CHICKENS / IGUANAS, NO…..DUCKS, YES

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!

WE DRINK SALTWATER

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!