Thursday, April 29, 2010

Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory

It was a little gloomy today so what better way to spend the day but inside with the beautiful butterflies, quail, birds and flowers. Very nice place to see such beauty. I couldn't put just a few pictures on here so I decided on a slide show. Afterwards we went to Benihani to eat a good Japanese dinner and good it was.



Later...

Full Moon

Last night was the full moon so I decided to go out and take some pictures. I had not used my camera on moon shots before so thought I would see which setting worked best. I got a few I was proud of but out of 58 pictures I only got about 4 I was pleased with. I'm gonna have to read up on those kind of shots so I won't have to go through the dial and take a picture of each setting.

I also got my telescope out to watch the night sky and I believe I'm going to have to wait until the full moon goes away. It's too bright out there to see anything else other than the moon.

Later...

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Potpourri

Oh what a day in paradise. Theda, Sedona and I went to the beach. Higgs beach as a matter of fact. It was time for Sedona to go into the water when it was not so cold. She didn't like it either but she sure can swim. She is so funny that when you lift her out of the water, her little legs keep on moving as if she is still in the water. She had a good time and loved getting back to her little "house." As we were sitting in the sun, a police officer came by and asked what was in the "house." We told him a dog, he came over closer and said I hate to tell you but you can't have dogs on this beach and told us where the dog beach was. We had all had enough sun so it was time to pack up and come back home. Now we know where the dog beach is in case we want to take her back.





































On the way back home we stopped at Fish Busters to buy some fresh stone crab claws, they are in season right now. Fish Busters is a fish house that is right at the docks and they have huge trucks going in and out to pick up fresh fish. There is a restaurant and fish market there. They split them for us so there would be little work for us, just like at Outback, ha! So we come home I put in some new potatoes, corn on the cob and shrimp to boil in a big pot and Theda and I ended up with a wonderful dinner. Doesn't it look delicious. We ate it like a regular crab boil, with our fingers. Yummy!









After we ate we went to Big Pine Key to take a look at the Blue Hole. While there we saw a turtle, fish and an alligator. He was a fast guy too. We had not been there very long when we saw him. We figured he smelled Sedona and was on his way to get her. We decided he was close enough and it was time to leave.





























































On our way back we passed some Key Deer on the highway. These deer are protected. In fact if you are driving down Hwy 1 at night the speed limit is 35 mph through Big Pine Key.






Later...

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Bed Races 2010 in Key West

Yesterday were the infamous Bed Races in Key West as one of the events to celebrate Conch Republic Days. There are various bars and hotels that sponsor a bed with a theme. The bed is decorated and so are the people who push or ride on the beds. Creativity abounds. The first part of the slide show you see will be the parade where the beds are pushed to the starting line up Duval Street. Then they race back down and are timed. The public are also encouraged to vote for their favorite bed by giving a $1 donation for each vote. Money raised goes toward AIDS, HELP.

Out of all the entries only one was a real bed. People lined the streets and thank goodness there was no cruise ship in dock, it would have been a zoo. Duval Street is the famous street that runs North to South from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. At the North end of Duval is the famous Mallory Square where they have a sunset celebration every evening. There is always something going on in Key West. Hogs Breath Saloon was the staging area for the beds and it was where the after party was held.

Word of caution when viewing this slideshow: It's not for the easily offended. Don't look Ethel (Wanda & Shirley)...tee hee!


Later...PS You are reading my 250th post to my blog. Now that's a milestone!

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Conch Republic vs the US

In 1982 the US blocked citizens from the Keys from going onto the mainland. The Conch Republic was born. So during this week there have been Conch Republic celebrations all over town. Yesterday was the War between the Conch Republic and the US Customs/Coast Guard. Here's a link to some of the photos I took.

One of the events was a 7' Key Lime Pie made from the original recipe. It was delicious. Theda and I shared a piece. Funds raised from the pie were going to cancer research.

The Pie










The burner was used to brown the meringue.












Theda trying to decide what to order.











A slice of the pie

Later...

Thursday, April 22, 2010

A potluck, Iguanas, and the Beach

Theda

Rita in Pink

Yesterday was potluck at the clubhouse for everyone at the resort. Theda and I took deviled eggs and they were a hit. There were about 30 people who showed up and lots of good food. One couple who had stayed here last year but couldn't get in this year and are staying at Geiger Key RV Resort came and they brought fresh tuna nachos. OMG they were delicious. They were made with fresh tuna, seaweed, some kind of sauce on a terrific handmade tortilla chip. Yummy!! The ham and smoked chicken were furnished and everyone else brought the other dishes. It was so good to meet some of the folks, visitors and owners alike.
Rita, the woman I have dealt with on renting my site, is the owner of 5 sites and she has 15 others that rent through her. Her website is different than the homeowners association that also rents sites here. The managers for Rita's sites are Candy and Ken, the couple in the picture. Cool couple. They are from NC and have been down here for two years. They came as visitors and then went home to sell everything and came back and have been here ever since.

We see an iguana and sometimes more every day. Sedona is a little unsure about what they are doing in her space. She never barks she just stares them down and then they get the head dancing thing going and off they go to swim or to the neighbor next door.
And this little guy climbed up wanting one of my frozen mango daiquiris. He didn't get one though. Look closely on the corner of the cabinet in front of the blender.

Theda and I drove up to Marathon today because they were releasing a loggerhead turtle from the Turtle Hospital. We stopped an ate a good breakfast and then headed up past the 7 mile bridge. We went over to Coco Plum Beach and everyone was pulling out. They started early and evidently the turtle was in a hurry to find a girlfriend 'cause he was already gone. They had too many earth day activities to do today so they started earlier than posted. I hate it we missed it but the beach was pretty nice. It is mostly a dog beach so we will have to go back and take Sedona.









One guy told us about another beach in Marathon that we should try because it was more of a people beach. The name of it was Sombrero Beach. It was nice but small and had lots of rocks around the area.



Later...

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Theda arrived

My bff, Theda, arrived today about 11:30. It was so good to see her. It will be fun to spend time with her. She was excited to see Sedona and of course, Sedona was beside herself to see Mama T.

We walked so Theda could see around the place, she stuck her toe in the pool and decided it was too cold for her. Then we came back and fixed a sandwich and just chill. I took the kayak out again and it was kind of nice for someone to get a picture of me. The water was smooth as glass. I went all around the point this time but didn't make it to the bridge. I knew I had just as far to get back.

Meanwhile, Theda got into the canal with the noodle and played around a little while. I got back and Theda was going to help me out but oops, I overturned and drank about half the salt water. So I got the noodle and just stayed in the water for a little bit.

Met the neighbors today. They are from VA and are homeschooling their 1st grader. He is such a smart little guy as a most homeschoolers.
And we had another visit from our friendly iguana. Here he is just hanging around to welcome Theda to paradise.

Later...

Sunday, April 18, 2010

My day of laundry, swimming and kayaking



It was supposed to be t'storming today so I planned to get the laundry done and just veg. Woke up to beautiful sunshine so decided to go ahead and do the laundry. After I put the loads in to wash, walked out to the pool and swam a little and did some water aerobics. It felt so good. Back to switch to the dryer and more swimming. Met Paul from CA at the laundry/pool. It was good to talk to him. This is his 2nd time down in the same site. His site has a 30X30 cabana on it and it overlooks the bay. Very nice!

Came back to Somewhere and put the clothes away, hung some out to dry and fixed some lunch. Sedona and I were sitting out on the deck and I thought it was time to blow up the kayak. The humidity is sure up and it was tempting to jump in the water to cool off but I decided against that. I knew if I did that I would never make it out ON the water.

It was no problem getting into the kayak so I went down the canal and out to the bay but the wind was up without the protection of the mangroves. I took pictures of some of the other RV sites. My site has the blue chairs and the RV hosts have the one blue chairs with the boat in front of the dock. There is a big iguana in the trees if you look closely and then the one of just the water shows where the tide is coming in.

I've added a few more decorations to my tiki hut so thought I would share those with you too.

Later...