Walking in a Wiener Wonderland

Walking in a Wiener Wonderland







January 1, 2009





New Year’s Eve day was once again the date of one of the most unusual Key West traditions, the fourth annual Dachshund Walk this year dubbed “Walking in a Wiener Wonderland”. The event is (loosely) organized by our friends Ruth Reiter and Dan Metzler and their dog Schumann who was the first Fur Ball King in Key West and ordained that the Dachshund is the “Official Dog of Key West”.









This year dogs and their owners started gathering earlier than ever at the corner of Fleming and Whitehead at Mile marker 0 and by the noon start a new record 165 Dachshunds and their entourages were present, a new record number! In addition there were a number of other breeds present, either as on-lookers or attempting to disguise themselves as Hot Dogs.







The walk is fairly short, one block up Fleming then down Duval for a block, across the street and back along the same route. This year Dachshunds took up two complete blocks and there were hundreds and hundreds of people lining the route to watch the parade. First though, was the gathering on the Courthouse steps for the big group photo which in itself is quite the humorous undertaking.









The weather was near perfect, bright sunny and warm with low humidity and a light breeze. The harsh noon sunlight presents some problems for photography, but as you can see I got some decent shots that I hope capture the feel of the event.

Bert & Clare



The event is quick, lasting just about an hour which includes plenty of time for gathering, some sniffing and for the walk itself, which is pretty fast despite the short legs of the participants. This is one event that you really have to see in person to appreciate and I would encourage everyone to start planning to attend the big 5th annual event next December 31st at noon.















Check out this Dachshund Blog:

Dachshund Love Blog

Christmas, George turns 60!!

Christmas, George turns 60!!

Kathy & Al

Kathy & George Murphy

December 31, 2008

Marta on the Tree

Christmas dawned bright and sunny in Key West and Kathy & I crawled out of bed, recovering from our amazing Christmas Eve party which lasted late into the night…or early into Christmas morning. We were joined in the morning by Kathy’s Uncle Al & Aunt Kathy to have a nice brunch of party leftovers and open the plethora of presents from our family and friends.

Aunt Kathy

Kathy

It was a nice, quiet and relaxed way to spend the holiday after the frenzy of the previous week. A sort of respite between Christmas and New Years to relax, recharge and recover and enjoy family.

India

Of course we didn’t stay quiet for long, heading out again over the weekend when we went out to see the wonderful new film, “Slumdog Millionaire” at the Tropic Theatre before joining the throngs of tourists at a couple of our favorite bars. First we headed to The Bull to watch our friends in the Michael Dixon Band, before ending the evening at Virgilio’s where our favorite local band, The Prime Movers were performing.

Brian of the Prime Movers

Rob

Key West is as crowded as I can recall this week and it has been near impossible to get around and to find parking anywhere near downtown. The good news is that we have been able to pick and choose when we actually head downtown.

George Murphy



One way to avoid the masses is to attend parties held by locals, like the marvelous 60th Birthday party of our good friend and Key West Bon Vivant, George Murphy. George had sent out invites asking his friends to help him enter the age of the dinosaurs and he also asked attendees to color the dinosaur picture on the invites and that there would be a contest for the best entry.

Kathy takes first prize.

Erika Biddle & Bill Becker

Kathy took up the challenge and spent an afternoon creating a wonderful dinosaur diorama that captured first prize in the contest. The party was a great and well attended event, due in large measure to the man that George is. He is known and liked by most everyone in town and his party was a huge, fun success. Happy 60th George!!

Andrea & Kathy

Bill celebrating Dolphins victory.

The remainder of the week has been rather slow, we have been spending the afternoons at the beach with Kathy & Al, the weather has been near perfect, sunny and warm and perfect for getting ready for the New Year.

Holiday Open House I

Holiday Open House I



Erika & Grinch



December 28, 2008

Kathy & Fiona

Our third annual Christmas Eve Open House was another smashing success. We had a record number of friends, neighbors, and family join us as over 200 people stopped by for food and libations during the evening. We are so fortunate to live in such a wonderful community with so many great friends and it was such a pleasure to share our holidays with so many of them.

The Reynolds

Sid, Carol, Michael & Deborah

We were forewarned that due to the struggling economy that many people who might otherwise travel during the holidays would be staying close to home this year and that our crowd would increase accordingly. I have no idea if that was the case, but we had by far our largest crowd ever.

Heather & Joyce





Thankfully we had some assistance. I’d like to thank our friend Joe Bove for his assistance in food preparation. We went through 2 large hams, a 15 lb. Turkey, 6 large platters from Publix and a large amount of additional food and deserts that people brought. We also went through 3 cases of wine, 5 cases of beer and a case of juice boxes for the large contingent of children who joined us.

Sol, Florrie, Barbara & Michael

Izzy



Annie, Katie & Abby

To accommodate the rush, we hired a bar-tender this year and she did a terrific job keeping everyone happy. Thanks Andrea. We also had a special appearance for the first hour or so from the Grinch, who posed for photos and handed out candy to those children not terrified by the large green creature. It was a great addition and added to the festive feel of the early portion of the party.

Jake, Pete & Eithne

Kathy, Olivia, Emma, Deb & Rob

Linda & Jason

We had a wide range of ages represented, especially early on as the house and yard were filled with a mob of young children while a more mature crowd watched the frenzy from the relative safety of the porch. At times the crowd was so thick that you couldn’t even walk across the yard. Kathy & I had a hard time getting around to see everyone, so if we didn’t get a chance to spend much time with you, please forgive- it was quite a hectic scene.

Craig, DeeVon & Mark

Joel

Sy, Florie & Erika

Kathy, Gryffyn & Grinch

We were especially gratified to have so many people bring along their out of town family and friends. We really enjoy getting to meet all these new people and were thrilled that they choose to spend a portion of their holiday with us. There were a number of other similar holiday parties taking place, so many people were simple making the rounds and we are pleased that they stopped by.

Nadene's parents



I took so many photos that I am going to break up this blog into two entries. I hope that you enjoy them. To all our friends who joined us, thanks so much for sharing your holidays with us. If you didn’t make it this year, if we are in town for the holidays next year, chances are good that we will host another holiday open house. Hope to see you there!

Rick, Kathy & Karen

Kathy, Fiona & Rob