Arctic Cold Front Sits Over Key West

What is wrong with that headline???? It's not supposed to be this freakin' cold in Florida and especially not in the Florida Keys - we're as far south as we can possibly be while still being in the US but obviously we're not far enough south to avoid this cold!!! As if the temp itself isn't miserable enough, on top of that we are having consistent 20-30 knot north winds which have brought the wind chill down below freezing for the past several nights!! Now I know that the whole country is experiencing cold weather and most places are even colder than here (and God knows we used to live in Maine so at one point we were used to the cold) BUT we no longer live in Maine for a reason!!! Besides at least when we lived up in the frozen tundra we had the clothes to bundle up in - down here it takes a lot of layers of tee shirts and shorts to stand up to 30 degree temps!! I broke out my fuzzy crocs the other day when it just became impossible to wear flip flops anymore!! At least we have heat on the boat (unlike many of the homes here in KW - why would they need heat??) so can take the chill off every so often and we've broken out the blankets - Bootsie just sleeps under the covers on our bed if she can't be in our laps with her favorite baby blue fuzzy blanket!!! We are supposed to have at least another several days of this unbelievable weather and then hopefully it will start to warm up and we'll all get a chance to thaw out!!!

Mostly we've been hunkered down here at the dock with everyone trying to stay dry and warm but we have been sneaking in a little fun here and there (I know that's a shocker, but....) We had an amazing dinner on Muircu with Brett and Jill last week and then we had a wonderful dinner the other night on Beausoleil with Shawna and John and the rest of our dock gang - what a beautiful big old sailboat they have (we are now virtually surrounded by blow boats but we just met Greg and Karen who are friends of September Song and are in Stuart now for the boat show - they plan on coming down in their Sea Ray at the beginning of February to help us even the odds!) Another gorgeous sailboat pulled in next to us last week with Sonya and Paul on board who are friends of friends of Scott Kirby - they've jumped right into the decadent rhythm of our dock life!!

We took advantage of the one nice evening we had (ie it wasn't blowing stink or in the 50's) to go see Scott and Dave play down at the Sunset Pier with Shawna and John (who knew she used to be the lead singer of a band - while she was away from the table we put plans in place to get together for her dockside singing debut...as soon as it warms back up!) We ran into friends of Dave (Di, Frank and Tony) that we have gotten to know since they are the folks I just got my new scooter from - yes I am now the proud owner of a baby blue/white 49cc scooter - too cool!! It's too cold to run out and take a picture of her, but I'm sure she'll grace the blog before long! We still haven't been able to pick up Doug's yet but we've been told the guys are working on getting the right paperwork.....don't ask! Meanwhile Doug spent Saturday and Sunday (the two most miserable days we've had) taking a motorcycle course so he could get back his motorcycle endorsement for his FL license (which he needs to legally ride a 150cc scooter down here) He passed....yippee!

Doug Rides at the Motorcycle Riding School in Marathon

Meanwhile our friend Scott had a Patriots playoff party yesterday which luckily was way more fun than actually watching the game (there's always next year!) - Scott came out to pick me, Sonya and Paul up while his wife Michelle was cooking up chili and other treats!

Part of the Group at the Playoff Party: Scott and Beverly in the Background and Tom, Sonya and Paul on the Couch
Scott, Bill and Michelle in the Kitchen and Beverly at the Counter

______, Scott and Tom at the Grill

Scott Suffers the Cold Alone as He Tends the Grill

I'm not sure if we had more fun or their dog Badger did - his neck scarf kind of said it all "Santa - please define naughty!!!"

Badger

In addition to us, Bill Blue (a great blues musician whose full size cut-out adorns the wall at the Parrot since he was one of the first to play there - how cool!) and his wife Beverly, Mike who was playing at the Hog that night and Tom Weaver, a Kiwi sailor we have met several times up in the Chesapeake and who is down here for a couple weeks after delivering a boat were all there adding color (of course several of them were Ravens fans which we could have done without...only kidding!) After way too much food, wine, pomegranate martinis, etc, we all piled into Scott's van and Michelle drove us over to the Green Parrot where I had planned on meeting up with Doug and our boat buddies Brett and Jill for the Sunday soundcheck (there was a very interesting African/reggae/blues band playing) - who knew I'd have so much company but it just seemed like the right thing to do to keep the party going. Our dockmates Shawna and John met us there as well so we kind of took over the Parrot!!!

Part of the Crew at the Parrot: Scott, John, Jill and Brett

Doug, John and Shawna
Doug, Paul and Sonya
Scott and Tom Chat with Someone They Met at the Parrot

Not content to let the evening end when the music stopped (and because we hadn't eaten and drunk nearly enough...), the KWHYC dock gang proceeded on to Salsa Loca for some great Mexican food!!! I really need to stop having this much fun...NOT!!!

A Late Dinner at Salsa Loca

Today we are hunkered down again doing inside boat chores - the Bootser is loving it as she always gets lots of attention when we're on the boat! She is about the only one loving this cold weather though - can anyone say pizza and a movie tonight??Bootsie Enjoys the Winter Weather