This Week on the Island 02/19/2012

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.
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The first picture this week (click to enlarge)(click again for larger pic) is ‘Another Key West Sunset’. This one is taken from Turtle Krawls looking across the bight toward Conch Republic Seafood. The second picture is a ‘Brigantine’ in the bight next to Trumbo Point. It has square sails on the front and triangle sails on the back. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corwith_Cramer_(ship) The third picture is pelicans/seagulls on the rocks at Fort Zack. The fourth picture is Truman Beach. And the last picture is a guy sitting on the Truman Water Front doing some fishing.

Weather: A cold front came thru last Saturday night and the temperature last Sunday was in the 50’s all day. It was back in the mid 70’s by Tuesday and the low 80’s by the weekend.

This week I read ‘Setup on Front Street’ by Mike Dennis.

I hope you enjoy your 3 day weekend. The island is packed. The weather is beautiful and everyone wants to get out of the cold north. Welcome to Key West.

Friday it was beautiful and in the low 80’s so I took a bike ride to Fort Zack and the beach. Wonderful.

I had some folks from New York stop by the house to say hi. They read my blog and wanted to meet me. We had a nice talk.

Saturday afternoon, the 200 block of Duval Street was closed off at Sloppy Joes for a cancer awareness festival.


------------------Truman Beach-------------------
Truman Beach is on the far right on the water at Fort Zack. The story is that President Truman used to like to take walks downtown and on the public beach. This made it hard on the guys that were responsible for his safety. So they built a private beach for him to use. He never went there.

----------------------------Presidents Day Question--------------------------------
Monday is Presidents Day which leads us to: ‘Who was the first President’. The answer is John Hanson. The country declared its independence in 1776 but George Washington (the 9th President) did not accept the Presidency until 1789. So, who ran the country for those first years? The answer is the first 8 presidents. The Articles of Confederation was used to unite the colonies, but did not give the Federal Government enough power. It was replaced by the Constitution and George Washington was the first president under the Constitution.

------------------Last Weeks Question? -------------------
Thanks to all of you that emailed me answers to the questions.
7 mile railroad bridge answer from last week: If you look at the old railroad tracks you will notice a slight bend in the railroad bed. The ‘feet’ are in place to give support and keep the railroad from tilting when a train crossed the bend.

Fat Albert answer from last week: The United States Army activated Cudjoe Key Air Force Station in 1959 to track missiles traveling through the Eglin Gulf Test Range. The Air Force took over operations the following year,[3] and it subsequently became a detached installation of Homestead Joint Air Reserve Base.[4] The station flies a white radar aerostat, known locally as "Fat Albert", which is used for drug interdiction missions by the Drug Enforcement Administration. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cudjoe_Key,_Florida

Key West, You have got to love it
'Living the life that others dream'
Doug Bennett
Lat 24.5591N, Long 81.8016W

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Sassi dancing to Schooner Wharf Bar Dog.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbxD3D-rPqo