FTJ, Entry 44: Happy Holidays!

We had a really fun holiday, much to our surprise. We originally thought it might be weird and boring, but having our new friends to spend it with made it great fun! On Xmas Eve we all had a LONG lunch at our hangout, Schooner Wharf Bar. It was great to be able to bring the dogs and sit and listen to Michael McCloud -- a very cool way to spend the day.

Here we are with Dave and Joyce and their dog Lucy at our Christmas Eve celebration.

Buddy wore his "Hang with the Big Dogs" Schooner Wharf T shirt.
I wore antlers as you can see in the first photo. Beau was, of course, our Santa.

After our lunch -- much of which was liquid -- it was already after 5 pm, so we walked down to see the crazies at the sunset celebration at Mallory Square. Singers, tightrope walkers, fire jugglers, and strange tattooed people -- the typical stuff. The guy at the bottom of the photo grouping was funny and quite impressive, juggling fire torches while balancing on a ladder.

Ho hum -- another typical holiday.

Love the tuba, don't you?

The following day we decided to put together a joint dinner for Christmas, at our site. We had received a food gift package, with a ham and other yummy items, from Beau's business associate Dick Palmer (thanks so much, Dick!) -- so we cooked the ham and Joyce and Dave contributed side dishes. The weather was great -- around 70 and the breeze was light. It was lots of fun, and we learned how to play Chicken Foot, a dominoes game. 

Joyce beat the crap out of us.

 

(We are hoping Dave and Joyce will be joining us on the road sometime soon -- they seem to be leaning toward going RVing full-time! YAY)

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Finally, some photos of this lovely RV resort -- check out the cool African-themed site. Waterfront sites -- basically driveways with docks -- start at about $650K and can go up to about $1 million, I believe. That's just nuts.

Here are more photos of our site -- which we are leaving on Monday. We have to relocate to a pool-front site, off the water. (We had to move two times to be able to stay here through January 2nd).

We send our love to all and hope your holiday was as wonderful as ours was.  We are worrying about all you guys up north, what with the big storm that we hear is coming your way. Stay warm and safe.

Tanks, Panky

FTJ, Entry 43: Hogfish, not Hog's Breath!

Quick clarification: Sunday night we went to dinner at Hogfish Bar & Grill, NOT Hog's Breath, as I wrote in the previous blog. I am losing it.

As they say, Hogfish is "A Great Place If You Can Find It” -- and "they" weren't kidding. It is on Stock Island, north of Key West, and it took a lot of turning around and navi-guessing to get there.  But the place is very nice, with good fish and seafood. Kind of a big tiki hut feel to it. There was a beautiful smoky gray cat that made the rounds of the tables, as well as a bedraggled dog that wandered around outside. Typical Keys atmosphere.

We went with Dave and Joyce Butler, our RV neighbors from ... I think they are from Palm Island, FL. Somewhere near Clearwater or Tampa -- I forget!  Very nice people and Dave has some terrific stories. I think he has done everything -- boating, flying, scuba diving, skiing, golfing, RV-ing. He also has a story about "lobster tickling." You name it and he seems to have done it. Fun, fun couple.

They may have just sold their home and are considering full-timing. Dave has a dental practice that he is transitioning to his daughter. We would love to meet up with them on the road sometime in the future!

In the next few days we are going to introduce them to the Schooner Wharf. Hoo boy.

Tanks, Panky

FTJ, Entry 42: Pictorial -- Historic Inns Tour

Hmmm -- does anyone believe this is our tree? Yeah! That's right, check it out. Amazing, huh?

I'll fess up. It's not our tree. Saw this when we took the Key West Holiday Historic Inn Tour on Friday night. The self-guided tour featured five inns and some light nibbles and desserts. For a bonus we got some exercise walking from one place to another -- with Buddy as our 5-lb weight.

The inns were:

• Cypress House
• Rose Lane Villas
• Westwinds
• Mermaid & Alligator
• Alexanders Guesthouse

Each inn had its charm, but we really liked the Cypress Inn, the Mermaid & Alligator, and Westwinds. Some of them had lovely plunge pools tucked into courtyards. Others had incredibly peaceful nooks and great tropical wonderlands to lose yourself in. It was an interesting evening.

I think this one was Rose Lane Villas -- tough to remember which is which in the photos!

A poolside bar and offerings from the Better than Sex chocolate shop at this inn.

A lovely tropical corner at the Mermaid & Alligator.

Great decorations at the Cypress House Inn.

Another pool behind one of the hosting inns.

Beautiful decorations we saw on a side street.

Outside the Mermaid & Alligator.

And of course, we had to circle back to the historic waterfront area to stop off at -- where else? -- our favorite joint, Schooner Wharf. We sat at the bar, a guy with a cockatoo on his shoulder on one side of us, and Jim the charter boat captain -- complete with tattoos and bandanna -- on the other. Nice guy, actually.

Cute sign in the harbor restaurant area.

  

His owner claims this dog is a hybrid dog-wolf. I WANT HIM! Isn't he beautiful?

Ahoy, mateys!

Great old MG we saw on our walk.

Self explanatory.

 

Also self explanatory. And believe it or not, I'm sober as a judge.

Kicking back at Schooner Wharf Bar. Buddy was tired, though.

Tonight we are going with our RV neighbors to Hog's Breath Bar & Grill on Stock Island. It will be a new experience! 

Tanks, Panky

FTJ, Entry 41: O Tannenbaum?

A quickie post to show you our version of a Key West Christmas tree. HO HO HO. 

My Santa Sweetie:

It is warming up a bit -- it is in the 70s today. But alas, it will cool down again (60s) for Monday through Wednesday. I know, I know, it's better than snow and ice.

Tonight we are going to the Key West inn tour, visiting five inns decorated for the holidays and offering food from local restaurants.  And last night we were invited to an open house party by the owner of Bobalu's restaurant right down the road. The party (tomorrow night), where the booze and food and music are all free, is to thank his regular customers, but he invited us -- maybe because he is from Connecticut, too. A very nice gesture.

Wish you guys were here to party with us! Especially as the holidays get closer...miss you all SO much.

Tanks, Panky

FTJ, Entry 40: The Weird and the Wonderful

As most of you know, Key West is a unique locale with unique people. We experienced that today in spades, as we ventured forth once more to downtown, hoping to take the Conch Train tour (alas, they denied us tickets because of Buddy). So we ended up walking Duval Street all the way to the Southernmost Point. A long walk that showcased the weird and the wonderful that is Key West.

We saw oddities galore, as follows:

Crazy lady pedicab driver

Doggie street performer looking for a handout. I was hoping he would play the guitar...

Hey, they serve fetishists here, and you can have multiple partners in a private room,
according to the sign! Hoo boy.

A truck that thinks it's a boom box.

This guy told the most disgusting joke I have ever heard after
Beau gave him a buck. I just walked away, shkeeving.

A one-armed bandit on a porch. Why? Why ask why?

Of course, we saw some normal things, too. Like cruise ships, the Hemingway house and the Naval Station entrance, the Southernmost Hotel and beach, and so on.

Beau and Buddy at southernmost beach...

and at the southernmost point, with wonderful sparkling water as a backdrop.

We are also trying to get into the Christmas spirit back at the homestead -- Beau hung some lights on the tiki bar and I put a Santa wreath on the back of the RV. We still have to figure out how/where to spend Christmas. 

There's always the Schooner Wharf Bar, I suppose!

You can see the Christmas lights through the windshield.

Some good news -- temps will be in the 70s this week. Hallelujah!

Tanks, Panky

FTJ, Entry 39: Of Buzzards and Boat Parades

The other day here at our site in Key West we saw the strangest thing -- a giant flock of buzzards (turkey vultures?) -- hundreds and hundreds of them -- circling above the water in front of our dock. I hope this does not mean Beau and I are decaying/dying, sending the odor of carrion up through the atmosphere. You never know.

I have tried to load the video of this phenomenon here, but no luck. I  think the file is too large. Anyway, it was very eerie. And there continue to be lots of these birds flying around Key West all the time. What do they eat? Homeless people or something? 'Tis a conundrum.

The good news: Finally, today was really warm and beautiful -- warm enough to swim. I thought we should jump off the dock here (there is a swim ladder). Yeah, that sounded like a really good idea!

The bad news: Eagle-eyed Beau pointed out four barracuda swimming maybe four feet from the shore. They were small, but that did it for me.

Soooo, we then decided to take a dip in the heated (overly so) pool. Lovely. 

But more bad news: We are fully aware that this weather will be short-lived. By Tuesday, the temps are supposed to dip to 58 degrees for a HIGH, with winds potentially gusting more than 40 mph. NOT so lovely. 

We spent yesterday morning -- which was in the low 70s -- strolling through a flea market in Big Pine Key. It was fun, and good for buying Beau affordable replacement T-shirts. He has this habit of putting on a clean shirt, and then suddenly deciding to grease some gizmo under the RV or clean some filth off something -- and ruining his clothing in the process. I like to call him Pigpen. Anyway, Pigpen requires a lot of replacement clothes. Flea market prices work for us!

Beau at the Flea Market

In the afternoon, we walked around Key West some more, killing time before the evening's big event -- the Xmas "Lighted Boat Parade." We have a regular parking lot we use downtown now, manned by an absolutely crazy burnout Reverend Jim-type guy (for those of you who remember the TV sitcom "Taxi"), who is endearing, yet totally and irrevocably fried in the head. Here he is, god love him.

Anyway, after our crazy attendant informed Beau that if he had a nice lady like me he would find a secluded spot and do...  I don't know what (oh my!)... we left the car and walked and walked the waterfront -- and still had to wait quite a while before the big event. And the day got colder and colder. 

You can see that I was bundled up, as was Buddy, in this pic with Schooner Wharf Bar's Santa right after sunset!

 

We tried, we really did, to wait it out until the show at 8 pm. But even the crowds of people surrounding us by dark did not warm us up! Beau, despite his jacket, was freezing, as was I.

I managed these photos before we left, and we never got to see the other boats! Oh well. 

I leave you with this shot of one of the Schooner Wharf Bar dogs, a pitbull who happens to skateboard.

Battening down the hatches here, in anticipation of the typhoon.

Tanks, Panky

FTJ, Entry 38: Long-term Questions -- and Buddy the Juggler

Right now we are not sure how we feel about staying in one place for a protracted period. We have been here for 10 days, and we're a bit confused and unable to come to any definitive conclusion, other than knowing we are REALLY disappointed in the weather. If the temps were normal (80s),  we could do some boating, beaching, swimming, etc., and I think we would feel more positively about staying here so long.

Alas, Beau was SO looking forward to being a "beach bum" here in Key West. Hey -- perhaps we will both end up as "bar bums" instead! Schooner Wharf Bar here we come? (That happens tomorrow, actually, for the Xmas Boat Parade.)

Today, Beau is waxing the RV and I am reading, sitting in the sun (it is warmer today--low 70s), and cogitating about our future. I think I am restless to get going again -- hearing this, Beau suggested we change the name of the RV to "The Shark," indicating our need to always be moving.

Oh heck, we are probably just bored!

Our Little Child Entertains Us

I have to say that having Buddy with us has provided hours of entertainment for us both. He is a character!

I have not had much luck loading videos, but thought I would try the process again today and showcase our little hairy clown.

This one is of Buddy playing with his bone in the RV:

Hope he made you smile. We miss you all...

Tanks, Panky

FTJ, Entry 37: Freezing in the Keys...brrrrr!

Sorry to report that 1. Beau and I have been sick with a hellish cold/respiratory infection, and 2. the arctic blast has reached as far as the southernmost city in the United States. We came here to get away from the cold, and we are now experiencing days in the high 50s/low 60s, nights in the 40s!  I know, I know, I should not complain, but temps in the 50s? ...really? Jeesh.

We did enjoy the few days of warmth here in the beginning. We walked for hours in downtown Key West and then headed to the Historic Seaport area, toward our favorite bar, Schooner Wharf. We could not believe that Michael McCloud, a singer we really enjoyed when we last visited six or seven years ago, is still performing. We have a number of his CDs. Love his music.

And of course, when we walked in, he was singing the World War II song that always makes Beau (and of course me) cry. I tried to load a video of the song, but for some reason it just would not work!

It is great fun hanging out down at the docks at the Schooner Wharf Bar, where the people are friendly and lively (in other words, drunk) and dogs are welcome. (McCloud has a song called Schooner Wharf Bar Dog, where he says he wants to come back as one.)  It's a noisy, yet very laid back place with live music most of the day and night -- reminding us a bit of Foxy's in the BVIs.

You can see that Buddy enjoyed it, too. The waitress even brought him two strips of bacon and a bowl of water.

Buddy in his carry bag atop the table at Schooner Wharf Bar.

Here are some shots of our walk through other parts of Key West on Sunday:

A beautiful section of Key West called the Truman Annex.
I had not realized Harry Truman loved Key West so much.

Beau at Sloppy Joe's, made famous by "Papa" Hemingway.

A dramatic statue in front of the museum.

Key West's idea of Xmas decor??

You may (or may not) have noticed I am getting lax about my hair. Who cares?! I'm retired.

Buddy goes everywhere with us, of course, including the restaurant on Duval where we had brunch. That's him in the black bag, as usual.

On Sunday, there was a Pirate Festival, so of course we had to check it out. But first Beau took a tour of a 1934 Coast Guard cutter that was on convoy escort duty in the North Atlantic during WWII. Can you imagine this small craft in the 20-30 foot waves up there? He said the quarters were tiny and would have made mere mortals very claustrophobic. But as we all know, the Greatest Generation were not mere mortals.

Ye olde WWII ship...

...next to ye olde pirate ship.

Ye olde pirate -- with his pet rats. Surprisingly, they were very cute. But we kept Buddy away from them. Yorkies were bred as ratters!

Ye olde pirate band.

The Pirate Festival was actually a bit of a bust, but entertaining nonetheless.

Nothing much to report for Monday, primarily because we were under the weather and had no energy to do anything. Tuesday, which was freaking cold once again, was spent cleaning. (I am not thrilled about having to do housework again after all the years of a cleaning service, I can tell you.)

We did get some sun today, although the weather is still very chilly. Beau spent most of the day cleaning and waxing Harvey the Mar-V RV, while I did...not much.  I made sure Buddy's eyes were protected from the sun, though, while we relaxed at the dock.

Doesn't he look like Jack Nicholson?

What a cool canine

Here's hoping the cold snap fizzles soon!

Tanks, Panky