Tuesday, November 30, 2010

fly navy - key west

The U.S. Navy's presence in Key West dates back to 1823 when a Naval Base was established to stop piracy in the area.

The base was expanded during the Mexican War (1845 - 48) and again during the Spanish - American War (1898). The battleship Maine (remember the Maine?) sailed from Key West to Havana Cuba where it sank, giving the United States government an excuse to declare war on Spain. At that point the entire U.S. Atlantic Fleet was moved to Key West for the duration of the war.

During World War I (1914 - 1918) the base was expanded again. The project involved dredging the land leased from from the Florida East Coast Railroad Company for construction of station buildings, a hydro generator and barracks. Because Key West offered such easy access to open sea - lanes and usually ideal flying conditions, construction also included a dirigible hangar, three seaplane ramps and a submarine base.
Now known as Trumbo Point, the base's mission, at that time, was to spot and block German ships from reaching Mexican oil supplies while supplying oil to the U.S. fleet.

After the war, the base was decommissioned, most of the buildings were destroyed and the station remained inactive until two years before the United States entered the 2nd World War. Fortunately, the government had retained the property and the base was reopened and designated as a Naval Air Station to support Navy destroyers and PBY aircraft.
After that war had finally ended, NAS Key West was kept alive as a training facility.

By the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), NAS Key West sites included Meachum Field, Boca Chica, Harry S. Truman Annex and Trumbo Point. During the Cuban crisis, NAS Key West flew reconnaissance and operational flights in support of the blockade and reinforced Key West's title as "Gibraltar of the Gulf" as coined by Commodore Porter a hundred
years earlier.

Today, Trumbo Point is used mostly for military housing but is also home to the U.S. Coast Guard Group - Key West, a Naval Research Laboratory, Naval Legal Services Office and the U.S. Army Special Forces Waterborne Operations Division.

Monday, November 29, 2010

foreclosure - proof. . .

. . .and it also helps solve our affordable housing problem.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

an attitude of gratitude

I'm gonna start off telling you something you already know. . .
Life ain't perfect.

Still, there are one of two ways we can live through it and walk this world. . .
Oncely, grousing and grumbling about how fracked up it is.
Twicely, being grateful for the experience.

I guess most of us cross the tracks between grousing and grateful every once in a while; none of us are all one thing or all the other. (except maybe saints, but I'd doubt that too)
In my experience, grousing and grumbling gives me a sour stomach, while practicing an attitude of gratitude keeps my heart healthy.
So which side of the tracks would you guess I try to stay on?

as we used to say in the old neighborhood, "enjoy the bird."

Believe it when I say that I'm grateful to live in the Keys where most "Keysters", especially the friends and acquaintances in my life's sphere feel the same. And I'm grateful for my friends and acquaintances, their respect and appreciation for my talents and skills and the faith that, when I employ them, it is God working through me. I'm grateful for God's love and the human loves I've known - both romantic and familial - That both my parents, my siblings (all 5 of the knuckleheads) and children are all still above ground and doing alright. I'm grateful I've lived long enough to see grandchildren born to me. I'm grateful for my lifestyle of peace, relative prosperity and good health, that my mind is imaginative and usually smarter than the average bear and that I have a heart of compassion and warmth. I'm grateful for all the cool stuff I've seen and experienced that were unique to my time alive. . .
Mickey Mouse, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Beatles, moon landings, computer technology, a Mets/Yankees Subway Series and a black President of the United States. I'm grateful for the swirls of chaos and mayhem I've managed to whip up now and again and the profound peace I find in deep meditation. I'm grateful that whatever bad habits I have are small stuff and that the "angry young man" I used to be is long gone. I'm grateful for all the help I've gotten along the way and all the help I've been able to give to others. I'm grateful for God, Guru and my keen awareness of nature. For sailboats, bicycles, baseball and
girls wearing short skirts.
Finally, I'm grateful for the great Thanksgiving feast I'll be picking up at Small Chef at Large a little later today and the the hopefully hungry dudes coming by to help me devour it.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone.

Monday, November 15, 2010

power to the people

When you live on an island that's connected electrically to the mainland by a 160 mile long extension cord, you have to expect that every once in a while someone or something is gonna accidently trip over it and kick out the plug.

I think about that every time the power goes down, like it did for about 10 or 15 minutes last night and, in a more creative state of consciousness I can almost see the Incredible Hulk lumbering across Long Key, gettin' tangled up in the power lines and tearing them down .
(it's an artist thing)

One never knows when the power will crap out or how long the outage will last so one always has a flashlight handy, makes their way around the home lighting strategically positioned candles and sits out on the porch or patio with a cocktail where it's always sure to be cooler.

Like I said, last night's power loss was 10 or 15 minutes; no big deal. But sittin' outside in the streetlight-less dark, without the ambient glow of the city, more stars were visible and the buzz, that you can feel more than you actually hear, from the power lines over the houses, just wasn't there.
It's really quite romantic.

But even so, if at first blush the lack of electricity makes the world feel like there's more room for romance in the air; candles burning, no computer, telephone or TV and less energy coursing through the ether; after a night or two, once the flashlight batteries start to fade and the beer in the fridge gets warm, being without electricity is very much like romance itself, once the novelty has worn off; a real pain in the ass.

So my thanks to our friends at KeysEnergy for always being out there to face down the Hulk (or whatever mutant force is tugging at the extension cord) and always restoring
power to the people.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

odd bits

I don't have one of those mindless desk jobs that afford me tons of time between things to do for blog babbling
ad infinitum.

So when my world gets "interesting", which it often does, my attention re-directs towards whatever new project, situation, madness or mayhem is calling my name. And even though I was a master at multi-taking back when I lived up north and was really working for a living (seems like 100 years ago) multi-tasking just doesn't fit in with my laid back
island lifestyle.

So now, it's one thing at a time but, as a result, time spent on other things means time away from Key West the Blog.

All the same, I am forever jotting down notes and shooting pictures that may or may not be blog-able for when the time for blogging comes back around to the top of the
"things to do"
Like it has today. . .

teabaggers, pachyderms
& jackasses

So, we've just lived through two weeks in the "habitat for insanity". (rhymes with Sean Hannity)
Two weeks you ask?
Sure, one week of our local fantasy festivities followed by a second week of national election mayhem. Of the two, this year I must admit, I enjoyed the latter week more. For me, this year's political circus of teabaggers, pachyderms, and jackasses was much more amusing than Capt. Morgan and his ship's compliment of painted titties.

The bad ads and rudderless debates, finger pointing and name calling, fear mongering in the face of reason and every male candidate looking dumb as a post when his female opponent threw the most over-used phrase of the season at him; "man up!" Frankly, I was a little disappointed that none of those guys had the imagination to shoot back a sarcastic, "yes dear".

graphic by art winstanley

It was fun. . .
Bigot Teabaggers, bumbling Republicans and clueless Democrats with no cojónes.
An obtuse Angle in Nevada and a witch in Delaware, the 5 o'clock shadow and Queenie Loudmouth from Alaska and a weeper with an orange tan for Speaker of the House.
What else could you ask for?

It was amusing as hell but now it's over and at the end of the day, it really doesn't matter which functionaries fill the seats in those hollow halls, (yep, I said it that way on purpose) because nothin's gonna change.
The long term course for America was charted long ago by the men behind the curtain and all the morally bankrupt bureaucrats, newly elected or not, are handsomely payed to play along.
It's nothing but theatre.

wax paper

Living life should be easy. An effortless going with the flow. Grass grows, flowers bloom and critters are born and die as easily as breathing. Only humanity complicates the process.

In my life, when I come across things that won't go easily for me, I steer clear. (why deal with stress, right?) Examples of things that won't go easily for me are water skiing, playing the oboe, understanding legal-eze or accounting, can openers and, saran wrap. (you know that cling-ie roll of plastic crap used to cover leftovers and such; tear a sheet off and gravity, static electricity or the slightest breeze from a ceiling fan folds it back on itself in a hermetically sealed ball of frustration)
So, to keep life simple and easy (like it's supposed to be), I've always used wax paper. It's easier to use in the kitchen and does double duty as a pallet liner when I'm painting.

I've known about wax paper since I was a kid and like most things in this life, knowing about stuff is learned by example. Maybe, as a kid, you watched how your mom or granny set up their kitchens; me, I watched my Aunt Lu.
The pots go here, the pans go there and, always always, among the knives, cleavers, spoons, ladles and love, was CutRite wax paper. She'd wrap leftovers with it, use it to roll out pie crust and cookie dough or fold a sliver of it over a comb to make a kind of kazoo. In all these years, whether I've been married or single, I've never, ever had a kitchen without wax paper.

My Aunt Lu died last week, she was 86. She lived her life with an unconditional love for everyone. Quiet and un-presuming, she touched the hearts of every soul she met along the way.
I know she touched mine.
Wax paper is just one of the many of touchstones I'll have for the rest of my days to recognize her ever present ease, warmth and welcome, lessons and love in my life.