WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS TO BE SELF EVIDENT…..

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Happy Fourth of July! Our nation’s birthday.

Preciseness a bit lacking as to what happened on what date. Two other dates involved.

July 2nd the Declaration of Independence was signed by some members of the Constitutional Convention. John Adams initially thought the 2nd was the new country’s birthday. He wrote a letter to his wife stating such.

On July 4th, the document was presented to the Continental Congress. Presented. Not further signed.

Most of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention did not sign the Declaration of Independence till August 2nd.

Sometimes we get confused with what occurred when. For example, were Lexington and Concord before or after July 4, 1776. The shoots at Lexington and Concord were fired 445 days before.

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were close social friends. However, their political philosophies were diametrically opposed.

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on the same day. July 4th, fifty years after the United States of America’s birth date.

Another President died on July 4. James Monroe five years later.

I spent yesterday afternoon writing this week’s KONK Life column. It publishes wednesday. The title: Who Pays For  The Booze and Balloons? Re the national political conventions to nominate each party’s candidate for President. This year’s conventions will cost $100 million each. Where did the money come from in the past and where will it come from this year? Interesting.

Last night turned out to be one of the best I have experienced. And I have experienced a lot of good nights. It was not intended to be special in any way. Dee was taking me out for dinner. To celebrate my birthday July 6th when I shall be 81.

We dined at the bar at Tavern ‘n Town. Judy and Dee are friends.

Dee looked the best I have seen her in several years. The lady had stage 4 cancer. You would never know it. She was shinning last night.

We chatted with two couples sitting near us.

Monique and Richard. Monique works for Shriner’s Hospital. Richard is a cardiologist. Just the guy I wanted to see after this past week.

Both down from Clearwater visiting Key West.

Somewhere along the way, it got out my birthday was two days away. We had all done the where are you from thing. Me, upstate New York.

Monique did a very nice thing. She had the piano player sing New York State of Mind.

Happy birthday came a little later when Dee had a slice of cheesecake presented me with one candle on top. Everyone sang!

The other couple was Rhonda and Rob from Toronto. Three sons. No grandchildren yet. You could tell they cannot wait.

The six of us talked quite a while. Covered a multitude of subjects, including politics. Immigration and opportunity played a part in the conversation.

Good people. Enjoyed my time with them.

I happened at one point looking to my right. Down at the other end of the bar was a very attractive blond. Sharp. My glance was brief since I did not know her.

A little later, she and her husband stopped by to say congratulations. It was Lori. She cuts my hair. I go a beauty parlor for my haircuts.

Lori has been cutting my hair for 15 years. And I did not recognize her. For shame. I figured out why. She was wearing make-up. First time I had ever seen her made up. I will tell her when I see her thursday for my next haircut.

When I first started seeing Lori, I had hair. No more. It is the #1 blade for a quick go over. Receding temples have become a bald top.

First time I met Lori’s husband. Good looking. Seemed nice. They married at the Key West City Clerk’s office New Year’s eve. After living together 12 years. Their families did not know. Were upset they were not there, no bridal gown, no ceremony, etc.

The families from Maine and Long Island.

The families wanted a for real ceremony. So Lori and husband did it all over a couple of months ago here in Key West. Lori in a white gown. The ceremony at West Martello. A dinner reception thereafter.

I apologize to Lori’s husband that I cannot recall his name.

As I was leaving, Rob Di Stasi and Carmen Rodriguez wished me a happy birthday.

I never met Rob before. I have seen him playing some evenings at Tavern ‘n Town. I am glad I now know him.

Carmen Rodriguez. One of Key west’s finest entertainers. Her singing superb. Her beauty outstanding.

In  all my years in Key West, I have seen Carmen perform many times. Occasionally have passed her at the supermarket. We never talked before last night. I always wanted to know her better. I will be talking to her every time I see her from now on.

I met Bill Graham last year. He stopped by to chat. He wanted to make me aware of a 45 minute tape on the internet titled The Burned Bodies. Concerns my home town Utica.

It was a busy night! One I enjoyed very much.

Enjoy your day!

 

OUT AND ABOUT

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Great day yesterday! I finally got out of the house. Reborn.

My first stop was Tammy for a manicure. Always a pleasant experience. We talk about everything.

Yesterday, the Key West Hospital. Tammy told me the first bill received for her son’s emergency appendectomy a month ago was $40,000. They received a new one this week. $69,000. With indication it might not be the end.

Tammy and her husband have no insurance. Their mistake, their problem. Does not mean the hospital bill should be an ever spiraling thing. The son was only in the hospital one night. Nothing unusual about the surgery.

Then Walgreens. I hate pharmaceutical companies. They are rip offs.

I have needed Nexium for several years. Two pills a day. Stomach acid. A couple of weeks ago, the bill went from $36 for a one month 60 pill supply to $174. I switched to the generic. Same supply cost me $40. More than Nexium itself.

I went to pick up my second month supply of the generic. The one I paid $40 for last month. $83 this month.

No one to complain to. The insurance company said it is the manufacturer that sets the price. I have talked with manufacturers in the past. Was told it is their right to price as they see fit

F–k ’em all! They have to be brought down.

Don’s Place lat night for David’s retirement party. David is 66. A highway construction expert. Packing it in.

Lots of good company. David, Don, Boomer, Angus, Michael, Nancy, several of David’s personal friends, Keith, Jennifer, and me. July 4th food. Hamburgers, hot dogs, and salads.

It was a hot summer day in Don’s Place. Hotter than outside. The air conditioning was down. Monday. Still not fixed as of last night.

Don has a contract with the air conditioner company. Includes 3 month visits to clean and check the units. Been a customer five years.

Owner on vacation. Don says some kid running the business. Don was calling since Monday. Air conditioning people came over yesterday for first time. Claim to have found and corrected the problem.

Don went on the roof to check the fixed unit at 6 last night. Parts of the unit was covered in ice. He called the kid. No satisfaction. Should be working. Holiday vacation had started. Could not return till Tuesday.

Don is more patient than me. I would have gotten a new company last Monday night.

Anyhow, it was hot!!!

I only had two drinks. A good boy was I.

The Old Seven Mile Bridge closes down July 5 for four years. Repairs. The bridge about 45 miles up US 1. It is part of the old Flagler Railroad. The hurricane of 1935 wiped out the railroad. Portions the Seven Mile Bridge remain standing. About half.

Has turned into a place to walk. An enjoyable exciting experience. The wood bridge always crowded. I visit every two years. Generally with the grandkids. We walk and walk and walk. They then walk some more while I wait for them.

Then to Boondocks or No Name Pub.

A great day!

Many of Florida’s beaches and rivers clogged with ugly smelly green algae. Not Key West. Hopefully it will miss us.

The cause has to do with fresh lake waters getting into the rivers and ocean. Something bad in the fresh water.

People aroused. Can’t blame them. Thousands showed at one beach to protest the algae.

The Army corps has become involved.

William Hackley’s life in 1855 has become a source of knowledge.

We are into breast feeding. His wife had a baby. Her breast milk was drying up. Hackley borrowed someone’s goat. The goat was dry. Hackley wrote today that he might have to go to Havana for a goat.

On the corner of Duval and Front Streets in Key West stands a majestic brick building. Today, it harbors a clothing store.

Constructtion of the bank building occurred in 1897. $14,380.35.

The movie Top Gun made Tom Cruise an international star. The female lead was Key West’s own Kelley McGillis. Owner at the time or soon thereafter of Kelley’s Restaurant on Whitehead.

I mention Cruise this morning because I discovered he was born in Syracuse. Fifty miles from my home town Utica, the home of Syracuse University where I went to law school, and a city where I tried many cases.

He was born Thomas Cruise Mapother IV. Sounds like he was born to money. He was not. His family was very poor.

A success story.

Enjoy your Sunday!

PRESIDENT’S DOCTORS KILLED HIM

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On this day in 1881, President John Garfield was at the Washington, D.C. railroad station. He was shot twice by Charles Guiteau, a demented lawyer. One bullet was of no consequence. Another was. The one in his back.

Doctors at the railroad station hurried to help the President. Others were called. They worked on the President as he lay on the dirty railroad floor.

Ninety one days later, the President died. Of everything under the sun. The bullet in his back was never found till his body was autopsied.

Doctors prodded with dirty fingers for three months his back wound looking for the bullet. Could not find it. The prodding was on th right side since the hole was on th right side. No one thought of looking somehow on the left side. The prodding fingers had moved the bullet over.

Desperation set in. The bullet had to be found or the President would die.

Alexander Graham Bell had invented the telephone five yeas earlier. He was famous. He also invented a metal detector. Referred to as an induction balance. Graham claimed it could locate the metal bullet in the President’s body. Graham had already successfully tested it on many persons. Always located the bullet.

The metal detector could not locate the bullet.

Metal box springs were new. Not yet for sale. A free one had been given the President. It was on his bed beneath the mattress. Graham and the doctors were not aware the metal bed spring was diverting the charge resulting only in static.

Guiteau was tried for murder. He said…..I shot the President, but the doctors killed him. He was convicted and hung.

I briefly write this story today because it is the day Garfield was shot. I wrioe about the incident in a KONK Life column on October 7, 2015. The Doctors Killed The President. You  can read the story in detail in that article. It can be found at my website www.keywestlou.com. The bar on top of the page has an entry KONK Life Column. Hit it. Hit what comes up. Then scroll down till you come to the article.

Today is freedom day for me. I can drive again. Drink, too. Will be out this afternoon and evening.

On July 4, the Fourth of July 5K Run/Walk will take place. 7:30 at Knight Pier (formerly White Street Pier).

Few in the younger generations know of Olivia de Haviland. A famous movie star in the 1930s-1950s. Today is her birthday. One hundred years old! God bless!

Still in great shape. Except hearing and seeing diminishing. Still lovely.

Olivia won two Academy Awards for Best Actress. She starred in eight films with Errol Flynn. Swashbuckling type movies. A star during Hollywood’s Golden Age, She was featured in 49 films. Like Robin Hood, Gone With the Wind, The Snake Pit, Light in the Piazza, and They Died With Their Boots On.

The Amistad came up in my readings yesterday. The Amistad was a slave ship. On June 28, 1839, the ship carrying 53 African slaves left Havana for a sugar farm on the other side of Cuba. Five days later in the midst of a violent storm, the slaves mutinied. They were led by the slave Cinque.

Their intent was to sail to Africa. Good seamen they were not. Two months later they were off the coast of New England.

Slaves or free men? The United States Supreme Court ruled they were free men.

Amistad’s connection with Key West? The slaves never made it to Key West. None are buried here. The connection minimal. Yet when the connection occurred, it turned out to be a big few days in Key West.

In January 2003, a reproduction of the Amistad sailed into Key West harbor. It tied up behind the Key West Hilton, now the Weston. Locals and tourists alike visited the Amistad.

Enjoy your day!

 

HOME CONFINEMENT TOLERABLE

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Yesterday was another day in. Not bad. Actually good. The title says Tolerable. Turned out to be more than tolerable. I enjoyed the day.

I normally research my KONK Life column on saturday. Started yesterday. Gave me a two day head start. Research not finished. Another 30 percent to go.

The subject involves who pays for national political conventions. The Republican one is two weeks away. Who picks up the tab for the balloons, confetti, alcohol, etc.

An interesting eye opening subject. You will enjoy reading the article.

Jennifer stopped in yesterday. While Anna is in Poland visiting family, Jennifer has been giving me a hand around the house. I sent her grocery shopping.

Today, the beginning of the Fourth of July weekend. Key West will be crowded. A fun weekend for all ahead.

Tomorrow, I am free!

Early afternoon, I will be with Tammy for a manicure. Tomorrow at 5, Don’s Place. David is 65. He is retiring. A surprise retirement party for him. Not a surprise, however. Someone told him.

Then to Blue Heaven. To hear Terri sing. I missed her show last saturday.

I will be back in the grove!

This week’s KONK Life column is Captain Bligh A Good Man. It was linked this morning to my Key West Lou website. It also ran on KONK’s E-Blast.

When it came to sex types and/or tastes, I knew gay, lesbian, homosexual, lesbian, and cross-dressing. During the final stages of the gay battle, the word transgender started to pop up. I must admit, I had never heard the word. Almost eighty years old and I did not know what the word meant. I had to google it.

It was announced yesterday that the ban on transgenders in the military has been lifted.

Good!

What next?

Stupidity knows no class. Even smart people can be stupid.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch yesterday in her private plane meeting with former President Bill Clinton.

Enough said.

Enjoy your day!