SYPHILIS IN KEY WEST

Syphilis is a venereal disease of old. A cure available. A quick one. Penicillin. The disease still around, however. Just not in significant numbers.

Six months ago, Key West had no syphilis cases. Recently, 10. An epidemic of sorts.

Nine of the 10 involve 18 and 19 year old males. Recent high school graduates. The final one a much older male.

Investigation revealed the 9 young ones got the disease post-graduation.

Authorities advised the infection not necessarily gay acquired.

The matter remains under investigation. The initial Key West source of the infection and others who may be infected.

Some things just never go away.

I have two pair of horn rimmed glasses. Thirty or more years old. Lens replaced, never the frames. Love the frames! Cost $700 each when purchased. Think I got my money’s worth.

One of the frames broke. Old age probably. I took the glasses to Key West Optical yesterday. Located in the gray shopping center on Kennedy and Flagler.

They were able to fix the frame! No guaranty how long the repair will last. Whatever, I am thrilled. I am wearing the glasses at the moment.

Key West Optical good people. Not the first time I have gone in for a repair. Always happy to help. Always no charge.

Moved on to K-Mart. Need a small table and stool. Did not have the size I needed. I want to move my video show outside. The background would be magnificent.

Then to Don’s Place. No room in the parking lot or street. Did not get to stop. No disappointment. I will see my Don’s Place / bocce friends tonight at bocce.

The Chart Room the next stop. Chatted with John a bit.

Steve Kelly seated next to me at the bar. Mid-50s. From West Chester, Pennsylvania. With his friend Pete. Both staying at the Pier House. Prior Key West visitors.

Steve and I hit it off immediately. A lot in common. An interesting conversation.

Steve is in a family business. His Mom and Dad started it. He runs it now. His son works with him and will take over when Steve walks away.

The business involves sporting goods. Athletic equipment. Called Kelly’s Sports. Sells directly to public and private institutions, as well as the public. University, colleges, and private schools. Sells also to booster clubs, parent organizations and fan clubs.

A big operation. One hundred employees. We laughed about payroll.

Steve and his son have been moving the business into internet sales. The wave of the future that is already here.

Easily observable was that Steve is proud of the business. His third generation family business.

I have been on a diet. Nothing even close to heavy. Yogurt and cottage cheese. Needed a steak last night. A small one. Stopped at Outback for their 6 ounce filet mignon and steamed vegetables. Like I had not eaten in several days. I had not!

Watched McDonald’s All American High School Basketball on TV. Some of the kids are good. They know it. You can see it in their faces.

My grandson John played on a Niki All American Team eight years ago. I traveled to see him. Think it was Charlotte. John was good. Not Division 1 good. He played at Albany State for four years. Captained the team in his senior year.

John is now in his last year of law school.

Moving back to the afternoon for a moment, I did some legal research. An issue I wanted to resolve. I felt like a lawyer again.

Skipper Kripitz is one of the most loved persons in Key West. Also, one of its best musicians. Skipper plays the drums.

He arranges the Tuesday night show at Virgilio’s. Always a sell out. This coming Tuesday the Savage Beets.

I read a write up on the show. Skipper was described as ubiquitous. A big word. Smart as I think I am, I did not know what it meant. Looked it up. Defined as found everywhere. Applies to Skipper. He is all over town playing.

Tennessee Williams and Ernest Hemingway in my life the past 24 hours.

I could not sleep during the night. Watched an old movie on TV. The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone. I have seen the movie at least a dozen times. The story and setting turn me on. Filmed in Rome.

Tennessee William’s in the credits. First time I noted it. Williams wrote the novel from which the movie was made.

The Ernest Hemingway tale disturbs me. Love Ernest Hemingway!

A Nicholas Reynolds wrote a new book: Writer, Sailor, Soldier: Ernest Hemingway’s Secret Adventures, 1935-1961.

The book sacrilegious in part.

Reynolds writes Hemingway was a Russian spy 1940-41. Doing espionage for the Soviet Union. Worked with the NKVD, predecessor to the KGB. His cover name Argo.

Attempted to verify the representation. Hard to do. A prior book written in 2009 suggested the same, but indicated Hemingway probably did it to get background for a novel.

I did not have time to research further. Patrick, if the subject interests you, do a little digging and let me know what you come up with.

Have to hustle. A haircut appointment.

Enjoy your day!

 

 

 

TRUMPELSTILTSKIN

Trumpelstiltskin applies.

Think about it.

My President is a bully. A bully avoids confrontation. Confrontation in this instance is Trump’s appearance at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. He can hand it out. Fears getting it in return.

Go face to face. In a congenial setting. The situation cannot get worse. Something better might come from it.

Chart Room first last night.

Met two former upstate New York neighbors. Mark and Marge Rapport. Formerly of Lowville, New York.

Lowville is the end of the world. Roughly fifty miles north of Utica. Snow like you would not believe!

Mark and Marge spent 7 1/2 years residing in Lowville. Mark was the Administrator of the Lewis County General Hospital. Largest employer in the area. Mark today retired. Marge, also. From nursing.

Lowville is in Lewis County. One of the largest land counties in New York State. Correspondingly, one of the smallest population wise.

The Village of Lowville is the County seat. Its population 3.5 thousand. The Village is part of the Town of Lowville. The Town’s population 5 thousand. Includes the Villages’s 3.5 thousand.

Ain’t much to do nights in Lowville. Marital sex the frequent event. Marriages strong because of it.

Turin is a few miles south of Lowville. Turin also in Lewis County. A big ski area. Chris Rounds is a well known Key West figure. Presently owner of La Te Da and Fantasy Fest king. A good guy overall.

Chris formrly of Turin. Born and raised there.

I mentioned Chris to Mark and Marge. Though they do not know him, I suspect they will be looking him up.

Met three charming ladies. Becky, Michelle, and Donna. All in the financial field. Becky a retired CPA. Michelle an internal auditor for a hospital. Donna a senior financial analyst.

The ladies all originally from Iowa. Becky and Donna still reside there. Michelle now in New Orleans.

Spent some time chatting with Becky. Lovely lady. Charming personality. Would enjoy running into her again before she leaves Key West.

The three were on their way to a drag show at 801 later. Their first.

For me, it was off to La Te Da’s outside bar for dinner. Then a brief stop at Publix to pick up some groceries. What a bachelor does on a saturday night in Key West.

Key West people compatible. Tolerate most things. One happy family. For real.

Sometimes an outsider tests our tolerance.

A sad occurrence one in the morning on 2/23. 1200 block of Duval.

Two Key Westers going home on their bicycles. Some one on a scooter/moped came up behind them and then in front. Hit one of the bikes causing it to overturn.

The trouble maker was calling the bicyclists faggots and other vile names. Shouted at them: “You live in Trump City now!”

Sick bastard. He will be caught. Police arrived. Witnesses.

Another sick incident. Friday morning just before 6 am. Two young girls were waiting for their 6 am school bus pick up. Two men stopped in a pick up truck and offered them a ride. The girls refused. One of the mothers drove up with a bottle of water her daughter had forgotten. The men drove away.

Fortunately a rare occurrence in the lower Keys. My concern is the 6 am pick up time. The schools have to do better. These kids are getting up at 5 am to start their day. Wrong! Time for the school board to rework things.

Big day ahead. Probably will never leave the house.

Sloan at noon. Syracuse/Louisville on TV at 2. The Academy Awards tonight.

Not a bad day!

Enjoy your Sunday!

 

A DAY LIKE ALL DAYS

Busy yesterday. Did nothing out of the ordinary, however.

Started with a noon haircut appointment with Lori. Always a pleasure to spend time with Lori. Fifteen plus years now.

The Cuban Coffee Queen is around the corner from Blown Away. The heat/humidity too heavy to eat outside. Decided to pick up some things at Publix and feed myself at home.

Driving the Publix motivation was the fact that I had been dreaming for a couple of days of a home prepared chicken sandwich.

Bought a lemon pepper chicken.

Lunch was the desired chicken sandwich. A large soft roll. A thick slice of white chicken breast. Covered with a slice of tomato. A bit of salt and pepper. Then mayonnaise.

A dream come true!

Screwed around on the computer in the afternoon searching for a KONK column topic to do. Came up with nothing that excited me.

The Chart Room first last night. John told me Tom and Fran had been in earlier looking for me. Telephoned them. They were at Kermit’s enjoying key lime pie. Told me they would shortly join me.

Spent some time with Tom and Fran enjoying a couple of drinks. Then they were off to do sunset. Knew one of the entertainers and wanted to visit with him. The man with the cats jumping through hoops of fire.

I went across the street to the Hot Tin Roof for dinner. Enjoyed lamb chops again.

Joseph still on the mend. There is a new general manager. JP. We were introduced.

The Noble Group is not screwing Joseph. As I understand, there is an office job awaiting him when he returns.

Joseph has graduated from a walker to two canes. Progress slow.

Hello Jim Wenzel! Close friend of Tom Dixon. Both Buffalo bred. Jim now resides in Tampa. Tom told me he turned Jim on to the blog and he now reads it daily.

Welcome and thank you, Jim!

On the way back to my car, I passed the Chart Room. Ollie was at the bar. One of the heroes of the Zika test spraying fight. I stopped in to congratulate him. He believes Key Haven will defeat the test spraying proposal.

This week’s KONK Life column is German Persecution of Jews. It was carried this morning on E-Blast and also linked to my Key West Lou column. www.keywestlou.com.

My conscience Patrick posted a comment yesterday morning. He wanted to know why I had not commented on the $4 million/Iran/hostage situation. Simple. I only had the first blast of news. Accusatory. Did not make sense. Thought I should wait a day to see how the story played out.

Glad I delayed. Nothing wrong occurred.

Better safe than sorry. I concede I occasionally jump the gun. Rarely however. Sorry when I do.

Trump was terrific. Claimed he saw the whole thing on video. There was no video. He still kept saying he saw it on video.

Ronald Reagan was a tough guy.

On this day in 1981, he fired 11,359 air controllers. None to ever be rehired. When they struck and walked out two days earlier, he gave them 48 hours to return to work.

The union thought it was calling Reagan’s bluff. no way. He called theirs.

Reagan’s action was the beginning of the fall of union dominance in the United States.

Enjoy your day!

HOPE EVERYTHING WORKS

I have had a bad week with the computer. Certain facts must be understood.

I am not computer literate. I am of that generation that does not deal with machines well.

Some have asked where was my backup. I try. Understand I write this blog read by thousands world wide from a desk in my bedroom. I am not NBC or the New York Times.

My backup hardware when I have a problem is to go to Lisa’s and use her computer. This I did. I knew I had a virus. The virus showed up immediately as I used Lisa’s computer. I shut it down immediately, of course. Whatever my problem, it had to do with the program I use.

I did not want to share the virus with all of you. It took this long to get everything resolved.

I am back! Hopefully.

The highlight of my week without having to do a daily blog, weekly newspaper column, and weekly blog talk radio show, was meeting Patrick. That Patrick. Not as bad a guy as he sounds when he comments. We had an enjoyable half hour conversation.

Last night was Happy Hour at Martin’s with Jenna. More than a month since we had been together. She is more beautiful each time I see her. We enjoyed great conversation and small lamb chops, brie, crab cakes and sushi tuna.

Martin’s Happy Hour is the best deal in town.

Sherry is a loyal blog reader. I forget from where. She wrote several months ago asking if I could help her daughter Cassie get an internship in communications, TV, etc. I spoke with Jenna. Jenna interviewed Cassie and took her on. Jenna has told me several times what a find Cassie is. She is better prepared than other interns who have worked with Jenna.

Cassie is a student at Ferris State in Michigan. Jenna believes the school was instrumental in Cassie being as job ready as she is.

David Wolkowsky and I have become friends over the past several months at physiotherapy. I wrote a column two weeks ago in KONK Life titled David Wolkowsky. The man is Mr. Key West. Now, 96. David built the Pier House and Reach. He gave Jimmy Buffett his first paying job.

David is aware I broke my toe. A nice guy. He had delivered to me today at big sponge cake with fluffy white frosting. Written in blue on top: A Place For The Toe. Thank you, David.

Tom Oosterhoudt is a well known man about town. Conch Color is his production.

Tom’s back got screwed up a couple of years ago. He has had several heavy surgeries. Conch Color is a weekly. Tom does an editorial each week. This week he made mention that while he was in Miami for the last operation, Randy Roberts visited him. Randy washed his hair and face.

I have never seen as many tourists as this season. Town packed. Sidewalks so crowded it is difficult to walk. You flow with the crowd.

Syracuse did not make the big tournament. I suspect we will play in the NIT. A disappointment. However, I did not expect Syracuse to make it. A horrible season! Every now and then it happens.

Trump is a danger to our country, democracy, and way of life. I continue to compare him to Hitler in the early and mid 1930s in Germany.

If he becomes President, the country will be in far worse shape than before the election.

Elizabeth Warren recently commented on the Republican Party and Trump’s candidacy.

She said the Republican Party has welcomed every radical group into the party over the years. Now, they are taking over. They have the party by the throat. She believes the Republican Party will pay the price for its own extremism. Her conviction is the Republican Party has only itself to blame.

I agree with Warren.

The U.S. owes China roughly $1.5 trillion. China is also buying businesses in our country. The most recent acquisition is the historic Hotel del Coronado near San Diego. A Chinese insurance company paid $6.5 billion for it.

We are selling ourselves to the Chinese.

I hope this blog appears today. My frustration and exasperation will know no end if it does not.

Enjoy your day!

 

I’M BACK!

I am back!

Computer sick for 8 days. Louis not. Lost a lot of files. Needed to replace hardware.

Missed writing every day. Free time all day. Not accustomed to it. Glad to be back.

Today’s blog short. Tomorrow, back in full force.

Met two loyal readers while computer down. Two that take shots at what I write. One more than the other.

The # 1 nasty reader re is Patrick. No one worse. Even some of you fight with him.

Met Patrick at the doctor’s this week. We talked for a half hour. Guess what? He’s a nice guy! We represent opposite ends of the political spectrum. He is leaving Key West this weekend. We agreed that when he returns,  we will enjoy a few drinks together.

The other thorn in my side is Diana Milikan. Had dinner together. Loved her! An intelligent might woman. She just might write a little less severe.

That is all for today! Talk with you tomorrow.