Author: Mari

Someone out there wants a house. They want a historic but very modern 3-4 bedroom house, inside the Beltway, very close to cool restaurants, with parking, in a safe neighborhood, with good schools, and maybe a big yard. AND they want it for less than $300K.
Yeah, I laugh too.
Well I try not to laugh directly in their faces.
Here’s another one. Young man with seed money from his parents wants to buy a fixer upper in the ‘up and coming’ neighborhoods of Pentworth or Columbia Heights or Shaw, anywhere in NW. And he has something in the $200K range.
Young man is one of my co-worker’s kid. My co-worker, Big Boss Man (for those of you who read the boring personal blog), is shocked, SHOCKED! I Say. About the prices for shells (what few are left) in neighborhoods where we still have crackhos and bums.
As people told me when I first moved in here, you should have bought 5 years ago. Yeah, not the most helpful advice. But basically, that moment when you could buy an el cheapo house and fix it up in Shaw for less than $200K. Gone. No more. Come back later when the economy has tanked and we’ve elected someone like a crack smoker for mayor.

Grass growing was the most exciting thing at the PG Plaza metro station.
I did see two verrrry relaxed police officers at Columbia Heights as I headed out of the station. They were chatting it up as one leaned against the newspaper recycle bin. When I came back from the store they were no where in sight.
At Shaw I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Okay a bunch of people trying to figure out the farecard machines was a tiny bit out of the ordinary, but not really. No metro police. No DC police. And the metro troll was safe in the booth. Nope nothing out of the ordinary.
Yet the local TV stations show a different picture. Cops with semi-automatic looking weapons! Metro employees passing out helpful information! German shepherds sniffing! Now I’m gonna have to do some damage control with the folks back in Florida, who are ignoring the coming hurricane. ‘Cause really, if I didn’t listen to the radio or watch the news, I wouldn’t have known different judging from my trip.
Yet I’m not belittling what happened this morning in London. I lived in London for one summer. When I can, I visit the city often. I still have a savings account there. Londoners, I will have you know are a tough bunch. Their elders survived the Blitz and the post war rationing. I know there is one chain smoking Pakistani Londoner who can kick all the terrorists’ butts and not mess up her hair. They are amazing from the East End to Earl’s Court. I’m brought to near tears thinking about the folks I’ve met in London. Types who would meet the end of the world with a cuppa or a pint and muddle on regardless.

Running off to work I think I ran into the crack ho Toby mentioned. Nope she’s not from our block. She passed by the house of our resident crack head without missing a step, so she’s not one of ours. Maybe she lives a little south of here.
Okay, I’m guessing she’s a crack ho. Skinny as all out. Little bitty shirt, tiny little jean skirt, and messed up chemically fried hair. At 6:30AM in the morning, and there isn’t a dog attached to you, I might guess crack ho.

And before anyone corrects me, it is “ho” not “whore” they are too cheap to be worth the extra letters and if you want to use the term “sex worker,” screw you.

Your house gains in value, your taxes go up.
A new luxury condo or office building is slated to go up near you, 1 year or more of construction crew tramping through your hood with noise and dust.
Then when the damned thing is finished and people move in, there is no parking around because even if the residents have parking, their friends/customers who want to visit don’t.
A string of cool funky shops open up, weird funky looking people start walking around.
Then you wonder if it just wasn’t better to live in a neighborhood where there were no decent eateries or shops, and you had rows of abandoned lots and no one wanted to just visit your neighborhood to look around. Now LaShawn’s Beauty and Nail Salon don’t look so bad now, ’cause she doesn’t attract rats or a large customer base that want to take your parking space.
The Truxton area is on the verge of something. We could try to help develop the North Capitol Main Streets whatchamacallit, but do the residents really honestly and truly want to bring commercial development to North Capitol?
Everyso often people mention why can’t we be like such and such neighborhood and another X [insert the old standbys, Georgetown, Dupont, etc]. Maybe we should think also about the big negatives that come with the things that make the place so great and ask “Do I want X so bad enough I’ll put up with Y?”
Example:
“Do I want the convience of being able to get a cab a block over so bad that I’d put up with more traffic on nearby roads?”

“Do I want a bunch of luxury condos in my neighborhood so bad that I’d put up with higher taxes for my fee simple home?”

“Do I want an overpriced chichi grocers that will bring me closer to the poor house with each visit?”

“Do I want more of a residential feel to my neighborhood that I’d put up with a lack of commercial options?”

I’m sure the people of Georgetown are tired of non-residents of the neighborhood clomping through their hood ooggling their houses. I can guess the sound of drunks getting out of the bars near Adams Morgan is maddening. The people of Woodley Park might want to slap all the people who ask where the Zoo is, and the monkey that keeps waking them up in the morning. And somewhere in Dupont someone is tired of parking 2-3 blocks away from their house in a spot that took them 20 minutes to find. My point is, the cool funky thing you want for the neighborhood, comes at a price, may be you want to pay it, maybe not. Maybe your neighbors would be glad to put up with the negative to just get a sliver of the positive that you give no value to, maybe.
Over near Trinidad there is a question of if they want a bunch of bars and restaurants up and down H Street. Positive, all the really cool neighborhoods have a bunch of bars and restuarants down their high streets. Negative, bars and restaurants bring guys who pee in your alleys, people who park in front of your house, extra noise and traffic, and possibly more rats. Maybe with good will and open minds and hearts residents and businesses can try to combat the negatives, but there will be negatives.

The day was fine.
My neighbors down the street were hosting a Fourth of July party and I had Nathan, BL and Clemisha come along as my guests. A thing I and a few other party guests commented on was we have a very communal block. Lem and a few other guys were talking about construction projects they are planning on helping each other out with. There were several other neighbors from the block over, hanging out, drinking cool drinks, eating warm burgers.
Nighttime, ‘nother story.
I was using the 4th as a test of how the neighborhood has changed any. Night time, on the 4th, it’s bedlam. I know it is not just my hood. I’ve seen it in Capitol Hill as well with people putting on their DIY fireworks show. Last year there were small crowds shooting off fireworks in the street and on the sidewalks at both ends of my block. Well this year it began on one end. Then those folks moved to the other end. I don’t know if the people who lived on that corner told them to move or what but they moved to the corner with the empty lot. Besides those folks, who I am going to guess don’t even live around here. There were the families on the block shooting off tamer but not less louder fireworks on the sidewalks in front of their houses. Last year, DM and her family were blasting fireworks up and down the street. I had to have the sprinkler on to ‘keep the grass wet’ just to keep them from blowing off rockets in front of my house. This year, DM was not around.
Firecrackers kept going off well into midnight. I was tired enough to sleep through that and the blasting stereo that had been going since 2 in the evening. Yesterday, heard some more go off. Hopefully, everyone will run out of their supply by the end of the week, or at least the end of the month. But if history dictates, we’ll hear them in August.

I’m going to take a short break and will return on the 5th or 6th. Enjoy your 4th!

It is on page 46 of this week’s City Paper is a review of our fav slow food restaurant, Thai X-ing. I had been turned off by the lack of speed but Todd Kliman’s review makes me want to go back and try the salmon in red curry for myself. There is no doubt the food there is good, but the wait is almost maddening. Good thing Vigsittaboot, the guy running the joint, has a collection of books in the waiting area. But a couple of times I bought my own reading. I gather the best method is to call ahead with your order.

I was out sick yesterday but had to drag my corpse to the Giant for tissues and juice. On the way there I passed by the 1500 block of 7th and there are signs that Simply Fit is coming to that block. Sometime. The website doesn’t give a lot of info. I guess I could email or call and ask but I’m pleading laziness due to illness.

A little off the main drag of Florida, on 4th it sits. It isn’t open yet, but when it does lets hope that they post hours and are decently priced. What I am hoping for is that they are not like the Majestic Cleaners in the 400 block of R that closed some time ago. That cleaner did not post hours, was not open when I was coming home from work, and really did not look like it dealt with retail customers. The hours thing is important because one neighbor sent his clothes there really needed them back for a function but couldn’t pick them up because the shop was closed as he was under the impression that the store had normal dry cleaner hours and would be open on weekends.

The bad stuff
Spider mites and watering
Spider mites have done a lot of damage. Of course it doesn’t help that I’m inconsistent with the watering. So the bean leaves have been turning white and the pansies are all but dead. The insecticidal soap has had mixed results, and I used so much up that I had to mix up my own batch of Ivory soap and dish detergent. Lesson learned, don’t apply when it is still hot out, it burns the leaves. According to the books and several gardening sites it would help if I watered the leaves more. Most of my watering has been going directly to the base of the plant. Apparently, that’s wrong. So I’m going to have to use the hose more often and blast the leaves to hinder the mites because I would really like to keep with the whole organic theme.
I’ve harvested about 2 tomatoes. One had blossom end rot. This I think once again, the watering being a problem. Heat hasn’t help. Also lack of a decent rain.
The good stuff
Squash
Planting various squash plants have produced good results. One has produced nothing but male flowers. But I think this has benefited the zucchini and yellow squash, which have produced several female flowers. I’ve been taking the baby and smallish sized squash off the plant and they keep producing. Some squash I see have suffered from my bad watering practices. Little matter, because I cut off the really bad parts and the rest tastes fine. I’ve only harvested 1-2 patty pan squash, and they haven’t made it to the kitchen. I have a bad habit of eating my garden while gardening.
Tomatoes
As mentioned, only 2 tomatoes so far. I have several green tomatoes, and I can’t wait till they turn yellow or red so I can eat them. Several co-workers in the bowls of the Death Star, where I work, ask about the tomatoes often as I had many to give away last year. Also minimal damage so far from the newspaper delivery man.
One of the neighborhood kids asked if my tomato plant was an apple tree. I guess if you’ve lived in an urban environment and never dealt with gardening I can see how a kid wouldn’t know. Leaves are green and the fruit is red, and “A” is for apple, honest mistake.
Beans
Besides the near death via spider mites, the beans are okay. I’ve collected a bunch of them, but like some squash they don’t make it in the house, again with the eating stuff while I garden.
Cucumbers
They are getting as bad as the peppermint and going all over the place. The vines wandered over to the next pot and started to strangle the plant. So I’m trying something new. I’m going to see if I can get the plant to go up a pole rather than attacking nearby plants. So I’ve taken twine and attached the leggy portions to a bamboo pole. Let’s see what happens.
As far as fruiting goes I have more than 10 baby cukes. They are so cute and green. The flowers aren’t bad either.
Herbs
Herbs such as peppermint and thyme are doing fine despite me. The in the ground peppermint is growing and taking over. I’ve harvested several batches for drying and tea brewing. The creeping thyme continues to creep and is making a sizable blanket under one of the in the ground tomato plants. I haven’t harvested any of it as it is still in flower.
The cilantro has bolted and gone to seed. So I’ve cut them down and will collect the seed and plant again.