Columns

David Binkley, the Cedar Key Church of Christ's pastor, and his wife Galina are moving away after living and serving in Cedar Key for seven years. Members of the church organized a farewell reception for the Binkleys where locals gathered to say goodbye to the couple who has done so much for the Cedar Key community. While working with the Church of Christ, the Binkleys initiated several new outreach programs, one of which was a daily morning bible study.

Still not many reports from offshore as strong east winds have made offshore fishing uncomfortable. My best guess is that as the days get shorter the fish come in closer, especially down by Crystal River and Homosassa. The King mackerel fishing has been so poor all year that I do not expect any kind of a run this fall. I would love to be wrong however.

We have had two close calls so far this year and hurricane season is not over yet. My wife said it's time to get hurricane shutters.

We made it through Hurricane Charley last year but I think she is right: We should be counting our blessings. We did not have a single window broken during that hurricane, though the wind took our roof off. That's not to say the next hurricane won't knock out our windows.

Next week heralds the official start of fall, of autumn. You can't tell that by the air temperatures yet, but you do notice the shorter days and the longer nights. And as the sun is lower in the daylight sky, the moon is higher in the nighttime.

We are about half way through the season of spring tides with the highs being unusually high, the lows, low.

We are half way through our hurricane season along the eastern Gulf. After nearly a month of storms and hurricanes plaguing the Cedar Keys with rain and wind, the skies are clearer and the noontime temperatures are hot.