Category: Uncategorized

10/19/2006,
The PSA meeting for 501 NW will be held on October the 24th at St Martin’s Church.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks,
Tom Usselman
7/887-2665

Reminder from the Calendar of MPD-5D
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MPD-5D/cal

PSA 501 Community Meeting (west)
Thursday October 19, 2006
7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
(This event repeats on the third Thursday of every month.)
Location: World Missions Church, 1720 1st Street NW, WDC

Notes:
New location off first street 2 block north of Florida ave.

There are these teenagers who float near my block. This weekend it was two girls and a boy and they were horsing and hovering around. Their desired form of entertainment was screaming and yelling at each other along with hair pulling, choke holds, and hitting. The girls would frequently emit these loud piercing screams, that elsewhere would signal a need for help, but here was just screaming for screaming sake. Observing the teens the girls weren’t in any obvious danger because they wouldn’t stay away from the boy who was leading the dangerous violent play. The girls kept staying around him. But they kept with the screaming.
It dawned on me that by them engaging in the screaming and the playing “domestic violence” game they are getting those of us who are hearing them and seeing them, to ignore them, which is dangerous. It makes an environment where one can hear a woman screaming that “help me, I need help” kind of scream and ignore it because most of the time it’s been kids horsing around. It could also get one to dismiss real domestic violence that may play itself out in the street.

I feel I need to mention how the experiment with the edible front yard went. It went well enough but I could have used more tomatoes. Oregano is an aggressive plant. It just took over and I thought mint was bad. Where I planted mint, it stayed in place. But it planted the mint in spots where I would be walking on it regularly, so it is busy trying to survive vs taking over the yard.
I have some bald spots in the yard where I walk, and I don’t know what can survive a regular pounding, is edible and can deal with so so light. The thyme I planted in my path just didn’t work out. The tarragon died from being stepped on one to many times. Peppermint does not like everyday traffic.
Maybe I need more brick.

If you go to the bike valet @ 9th & M, you get a token that makes your entry 1/2 price. You go in and I highly recommend that you 1st go to the Dagoba Organic Chocolate table. They have chocolate. And chocolate nibs. I hung out there for a while. There were some other food tables, but chocolate rules.
Got some good booty. From Seventh Generation I got dishwasher tablets, dishwashing detergent, and laundry detergent. I got some stevia (non-caloric sweetener), a magnet from Energy Star, cheese from Organic Valley, two magazines (one being the Audubon’s ‘Ecological Home Ideas”), and hand dish washing liquid from MOMs. There were some other food sample stuff but I ate them all before heading back home.
The main draw for me was the home building, renovation and household things…. which I’ll write about later.

$39.65 for 2 lbs of shallots, a bunch of asparagus, 3 grapefruits, bag of shrimp, 3 cornish game hens, 1lb of unsalted butter, a dozen limes, 7 heads of garlic, 2 small heads of broccoli, 1 red onion, 5 avocados, 5 lemons, and 2 potatos.

Saturday there is going to be a tour by the DC Preservation League (listed at the main inshaw.com page) looking at Wardman Row. Which is strange coincidence, because today, looking at 1900 census stuff I ran across a whole mess of Gloriuses or Glori. George Glorius was a German born florist who owned Square 519 (FL Ave, 4th & 3rd & R Sts) in the 1880 census. So after hitting another Glorius, I decided to look up dear old George in the Washington Post. I found in the October 22, 1902 (page 11) issue under “Real Estate Transfers” where a Glorius, George et ux and Mary Glorius sells lots 38 to 61, 64-66 to Harry Wardman for $35,500.
Addition: Found further down the list saw that Harry Wardman sold land back to George & Mary Glorious. Lots 44, 45, 50, 55 & 56 for $600 (subject to trust $14,000- what does that mean?) and 46-49 $20,150 (subject to trust of $12,150).

Over at the convention center is where I will be, for the Washington DC Green Festival. A day pass is $15 but I swear there was a discount for people who arrive by bike, but I can’t seem to find the catalog I got in the mail for the event where I saw such a mention. I’ll probably only do one day as I’m just curious to see what’s out there as far as energy conservation and organic food goes.
Also speaking of green check out the Treehugger‘s Urban Homestead vidcast/episode. The subject is the Path to Freedom homestead, where the front yard is 95% edible. A lot of stuff I was aware of but I was really surprised and slightly excited by their use of bio-fuels for the home. I usually associate bio-fuel with cars, of which I don’t have, but now I see a possibility of other uses.

Also happening this weekend is the Howard University homecoming. Think crowded streets. Think traffic as there are related events on/near U Street and New York Avenue. Note to rap stars attending the homecoming, this year don’t drive away from your bodyguards in your six figure sports-car only to have some guys try to rob you in traffic. Be smart about protecting the bling.

The weather has gotten a little colder and hitting the 30s. So I’m looking at the tomato plants and wondering if it may be time to cut them down. Also because I knew this dip in temps was coming sooner or later I gave in and paid a guy $160 to fix my pipe so I could use my radiators.

From Jim:

Neighbors,

On October 14, 2006, the D.C. Preservation League [DCPL] is holding its annual Wardman Row-House Tour. The bus leaves the National Building Museum at 10:00 a.m. and will drive through several neighborhoods in our area, including the Unit Block of Bates Street, N.W., to view our famous Wardman homes.

Since “company” will be coming to our neighborhood, Mary Ann Wilmer organized a recent effort to amend the tree-boxes in the Unit Block of Bates Street, N.W. Indeed, both she and her neighbors deserve major kudos for working together to pull off this major beautification initiative. I’m sure you have already noticed the beautiful chrysanthemums that adorn the tree boxes on this block. They are absolutely beautiful. It is really something how the introduction of these colorful plants to the environment has positively impacted the appearance of the block.

For those who are interested in participating in the tour, I commend the below information to you.

Best,

Jim Berry
ANC 5C

Saturday, October 14, 2006
10:00am – 3:00 pm
Tour begins at the National Building Museum
401 F Street, NW
Judiciary Square Metro Station
Members $35; Non-Members $45
AIA CEC: 5 Credits

Tour Schedule

10:00 (Site #1) Depart National Building Museum, 401 F Street, NW
10:15 (Site #2) N. Capitol & Bates St, NW – Philanthropic row house flats

10:25 (Site #3) 3rd St & Florida Ave, NW – Wardman row house flats

10:35 (Site #4) North Capitol St between Florida & Rhode Island avenues, Bloomingdale – traditional turn-of-the-century row houses.

2006 tour – Stops at 2200 block of 1st Street / Corner of 1st and NW for Wardman home tour