DEREK JETER

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Derek Jeter. His name will forever be remembered in the annals of baseball. As former Yankees Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, and Lou Gehrig. Properly so.

Jeter is an unusual professional athlete in an era where many others have brought shame to themselves personally and professionally. We should all share in his pride.

Note that he did it his way last night in his last game at Yankee Stadium. A single in his last at bat to drive in the winning run. Typical of his 20 years of play.

Pool finally well. Took a second search. Leak finally discovered. Once the pea soup is shocked out, the grandkids will be back in.

I did it again yesterday. Lunched at Outback. I am turned on by their lunches. Potato soup, a hamburger, and diet Coke. Plus, the AARP discount. Total bill $9.85. And the food was good!

We did well last night at bocce. Won 2 out of 3 games. Should have won all three. That is the way it goes, however.

Norm is one of my team mates. He works at Home Depot. Has been there a number of years. Home Depot and every other retailer in town are selling Halloween items. Norm told me last night that K-Mart already has Christmas goods on the floor. Why not? Christmas is only 3 months away!

Stopped at Don’s Place after bocce. A festive mood prevailed. Spent some time chatting with Larry Smith about my blog talk radio show. I want to upgrade the show with a brief 5-6 second musical introduction.

Eric Holder is leaving. Good! I have been disappointed with him since day one. He never took on the banks. He went after them civilly. Settled for dollars instead of putting some in jail. I never bought his position that banks were “…..too big to fail” and “…..too big to prosecute.”

Giving the devil his due, he was an outstanding Attorney General in the area of civil rights.

I came across an interesting article on rape yesterday. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention released a new study. Men today are raped as often as women. I am still waiting!

Initially, insertion was required as an element to prove rape by a man of a woman. Feminism came into vogue. The definition of rape was expanded to include sexual coercion. The new laws applied to men as well as women. Sexual coercion balanced the playing field.

The article also commented on campus rape. It claimed campus rapes were falling sharply. Ergo, it was difficult to understand the current moral panic over campus rape. The article attributed the clamor to unwarranted political and mass hysteria.

I have to hustle. Trying to get my back x-rayed again this morning.

Enjoy your day!

CHICKENS / IGUANAS, NO…..DUCKS, YES

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Chickens and iguanas abound in Key west. Ducks a bit rare. I ran into a family of ducks yesterday.

I was driving on Grinnell. All of a sudden, ducks appeared crossing the street. A mother duck and five ducklings. All in a straight line, mother leading. I beeped the horn. They ignored me. I stopped and beeped the horn again. Still no reaction. The mother led her brood across the street as if she had not a care in the world.

Chickens and iguanas on the other hand run like hell to get out of the way.

I have been cleaning house a bit. Came across a brand new easel. It was a gift some dozen years ago when I decided I would return to painting. Something I had done for two years in the early 1960’s. By the time the easel arrived, I had painted a few canvases and decided whatever talent I thought I had was non existent. The easel never got used.

Granddaughter Ally is 9. She is into painting. One of her recent birthday gifts was a very good set of paints and brushes. She recently did a small painting of the ocean and a boat which she gave me. I was impressed. Yesterday, Ally stopped over. I made her day. I gave her the easel.

Last week, I stopped at Ben Franklin and bought her a pallet. This week I plan to sit with her a bit and show her how to mix colors with white and explain why.

The pool is fixed and filled. Some pea soup. Pool groom came over and shocked it. Should be crystal clear in a day or two.

Spent most of the afternoon yesterday watching golf and college football.

Last night was dinner at Roostica with Keith and Jennifer. Two interesting young people. Hard workers. We had a good time. Roostica also gave me an opportunity to treat my back medicinally with several gins. I do not drink at home.

Daytime was spent with the heating pad as often as possible. Last night the gins. My back was ok when I hit the bed. I slept well. Woke with no back pain.

I have had a bad back for years. I have learned that back ache/spasms come on suddenly and leave just as suddenly. I hope the present episode is behind me.

If the problem returns, I will take the advice of the many who wrote and recommended ice. I am not yet ready to take the advice of those who said see a doctor. I can be hard headed.

Enjoy your Sunday!

A MIXTURE

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There is much I wish to share this morning. Ergo, the title A Mixture.

My back! No better. In fact, worse. It started up again yesterday morning. I am taking pills. Gone to a heating pad. Last night, I said screw it! I had been in for several days. I decided to go out and have a few gins. I figured gin would take care of the pain.

After the first two at Don’s Place, the pain was gone. I had one or two more to make sure. Then to Tavern ‘n  Town for dinner. And a couple more medicinal gins. I know. Too much. Especially when driving.

Whatever, I was painless till two this morning. I woke with big time pain. Lower back around to the front. Down the side of my left leg to the knee. My hip was especially sore.

I was not going to drink in the middle of the night. Popped some Motron and got out the heating pad. The heating pad is almost instantaneous relief. However when the pad is turned off, the pain returns equally as fast.

I continue to hurt this morning. I have the heating pad propped between my lower back and the chair. Great! However, I can only take so much. I am beginning to cook my back end!

Don’s Place was not my first stop. It was Bottle Cap. ML is running for Fantasy Feat Queen. I support her. I had not attended one of her fund raising events yet. I decided to do so last night. At Bottle Cap.

There was a fund raiser. Not for ML, however. The Shriners were having a party. I knew no one. Smiled, said hello, and left without even having a drink.

Then to Don’s Place. Two fast pain relievers as previously indicated. Sat with Joanie, Jimmy and John. Stayed quite a while enjoying their company. Michael was bartending.

Football season has arrived. Much of the bar talk concerned football. With a little bocce thrown in. John had picked 12 out of 14 college winners last week. He asked my thoughts for this week. I told him with a 12 out of 14 record, you need no help from me!

Don fixed the air conditioning in the bar. What a relief! Thank you, Donald!

Tavern ‘n Town was quiet. Very few people. I was glad. Last month it was packed every time I went. I sat a the bar, spread out the newspapers and had some more pain killing medicine.

Mike Emerson was entertaining. Great music! I was humming to myself as he was playing. Manager Judy there. She did double duty last night. Played bartender and then returned to the floor as manager. She changes her clothes in between.

I never went out on the back deck this week. I should have. When I stepped outside yesterday, the pool was only about one third full. A leak! The man who fixes pool leaks came. He has been doing it for thirty years. He wears the black diving suit which also keeps him warm. Uses air tanks. The leak was in the deep end and he had to go underwater.

I am refilling the pool now. I am going to have a hell of a water bill this month!

There is a new U.S. Navy vessel in Key West for the weekend. It is the USS Winston S. Churchill. A guided missile destroyer. Over 200 sailors aboard. All will be on liberty in Key West. Enjoy, guys!

I read a front page article in the Key West Citizen this morning that disturbs me. Apparently birds nest in rooftops of commercial buildings in Key West. Probably all over the United States. Probably all over the world.

The law is that if a roof is under repair and a nest is discovered, construction must stop. Most of the birds are a protected species. A mid keys biologist wants Key West to adopt an ordinance requiring the contractor to check first before construction begins.

An example of over government. I was an environmental attorney. Protect water and air. I had no problem with that. However when it came to protecting some species of small animal, fish or vermin, I drew the line. As protection of this nature generally increases the cost of doing business dramatically, I was opposed. Everything in life should be a balance.

Back to Ferguson, Missouri for a moment. I listened to Attorney General Holder’s report to the nation this week. I was not impressed. His office  is examining the situation and the Ferguson police department in general for civil rights violations. There needs to be a federal investigation of the shooting itself. I do not trust the local authorities. On the other hand, I am not sure the federal government has jurisdiction to investigate the shooting as an isolated incident.

The US Post Office announced it is making price cuts. Significant ones. Hopefully to increase business. Fed Ex and UPS are upset. I use Fed Ex. However the price of doing business with them has risen to the point that it is burdensome. US postal authorities have come up with a good idea. A pleasure to see the price of a service/commodity go down instead of up.

I spent more time yesterday researching income inequality. Sounds boring. Not. I am excited and cannot wait to share with you what I have discovered in next week’s KONK Life column.

I said at the beginning this blog would be a mixture. It is. It is also longer than usual. For which I apologize.

Enjoy your day!

A LIZARD IN THE HOUSE

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There was a lizard in my kitchen yesterday. I was not sure at the moment precisely what it was. However, no question it was a member of the lizard family.

I was working at the counter in the kitchen on tonight’s blog talk radio show. I happened to look up. There at the far end of the kitchen was this reptile of old sitting. I yelled hoping to scare him. I did. He scooted off as fast as he could.

I had seen him/her before. For a couple of months, in my garage. Running around. I was not concerned. Figured it was a good neighbor. Ate the bugs.

Somehow junior got in my kitchen. Probably the other day when I left the door connecting the house and garage open in order to bring in the groceries.

The garage was ok for the reptile. Not the house itself.

I opened the door to the deck and got a dust mop. The lizard was hiding behind a plastic garbage bag. In ten seconds, prodding him delicately, I had the lizard out the door and running like hell!

The body of the lizard was 6-8 inches. Plus, a curled tail of 4 inches. Light to dark green in collar. Sort of fat. The body was like a thick cigar. About 1.5-2 inches in diameter. The body smooth.

What was it? At first I thought a gecko. A member of the lizard family, also. Too large and the color too dark. Then I considered an iguana. A lizard, also. No way. None of those things sticking out of the head and body.

Keith and Jenn stopped over for a while. I told them about my lizard experience. Did they know what it was? No. However, an hour later Jenn e-mailed me and said a rock lizard. She gets the prize! I looked rock lizard up on the internet and there it was. There are many species of rock lizard. My visitor fit one of the pictures.

Can you imagine waking in the middle of the night with one of those things running across the bed covers?

I finalized my blog talk radio show for tonight in the morning. Half the show will be dedicated to unholy police activities in recent years. A discussion of beheadings. My thoughts on chasing IS into Syria.

Overall, an interesting and thought provocative show. Join me. You will enjoy. Nine in the evening my time. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou.

Ray the pool man came over in the morning. Fixed the motor. No big deal. A joint blew out. Pool wall needs a little something to cover the seam opening. This will be done sometime in the next few days.

Lisa and the grandkids took me to dinner last night. Roostica. Robert and Ally did the pizza dough thing at the table. I helped to flatten the dough even more after they were done. Robert showed me how to do it. You make your hand into a fist and pound.

Three pizzas were ordered. Lisa wanted pizza also. The grandkids’ pizza was the same size as an adult one. I wanted baked ziti and wings. We had too much food!

I took the leftovers home. I could have a pizza party with what is in my refrigerator. I did. This morning. I had a cold slice for breakfast. First time in years. Delicious!

This is primary day in Key West. Those of you here be sure to vote. Primary races for Mayor, Judges, and School Board.

I have the second half of my physical today at 1. I get the test results from last week and the Doctor herself will do today’s prodding. My internist is Dr. Jackie Lefferts. I have a lot of respect for her ability. I remember the year she told me I had a heart condition. I told her she was crazy. She was correct. A year later, she told me I had a new and separate heart problem. Again I told her she was wrong. Again, she was correct.

I respect her judgment.

Enjoy your day!

16 YEAR OLD UMBRELLA DEAD IN THE POOL

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I bought and furnished my Key West home 16 years ago. Deck furniture was among the items purchased. Included was a round table with a blue shade umbrella. The umbrella survived all 16 years till yesterday. Let me say first that the enemy of anything on the ocean is sun and salt. Neither bothered the umbrella. I was impressed. It took strong winds to bring about its demise.

Yesterday was sunny and lovely. In the afternoon, a storm came upon us that quick. In a matter of minutes, it gets dark, the temperature drops 10-20 degrees and it begins raining like hell.

I worked for a while. Kept the glass sliding doors behind me shut. The rain would have gushed in. After a while, I was tired. Took a nap. Two hours later, I woke. Still raining, but not as bad. I went downstairs and opened the glass sliding doors.

The first thing that hit my eyes was the pool. The wind was was still strong. There were ripples on top of the pool which clouded the water. I saw what I thought was a body in the deep end. I hurried out to investigate. It was the umbrella. The metal parts I could see where broke. Lying on top of the umbrella was a large ceramic vase. It was the vase that gave the initial impression of a body.

The vase was purchased 16 years ago, also. I have two sitting at the shallow end of the pool by the steps for decorative purposes. The vases are heavy. Three feet tall, 1.5 feet wide and thick. It takes all I have to lift one one inch.

The metal umbrella post must have snapped.Then it hit one of the chairs at the table. The chair is destroyed. The umbrella must have then hurled sideways of the chair and picked up the ceramic vase on its way into the pool.

There is a 30 foot distance between the table and where the umbrella landed in the pool. Had to be a hell of a wind!

I already called Keith. Told him to come over saturday with Jennifer. Wear their bathing suits. Get the stuff out of the pool!

It is not going to be easy. It is about seven feet down. The vase has to be full of water. The umbrella will hold water in its pocket as it rises. Not a job for Louis. It would be heart attack time.

The loss of the umbrella is my fault. I know better than to leave it open during a storm.

ABC and Good Morning America did themselves proud this morning. Key West was featured on the show. ABC has been doing this show in Key West for several years. I always thought the show sucked. They did not show Key West as it truly is. From what I saw this morning, this year they did.

ABC’s Ginger was broadcasting. The first shot was of her and a crowd of shorts and tee shirted people at Mallory Square. Yes, the rain and wind are gone. It is sunny and warm once more.

The next segment showed two Key West favorites. Key Lime Pie and Stone crabs. A great last meal! The following segment were walkers at Smathers Beach. Then came the Westin Dock with a huge cruise ship in the background.

Ginger kept referring to Key West as Paradise. She was correct.

I could give the show no more time. I have a big morning. I believe my friend Howard Livingston is going to do a guest appearance at some point. The best of the best.

The only negative in the show was that I saw no locals during the time I watched. They were all tourists. I recognized no one.

Bocce obviously rained out last night. I did not have to call in and beg off due to my back.

Two Ukraine observations.

First, what is going on is not unlike our Civil War. The South seceded. They had no right to do so under the Constitution. Crimea is in effect seceding from the Ukraine. This matte can only be handled properly and honorably if there is an Abraham Lincoln in the Ukraine of today.

The other observation involves the pipelines. Russia’s income comes from its oil and gas exports. Seventy five per cent. The pipelines go through Ukraine. One of the reasons Ukraine is important to Putin. I think Ukrainian leaders should slowly start sabotaging some of those pipelines. With the added threat that if Russia interferes in any way, all the pipelines will immediately be blown up. Putin has to back off immediately. The opposition for once would have the upper hand. The problem will then be possible of immediate resolution. Fire must be met with fire. When dealing with a bully, you must hit harder back than he hit you.

So thinks Louis.

Enjoy your day!