This Week on the Island - August 1, 2004

This week started 'The Key West Food and Wine Festival'. This event is held all over the island with many different hotel/motel and restaurant/cafe's getting involved. The cost runs from $10 at the La Conch Hotel to $85 at Michael's depending on which event you go to. I will hold out and wait for 'LOBSTER FEST' in the middle of the month.

I went back to house work. After rebuilding and repainting the front porch, I had paint left, so I started painting the sides of the house just to use up the paint. It is a bit warm and I am usually soaked in sweat by the time I finish each day. Luckily being retired, I usually finish right after I start. Don't need to finish something today that I could take the rest of the week to accomplish.

Key West may be in the process of selling the Key West Bight to a developer out of Miami for $40 million. What does this mean for Conch Republic Sea Food, Schooner Wharf, Turtle Crawls, Half Shell Raw Bar, Monty's, Buffett's Recording Studio, etc, etc. More later....

Speaking of the Key West Bight. Jabours, the trailer court that sold for about $18 million to some developers, has had a set back. The developers want to pack a three story monster building housing 35 short term rental units into the 1 1/2 acres. Key West has sent them back to the drawing board. This property is just behind Schooner Wharf Bar.

This week was Lobster mini-season. The two days we all hate. People show up from everywhere to grab lobster and destroy the environment. In the upper Keys you have to stay over 300 feet from any seawall, dock, or enclosed waterway. Key West has not passed this law yet. In Miami you can catch 12 lobster per person per day, in Key West you can only catch 6. A local lady fired shots at some mini-lobster people that were diving off her dock and seawall on the cannel. All I can say is, it is over for another year.

The continuing story of Bigfoot. Bigfoot is a cat from the Truman Annex that was captured by a woman from Bar Harbour, Maine, while she was here on vacation. She says she rescued the poor homeless cat and took it with her to give it a good home. Bigfoot, the poor homeless cat, weighs over 20 pounds and has 6 toes. The lady that owns Bigfoot lives in Truman Annex and wants her cat back. The lady from Bar Harbour is suing the lady from Key West. The law is clearly on the side of the lady from Key West. More Later....

The Chicken Man. Got the job, went on national TV, can't catch the chickens, lost the job. More later....