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Thursday, July 22. 2010

Ah, the Florida Keys.

A tropical island paradise.

I honestly don't know if I could describe it any better than I did in Gift Ideas, in the section on Verizon Wireless:

Even out here in the boonies of the Florida Keys I've had superb results. As the freezing winter temperatures plummet into the low upper-mid 70's, I find myself taking my laptop over to the tiki hut, draping the obligatory floral leis around my neck, grabbing my ukulele, greeting the wahinis with hugs and kisses, then firing up the Verizon Wireless so we tropical islanders can tune in to Weather.com and marvel with wonderment and awe at the winter hell our fellow Americans will endure.

Willingly, I might add.

Yep, this is heaven on earth. Make no mistake about it.

Well, at least until you click on a link and see one of these barreling ass over teakettle your way:

So there's that.

Posted by Dr. Mercury in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 17:37 | Comments (14) | Trackbacks (0)

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I was just on the National Hurricane Center page looking at the maps, and funny thing, you pop to mind. Click over to Maggies and there you be. Amazing mental telepathy (or mental aberration, never sure which). Just look on the bright side. all that atmosphere movement will make for better sleeping conditions, the waves vigorously mixing the water into a frenzy to rock your boat to the beat. Hope your hurricane ropes hold your centered in your slip. Banging you boat into the pilings can prove to be expensive.

#1 JoeC on 2010-07-22 20:01 (Reply)

"Amazing mental telepathy (or mental aberration, never sure which)."

Let's go with 'aberration' until further notice. Just to be on the safe side.

"the waves vigorously mixing the water into a frenzy to rock your boat to the beat."

Thanks. You're a BIG help. :)

"Teaches humility. Teaches awe."

Teaches the value of high-quality rope, too.

"Got to have a supply of ceegars too."

And charged batteries, ready to be without power for a few days. But boats just sip electricity. I could go for a week (including the fridge) with what I've got here.

"Fair winds and all that."

Aye.

#1.1 Dr. Mercury (Link) on 2010-07-22 21:34 (Reply)

We are storm-lovers at Maggie's. The power of nature and all that. Teaches humility. Teaches awe.

#2 Bird Dog on 2010-07-22 20:03 (Reply)

I used to go down to St. Thomas for hurricane season to help my sister with storm preparations. I'll tell you this...it's good to have a lantern, a cribbage board and a supply of beer for the after party. All told though, I think I prefer dry land to sitting out a storm on a boat. I did that once and that was enough. Good luck to you. Fair winds and all that.

#3 Jephnol (Link) on 2010-07-22 20:46 (Reply)

Got to have a supply of ceegars too.

#3.1 Bird Dog on 2010-07-22 21:04 (Reply)

Dr., Its a tropical depression!!! Not a hurricane. I've driven to work in a tropical storm before. (mainly the bank execs couldn't make up their mind about whether to keep people at home, an hour after getting to work they decided to send people home in a stronger tropical storm. We stayed and worked that day) (no they weren't AIG or Goldman execs)

Maybe its different in a boat.
Anyway stay dry, don't want to miss your future posts.

#4 grant1863 on 2010-07-23 07:54 (Reply)

Grant -

I didn't mean to imply it was a "big" storm, just how funny and/or shocking it is suddenly see a weather map like the above and have your eyeballs pop open. As for actual hurricanes, I have a bit of experience there.

"Maybe its different in a boat."

Well, given that you're introducing four different directions of motion compared to a house, I'd have to say yeah, there's a dif. :)

Interesting sight this morning. Sea birds all over hell and gone, and making something of a ruckus. They know somethin's up.

#5 Dr. Mercury (Link) on 2010-07-23 08:05 (Reply)

Doc, it's six different directions, not four: fore/aft, side-to-side, up/down, roll, pitch, and yaw. Plus, when the wind hits 40 knots or so, the rigging starts to sing. At about 50 knots, the singing changes to howling.

Spend a night on a sailboat in a tropical storm and you will hear every noise and feel every bump.

#6 arcs on 2010-07-23 10:30 (Reply)

arcs -

Six motions on the open sea, four here in the slip. I'm jammed between two big pilings so there's no side-to-side, and the boat's too big to pitch in a slip. The roll is about "medium", in the sense that it doesn't bop around as much as the smaller blowboats, but it's certainly not as stable as the much-heavier trawlers. On the other hand, my neighbor's 40' trawler with its displacement hull has a top speed of 9 knots. My 40' motoryacht with a cruiser hull tops out at 26. So I'll take the additional rolling.

Interesting sight this morning when I got up around 7:30. There were zillions of sea birds in the air, and making squawking sounds, rather than their usual cawing.

A half-hour later there wasn't a bird in the sky.

(gulp!)

#7 Dr. Mercury (Link) on 2010-07-23 10:46 (Reply)

Just makes you wonder... where DO the birds go during a tropical storm or hurricane?

#7.1 JoeC on 2010-07-23 11:46 (Reply)

A good question. Do they have a sense of the storm's direction, so they can head to the side, rather than stay in its path? In theory, considering evolution, the birds that use the ol' "Run away! Run away!" approach get munched by the storm, and the ones that say, "Run away -- THIS way!" and head to the sidelines survive.

And what adds a twist to it is that you can't just use wind direction, like heading east if the winds are from the south, because tropical storms don't work that way. It would have to be a deeper sense in the bird, like the homing instinct.

Anyway, total bummer. It looks like it's veered to the north and we'll barely catch a drizzle. I'm a little upset because my Firebird Formula is white and needed a good washing.

#7.1.1 Dr. Mercury (Link) on 2010-07-23 11:55 (Reply)

Was just down in the keys.....truly is paradise. That breeze takes the edge off of the heat. Wished I could have stayed longer....

#8 g on 2010-07-23 13:32 (Reply)

Uh-yup, that's the whole secret. Unlike anywhere on the mainland, we're essentially right in the middle of the ocean and the breeze never dies completely down. Also seems to be what keeps the insects at bay. I've seen about two houseflies in the past 3 years, never been bitten by a mosquito, and only get bit at all if I hang out at the tiki hut around sunset when the black flies come out.

The 4' iguanas sneaking aboard the boats, however, is a different story.

#8.1 Dr. Mercury (Link) on 2010-07-23 13:49 (Reply)

Fry 'em up! Tastes like chicken (I hear). heh.

#8.1.1 JoeC on 2010-07-23 21:51 (Reply)

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