marina Beach. Big shark! Brown. I am sure the water magnified it. But it still had to be huge. What I saw was monstrous.

Later that evening I was having drinks with some friends at the Square One bar. All locals, some Conchs. Told them of my shark experience. How frightened I was. They all laughed at me. Told me the shark I saw was a sand shark. Yes, big. No problem, however. Their teeth are set way back. All I would have felt was the shark gumming a leg or arm.

Maybe the gumming would not have hurt me. Guaranteed the heart attack would have!

Some Key West natives are not concerned about the water inhabitants. They say the water and land first belonged to the crocs and sharks. People the interlopers. It is their homes we have invaded.

I wonder what they would say if attacked or bitten by one.

Tonight, my blog talk radio show. Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou. Part of yesterday spent preparing for the show. The topics interesting. Included are the political conventions, police killings, military gear for police, prostitution at the conventions, media coverage of protestors, Venezuela update, and more.

A fast moving half hour. Join me. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou.

Watched the Democratic Convention on and off.

Stopped by Rich and Cindy Boettgers for drinks at 4. Good people. Cindy a beauty. Love her. Rich a genius. We talked politics and local problems. Not always agreeing.

Left them and headed to Aqua. Dueling bartenders time. David sitting at the bar. Enjoyed the singers and David.

Hungry. Not much, however. Headed to Roostica where I enjoyed an artichoke dip.

Then back home to watch more of the Democratic Convention. Loved Michelle Obama. One smart woman!

I wish Sanders would end it. He is reluctant to cut the umbilical cord. Take that final step. You would think he encouraged and supported the Revolutionary War.

He is taken with himself. Too much.

The Big Latch On saturday. I wrote about the event when it took place last year. Part of International World Breastfeeding Week. To encourage breast feeding and explain the value of it.

At a specified time, those meeting in Key West will breast feed their babies at the same time.

The police/black acts of brutality will continue till a resolution arrived at. Neither side should be proud. However, I continue to maintain that the police invited retaliation. Retaliation was inevitable.

Proof of the pudding that police are shooting/beating citizens improperly are in dollar pay outs. Figures released for Chicago. This year to date, the City of Chicago has paid out $18.6 million to resolve police brutality lawsuits. $500 million in the last 10 years.

Enjoy your day!

 

 

 

 

HEMINGWAY WINS HEMINGWAY LOOK A-LIKE CONTEST

Yes, Hemingway did win the Hemingway Look A-Like Contest. David Hemingway from Macon, North Carolina. Age 65. No relation to the original Hemingway.

One hundred forty Look A-Like contestants. Biggest participation yet!

Celebrity chef Paula Deen in the crowd. This was her husband’s seventh try at winning.

Never left the house yesterday. I was glued to the TV watching Democratic Convention news. Early morning and into the evening.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz should not even appear on the podium this evening. I understand she will now speak. I hope not. She will become an anchor around Hillary’s neck.

In between politics, I wrote this week’s KONK Life column. Bagels. A history of bagels. The article takes the reader from King Jadwiga to Krakow to 100,000 Ottoman Turks to King John III Sobieski to the Bagel Bakers Local #338 to the Lender family to Cleveland bagels. A trip covering several hundred years.

Mini lobster season this week! Wednesday and thursday. Thousands will come to Key West to dive for lobsters.

I remember the first time I dove for lobsters. About 20 years ago. I went down. Saw two sets of tentacles coming out from under a rock shelf. I rushed back up and yelled to my experienced friends on the boat that I had found two of the biggest lobsters ever. I could hear their laughs as I dove back to capture my prizes.

Brought them up. They looked awfully small. Measured them. Too small. Had to throw them back.

It was then I learned the water magnifies everything.

My friends laughed at me. I took it in stride. The best was yet to come.

At some point, the boat was driven about a 100 feet off some small key and the anchor dropped. No other boats or people than us. I jumped in the water with several others. The water was waist high. Others on the boat were cooking the lobsters on a small cook out grill.

Cooked lobster tails dripping in butter were handed over the side to those of us in the water. A beer in one hand and the lobster in the other, I feasted. When done, I dunked my entire body underwater to wash off the sweat and also the butter which had dripped on my torso.

The story tells the reason why thousands will be out during the mini lobster season. Everyone enjoys it as I did.

The hospital/community war ongoing. I sense progress. The Citizens Committee is doing a terrific job. I sense the hospital owners are concerned by some steps already taken to remedy problems.

This is not a war for politicians to get involved in. They screw things up and delay resolution.

Ward is a candidate for State Attorney. He wants present State Attorney Vogel to conduct a grand jury investigation, issue subpoenas, etc.

I know neither candidate. However, Ward’s position is reason enough not to vote for him. A prosecutor has to know when to exercise authority. Politics and law should not be mixed for political expediency.

Paul Krugman is a New York Times columnist. A far to the left liberal. He recently wrote  re Trump and Putin: “If elected, would Trump be Vladimir Putin’s man in the White House?”

I am off to Body Owners shortly to do the anti-gravity treadmill. The afternoon will be consumed with business matters. Until 4 when I will be at Rich and Cindy Boettger’s home for cocktails. Then to Aqua for the Dueling Bartenders.

Enjoy your day!