Month: June 2010

Lazy Gardener harvest

This year, for the front yard, all I did was move some pots around, and plant some tomato plants that had outgrown their seedling pots. What’s in the ground is pretty much the result of what I’ve done years before. I amended and took care of the soil, so the arugula grows like crazy. Which means I got to keep cutting it back and giving it away. Lucky me I have a few neighbors who love the peppery lettuce. I can take it in small doses and really wish something that I liked a bit better would grow as quickly and easily instead. I’ve probably gotten a dozen bags of arugula.
I’ve gotten a few tomatoes this month. The evil squirrels so far haven’t feigned any interest in my tomatoes. Not like last year when it was a battle between me and them. There are still a few more months to go though.
Because I had some work done on my front walkway, I moved my productive lavender plant, which is now a dying lavender plant. I would pick the flowers when they were just about ready, dry them in the window sill and store them for future use. I collected enough to throw a few tablespoons here and there into some dishes. I hope the plant comes back as I am really enjoying lavender-vanilla ice cream.
Mint is still going strong. It is a perennial so I don’t have to fuss with it, as is the sage and the thyme. Some of the Swiss Chard from last year didn’t seem to bolt like the rest of the chard and are happily crowding out the arugula. 
Pondering asking to do some gardening in someone else’s yard I realize how lazy I can be now, because of hard work I put into my yard, back when I had the energy. Untended yards have hard, clayish soil. It takes a while and a fair investment in compost, dirt, mulch and serious weed pulling to get it so that arugula comes back without much help, or thought.
The backyard, since it is all container gardening does require some effort on my part. This year I tried my hand at potatoes and ate my reward. Three small fingerling-ish potatoes. This after digging my naked arm into a pot and embedding dirt deep into my nails. They were tasty. However there were too few of them. I would have turned the whole pot over looking for them but, I had some bean plants on top and didn’t want to lose them.

Steal this bike

Steal this bike This was the weekend of careless bike owners. I spotted this bike Saturday morning. The lock was on the bike handlebars and it looked like it was in the blind spot of any of the workers inside the structure being worked on. Later that day I spotted another women’s bike parked on my street so poorly locked it seemed to be asking to be stolen. The rear wheel was locked to the street sign. Anybody could have just popped the quick release rear wheel off and run off with the rest of it.
So what is it to me if some stranger’s bike gets stolen? For one, it helps increase the perception of my area being a high crime area when it does get stolen. Second, there are the periodic emails and messages from folks who’ve had their bikes stolen asking for help. I’d assume that the victims did take some caution in protecting their property. But that willingness to believe people made that effort to prevent their bike from being stolen gets eroded every time I see a poorly locked or unlocked bike.

This page contains a single entry by Mari published on June 28, 2010 7:43 AM.

Ray o Sunshine on Gray

Longtime resident and grumpy old guy Ray comes up with some interesting observations and statements that are pure gold and must be shared:
I had several long evening walks this week east and north from me on
Ninth
and it would appear that on on some blocks, particularly where homes are
less renovated, Gray signs prevail. There are very few, if any, Fenty
signs. I suspect Gray will be our next mayor due to apathy from the
self-absorbed, unregistered, new busy young moderns who’ve moved here
but think DC politics are immaterial to or just too beneath them.

Gray will usher back in the good old days of Barry Third World politics
where constituent services will be tightly controlled and allocated by
having to petition the big man at neighborhood meetings to have your
trash
cleaned up, the police patrol your block, have a water leak or a pothole
repaired, and an error in your tax bill remedied. Don’t expect any
services
unless you can prove your bona fides — at least third generation Black
DC
resident. Expect the return of long, long lines in the DMV with surly
inspectors and clerks. Construction will stop as developers will again
flee
when the pols demand kickbacks and jobs for the indolent and insolent.
Expect real “gentrification” taxs for more worthless “programs” for PG
county bourgeiois friends of the mayor that make “Peaceaholics” look
like an
effective crime-fighting operation. Expect the police to spend more
time writing tickets (church people exempted) instead of catching
criminals. Neighborhood rule by preacher will return. Teachers will no
longer be compelled to teach and students freed from having to learn.
Go
Gray and bring back the good old days of DC politics.

Believe me when I say there is trash

Trash bag and trash

Shane on Q has been to BACA meetings before to plead for help or some relief from the trash that piles up on the 100-200 block of Q Street NW. The street gets cleaned up on the Co-op’s side, and I gather that is due to management of the property and its block proper. However the opposite side of the street gets to have McDonald’s bags, liquor bottles, and today, watermelon rind littered upon it. The only one cleaning it up (unless you witness someone else also doing it tell me) is Shane. And Shane is getting kinda frustrated.For Flower Power I did a walkby on Q, noticed the trash and decided to get a bag and clean up. I ran into Shane and he offered to join me. He wondered if he should leave the trash so that when the FP group walked through we’d see the trash and understand his predicament. Noted that his problem was he was out of the range of cleaning crews and trash pick up guys. 100-200 Q is too far west of the North Capitol and NOMA clean up crews. It is too far north for the lone guy from S.O.M.E. picking up trash. Too far east for Brian (big tall blond guy with the trash can). And not adjacent to a major church, which would have some caretaker.

I suggested residential parking. Now I’ve just had an unfortunate incident with residential parking as my new roommate got a ticket, with me thinking that parking enforcement wouldn’t be around. Wrong, so I am very aware of the downsides of resident parking. But I think it might help with the trash. The trash come from people visiting and being bad guests, tossing their trash on the street. Now my block got the residential parking to combat drug dealers. The presence of drug dealers is down, but that comes from a combination of things of which parking was a tool.

This page contains a single entry by Mari published on June 26, 2010 11:38 AM.

Tomorrow is BACA’s Flower Power

The only thing that will post-pone it is rain, not soaring temperatures.

Just to remind you, if you plan to join us, that we’ll meet up in front of the Armstrong (CAPCS) School on the 100 Block of P St NW. Look for a table and some people at 3PM. You wouldn’t think it but groups walk incredibly slow, but, they, do, so the walk may take a while, thus the 3-5 time slot.

Tickets the day of are $6. Monies go to support BACA beautification.

This page contains a single entry by Mari published on June 25, 2010 8:31 AM.

Kids and the Florida Avenue Park

Yesterday I went to the Bloomingdale Farmers Market and decided to buy stuff till I ran out of money, which was about $45. Painted Hand was selling a chicken for less than $4 a pound so I had to hop on that. And I bought carrots, celery that doesn’t look like the celery at the store, onions, cherries, blueberries, baked goods and string beans. I had two bags full of stuff. While I was at the market I ran into some of the neighborhood munchkins and their parents. When I was done shopping I noticed a bunch of kids and parents had wandered over the the playground at the Florida Avenue Park on the other side of Florida Ave. There was a whole gaggle of kids on the kiddie swings running around, doing the things that make the Pre-K crowd happy.

I remember when this would not have happened. When parents would not have taken their precious charges to the park where odd old dudes hung out. I remember back when a parent told me she found human poop on the play equipment and swore off ever returning there. Well in the meantime the park has improved a bit, but there are still complaints. Apparently, shards of glass can be found in the mulch that covers the play area. I didn’t see any, but then again I don’t have a kid running around in the stuff. Also it is said the trash cans are overrun with sharp things.

Anyway, according to a post on the BACA blog, the park is slated to get a $1.2 million dollar makeover. Hopefully that may include something addressing the suitability of the play area.

This page contains a single entry by Mari published on June 21, 2010 8:15 AM.

And Mt. Vernon Triangle is where?

I don’t know who edits these things, but I’m looking at the graphic for the article about the new influx of registered voters in the District. Precinct 143 looks an awfully like Penn Quarter/ Gallery Place/ Chinablock, not Mt. Vernon Square nor Mt. Vernon Triangle. It’s labeled as Mt. Vernon Square, which isn’t right as the Square is the actual square between 9th & 7th and Mass and NY Aves and points north til N & O Streets.  Mt. Vernon Triangle… It’s a new neighborhood name, I have no clue where it’s borders are, southeast of the square. South is Chinatown. You will know Chinatown is Chinatown, not because of it’s Asian populace masquerading as young black fashionistas, but due to the fun Chinese characters on signs as mandated by the city.

I guess I endorse Fenty

It’s still early, but if the reports from the MVSA meeting reports are anything to go by people are more supportive of Fenty than Gray, or more accurately, people are less enthused by Gray. Apparently Vincent Gray failed to make an appearance at the meeting, which folks were fine with, but the staff member sent was a disaster. The staffer was unfamiliar with MVSq/Shaw and was from Tenlytown. There is no shame in being from Tenlytown. However, know your hoods. Congress Heights is not Anacostia. Brookland is not Brightwood. And Mt. Vernon Square is not some other random part of NW.

Anyway, the staffer was more familiar with Wards 3 and 7. Not so great for a meeting with residents in Ward 2. And it seems there was a fair amount of Fenty bashing from the staffer which was a turn off. One commenter mentioned that the candidate was only as good as the people he has working under him. Considering Rhee comes with Fenty, I guess I endorse Fenty.

Seriously, it doesn’t matter what I think because I’m not a registered Democrat, so I can’t vote for him the in the election that matters. Add to it that I’m even less enthused about the mayoral candidates. It’s like a contest between shyte and crap. For all the things I dislike from the Fenty camp, with the J.F. Cook school for one, I do appreciate the turn around with the school system and the making government a little bit more open and web friendly. But this is not a ringing endorsement or love-fest, Fenty is no longer a bald hot cup of cocoa. He’s just bald. And really campaigning on the fact that one is not Fenty isn’t that great. I’m not Fenty and that wouldn’t qualify me as a candidate. If you can’t stand either write in Jack Evans, just to torture the poor man. Heck write in his name for both mayor and council chair, because if the mayoral contest is bad the one for chair is a choice between unripe fruit and something too rotten to compost.