This Week on the Island 06/28/2009

'This week on the Island' is written by Doug Bennett and is an update to friends about happenings in Key West last week. Everything is true except for those parts that are lies.----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The picture this week (click to enlarge) is ‘Crane at Mallory Square’. The crane is driving pilings for the work to improve the area of Mallory Square that hangs over water. Behind and to the left of the crane is the Atlantic, behind and to the right is the Gulf of Mexico, straight behind is Sunset Key. The very dangerous channel in between moves water from the Atlantic to the Gulf and back depending on high or low tide.

Weather: Monday: 98 degrees in Miami with rain and 101 in Columbia, SC. Tuesday: 96 in New Orleans and flooding in Miami. Wednesday: in the 90’s in Chicago, more rain in Miami. Thursday: over 100 in Texas, rain in Miami. Friday: 99 in Des Moines and rain in Miami. In the 80’s all week in Key West, lots of sunshine and an ocean breeze.

This week I finally completed ‘Body of Evidence’ by Patricia Cornwell.

Things Tourist Say: ‘Where do the homeless people live? (hint: If they had a place to live, they wouldn’t be homeless.)

Answers from last week’s picture. (1) Yes, waterspouts do look like tornados. (2) that is because waterspouts ARE tornados at sea. (3) Yes, waterspouts can do a lot of damage. (4) The good thing is they usually break-up when they hit shore. (5) Yes, we can have many waterspouts at once. The most I have ever seen at one time is seven. (6) The Florida Keys have between 400 and 500 waterspouts each year. (7) You don’t want one to hit your boat.

Hand Print Fabric, on the corner of Green and Simonton, has closed after 49 years in the business.

Had some folks from Louisiana drop by this week. They had been over to the Atlantic side of the island and found the wooden walkway I wrote about a few weeks ago.

Boats are not allowed to anchor on the reef (the anchor destroys the coral). You must hook your boat to a ‘mooring ball’. The Sarasota Parrot Head Club will be placing 7 club reef balls and a ‘Captain Tony Reef Ball’ at Parrot Head Reef (in Sarasota) on July 18th. More info from apalumb2@mac.com

Why did pirates wear stripped clothing? Old wooden ships had wooden decks. The cracks between planks were patched with tar. When pirates slept on deck at night, because of the heat, they slept port to starboard. (If you slept forward to aft you would roll off the ship as it rolled at sea). This put tar stains that ran horizontal on their clothing. Also in the hot tropical sun, all clothing becomes bleached by the sun and salt so they slowly turn white. Thus pirates wore faded clothing with strips.

Key West, You have got to love it
'Living the life that others dream'
Doug Bennett
Lat 24.55967N, Long 81.80169W

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Sassi dancing to Schooner Wharf Bar Dog. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow_l9kgPmuQ