The Houses of Key West

Key West architecture is based on the "conch house". Early settlers used a mixture of lime, sand, and water to build the foundations for their homes. They burned conch shells to render the lime and thus the houses were called conch houses.

 Roofs were covered with bright metal to reflect the heat of the sun as shown here. Dormers and cupolas such as the one shown above gave settlers a place to catch some of the breeze that blows over the island.

 Mandy takes a break on a wall that was probably originally constructed of "tabby", the cement made from lime. sand, and water.

 Here's a fixer-uper. Cedar was a common siding material because it doesn't rot
 Houses rest on piers for air circulation, which cools the house and prevents rotting .





 Many cedar sided houses are left unpainted.



 Palm trees and other plants help shade the house from the bright sun.

 Note the blue ceiling.

 Shipwrights from around the world came here and constructed their homes with architectural features of their homeland which gives Key West homes their variety. The builders used tongue and groove construction as they did on their ships to add strength to their houses to help them stand up against the power of summer hurricanes.

 Exterior walls have no fire stops, horizontal blocks between studs in the wall. This allows air to circulate from the crawl space to the attic. Heat in the walls and attic dissipates by convection.





 As we walk the residential streets we see many porches and verandas where residents can relax on cool afternoons. Often the ceilings of these verandas are painted a light blue to give the area a feeling of coolness.

Louvered shutters block out the tropical afternoon heat while allowing circulation of sea breezes. Shutters also provide hurricane protection.

A Manatee Visits Banana Bay

Occasionally a manatee wanders into our marina to eat vegetation from the bottoms of the boats and beg for fresh water. Manatees love fresh water. We're not supposed to give them water because they learn to swim near the docks and that puts them at risk of being hit by a propeller.

Manatees live about 60 years but extreme cold Florida weather such as the 2010 cold snap that caused the death of 244 in January then 35 more in December can shorten their lives and keep them on the endangered list. They have no enemies except boat props.

They are mammals and therefore need to surface every 20 minutes or less to breathe.

They move quite slowly but are able to swim at 20 mph for short bursts.

Mandy the Tarpon Killer

We drove to Robbie's Marina on Lower Matecumbe Key to feed the tarpon. Mandy got nipped by an aggressive one and warned the tarpon that she is "The Tarpon Killer".

The second video shows me feeding the tarpon. Watch for the pelican that shoves its beak through the lattice to steal my fish.

A Visit to the Everglades

Sorry I haven't posted for a while. I was nearing my 5gb limit and had to wait until a new billing period cleared the counter.

We drove up to the Everglades this week to see the wildlife there.

 This is the black vulture. They like to eat the rubber off of the windshield wipers and peck the tires of your car. You're advised to tie plastic bags to  the wipers to scare them away.

 This black vulture is deep in thought. They have a great sense of smell which is rare to birds.

 This is probably a tricolored heron.

 Another heron

 This an anhinga, also known as a "Snakebird" beacause it looks like a snake when swimming. Like the comorant, which we have on Hidden Lake, the anhinga dives for fish then dries its wings in the sun. They both grunt instead of sing or quack.

This is a woodstork. Storks bring babies but swallows bring jewelry.

 We think this is an anhinga with seasonal plumage.  He might be Big Bird's illegitimate offspring.

Nap time for Mr. Gator.

We saw this barred owl resting in a tree. He had his partner with him but shortly before I took this photo she silently flew away.

The everglades looks like the African plains. The white trees ahead are cedar trees. They look dead in the winter.

Close encounter with a comorant.