Trip to Egmont Key, FL

Just outside of Tampa Bay on the Gulf of Mexico lies Egmont Key.  Many years ago I sailed by it, but I'd never set foot on it.  ML and I made an aborted attempt a couple years ago when we took the 14 foot sailboat to Ft Desoto, but we picked a day without one breath of wind.  After rowing and broiling in the sun for an hour and a half, we rowed back an hour and a half and loaded up and went home. 


But this time we rented a little motorboat from Tierra Verde Boat Rentals with our friends, George and Francis.  Laura went too.  The boat rental ran us about $300, but was seamless and cheap when you compare it to owning a boat!

First stop was a snorkeling reef on the southwest side of the island.  My 25 year old mask didn't even tear and it was great to see a variety of fish and coral.  The water was a perfect temperature and clear to look through.  These "rocks" are really a remnant of an old gun battery used to protect Tampa Bay.

For awhile, there was a town of 300 inhabitants that manned the fort.  Here is a street that, in its heydey, had houses on both sides.

Now the lighthouse, which is still operating, is a Florida State Park.

I liked this picture with the colored sail behind the "battlements."

Concrete bunkers faced the ocean with munition storage rooms behind.

The island has an interesting history.

The southern end of the key is a bird sanctuary.  All I can tell you is there are lots of birds there: terns, brown pelicans nesting, frigate birds - you name it.  Other than that, there is sand, sun, and water to enjoy.  Next stop west?  Mexico.

CELEBRATION! The Burning of OLD TAXES!

One of our favorite activities the last number of years has been the burning of old taxes forms and backup receipts, and associated paper crap.   All the conventional wisdom says save stuff for 7 years.  So we do.  And then we get rid of it.  Our cheap shredder makes so much noise and takes so much time, that it's easier to build a fire and BURN, BABY, BURN!

The weight of the finances of 2005 is now off my brain.  I feel lighter, somehow a bit happier.  I don't know why, but it just makes me feel good.

Guns and the Second Amendment

Guns are an American institution. Why? I'm guessing that it is the frontier in all of us. The cowboy with a six shooter on his hip and a rifle in the holster next to the saddle. Living off the land with a handful of salt and an arsenal of weapons. Annie Oakley. Load up the wagon! Additionally, part of human nature is the feeling of power, power over others. A gun provides a feeling of power.

I understand those things, and have experienced them myself. I have owned guns. I've gone hunting many times (as a confession, I never did like the killing part and have only killed one deer – but I do like the walking around in the woods part) and have shot big halibut as a part of commercial longline fishing. I carried a gun in the woods for years for bear protection – the feeling of power (second confession, I realized the chances were much greater that I was going to shoot myself or my friends and now I carry pepper spray). But these purposes and ownership have never involved personal protection to kill someone else. This is my big disconnect. Most Americans own guns for the purpose of killing or injuring other people.

My second disconnect is the fervor over the Second Amendment. The “Right to Bear Arms” has become a belief system, a religion. I don't know about you, but arguing religion, unfortunately, is a waste of time. But, just for the sake of it, let's think logically about the Second Amendment. Do people really believe that our forefathers in 1776 were worried about everyone having the right to carry around a gun? Come on, people didn't go to Publix or Safeway to get food. They killed animals. Was the government at the time making sure that everyone had a gun to kill food? I don't think so. It wasn't even part of the concept. “Gary Wills once wrote, “Once does not bear arms against a rabbit.”” (http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/04/23/120423fa_fact_lepore?currentPage=4) The Second Amendment was related to the militias of 13 “soon to be” entwined colonies. It wasn't until the 1970's that Americans were swayed by public opinion and the NRA change from “guns as hobby” to “guns as a right.” ( http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/04/23/120423fa_fact_lepore?currentPage=6 ) From there, it became an American religion. I urge you to read an excellent article in the New Yorker by Jill Lepore titled “Battleground America: One Nation, under the Gun” in the April 23, 2012 issue which defines the facts of the history of guns in the U.S.

It's so easy for our politicians to hide behind protecting the “Second Amendment,” as did my State of Alaska senators, Senator Mark Begich and Senator Lisa Murkowski (http://www.newsminer.com/news/local_news/murkowski-begich-vote-against-gun-bill/article_7be70a2e-a7fb-11e2-bfbc-001a4bcf6878.html). More interestingly, in our day and age, the comments are more revealing. I invite you to read and evaluate them logically and objectively. Good luck on that and I hope you write to me with an explanation.  Maybe our legislators need to be students of history.  

I suspect that if you've read this far, you've figured out what I think. Here it is. The reduction of gun crime shootings in Australia has decreased each year since it was enacted in 1996 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_politics_in_Australia). That is reason enough for me to subscribe to many of their regulations.  Background checks for any gun buyer is an appropriate action, whether it is a store or a show or a backyard deal. A “Genuine Reason” must be given on the application. An owner must have secure storage. Semi-automatic and automatic firearms should be outlawed. These rules do not preclude owning guns for hunting, collecting, pest control, or target shooting. But it does say and show that people shouldn't own guns to shoot other people.  

Maybe someday our legislators will be able to buck the NRA and vote for common sense.

Technorati Claim!

Lately, I've been trying to see whether my blog posts show up on search engines.  Hmmmm.  Nope.

So the next step is to see what I can read about it.  So I've been "adding" the blog to Google, Bing, and now Technorati.  Technorati wants me to publish this ultra secret code to see if I'm actually the writer. 

Here it is: 74Z8TR259E64

Let's see what happens!

Surgery Recovery!!

Saturday dawned bright and sunny - to me, just about as perfect weather as a person can get.  The doctor had told me the day before in a "post-op" appointment that I shouldn't play football or anything, so I followed his directions.  However, it was just too nice not to climb a mountain.

 Little streams intersect the trail at various points.  This one was pretty with the sun on it.





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After trudging up to the top, the views are nice.  Here's looking off toward the extinct volcano, Mt. Edgecumbe.

We hiked to Fenner's Point, named after a hiking friend who often turned around right here.  We did too.  The trail continue with a little dip and then climbs the ridge you see on the left.  The top of that is also a nice spot, at times, to survey the world.  Sometimes the wind is howling and you just want to get off the bloody thing.

The walking was good - a pretty hard crust with a inch or two of "starting to melt" snow on top.  I was awfully careful not to fall - didn't want to tear the stitches.

Make sure you take "grippers" though.  They make all the difference for secure footing.

It was a glorious day.

SURGERY!! of the HERNIA type

I'm not one for hospitals or dealing with my health other than what I can do for myself.  After significant amateur self-analysis, I think I don't like the feeling of being totally dependent on others that I don't know.  Another way of looking at that, is that I have control issues?  Hmmm.  Pull up the couch.

Anyway, during the kitchen remodel, I was taking a shower and noticed a bulge in my lower abdomen where there wasn't one the last time.  Not happy.  I'm no doctor, but I was betting on it being a hernia.  I googled it the next day but didn't get past the first picture.  Interestingly enough, when I look at the repair today, it looks just like the picture.  It's good I told myself that it was a picture from many years ago when the surgery was primitive.  I actually like to be able to delude myself.  It can make things a lot easier. .  .


 It's Monday now, and I had the surgery on Friday - I wanted to get it done so it wouldn't interrupt a summer of lifting fun.  Plus, although I had planned to come up to Sitka for the end of herring,  I know the doctors and hospital a bit and I was much more comfortable in that setting.  Fortunately, ML agreed - plus, although she would never think this, it would save her a lot of hearing me whine.

I won't show you any other pictures, although I have them if you want me to send them to you!  I know ML was worried that I would post a photo of my tangerine sized swollen right testicle.  No worries!  On Friday, the day of the surgery, I lost 4 hours of my life.  I remember nothing between wheeling me into the OR and waking up in the recovery area.  The day was OK, but the night and the next day were pretty rough.  I'm not one on taking medication and I probably should have taken the pain killers on a more regular basis.  I'm on the mend now, and it's good because I'm going stir crazy figuring out how to fill all my time without being able to lift or do much. 

I recommend Sitka Community Hospital and Sitka Medical Center for all your health needs!

Up Verstovia on a beautiful sping (winter?) day

My friend Bob and I hiked up Verstovia to picnic rock.  Beautiful day.  Warm at the bottom and whipping wind and blowing snow at the top.

I confess these are "file photos."  I forgot my camera.  It's hell getting old.  Luckily, I have all too many of the many trips we've taken on this trail.

But as my wife says when I show her the pictures, "Huh?  Snow, trees, mountains, water - what's different than last time?"  As always, she's right!

In the photo up above, you can see Bob sloughing it out on the snowshoes.  The town of Sitka is in the background with Mt. Edgecumbe way in the back.

Another shot on of Sitka Sound and Mt. Edgecumbe in the far distance.

 This looks back at Mt. Verstovia on the right.  We hike up to the peak sometimes in the summer.  It's pretty steep, but worth it on a nice day.