Sunday, May 31, 2009

a stroll to the newsracks

Much different from days these past few weeks, today's weather was warm and sunny and it was easy to strike out towards the newsracks located beside the Martin County Golf Course on St. Lucie Boulevard.

However, the brown recycling bin lying in a wood lot along that roadway remains without retrieval, years now, causing anxiety among older women especially and also by extension among older men (following a certain 'Snapped' TV segment).

Toadskins galore, the rescue of a wriggling worm on a hot sidewalk, and distribution of 'unsightly' yet live-seed small mangos continued, as did pick-up of brown beer-bottle glass. Youths on bicycles again monitored my walk past small piles of small mangoes heaped with other yard trimmings along the berm. 'Sunday drives' were evident, and boaters could be seen navigating the St. Lucie River as sighted through the few openings between private newly-rebuilt homes along the boulevard. Following from the theory that hurricanes can be deliberately caused, most old wooden shoreside dwellings have been replaced after the 2004 hurricanes and also augmented with cement-block structures.

The slough that continues waterflow from the retention pond near the SE Ocean Boulevard condo complexes merges sluggishly with the river, and the slough area has an odor which is very similar to that nearby the Indian River lagoon (i.e., rotting vegetation), brown and muddy water chock full with aquatic wildlife with little or no actual flow at the confluence with the river.

I decided to purchase my own vinyl swimming pool at Walgreen's (a special sale item, "made in China", printed within the store's weekly newspaper advertising supplement) and use it as a 'cool tub' on the grassy area near the condo-unit's hose installation, concurrent with an Amber Alert describing the carry-away of a two-year-old boy in Miami.

The newsracks are a surprise near the golf course, but hold useful information that will hold an elder's attention. An aging disposable lighter, with blue paint rubbed off all but the slender sides of its little container, lay mostly black and some liquid yet sloshed when shaken while ignition-parts deteriorated in the sandy roadside berm extended over the slough at the side of St. Lucie Boulevard where the river influxes (where did I put it next? ... in one of the trash dumpsters within Kingswood condo complex, laid carefully atop a dimpled plastic trash bag.)

Thursday, May 28, 2009

another cool and thunderous day


Today I decided to walk along SE Ocean Boulevard westward to Hospital Pond Park at the coirner (ha ha!) of Palm Beach Road.

The night before last I pulled shut all the window-blinds hanging in the bedroom where I sleep -- usually I leave some some open-window space to maintain contact with nighttime reality -- and as privately predicted, the armadillo carcass had been reduced to tough outer 'shell' and tail.
Above:  rainwater 'wash-out' onto sidewalk between Kingswood condo complex and Ocean Palms retirement facility [time-date stamp wrong]

More trouble for snakes--there was a dead black one in the bicycle lane in front of Ocean East Mall and someone had doggedly cycled over it, smashing its upper body (certainly different from a simple shed snakeskin), about a foot-and-a-half long. Multiple toadskins were evident on sidewalks and in roadway, along with a shed turtle-skin, and an almost unidentifiable black bunch of fluff with a skeleton.

A fishing lure has been lying on the southside bridge walkway over Krueger Creek more than two years now, so I pocketed it; the lure consists of tied black-and-brown hair and a metal spoon that is stamped 'Made in France' with triple rusting hooks. I also pocketed a flattened and rusting AA battery lying in an intersection and picked up pieces of the same shattered brown Budweiser beer bottle lying on sidewalk in front of the American Heart Association's Gross Center that was seen during the last walk thataway. The pieces of glass were dumped into a trash can at the Pond Park, and replaced with small mangos taken from the ground and held in a Lender's Bagels plastic bag.

The small white worms-stage of small fly metamorphosis had almost totally consumed the flesh of one mango fruit on the ground while locals watched, so I picked it up and carried it to a bushy area beside the creek between water and private lawn. I tossed it, and it landed in a perpetually moist area with a sandy 'thud' while lizards scrambled to add it to their duty watch (the second seed thrown there).

So I ultimately returned, after resting on a bench in the small park, to Kingswood condo complex via Kingswood Terrace Road, stopping briefly to scoop up three damaged figs lying in the roadway beside Walgreen's to toss hither and yonder near water-filled slough populated with large wading birds (three more 'thuds'). Hospital Pond Park also has a tree growing near its single bench that has long slender seed pods dangling from the branches, which are blackened from the hot sunlight and suddenly split lengthwise with a loud cracking sound; each half of a seed pod falls to the ground and they slowly curl into black ringlets, with a similar appearance to human-hair ringlets or manufactured electrical-line coils (the origin and inspiration for 'geri-curl' hair treatments).

To whom it may concern: there is a swirl-pattern multi-colored glass smoking pipe in the grass in front of the Vista Pines condo complex; a chunk of glass at the mouthpiece is missing, but it is still nice-looking. Oh yeah, the rusting muffler removed from the bike lane a few days ago has been further removed, from the Holy Redeemer church lawn to an out-of-the-way place in the grass near the Chevron station on SE Ocean Boulevard.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

the wrong website, I presume

What a coincidence -- 'Blogs of Note' lists www.romephotoblog.blogspot.com.

The www.recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com website recently entered, 'RIAA withdraws judgement enforcement motion in collection action, RIAA vs. Viola'. The website has been initiated at the behest of others by an individual lawyer who obviously represents performer interests while music-album piracy actions occurring within RIAA factories are entered into a common database. It's a bad time to entrap the Viola family to use them in an Internet file-sharing legal 'contest' -- they lost a very young child in one of the Stuart, FL, 2004 hurricanes.

Therefore I felt compelled to comment at the article, since it has been little articulated anywhere that all-vocal music has been released into the mainstream broadcast domain without informed consent, and specific performers take instruments in hand to do stage shows. Quote: "The happy Viola hums; the angry Viola...".

Following that comes a www.twitter.com entry attributed to the website lawyer -- quote, "Good riddance, Hummer!", a somewhat questionable observation since a middle-aged storm-affected Viola recently died as a diabetic here in Martin County, FL (too late to enjoy savings advertised with Walgreen's cereal-for-diabetics coupons).

Today's front-page section of the Stuart News (5/27/2009) gives the article titled, 'Okeechobee fisherman escapes from the jaws of 11-foot alligator', datelined Fort Pierce: "...with his son...Nubbin Slough...Antonio Prado, 47...self-employed truck driver...". Quite possibly there is no more Italianate name than 'Antonio', who was net-fishing when he was bit on both arm and chest as a photograph shows.

Since the 'viola' instrument can be categorized as a sort of sex object, and a dark-brown one to boot, 'Devil's advocates' find it easy to criticize the Violas about their losses and alleged misuses of ISP music files, using journalism made public; and as usual to also extend such beratements to peers with similar Italian-like surnames. In all likelihood, Prado has lost a regional fuzzy magnet-beast (lynx claimed to be Russian and recently shot trying to negotiate terrain near sudden 'world-class transportation hub' installations) along with the rest of us.

Monday, May 25, 2009

the conspiracy continues

Suddenly, all the bottles of naval jelly sitting on shelves in the Dollar General store are missing, precisely when I am entering the store to buy one.

Property owners have been warned during this weekend's FEMA presentation in Florida that "hurricane season starts June 1", but FEMA website contact numbers can be suddenly changed (i.e., 'Disaster Assistance' fax number now "non-working number of United Healthcare..."); property owners whose damaged housing has not yet been repaired (such as those still missing loved ones lost during the shock of two consecutive 2004 hurricanes in Stuart, FL) are surrounded with medical-mall settings that lack safe pedestrian walkway entry-/exit-ways while eagle-eyed realty-representatives wait to swoop in and claim non-repaired property.

Hurricane-damaged property that has been repaired is also being targeted with realtor by-mail contacts who present themselves as candidates to participate in personal property sales.

Marriott Hotels have been built in the region, dominating the regional atmosphere, no doubt under the watchful eyes of gun-toting security personnel, and the incidence of gun-related deaths in the Martin County area during such construction activities should be a significant statistical figure. Families yet mourn small children lost during the major storms; yet a 'Children's Museum' construction has been made a priority in the Jensen Beach proximity within Indian Riverside Park along the west bank of the Indian River lagoon (so-named 'Indian River' because certain species migrate into and out from the region from continental India seas).

A SWAT team encounter was orchestrated and staged during Hutchinson Island condominium construction activities at an embedded ordinance site, with intent to make that a legal precedent to use as reference when other construction-companies begin land-grabs in a region (storm-shocked or not)--in other words, if construction personnel are not building over ordnance in the future, then SWAT will arguably have no jurisdiction.

Near the pedestrian-hazard medical-malls here in northeast Stuart, a blood-'donation' facility (and the word 'donation' is always in question where individuals can be demanded or ordered in to have their blood taken as a nonvoluntary act) has been constructed and most recently, a former convenience-store is now lettered 'Catering Service'. A Starbucks location is listed for sale, open for business only a time-period of months, converted from a former 'Burger King' franchise building.

It is an accurate perception that conversion of the area to a 'service-economy', typical of some California regions, is being actively attempted which means that no-serve somewhere = no service. Such economies exclude a diverse and humane variety of human endeavors, and churches become nothing more than the political soapboxes of occupying troops.

Large-scale automobile clearances have increased the number of young drivers using newly-renovated roadways, lacking front-bumper license-plate identification. The same populations have not acknowledged continuing debate about the uses of tag-plates to advertise companies or political persuasions, and typically carry one or more guns within vehicle storage compartments.

'Stage shows' continue to be scheduled in the Stuart area, as a use of food and space that can't be questioned among storm-shocked, bereaved inhabitants -- such performances often featuring pirated song/script materials while other debates continue about how to address RIAA piracy now prevalent within the nation's factories. Populations must either attend performances or stay inside other dwellings so as to not be snuffed out; young children in the area have been saddled with music compositions and other pirated content such that their young lives have been snuffed out during 'criticism' actions.

It's all very sordid, and follows the behavior patterns established after the Earthquake of 1989 in San Francisco, CA, and those surrounding environs.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

A C-WORD TOO WELL PUBLICIZED

o Aw-ww. Another armadillo, smaller than the previous ones lying dead close by Kingswood condo complex on asphalt roadway. Less corporeal damage evident than previous larger examples of the species, perhaps as a result from bicycle-lane demarcation; cracked but not horribly split or crushed. About the size of a football, the young creature was easily carried to a probable final resting-place in the cast-off fronds and other foliage near the transit bench beside SE Ocean Boulevard here in northeast Stuart, FL, only one block from the St. Lucie River.

Facing the local telephone directory, a call made to the Martin County 'Dead Animals' number was answered with a recording which informs any caller that the 'Dead Animals' number is no longer in service, that instead an 'Engineering' office would redirect call. Therefore, a different call was made to the Health Department's 'Environmental' office, where I was informed that the office does not do dead-animal pick-ups, but that private-property maintenance might include a burial of the dead beast with its various flesh wounds, already attracting the very close attention of ants and large birds.

* * * * * * * *

From the Kcc tweet-line:

/ http://www.1490newsblog.blogspot.com/ -- 'Fires at Regional Restaurants', 4/26/2009. What has subsequently happened in McKean County, PA.
/ 'Cook loses Brother to Brain Cancer' at http://www.myeyewitnessnews.com/, Memphis News, 5/3/2009.
/ 'Man sustains burns from cleaning chemicals at Sonny's BBQ', Palm Beach County (FL), at http://www.tcpalm.com/, 5/8/2009 (also reported via TV journalism). What is notable about this entry is that years ago in San Francisco, CA, I had joked with a co-worker that I hoped there wasn't going to be a staple in food served in an untried lunch-time restaurant while a think-tank employee -- but, yep, there one was.
/ San Francisco Sentinel, 'SF 'shooting du jour' -- shot in the butt at Bay and Taylor Streets', 5/10/2009 (CA).
/ 'Giuseppe Gregory pub shooting: police examine CCTV of three masked men in Manchester' at http://www.skynews.com/, "...shot outside the Robin Hood Pub...green VW Golf..." 5/13/2009. 'Casa Giuseppe's Italian Grill' here on Indian Street, on the other hand, offered a coupon in the 12/18/2008 issue of Treasure Coast Neighborhood Post.
/ Salamanca Press in Salamanca, NY -- 'Former mayor and current county legislator to run for city mayor in next election', 5/7/2009, "...first made his name in the restaurant business when he opened Carmen's Pizza in 1969...is currently in his third four-year term as county legislator...Cattaraugus County...NY...plans to run under dual party status...".
/ http://www.1490newsblog.blogspot.com/, 'Tidioute victim ID'd' , "... Tidioute Pub on Main Street...fight outside...Troy McFarland...punched in the face by...Brandyn Bynum ...fell...hit his head on the ground...". More thoroughfare news from the great state of PA (without so much as a finger in the Florida raffle pile).

The reason I quit AOL-Chat: too many chatter "Ouch"es, and now users must sign up with an additional identification service.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

fresh clean air, but what's that sound?

Today's http://www.wptv.com/ website gives us the 'Local News' title, 'Flood Watch in Effect'. "...excessive rainfall fueled by a moist airmass over the area...portion of central Florida...".

A walk along SE Ocean Boulevard last night was a refreshing change from the humidity of previous days -- cool raindrops falling all around with occasional thunder -- but with dismay an occasional crunching sound was heard beneath shoes as traffic whizzed around the curve towards and from the bridge over the St. Lucie River only (a ) block(s) away.

Little snails the size of a dime were arrayed over the sidewalk, moving headlong from wooded areas onto the wet concrete; pedestrian-sway near moving vehicles sometimes crushed one, their white already-made-flattened shells shattered as toads and other pushy creatures waited to ingest the victims.

Usually, worms are pushed out onto concrete or asphalt walkways to be immobilized and baked in the hot daytime sun for the pickings of small wildlife; toads can predictably be seen waiting in specific places (e.g., near drainage grates) for the inexorable phenomena.

The rainfall wasn't excessive in northeast Stuart, but rather gave the area a much-needed soaking.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

"Out with the old and in with the New"?

The www.KWTX.com website gives us the Navarro County story titled, 'Search continues on Central Texas Lake for Man, Grandson', "...72...17...Richland Chambers Reservoir southeast of Corsicana...pontoon boat...disappeared sometime between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. while fishing on the lake..." (3/26/2009) -- another pair of Kings.

Www.TCPalm.com (4/22/2009) gives us 'Georgia man falls overboard in Florida cobia fishing; boat winds up in Alabama', "...off Panama City each...41-year-old...24-foot Century boat...borrowed...Chris Palumba, the boat's owner who lives in Lawrenceville, Georgia...Michael Bursten of Roswell, Georgia, was fishing by himself...[boat] ran out of gas and was found beached...at Fort Morgan, Alabama...".

What these two stories have in common is the stated fact that none were wearing flotation life-vests -- which does mean, same as any case with seat-belt issues, that the hue-and-cry of political social-climbers might drown a person if not sweep one or more off a boat.

What they also have in common is regional sur/names which can be associated with a past Pennsylvania state District Nine basketball championship won by a Bradford, Pennsylvania team (Bradford Area High School) who carried mental 'specks' of 'special' historical baby palm-tree images now growing tall in various regions of the planet, as components of their cortical glue.

McKean County, PA, where the city of Bradford is located, also has initiated an annual 'Take a Vet Fishing' event that also appeals to political social-climbers wishing to control the elderly or at least filter out anyone unfamiliar with any given territory.

Which is to say, when I saw two dead infant birds down on the sidewalk within Harbor Point Plaza after seeing the filleted-by-birds fish on the shoreline beneath the 'Ernest F. Lyons Bridge', I was not surprised.