Since 2002. Published Tuesdays and Fridays
Letters to the Editor with pictures
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[Sloan Banned From Homeless Shelter] Key West’s homeless shelter manager Mike Tolbert bans homeless expert write-in mayor candidate Sloan Bashinsky from the shelter forever, because Sloan peeded on the grass and Mike does like what Sloan has said and written about Mike, the shelter and homeless people and people peeing on his grass. |
[Sloan] Mayor’s Homeless Advisory Committee homeless expert member and vagrant write-in mayor candidate Sloan Bashinsky lets the people living in paradise who pretend to know Sloan, former lawyer, proposes suing Key West in federal court over city police harassing, arresting and jailing homeless people for sleeping outside at night, because they cannot get into the city’s homeless shelter. Some are even expelled just for peeing on the grass there. |
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[William Hackley’s 1855 Key West Diary] Babe mouth very sore. Sarah Patterson says that she has the thrush and is using a preparation of brick dust, burnt alum and honey which she says she has always used with good effect. |
Springer’s Bar & Grill – Now Open 7 day a week for lunch and dinner.
Sunday Football is on! Watch all the games at Springer’s while enjoying a ice cold 16 ounce draft. Big Screen TV’s, friendly service and great food. Games start at 1 pm. Check out www.springersbar.com to see our full menu. Join the conversation on Facebook. This is where you will find our daily specials. Try our homemade Beignets. We serve these delicious French pastries dusted with sugar and dipping sauces. Perfect to share with friends. Y’all come down and see us at Springer’s, 31251 Avenue A Big Pine Key 305-872-3022 |
[No Name Electric] To answer the question of why No Name Key resident Ann Press fought against electricity on the island, lost and then hooked up — she’s a good loser!
But on the other hand, one “clever” NNKer attended court and neighborhood meetings religiously in support of getting electricity for the island and then didn’t connect when the time came. Instead he solicited, through the Coconut Telegraph, money to connect his home to the power grid. When that didn’t work he stole electricity from another neighbor by running a 150 ft. extension cord over County land to his neighbor’s power box. How criminal and a slap in the face to all of his neighbors who had to cough up the 30K to pay for the power. That takes balls, Dean! |
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[“Submarines throw spent cooling rods overboard”] I just can’t find the words to express how impossible that is. |
[FTR] Zika is here now in Monroe County. While our skeeter killers dither and fail to use every safe and effective weapon that they have in their arsenal, ZIKA is knocking on our door.
On Wednesday it was reported that we now have at least 3 cases of ZIKA in Monroe. That’s only the cases that have been discovered and proven. Given that many infected persons have no symptoms, we could have scores of infected persons. It is safe to assume that the authorities ae keeping the number of cases under investigation a closely held secret. You have to be aware that ZIKA infected mosquitoes are alive and well in several Dade venues. And let’s not forget that the mosquito that the anti GMM people are protecting is the same mosquito that spreads dengue, yellow fever, and chikungunya. These are dreadful diseases. Are you aware that Yellow fever is resurgent in the tropics? I trust you will remember that dengue is no stranger to our community. It was not that many years ago that there were nearly a hundred cases of dengue in the lower Keys. And yes, there were cases in Key Haven and Stock Island. The news of that outbreak made national headlines and turned off the tourism money spigot. To date, there have been 49 locally transmitted cases of the virus in Florida, that’s according to the state Department of Health. Forty-two of those have been in Miami-Dade County. Florida is the only state in the continental United States where local transmission has occurred. Don’t kid yourself, if it’s not already here, unless we do something damned quick, ZIKA will soon be here. The anti GMM crowd is getting down right frantic in their efforts to stop the skeeter killers from killing ZIKA skeeters. They even paid for ads in FaceBook . The ads verged on hysteria, shrilly warning the residents of Key Haven that the British are coming…the British are coming! I think that they see themselves as latter day Paul Revere’s.
Yep, the anti GMM zealots are so frightened to have anyone hear the other side of the story that they hectored Key Haven residents to stay away from the Brits. The Anti GMM people, the real estate big shots, are so petrified that their property values will be harmed that they seem willing to do almost anything to stop efforts to kill the Aedes aegypti mosquito. Many of them also oppose the use of sprays. It looks like they are betting with the public health, and the lives of the unborn. They are betting that ZIKA will just go away. Recently a letter has been put forward by the anti GMM people. This letter is the work of a local doctor who is married to a candidate for The Mosquito Control Board. This letter alleges that the GMM process needs additional study prior to its implementation. The Doc is complaining that because tetracycline is used in the process, that use might….underline might…degrade the efficacy of antibiotics. The good Doc offers no data or proof; he offers only speculation. The FDA, the EPA, and the USDA disagree with the Doc. The scientist and physicians at the FDA, the EPA, and the USDA have made a thorough, multidiscipline study of the process. They have deemed the process to be safe. You may want to consider that an estimated 29 million pounds of antibiotics are used on our food stock animals Kinda makes you wonder just how much damage a mosquito with tetracycline on its feet can do. You should be aware that the author of the aforementioned letter, is Dr. John Norris. Dr. Norris is married to skeeter board candidate, Kathryn Watkins. For whatever reason she chooses not to use her married name in the campaign, but she has no such qualms about using her married name, Kathryn Watkins Norris, in her FaceBook postings that rail against killing the mosquitoes that spread ZIKA by the use of genetic engineering. Kathryn Watkins (Norris) has received only a few contributions in support of her campaign. Two of Words have meanings. The anti GMM group insist on labeling the initial release of GMM mosquitoes as being an “experiment.” It is not, it is a proof of concept excercize necessary to win full government approval for the use of the process. The safety and efficacy, and safety, of the process has already been demonstrated in its use in Brazil and other venues. As this is written, a new release of GMM mosquitoes is underway in Piracicaba, Brazil. The Brazilian government is damned glad that Oxitec is there to help protect their public health. Our leaders must quit dithering and use every weapon in their arsenal to protect the public health, and the unborn |
This question came up at happy hour. After 2 million years since Lucy fell out of the tree, what is humans’ most visible accomplishment? And I thought for a bit and said, “The loss of body hair”. |
![]() To me, “reality shows” are too unreal to be even slightly believable, but it appears that this time Paul Wachter, that charismatic long-blond-haired dude in the wife-beater shirt with the flawless singing voice in the superb rock band Haywire wasn’t bull-slinging about being on the Survivor TV show (unlike his on-stage fantasy stories about just being off-tour Europe where the Rolling Stones opened for them. |
I’m not glad the Mosquito Control will get their new 5 million dollar building. The way they have dropped the ball on Zika, maybe we should put them in the Habitat for Humanity building. |
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I came from Cuba and the best thing for that place is to be conquered by America and made a state. Our government messed up when they had the chance. |
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After the apocalypse. |
[“Learn from Cuba”] I don’t know where you’re getting your information from, but it’s distorted at best. Equality is not an actual fact in Cuba, only what the government claims to be true. All kids may go to school, but the black kids wore blue uniforms, and the whites another color. The black kids had to leave for school an hour early because their schools were farther away. Everyone got paid in government currency, but the shelves in the stores were at least half empty, with no choices on the occasions when they did have macaroni or a can of tuna fish; so getting paid did not equate with being well fed and happy. There were definitely areas you didn’t wander around in with no regard to personal safety. Did you check out China Town in Havana? It’s not the only area my Cuban friends would not let me visit alone. Everyone was terrified of the Gendarmes all the time. By the way, one school teacher was hooking at nights so that she could purchase shampoo that washed out of her hair. She was also saving up for a toilet seat. I had doctors coming up and begging me for medications to keep their patients from dying. I loved the months I spent in Cuba, but If you want to know what’s going on get off the tourist tracks and interact with the locals. It works everywhere in the world, even here. No country is perfect, but we definitely don’t need lessons from Cuba. |
![]() [Bike Safety] I didn’t get the entire article off the Citizen online, but it would be nice to include Big Pine. “City officials are asking for public help to make Key West one of 10 U.S. cities chosen for a new $750,000 bicycle program. Nonprofit People for Bikes is looking for communities of all sizes to participate in The Big Jump, which aims to double or triple local bike riders by 2020.” How many injuries do you think will be avoided with $750,000 worth of signs (that’s about all they can do)? I don’t think any. I do think that $750,000 will give a jobs to those that rely on grants for their livelihood. |
[Sepsis] Patty Duke (actress), Mohamed Ali (world champ boxer Cassius Clay), and Jim Henson (Muppets creator) all died from sepsis, like 250.000+ Americans do every year. That’s more deaths than heart attacks! It can kill you in the hospital or minding your business at home. But you don’t even know what it is or the symptoms, do you? I didn’t either, and plenty of medical professionals don’t. Take a couple minutes to become familiar. It could save your own ass or another ass you are very fond of. Link |
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[“When the market fails to provide this housing, the community must intervene to provide it.”] The only win/win solution is to let the little guy rent out his downstairs enclosure. The only other solution proposed is to let developers build it and charge a few dollars below the extremely high market value. |
![]() Amazon Prime gets you a free eBook every month in addition to free streaming movies. I wonder why they don’t tell people about the free eBook? |
[Jurassic Mosquitoes] “GMO mosquitoes” If you think the mosquitoes are bad now, just think when the mad scientists hatch one of the 3-foot long prehistoric ones! |
![]() Apple announced its newest iPhones, the 7 and 7 plus, which are water and dust resistant. The move comes amidst sluggish sales and is an attempt to catch up to Samsung whose top line phones have been water and dust proof for a couple of years. |
The next meeting of our Big Pine Computer Club is coming up this Saturday, September 10, 10 am at the senior center. Hope to see you there. Full Menu > Ongoing Events |
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Colon cancer cells are destroyed by combination of two common botanicals, thistle and turmeric. Link |
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[“Cuba, but no one is hungry, no one is in need of medical care, there is no one living below the poverty level like the USA”] The food rations the Castro’s dole out monthly barely last two weeks. They haven’t enough medicines for the people. If you think Cuba is your panacea move there. If you want to see how socialism ends in a country, look at Venezuela – “There were millions in the streets protesting the collapse of their economy and the lack of basic needs.” |
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A diver was reported missing at noon Wednesday approximately nine miles southwest of Marquesas Key. Coast Guard crews were still searching for the 46-year old man at press time. The man was reported missing by a friend after he failed to return from a dive. The man’s dive buoy and spear gun were found in the water by his recreational vessel. He was last seen “wearing a camouflage wetsuit”. (duh!) |
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I don’t understand all the fuss about the price of an EpiPen. They’re designed to be used only in an emergency to treat anaphylaxis. It’s not like the person carrying an EpiPen doesn’t know what will trigger a severe allergic reaction, so it should rarely be used if at all. Is there some other use for EpiPen that would require frequent purchases? |
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Goodbye Big Pine Liquors. You will be missed (hic)! |
In 1763 Spain ceded Florida to Great Britain in exchange for the recovery of Havana, which the British had captured. The departing Spaniards took the few natives remaining in the Keys with them to Cuba. For the next fifty-six years, the Keys were devoid of any permanent settlements but were certainly not deserted. Each year from August to March, fleets of Cuban fishermen came to the Keys and the southwest coast of Florida to fish and to salt and dry their catches onshore. |
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[“Solar long time for payback”] Removing the “solar” tax last month in Florida will help lower the payback time. We’ll be seeing more leasing of solar power for our homes. A lot of people just want to be off the grid and it’s getting more practical every year. |
JFK’S Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, was in France in the early 60’s when DeGaulle decided to pull out of NATO. DeGaulle said he wanted all US military out of France as soon as possible. Rusk responded, “Does that include those who are buried here?” DeGaulle did not respond. You could have heard a pin drop. |
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Third Zika case confirmed in Keys. Officials refuse to disclose if it’s in Key West, if it is, it’s bad for tourism. |
Sloan Bashinsky is banned from KOTS homeless shelter. You’ve got to be pretty whacky to get thrown out of a homeless shelter. |
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[More Dead Coral] Over the past eight months almost a quarter of the Great Barrier Reef has died because of coral bleaching, which can happen when sea temperatures rise. Audio |
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Zika funding for Monroe County blocked by Democrats. Senator Harry Reid, rot in hell. (Ed: It was blocked because Republicans insisted on including provisions that would hinder access to contraception for women and weaken environmental restrictions on pesticide use. Things that have nothing to do with Zika.) |
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[Submarine Information Troll] When those nuclear powered submarines hit ships with their periscopes, they just pull another one out of the supply room and go up on deck and put the new one in. Same thing with propellers, in fact they have a big ass crane that comes out of the submarine and puts the new propeller on if they want to. |
[Big Pine Liquor Closes] That sucks, now it will take 30 min to buy a bottle of booze and it used to take 1 minute. They should have added a variety of items as incentives for us to shop there. Like adding tobacco supplies, guns, sex aids, anything else to propagate for traffic. |
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[Government] Once upon a time the government had a vast scrap yard in the middle of a desert. Congress said, “Someone may steal from it at night.” So they created a night watchman position and hired a person for the job. Then Congress said, “How does the watchman do his job without instruction?” So they created a planning department and hired two people, one person to write the instructions, and one person to do time studies. Then Congress said, “How will we know the night watchman is doing the tasks correctly?” So they created a Quality Control department and hired two people. One was to do the studies and one was to write the reports. Then Congress said, “How are these people going to get paid?” So they created two positions: a time keeper and a payroll officer then hired two people. Then Congress said, “Who will be accountable for all of these people?” So they created an administrative section and hired three people, an Administrative Officer, Assistant Administrative Officer, and a Legal Secretary. Then Congress said, “We have had this command in operation for one year and we are $918,000 over budget, we must cut back.” So they laid-off the night watchman.
Now slowly, let it sink in. Quietly we go like sheep to slaughter. Does anybody remember the reason given for the establishment of the Department of Energy during the Carter administration? Anybody? Anything? No? Didn’t think so. Bottom line is, we’ve spent several hundred billion dollars in support of an agency, the reason for which very few people who read this can remember. It was very simple and at the time everybody thought it very appropriate. The Department of Energy was instituted on 8/04/1977, to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. Pretty efficient, huh? Now it’s 2012 — 35 years later — and the budget for this “necessary” department is at $24.2 billion a year. It has 16,000 federal employees and approximately 100,000 contract employees; and look at the job it has done! (This is where you slap your forehead and say, “What were they thinking?”) 34 years ago 30% of our oil consumption was foreign imports. Today 70% of our oil consumption is foreign imports. Ah, yes — good old federal bureaucracy. We have turned over the banking system, health care, and the auto industry to the same government? Hello! Anybody home? |
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If you believed you friend when he told you submarines simply “throw spent cooling rods overboard”, you should be slapped for being dumber then a box of broken hammers. |
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[Cheating] Deer Sheriff, During the last torrential downpour where seeing is all, on the Turnpike at high speeds, about 20% of the vehicles never turn on their lights. Why? I think because they are getting free tolls by making it impossible for the toll towers to see their tags if they do not use the toll windshield tool. |
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[“Is the FKAA going to charge people extra for collecting water”] It seems ridiculous, but don’t laugh. Nevada, California and parts of Colorado won’t let you collect rainwater and will fine you heavily if you do. This entire sewer boondoggle is one big fat piggy bank for the FKAA and associated contractors. Link |
Many, many years ago my wife and I were extremely happy, then we met! |
[Ode to the Nose] glad your nose is on your face, not pasted on some other place, for if it were where it is not, you might dislike your nose a lot.Imagine if your precious nose were sandwiched in between your toes, that clearly would not be a treat, for you’d be forced to smell your feet. ![]() were it attached atop your head, it soon would drive you to despair, forever tickled by your hair. Within your ear, your nose would be Your nose, instead, through thick and thin, |
Before you pay a debt relief company, watch out for these signs of a scam. Link |
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[Movie Preview] “The Marathon Games, Round One” Saturday at 8 pm at the Marathon Community Park Amphitheater. Showing of this movie that was filmed in Marathon. This is a preview of the movie! Video |
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[“Welfare cheats”] I’ve seen people with nothing wrong with them, somewhat young and able, ,at local watering holes drinking liquor at 7 o’clock in the morning then going to the food bank at the church with their convertible sports car. I’m sure they get food stamps too. |
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[No Name Key Electric] “How come someone fights tooth and nail against No Name Key getting electric and then they turn around and get electric?” A simple example is if you lose the fight and there now is an electric or nuclear or wind power outlet right in front of your house—plug into it. You’d be a fool not to. |
If you do not unplug your backup HDD, then a malicious program can wipe out it as well as your main HDD. Or install itself on both. Don’t give it the opportunity. I learned this (like many things) the hard way!
Make a boot CD to allow a restore from a mirror image in case your hard drive craps out or is wiped out. I spent a bundle on Norton and McAfee anti-malware and restore programs and they all failed when needed. Reloading Windows and programs can literally take days. Then you have files to restore. If you are online and some suspicious activity occurs or a popup warning appears, immediately unplug the internet! That’s harder with wireless, you have to pull the power cord on the router. Then immediately do a restore to an earlier date. For about a year now, I have been plagued with something identifying itself as a Critical Windows Update. I have Win7 and do not trust Microsoft to not shove me hard into Win10 by buggering Win7. I have all MS automatic upgrades turned off (including checking if any are available and no security advisories are requested), and even turned off the windows anti-malware because it allows updates of the malware database. There should be nothing allowed to auto upgrade from MS, yet whenever I get the telltale delayed keystroke or operation, I discover a “critical windows security upgrade” has been very recently made. Restoring to prior the update returns the computer to normal operation. My sluggish DSL connection allowed me to discover that Adobe Update Scheduler, Java Update Scheduler, and Adobe Flash Player all communicate online when they have no business doing so. I presume they are occasional spy operations. When my mouse operation slows, or fails to respond, stopping their “processes” in Task manager or disconnecting the internet will restore normal operation. Java update scheduler can be shut down until next reboot via Task manager, but Adobe update scheduler reactivates itself every so often. (Ed: If you kept your operating system up to date like they tell you to do, your problems probably would not exist.) |
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My family’s coat of arms ties in the back. |
Student protests over illegal immigration. Link |
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[Voter Fraud] Up in Seattle there’s a P.O. Box that has over a thousand people in it that use it for identification based upon mailing address. The way it is set up is, believe it or not, legal. So it’s unknown how many voters are using that P.O. Box to establish voting residency.
To be a registered voter in Washington state: Be a US citizen; however, a birth certificate has been created on a computer. Be 18 years old by Election Day, Nov 8. Live at a Washington address by Oct 9 (P.O. Box accepted). If convicted of a felony, not be in jail or community custody. The state hardly checks this. Not currently judged incompetent by a court. Not claim the right to vote in another state. Any one of those could be faked or obtained except for the residency as our voting is done by mail. The State will not see the voter if they register online and do their voting by mail. So, this is achievable for any number of illegals and out of state voters that cross borders and vote again. Last election I believe they caught a number of voters from other states. How, I don’t know. Tack that on to the felons voting in the 2006 Washington state election is where they found felons voting. This number might not sound like a lot, but it is exactly the amount of voters that separated the candidates for governor. But through some lawyer actions, concerned Americans were not given the opportunity to substantiate the claim as the records were compromised so much, there was no way to tell how the felons got in to vote, Of course, that also indicates the possible voting of illegals. No one will ever know. But the one thing known is that the overseas military vote, even though it was here before the recounts, was never allowed to be counted because it was sent out late by the state and didn’t arrive back in time for the actual election. But, when they found votes they say were not counted, they were added, but just not the overseas military votes. |
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[Cuba] Are you kidding me, when is the last time you have been to Cuba or for that matter ever talked to any Cuban people? I have lived her for over 36 years and let me educate you a bit. Cuba is a dictatorship and most people are starving over there. I have a good friend who was born in the USA and he goes to Cuba for 3-4 weeks per year, he brings stacks of American money he has been saving all year to go to the black market on his trips and buys his relatives, in bulk, eggs, rice, beans etc. because if you go into any grocery store you will be lucky to find a cup of rice, a few eggs and a small bag of beans for an exorbitant amount of money. If Cuba take such good care of their citizens, then why are they still coming over here in boat loads to escape such wonderful treatment from their dictator? May I suggest that you talk to some Cuban people or make a pilgrimage there, and don’t stay in the swanky resorts, go to where the people really live, in the slums and then come back and tell me again how hunky-dory it is over there. |
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[“Limited news: Venezuela”] What do you think will happen here in the USA if it crashes? People will protest, but to whom? The only thing that will happen is the food stores will burn, the trucks will stop running and the low renter will destroy the infrastructure like the animals they are. Then the military will be put into action and big brother will finally rule all! Your gin is ready, Sir! |
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[Toe Fungus] Someone has the idea that lemon slices placed on the toes will kill toe fungus. Does this work or is it just a subliminal ploy for the lemon growers? |
[Low Wages] Bitch, bitch, bitch, that’s all you hear from people about how low their wages are. Most working class don’t understand they must produce 3 to 5 times their gross wages to let a company make a profit. There is your wage per hour. The costs to have you working. The product material costs. The “house” costs. The taxes, the fees, and the owners’ wages. If you make one lousy item per hour, and screw off bitching about everything, how do you expect your boss to pay you $15 per hour for flipping burgers, when a skilled welder or licensed aircraft mechanic barely gets that. |
![]() One of my favorite movie quotes from Gene Wilder in Blazing Saddles, for some reason reminds me of the lower Keys, “You’ve got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know, morons.” |
Habitat for Humanity’s 6th Annual Votes for Notes fundraiser! Local musician Ray West is lining up musical talent for yet another season of this entertaining, three-night event. New musical talent and popular pros are invited to compete in order to win $250 cash and other prizes at the Grand Finale. Audience members “vote” for their favorites each week ($1 = 1 vote). Habitat tracks each performer’s total and the winner is announced at the Grand Finale. Join the fun and enter if you are an aspiring artist OR come support Habitat and listen to some great music.
The contest runs 3 consecutive Wednesdays: Performers are encouraged to play all three nights. Past winners include Phoenix, Moondogs, Billy Brown, Paul “Shanty” Elliot, Shastina Chiles, and the Shanty Hounds. Ray West, event organizer says “I wanted to find a way to bring customers into our local establishments during the traditionally slow season. Votes for Notes benefits Habitat for Humanity which does so much good in our community while giving local amateurs and professional musicians a chance to perform in a fun, relaxed atmosphere.” Acts of all ages and genres are encouraged to compete in three categories; (1) solo/duo, (2) band and (3) Junior Artists (18 and under). The three winning acts will win cash and other prizes donated by local businesses, including The Grateful Guitar, Bone Island Music, and Low Key Tie-Dye. Interested musicians should contact Ray West at raywestmusic@gmail.com in order to be on the performance schedule. For general information, contact Susan Kent at volunteer@habitatlowerkeys.org |
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[Yoga] As of next week, September 12 these class times will be added. All classes Duck Key studio. All classes are for all levels. Tuesday 5:30 pm (please confirm attending), Wednesday 9 am. Restorative Yoga Saturday 9:30 am. More classes will be added as our friends start coming back to the Keys. |
[Lousy Food] Think about the last time you had a meal out. The quality of the food in restaurants I’ve frequented in the Keys over the years has dropped dramatically. I go out a lot less these days and I’m cooking more at home. To hell with being ripped off to be served slop. |
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