Lazy Lakes RV Park, Sugarloaf Key, FL: Yesterday it was the rain. Today there was a wind advisory. And we had a lot of flooding here in our park. The little peninsula out to the tiki hut was flooded. The dock across the lake from us was way high. And we even had water under our fifth wheel up to the wheels. The people that live here all year tell us this happens all the time in the summer. We’re sure not used to it. We went over to the rec hall to play spades at about 4:00, and at 6:00 the Christmas party started. I had a great time. Danced my brains out. Mike told Linda, the park manager, that they should keep a defib handy—just in case. I didn’t walk today, but I sure got a lot of exercise dancing. Really fun. Supposed to get really cool this weekend. Time for a movie I guess. Picked up our bikes today and I have my new headlamp. Now I can bike over to the KOA for happy hour. Yes!

View from the Tiki Bar at The Hammocks on Marathon

Picture by Sandy

Sunset at Lazy Lakes

Lazy Lakes RV Park, Sugarloaf Key, FL: Last night as we were about to watch a DVD we’d rented, our TV went off and the other electronics were very dim. Mike went out and checked our breaker which was okay, but everything was like on low voltage or something. Our little lights on our palm were really dim. So, we called the manager and she sent Dale (poor Dale) over to check things out. He couldn’t fix it and said he’d call an electrician first thing in the morning. When he came back he gave me a cutting from a “night jasmine” bush he has in his site. They only open at night and give off the most amazing aroma. So we had that wonderful smell all night. We ended up cutting all the power and opened up the windows. It was a beautiful, breezy night so we were quite comfortable. This morning we had a helacious storm. Thought we going to get some damage to our awning, but it was okay. They finally fixed the power at around noon. The box in the empty site three sites down from us on the corner had burned out and affected all the sites four down. It really poured off and on most of the day. Felt sorry for the parrots across the lake from us. I was afraid the screen room was going to blow down, but it didn’t. We watched the two movies we rented. “Killing Room” was the one I selected which was terrible. I wasn’t even sure what was going on half the time. The one Mike selected was “The Miracle in St. Anna” which was good but stopped working after 125 minutes. Unbelievable. Not a great day. It was even too dangerous to drive to Key West for a movie. Raining so hard, I’m sure there’s a lot of flooding.

Water spout seen from our site--two years ago

Lazy Lakes RV Park, Sugarloaf Key, FL: Last night the stars were amazing, but this morning dawned cloudy and at one point it looked like we were going to have a nasty storm, but it all blew over and cleared off. Headed to Big Pine with our bikes and dropped them off to get tuned up. I bought a light for mine so we could bike over to KOA happy hour in the dark. Have to be careful since one of the guys in our park actually got stopped for biking while drunk. Pretty funny. After our chores we stopped at Parrotdise and had lunch out on the deck. Mike had a jerk chicken sandwich and I had fish. Got back and I sat outside reading and Mike walked over to find out the details for Saturday’s party. Got some amazing news! Apparently, the Weather Channel has been having a “White Christmas Contest.” The contestants send in a video explaining why they want a white Christmas and the winner (out of like 600 entrants) is Howard Livingston—our favorite performer, song writer. His MM24 band is a Keys favorite. He lives just down the road from us (at MM24) and on Christmas day the Weather Channel is going to be there blowing snow onto his property. Wow! On the way back from Big Pine we stopped at the Sugarloaf Bakery and bought some “bad” cookies. We stopped because we hadn’t seen her dog, Daisy, lately on our walks and was fearing the worst. But apparently she’s been inside keeping her sick cat company. Miss her.

A little heron that hangs out in the mangroves behind us

Lazy Lakes RV Park, Sugarloaf Key, FL: Another beautiful, really warm day. It kept clouding up with ominous looking clouds but cleared off and no rain. Didn’t do much. I had an appointment at 1:00 so that broke up the day. I finished “The Hemmingway Patrols” and started “Girl With a Pearl Earring” which is about the painting by the Dutch artist, Vermeer, and the possible relationship between the artist and his 16-year old subject. I’ve heard it’s a great book. Went for a walk. Mike grilled burgers and I made salads for dinner. The iguanas have been very active—making the parrots across the lake from us really agitated.

Iguana hanging out in the mangroves behind us

Lazy Lakes RV Park, Sugarloaf Key, FL: Had a little headache this morning. Probably alcohol related. Washed out a few things and hung outside. Still really warm and humid. Sat outside reading for a while and then at 2:00 we took some drinks and snacks and joined Floyd and Terry at the rec hall. Floyd was cooking some ribs on the barbecue grill and the four of us played cards while they were cooking. Played cards and sipped coconut rum. When the ribs were done we pigged out. Think it hit 85 again today. Beautiful! After eating ribs we came back and watched TV.

Sunset at Lazy Lakes

Lazy Lakes RV Park, Sugarloaf Key, FL: Spent the morning backing up the computer and taking care of other stuff on the computer. Then sat outside enjoying this beautiful day and reading my latest book—The Hemmingway Patrols. At around 5:00 we headed for the KOA and happy hour. After a couple of drinks there we joined a group who went to Boondocks for wings. Then back home. A beautiful night. We walked around the lake a little. Too dark for me. So we went back. A beautiful night—80°.

Sun, 12/13/09

Lazy Lakes RV Park, Sugarloaf Key, FL: This morning we left for breakfast and it was already 84. Went to the Galley Grill and got the last table. A couple of people had their dogs with them. Only in the Keys. After breakfast we stopped at the flea market and walked around and ran into Debbie and Craig who live in our park. Walked around with them for a while and then came back home. The Sunday party started at around 1:00. Don’t know who the band was, but they sounded pretty good. Mike walked over for a while but I stayed here and watched a movie I had taped—The Bourne Supremacy. Mike came back and watched football. We actually got the STL Rams game. Still really warm here. It’s definitely a summer weather pattern. Love it!