FORGETFULNESS

 

My radio show tonight! Blog talk radio. Nine o’clock. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou.

So many things to discuss. So little time. Topics such as the government shutdown, Senator Cruz, Congressional pensions, governmental waste, and Egypt.

The show is quick hitting and entertaining.

Went to see my internest Dr. Jackie Lefferts yesterday. A tough no nonsense female doctor. I visited her because of my swollen hand caused by something that bit me.

She could not tell what type bug. She was concerned with whether the poison had traveled up my arm. She satisfied herself it had not. Prescribed an antibiotic and some other things.

My drug store is Walgreen. Dr. Lefferts suggested for the antibiotic that I go to Publix. It was free at Publix. So I went. No waiting line. My prescription was ready. The bill was zero dollars. I was shocked. No one gives anything away for nothing in today’s society. I smiled and told the woman behind the counter…..thank you. She looked surprised. Must be most people do not say thank you.

There was a sheet of information in the bag. There are several antibiotics Publix provides free. You might want to look into it.

I drive a Volkswagen convertible. Two tone. Blue and white with a black top. A unique color arrangement. Only one other in Key West. I parked my car across the street from Dr. Lefferts’ office. When I came out and went to the car, the door would not open. I kept clicking and nothing happened. I tried the key. Nothing. I tried the trunk. Nothing. How the hell did I get an electrical problem which apparently caused everything to shut down?

I looked in the window. There was a woman’s bag on the front seat. I do not carry a woman’s bag. I looked up and behind the car. Two cars back was another Volkswagen convertible with the same colors. Mine! Who would have expected the only two similar cars in Key West to have been parked within 30 feet of each other.

Yesterday was a bit of a be good to Louis day. I went to the Pier House Beach Bar for lunch.

Lovely! A perfect setting! Sitting on the beach at the edge of the ocean.

A lot of people. In fact, as I drove over I noticed many people on Duval. It reminded me of season.

I had fish and chips, admired the view and read the Miami Herald. Much full page advertising  for senior citizens re signing up for Obamacare. Apparently the time to sign is now through some date in December. The insurance companies are after senior business big time. The prices were much less than I am paying now and seemed to offer more.

I missed Kathleen Peace and Larry Smith. Many times when I would lunch at the Beach Bar, Kathleen would come out of her office and provide a cheery hello and kiss. Larry would be doing some work in the Wine Galley in preparation for his evening show and walk by. Larry did not kiss me.

Then to Publix. To pick up the antibiotic prescription. I went to the new Publix. It is the one I generally use for grocery shopping.

The parking lot is huge. When I came out, I could not remember where I parked the car. For real! Up and down the rows I went till I spotted it.

A first for me. Worries me. A sign of old age. My father used to do it. I have become my father once more. Amazing.

Spent my evening working on tonight’s blog talk radio show. Please join me.

Enjoy your day!

CONCH REPUBLIC ANNEXES USA

 

Marty (the other one) is a loyal blog reader. He emailed a suggestion apparently motivated by the government shutdown and American life in general.

Words of wisdom.

Marty suggested the Conch Republic annex the United States. His reasons were simple. Leadership would be easier. People’s attitudes lighter. Americans would start enjoying life for a change.

Right on my friend!

The vote has been tabulated. The people heard. The ballot question yesterday as to whether Key West participate in a free study to determine the feasibility of dredging the channel to accommodate larger mega cruise ships went down to defeat. Significantly! By 3-1. 74 per cent of the people voted against it.

Hooray for democracy!

There is a lady named Anna who once a week comes by. She cleans the house and washes and irons. For the past eight years. Anna is not responsible for the outside. A task in and of itself. I either hire some one to do it or do it myself.

Yesterday morning, I felt energized. I was in a work mood. I did a bit of clean up of the deck.

Palm trees can be a pain. Fallen coconuts and palm branches. Took care of them. The deck at one end was covered with what looked like berries. I do not know what they really were. Living on the ocean, you never know what is going to be blown in. I swept up the berries. I finished by hosing the deck and furniture.

An ambitious undertaking for Louis!

I was still full of energy. Sex would have been good. Decided to walk. Drove to Duval Square and parked the car. Walked towards the Atlantic Ocean. Past La Te Da. Down to the Southernmost Complex. Through the Southernmost grounds. Across the street onto the Reach’s grounds. Through them. Then did the return trip the same way.

Took all of 25 minutes. Felt like an hour or more. The humidity was heavy! Very heavy! My tee shirt soaking wet. I did not think I was going to make it back to the car.

Stopped at Publix on the way home. Needed bananas and strawberries. They are staples to me.

Spent the afternoon fine tuning last night’s blog talk radio show. Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou.

Made a sandwich for dinner.

Afterwards, went upstairs to lie on the bed and watch Chris Matthews. It was 7 o’clock. I fell asleep. I woke at five minutes to 9. The radio show begins at 9. I ran downstairs, turned on the computer and did all the things necessary to get on air. As I connected, I heard…..Your show goes live in 10 seconds.

A close call.

It was an easy show to do. What with the governmental shutdown and governmental waste. I threw a little Greece in and the half hour was over.

I have stayed in the past few nights.  I have to get out tonight. I will get out tonight.

Enjoy your day!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LISA

 

Happy birthday daughter Lisa! Love you dearly!

This is #49 for Lisa. She will not be offended that I mention the number. A father could not have a better daughter. She has been the best! I am a lucky man.

It took four days for us to come up with her name. We expected a boy. Previously, we had a boy and two girls. It was time for another boy. His name was to be Louis. Since it was a girl, we were unprepared!

Lisa’s middle name is Marie. It was easy to arrive at. It rhymed with Lisa. Lisa Marie.

Lisa was born while we were remodeling our home. Typical of construction, the job was two months behind. Lisa came home with the work not quite complete. No furniture yet. Workmen busy. Lisa received her first meal from her mother while sitting on steps inside the house. We had beds and a crib. That was it!

Lisa always was mine. My little girl. Even now at 49.  She showed me great love and attention. From her early years and into adulthood, Lisa would frequently jump in bed with me on a weekend day, cuddle up, and tell me how much she loved me.

She was the fourth of four children. I believe parents tend to be easier and more lenient with each successive child. Which means we imposed on Lisa the least with regard to rules to be followed. I believe she took advantage. She was a hellion. The ultra conservative Lisa of today compares little with the high school and college Lisa.

I discussed on Friday’s TV/internet show the number of arrests in the U.S. each year. Something like 12.2 million. The unusual thing was that only 500,000 were for serious crimes. Over 11 million were for minor misdeeds. Misdemeanors. Of that number, 80 some odd per cent were for drug possession. More than half the possession crimes related to pot.

The U.S. has 5 per cent of the world’s population. However, we have 25 per cent of the persons jailed world wide. An abnormally high number. The reason being that our mind set for more than half a century has been to jail most drug offenders. Even those carrying small amounts of marijuana.

I pointed out it costs $85,000 a year to maintain a prisoner in jail. A lot of money. Especially in these difficult economic times.

A news article this morning stated how much it cost per prisoner for New York City to maintain its jail Rikers Island. $167,731 per inmate. My figure was an average. Rikers has to be on the very high side.

I had to get out my KONK Life column  for next week. It took all of my Sunday!

The article will be published next Thursday. Its title is Governmental Waste…..Buried On Our Backs.

I shared some wasteful activities discovered. What I revealed is a mere drop in the bucket. I was motivated to write concerning the topic because of the House’s cutting $40 billion in food stamps this past week, breakfast food for children coming off the table, Republicans wanting to get rid of Obamacare, etc. Plus the cries for reductions and/or abolishment of Social Security and Medicare. The poor, young, sick, and elderly are under attack!

Some of the wasteful examples included a U.S. Senate barber shop that runs $500,00 in the red each year, a $2.6 million study on how to train Chinese prostitutes to drink responsibly, a credit card abuse by the U.S. Postal Service involving a charge of $13,500 for a dinner party at a Chris steakhouse, the Pentagon spending $998,794 to ship two $ .19 washers from South Carolina to Florida, $500,000 authorized to promote specialty hair and beauty products for cats and dogs, $97,000 for floating outhouses for Oregon fishermen, and $386,000 for a study on how best to massage rabbits.

There is more in the article!

Congress and branches of government are wasting tax dollars at the same time there is a movement to deny the least of our citizens the benefits needed to properly survive.

Tomorrow night Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou. My blog talk radio show. I will be discussing the government shut down amongst other things. Plus, the wastefulness already described.

Join me. A quick half hour of interesting material. Nine in the evening my time. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou.

Enjoy your day!