This Week on the Island

The Weather: I love this time of the year. I think it is because the north east USA is under snow and ice and winter (what we have of it) is over here. The hibiscus, the lime trees, the cactus, are all in bloom. One draw back, I am having a hard time finding the time to do my taxes. I went kayaking last Sunday and had to run the air conditioning on Sunday night.

The 18 mile stretch: Driving to Key West, as you leave the mainland and Florida City, you drive the next 18 miles on land that is just wide enough to hold the two lane road. There are many wrecks here every year, as drivers try to pass each other. Tuesday morning a car driving south was passing and in the north bound land when he hit a tanker hauling 8,000 pounds of human waste. The tanker ended up sitting on top of the 36 inch pipe that delivers fresh water to all of the Keys. The 18 mile stretch was closed for about 12 hours. Not only did we have a chance for an environmental disaster, we also had an opportunity to lose drinking water for all of the Keys. Both drivers were taken to hospitals in Miami and the tanker was pumped out and pulled from the water pipe without breaking it.

Last year a city bus hit a lady on a bicycle in front of the house. The city just settled for $750,000. If Key West didn't get sued so much, they could lower our taxes.

BigFoot, the cat, has been on trial for 2 weeks now. The judge first heard from the Key West woman that owned Big Foot. He then ordered an investigation. This week the judge heard from the Maine woman that took BigFoot to Maine. Next week he will hear from the investigator.

One of our local members of the Southernmost Parrot Head Club, Dr.Guobaitis (Goodbye-to-us) and his student nurse, were taken out to dinner by Jimmy Buffett when he was in town for the 20th anniversary of Margaritaville. Some people have all the luck.

I want to say 'Thank You' to those folks that send me an email from time to time telling me how much they enjoy 'This Week on the Island'. Although I don't answer your emails, I do appreciate them.

Doug Bennett
Key West, You have got to love it

------------------------------------------Interesting---------------------------------------------

Dec 21st is the shortest day of the year and the beginning of winter. I have been tracking the sunrise and sunset since then. On Dec 21st the sunrise was at 7:07 AM and Sunset was at 5:43 PM (10 hrs and 37 minutes of sun).. The sunset and the sunrise continued to be later each day until Jan 09th when the sunrise was at 7:13 AM and sunset was at 5:57 PM ( 10 hrs and 44 minutes of sun). Then the sun started rising earlier. Today the sunrise was back to 7:07 AM and sunset is at 6:15 PM (11 hrs and 8 minutes of sun). Yes, I do have too much time on my hands.