Seen at Capt. Dave's Tackle Store
Originally uploaded by sache47

Brick is wet- Rain

Brick is dry- Not raining

Shadow on ground- Sunny

Can't see brick- Foggy

Brick is swinging- Windy

White on top- Snowing

Brick jumping- Earthquake

Brick gone- Hurricane

MY LAST ELECTION POST

This is probably the Andy Williams that 12,500 voters thought they were selecting for Mosquito Control Board. The real candidate was sitting in the Key West jail on election day for his latest drug test failure. If he was able to vote for himself, it was by absentee ballot. Luckily his opponent won the seat, otherwise, how would he have been able to make the meetings? Scary, isn't it?
A week after elections, and we still don't know who our Circuit Court judge is. The race between Tegan Slaton and Mary Vanden Brook was too close to call on election night with Tegan Slaton ahead by only nine votes. After a recount and counting all the provisional ballots, they are now exactly tied at 16,441 each. So today a special board will meet in Key West to look at the ballots that were over or undervoted to see if they can determine a winner. I hear that both candidates are very well-qualified for the job. OK, that's it, I am over the election excitement for at least 2 more years.

This is an unusual coincidence. Just as the snowbirds are arriving by the hour from the north, at the same time, we have Hurricane Paloma approaching from the south. The birds are landing mostly in pairs, loaded down after their stops in Miami at Costco, BJs, or Sam's Club. They have everything they could possibly need to settle in to their island nests for the winter. They will call relatives to let them know they made it safely, unpack their cars, and check to make sure everything is working properly. Then they will make their way down to the beach to breathe a sigh of relief that it is just as it was when they left. But now, as strange as it seems, they will need to keep the weather channel close at hand to make sure that Paloma doesn't fly in from the south. Yes, we all know hurricane season doesn't really end until Nov. 30th, but we also know that this one will miss us, thanks to Cuba, which has taken a beating from every storm we have had this year, and made things much easier on us. So forget the weather, enjoy the beach and pool and friends you haven't seen for a while, and say a kindly, "Gracias" to our neighbors to the south for running a little defense for us yet again.

Ginger Snead Elected Marathon City Councilwoman
Ginger Snead was the top vote-getter in an 8 way race for three city council seats in Marathon yesterday. She has become an important part of my life because she owns Advantage Rehab and Physical Therapy where I go four times a week to exercise and try to keep my back in line. Of course, I couldn't vote for her, being a Key Colony Beach resident, but Ginger jokes that if KCB could vote, she wouldn't have even needed to campaign because she has treated just about everyone on the island for one ailment or another. I'm impressed with her victory because she took on some incumbents to try to make a change in her city even though she has had no political experience. She started her campaign very early and has attended every city council meeting now for months. I think this is the kind of candidate that more and more voters are looking for. So congrats to Ginger! Listening to the ins and outs of Marathon political life while I am exercising at what we call "Ginger's House of Torment and Torture", sure has made my workouts go by faster.