WE DRINK SALTWATER

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Water has become the topic of the day. Detroit recently. Followed by Toledo. The drought in southwestern United States. Now Fairfield, Texas is in the news.

Fairfield has water problems like other areas of the United States. They came up with a partial solution. They drink wetlands water. Yes, the place where snakes and vermin crawl about. Fairfield filters and treats the water chemically. The result is good drinking water.

Key West and the lower keys have been ahead of the game. I have had a home in the Key West area for 16 years. From day one, I heard that part of the drinking water was desalinated salt water. True!

Key West and lower keys’ water comes from two sources.

The primary source is the Everglades National Park. The four thousand square mile Biscayne Aquifer is located there. The water is extracted, treated, and then sent 130 miles via a pipeline to Key West.

Key West recognized many years ago that the water coming in was not sufficient to meet Key West’s needs. A process to convert salt water to fresh water came into being. Two desalination plants were constructed. One on Stock Island, the other in Marathon. The process is known as Reverse Osmosis Desalination.

The bottom line is that up to 4 percent of the drinking water in the lower keys is fresh water converted from sea water.

You never know by drinking it!

Bertha still  out there. No significant damage or injuries yet. Bertha has missed directly passing over the Turks and Caicos and the southeastern Bahamas. There is rain, however. Everyone everywhere needs rain so that is good.

Speaking of rain, the last three days have been rain, rain, rain here in Key West. It will rain again today. Each storm a storm! Heavy rain, thunder and lightning. During the night, I could hear the rain slap hard against my bedroom windows. The power went out. Did not mean it was always dark in my bedroom. The lightning came right through the closed wood shutters.

Two golf observations.

Poor Tiger Woods. His back again. He had to withdraw from the Bridgestone Tournament. You could see him hobbling.

Tiger has not been the same since the scenario with his wife several years ago. Though he has won a few tournaments, he is not the Tiger Woods of old. Everything seems to not work properly. Age is a factor. He is now 38. I doubt he will ever be the golfer he was.

The new Tiger Woods appears to be Rory McIlroy. A youngster relatively speaking. I think 25 years old. He has already won three majors. He won the Bridgestone yesterday.

The gauntlet has passed.

Enjoy your day!

 

LIONFISH IMPOSSIBLE TO ERADICATE

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When I purchased my Key West home 16 years ago, few had ever heard of lionfish. Then 2-3 years ago, we all did. It was beware! Lionfish are here! They are bad! Eating everything up! Which ironically was followed by lionfish being good to eat and that we should all eat lionfish. The demand and fishing for them would help with the problem.

Appears ain’t nothing going to help eradicate the lionfish population. Eat all you can and there still would be too many left. Human consumption is not occurring regardless. People have not taken to consuming lionfish.

The problem with lionfish is that they impact the ecosystem. Negatively. They eat small grouper and snapper. Eat the underwater food normally consumed by grouper and snapper. Feast on other type marine life, also.

Lionfish are not common to the Florida keys. They originated in the Pacific Ocean and Red Sea. Today, they are all along the Atlantic coastline.

They got here the same way the pythons did. Pythons you will recall were kept as pets in homes. Came the big #5 hurricane that leveled Homestead some 20 years ago, these pets were strewn all over the Everglades.  Pythons being sexual creatures, propagated. Till their numbers exploded. Today there is no talk of eradicating pythons. Control is the solution being pursued.

The same with lionfish. People kept lionfish as pets. When they tired of them, they dumped the lionfish into Florida waters. Now there are millions. Lionfish are sexual as well. They reproduce swiftly. Something like 12,000 to 15,0000 eggs every four days.

Lionfish can be found along shorelines and as deep as 1,000 feet. They are all over.

Authorities admit control is the order of the day. There are too many to eradicate.

The State of Florida has banned the importation of lionfish. Florida is the only state so far to have done so.

I missed the parade celebration of Peter Anderson’s life last night. I seem to have a black cloud over my head. First, my computer. Now, my air conditioning. The upstairs went. I figured it was the thermostat. Needed new batteries. Batteries turned it on again. The thermostat is one of those new super dooper ones. Does everything! Except keep the air conditioning running for me. The air would not stay on for more than 5 minutes. It took me three hours to figure it out. By the time I did, the parade was long over.

It was a bit late. Lisa telephoned and said meet us at Chico’s if you have not eaten. I had not. I had dinner with Lisa and family. Robert was present. Not Ally. She was at a sleep over.

First time for me at Chico’s Cantina. Surprising because I drive past it at least two times a day. The why is I am not particularly fond of Mexican food.

I was very impressed with Chico’s. The place was smaller that I had expected. Unusually clean! From floor to ceiling. Even the men’s room. I had a chicken burrito. Ok. Not thrilling.

It rained a lot yesterday and last night. Still raining this morning. Big time. Dark. I suspected it might be the fringes of Bertha. Bertha was to hit Puerto Rico this morning. If not Bertha, it had to be a usual Key West August day. August is mid point in the Key West rainy season.

I looked outside to evaluate the situation. You live in Key West long enough and you think you can predict the weather. The wind was from the northwest. I could tell because of the way my palm trees were bending. The clouds moving ever so slowly. They were moving northwest to southeast.

Bertha is to the south of Key West. Ergo, the rain had to be part of Key West’s usual rainy season.

I should get a gold star for my weather prowess and also ability to have finally figured out how the thermostat worked.

Enjoy your Sunday!

 

BLACK JESUS COMING

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The title of today’s blog makes you step back and say…..What?

Black Jesus is the name of a new TV show which airs for the first time this thursday. The show will appear on cable channel Adult Swim. Adult Swim shares the channel with Cartoon Network. It is a Turner Broadcasting production. The show will be available in 96 million homes via pay TV.

The show is today in Compton, California. A ghetto neighborhood. Jesus obviously African-American.

The show claims to be a comedy that does not mock Jesus.

My next KONK Life column will be published this coming wednesday. The day before Black Jesus debuts. The title is Black Jesus, also. The column is not to announce the new show. Rather it asks a specific religious question. My purpose in writing the column was to stir the pot re the religious issue raised.

Met an interesting gentleman at the Chart Room last night. A friend of Emily’s. Emily does the Kentucky Derby every every year. She makes mention each time of a parking lot friend. The friend is Fred Stair, the man I met last night. He is involved with a Churchill Downs parking lot a mere 75 yards from the front gate to Churchill Downs. Called Captain’s Derby Parking.

Fred and I have similar backgrounds. We once were lawyers.

Fred is in Key West scouting a home. He is looking to buy a place here. Good for him! He will be a welcome addition!

Met Andrea at the Chart Room, also. Another friend of Emily’s.

Andrea grew up in Europe. She attended American University in Paris and then the University of California-Davis. She speaks several languages. Lives in Key West.

We got into a discussion of colleges. Turns out her mother went to the College of New Rochelle in Westchester County. I found it amusing. I went to Manhattan College in New York City. My friends and I used to pursue the New Rochelle ladies. Loved them. They were the best!

There is another Celebration of Life scheduled for Peter Anderson today. Loved by everyone! The celebration begins at 6 with a parade along Duval. The parade will start at Mallory Square and end at South Street. Followed by a party at the Southernmost Beach Cafe. Guaranteed the parade route and party will be overflowing!

The mini lobster season ended thursday. Unfortunately, a woman died. She and a friend were standing on their boat when it appeared another boat was going to hit them. They jumped in the water to avoid the crash. The boat did not strike the other. It did strike the two women. One died and one is in the hospital.

The second storm of the season has been brewing for a few days. Bertha. A tropical storm. Winds presently 50 mph. Lots of rain.

Bertha is not considered a danger to the Florida keys. It may roll over the Bahamas and/or Cuba. It has already passed over some Caribbean islands.

There is a benefit to be derived from Bertha. The islands all are experiencing drought conditions. Bertha’s 3-6 inches of water are welcomed.

The House Republicans did it again! They left Washington yesterday for a five week vacation. $174,000 a year, great medical, and a work schedule that amounts to half time over the course of a year.

The sadness is that they left without properly taking care of the immigrant children coming over the Mexican border. The 50,000 plus is now indicated to be around 70,000. View the internet pictures to see how these kids are living. Behind chain and barbed wire fences, sleeping on floors, inadequate medical attention, etc.

I have asked this question before. I ask it again. Would they want their children and grandchildren treated in this fashion? The Golden Rule…..Do unto others as you would have them do unto you…..has been forgotten.

Enjoy your day!