Truxton Is In Shaw

I nearly laughed stuff out of my nose when I read on DCist that Logan Circle churches are holding a rally this Sunday (April 23) at 2pm in protest of the enforcement of parking rules. Okay, maybe I just found it funny.
I have a solution. It’s this thing. I call it. Public Transportation. In Maryland there is this place called PG Plaza Metro. It has a parking garage. And. There is a station called U Street, and another called Shaw/Howard University, and another called Mt. Vernon Square, one could walk from one of those stations to the church of one’s choice. And there are the buses. Oh, the buses! I use a bus to get to my place of worship as the neighborhood it is in is famous for it’s lack of parking. Sometimes I see other people, dressed in their Sunday best also, believe it or not, going to church, on the bus. I kid you not. Go to the Metro website and check out all the options.
Now you may flick your hand at the notion of, bah, public transit and cry, what of the disabled and the old? And I say, I wasn’t aware you had such a large mission targeting the diabled. When I pass by a lot of your parishioners looked liked they could walk. Actually I noticed a lot of your parishioners had nice cars and very nice clothes so I’m sure they can pony up the money for a senior van.
Well I might see you at the rally.

I swear there is something in the water because it seems like every week I find out another couple in the ‘hood is pregnant. Congrats, and I will pray for healthy and safe pregnancies for you all.
But lets get to the heart of the matter, kids. Will I still see you all in 5 years? As adults we are willing to take on certain headaches and annoyances, like small spaces and the noise and etc. Yet, as I’ve heard, “you change the baby and the baby changes you.” Will the changes include living in the city?
Anyway, there is a Yahoo group forming, or formed, for expecting and new parents for Ledroit Park and surrounding areas (like the TC) called DCParents.

I got an email about Be Bar sometime ago. It too is on 9th Street and is facing opposition from a church. Yet, unlike the Vegetate Queen of Sheba vs Shiloh fight, I really haven’t had much interest. Mainly because it isn’t a restaurant. I like restaurants. You come in, someone seats you, they give you menus and people bring you food. I like those kinds of places. I’m not a bar person. Unless dragged to one, I tend not to go to them. So I’m very lukewarm if not slightly cool on the topic of non-restaurants and ABC licenses.
Be Bar is to be an “upscale tavern/lounge”, so food may be served there but it is not the main attraction. As a restaurant, for the definition of an ABC license is a place where at least 45% of its gross annual receipts are from the sale of food. A tavern sells both food and alcohol and may have entertainment of some sort and there is a limit on the size of the dance floor. Then there are nightclubs and they tend to get shot down by residential groups so I’m not going to bother to define that.
The fight between Be Bar and Cathedral Baptist Church…. Baptist Churches… ABC license fights… on 9th St… I sense a theme there. Anyway, where was I? The fight between Be Bar and Cathedral Baptist has been written up in the Washington Blade. I have really nothing new to add. Well except that the hearing for the Be Bar license will be this Wednesday, at 10am, 941 North Cap, 7th floor.

Yeah, another gardening post, but otherwise I got nothin today.
IKEA sells these plastic self-watering pots with wheels. They come in three colors, clay, white and blue. Now I have a problem, oh around Summer, about getting around to watering the plants. So last year I had these two pots, on wheels so I could move them around according to where the sun shine was, drilled a few holes on the side and had a pot that rarely went completely dry.
The other thing, for the tree box and the hanging pots were soil moisture crystals. You can get Soil Moist, Schultz has something called Moisture Plus. I’m not sure about the long term problems of these things. Last year they did keep some of the hanging plants alive during my watering lapses.
What I really need to do is set up an irrigation drip system, with a timer. The problem is in the back all the pots move around. I’ve got 27 pots (of varying sizes) to water. Eek. Typing in 27 pots, with the knowledge that I have more pots to fill, just hit me. That’s a lot of pots. Too many for a drip system. Well, the kind I’ve been looking at.

Well I was happy to read in the Post (see it’s good for something) that I’m not the only one who plants things very close. I threw some salad green seeds in a pot without taking into account how far apart seeds were from each other. Once they sprouted and got a few leaves, I thinned them out by making salad for that night. I plan to keep thinning them until it makes sense only to take off a few leaves, as opposed to clipping the whole plant out.
Baby salad is quite nice. I can’t wait till I get some peas to add with them. By the time the tomatoes ripen it maybe too hot for salad. Last year I let the soil dry out and they never came back. The corn salad (mache) was more forgiving and actually survived the winter. Yet, it is not as tasty as the other salad greens.

Neighbors,

Please be reminded of the below activity that takes place this evening at Greater Mount Calvary Holy Church.

Best,

Jim Berry
ANC 5C

Ward Five Convention and The State of the Ward Address – Wednesday, April 12, 2006!

Council Member Vincent Orange is sponsoring a Ward Five Convention and State of the Ward Address on 4/12/2006, from 6:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m., at Greater Mount Calvary Holy Church, 610 Rhode Island Avenue, N.E. In addition to Mr. Orange’s address, entitled “A Blue Print for the Future,” an opportunity will be given for attendees to meet the numerous candidates to replace Council Member Orange as the Ward Five Representative on the DC City Council and the Dunbar Senior High School Marching Band will be featured. For more information concerning this event, you may call Linda Perkins at (202) 724-8076.

I’ve been told that the last person you want to be is the third person to disturb a snake. The first person to disturb a snake wakes up and surprises the snake and annoys it. The second person to come along and disturbs the snake pisses it off even more. The snake realizes this is a trend and is ready for the third person.
I was thinking of this story the other day when working in my front yard. What am I doing in my front yard? I have no clue, I’m figuring it out as I go along. Devon, who is about 4 or 5, visiting his grandma wandered by and asked if I needed any help. Oh, no, I had nothing for him to do, and figuring out what a young person can do (and the supervision) is a job in itself. Besides, I had no money and the kids around here don’t always do things for free. Then a fellow visiting someone noticed from his car and jokingly asked if I needed any help. I jokingly brushed off his offer. Then a third guy, passing by stopped at the gate. He mentioned that he did some landscaping work. I knew where this was heading. And at this point I was annoyed, but more at the idea that people think I can’t do this work myself, than at a guy wanting a job/handout. He hung out at my gate a good while. Long silences do not bother me. I feel no need to fill them. So the guy finally did get around to asking for a handout.
Argh.

Okay the green line from Greenbelt is mobbed with protesters for the immigration law thing and they are all going to Union Station. Also, many of them are wearing white shirts. If you use Union Station…. AVOID, it is more than likely a mad house, like it was last time. I know my station was mobbed with people in line for the metrocard machines.
Take the bus if possible. The 96 to Ellington Bridge will get you to the western edge of Truxton Circle on NJ Ave. The Circulator… I don’t know. The 80 to Ft. Totten and the Psomething P1, P6 I forget, going to Rhode Island goes up North Capitol.