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Yes, you are very important. There are things that cannot be done in this world unless whatever business you are conducting on the phone, loudly, at around 10pm.
As more people make use of their rear yards I’m becoming a bit more aware of their lives. Some more than others. There are a few folks who have decks and their voices sometimes bounce off the walls and wanders into the alley. When I’m in the backyard I can hear (and then smell) one neighbor fiddling around with his/her grill, screen doors opening and closing, light conversation with their guests, and cell phone guy. Okay, with cell phone guy sometimes I don’t even have to be in the backyard. Sometimes I hear him when I’m in my kitchen. I’m in my kitchen, with the windows closed, and I can still hear this guy.
Beyond the profanity and incoherent screaming, I think he is conducting business on the phone as I hear the word ‘contracts’ pop up on a regular basis. I pity the person on the receiving end of the call, if not for the abusive language, tone and volume, but the public nature of half the conversation. The backyard is not 100% private. Not when all of our homes are so small and close to each other. So what can be seen, heard and smelled in the backyard from someone else’s backyard is not exactly private. While I’m on this backyard kick…. kids, your homemade hookah, very ingenious, but trying to smoke it out the top of your back window is very likely to attract attention from anyone walking through the alley, looking out their window or in their back yard, ’cause it just looks weird. Instead, hang out with the kids who smoke on their back deck.
Of course in a world, a city, where people chatter on about the intimate details of their lives on cell phones while on the Metro, in the supermarket, and sadly in the public restroom, it should not surprise me that a loud cellular fight is brought to the semi enclosed back yard.

This story would be much better if I was working in the yard with the pickaxe whacking away at tree roots. But I wasn’t, I was moving around dirt with a cultivator on a pole. I have a little hand cultivator but I think the hoe-looking thing was much better for my back. While I was doing this life was going on around me. Across the street teenagers were walking on the sidewalk talking loud, being obnoxious, and engaging in horseplay. However the horseplay took a wrong turn when one of the boys put one of the girls in a headlock and would not let go. One of her friends tried to free the young woman but to no avail. I let a few seconds go by when I moved out of the yard with my cultivator and to the street saying clearly, “Miss, do you need any help?” I repeated myself. One of the other boys then yelled, “She’s got a stick!” That’s when the young man holding the girl in the headlock released her and he and the other boy jogged up the block. As they ran I yelled, “Stop being silly!” This would have been followed by “I’m not going to hurt you” were it not for the fact that the girls also moved up the block rather quickly. As I said, imagine if I had my pickaxe instead.
(okay click the date stamp 10.5.06 for full post)
Later I thought of a conversation about “engaging” or “confronting” teens on one of the neighborhood listservs. There were those who mentioned a fear of retaliation. Someone will always mention retaliation when confronting either things evil/bad or things really annoying. The headlock incident was a missed teachable moment. The kids missed a chance to hear why beating up on girls is wrong. There are other teachable moments like explaining why throwing trash on the ground is bad too. But I won’t let fear of retaliation stop me from stepping up to those teachable moments, no, pure laziness, apathy, and an unwillingness to be bothered do that for me. Retaliation is the last thing on my mind. A little bit of bravery plays into it, but it comes from the same fount of bravery for public speaking, as confronting teens or anyone else in the process of doing wrong requires one to speak publicly. There is that same risk of failure. Your audience could dismiss you or laugh in your face or become very hostile. As I said, laziness, apathy and not wanting to be bothered keep me from confronting all the wrongs people do.
The retaliation thing does bring up a question of what wrong will one stand up for and confront right there on the spot? Being passive-aggressive as I am, I tend to take the path of least resistance. Sometimes I’m moved to action. This is worrisome as I think, what would happen if I were mugged or attacked on a street filled with people like me. Of ten Mari clones, one would run out and help as the crime took place, 7 would just call 911, and the other two would be completely dumbfounded and paralyzed with indecision of what to do.
I’m more likely just to call 311 or 911.
note: I had prewritten the above the day before the rest is an addition.
Yesterday, while minding my own business in the yard I heard some kids (about 10 and 11 years old) harassing a man on the street. When I looked up from what I was doing, the man had already passed me and was heading south. So were his pants and a the dark side of the moon was out as well. The kids (two boys) pointed him out to me and sort of wanted me to ‘do something’ about it, as according to them, he had his butt all out and “showing everything”. I offered to call the police, which I did. The boys chased after the man, with a spirit of righteous indignation, harping and yelling “pull your pants up man,” and “nobody wants to see that.” When I got the dispatcher on the phone the man had already turned the corner and was out of my sight. The dispatcher told me to call again if the man reappeared. Well a few minutes later he came up the block and I called the police again. I did not look carefully, but the way his pants kept falling, exposing his rear, it would be a safe bet that the front was exposed at times as well. I reported this and the man’s description and where he was walking. The kids, who’d been trailing him, stopped in front of my gate as I was outside on the phone with the dispatcher. They said that the man threw rocks at them. A possible untruth on their side, as I did see them, but not the man, pick up some small rocks before they turned the corner. The dispatcher said they’ll send the first available car. Well the first one between now and never, I thought.
So you witness something, will the fear of retaliation be your constant guide? Or is it a mix of timing, mood and a certain act itself that will move you to stand up or do something? Or do you need to be asked? I don’t know the answer. Sometimes we’re brave, sometimes we’re cowards.

Jimbo has finally posted his tirade about flippers and men who gut houses so they have something to brag about at JRs. What? You can actually hold a conversation in JRs? It’s loud and crowded.
Personally, I got no problem with folks who gut the house, if the house is in need of gutting. Actually, there should be a point system to house gutting stories. 10 points for simply gutting it. 50 points if you found something between the walls (in the ceiling, etc) that was from the time the house was built and you had to send it to a restorer to fix it. 60 points if you kept it in place and worked around it. 5 points if it was over budget. It is always overbudget. 100 points if it was on or under budget and on time. 20 points if you and your partner did the work yourself. 40 points if you did it solo. 30 points if crackheads kept breaking in and stealing stuff. 100 pity points if your contractor runs out on you AND/OR puts a lein on your property. 1 point for each day you spent covered in some layer of dust. ….and so on.

The condo on the corner of 5th and Q had an open house. A small band of us went to check it out. There are two large condos for sale. The first one covering the basement and the 1st floor is going for $920K and the second covering the 2nd through 4th floors for $1.2million. Yes, over a million dollars.
If you happen to have a mill laying about buy the top floor condo and let us be friends. I want to come over and hang out on your top deck. I’m a really nice person and so are you. Really. And not just saying this because you are a millionaire.
“Amazing”, “Impressive” and “Wow” were words I used often when we wandered through the still not finished building. The bottom unit had it’s exceptionally large rooms downstairs. It’s fine for people who don’t spend a lot of time in their bedrooms gazing out the window. The bathrooms. The half bath had this funky glassy bubbly tile that I just loved. The showers were big and luxurious. The upper unit was even better, far better, than the lower unit and the lower unit was impressive on it’s own. One of the bathrooms in the upper unit was so big, I think it was the size of my bedroom. Heck the bedroom was so big it was the size of my whole 1st floor. The kitchen was big and amazing with a stove that could feed a dozen or more people and a living area that could host maybe 50-75 people?
But the view on the top level…. The view. First thing I saw was the top of the Capitol dome. Would have seen the whole dome were it not for some trees. Also could see the National Cathedral, sort of, a few branches were a problem. But with out tree sight problems we could see Howard University Founder’s Hall, HU Hospital, McKinley Tech, the Basilica, Kenilworth Gardens, and a couple other buildings we couldn’t positively identify (is that Children’s Hospital? What’s that steeple to?).
I had a conversation with Ly who is in Real Estate about a property somewhere in Shaw selling for about a million. She mentioned how it really was a luxury building. The problem is that many slap the word “luxury” on many condos and houses, when it really means the expensive stuff from Home Depot or Expo or Lowes. This place, I couldn’t say where you would get many of the things in it. It is truly a special place.
IT pointed out one little fault of the place. The exterior doesn’t match the interior. The exterior is modern. The interior is traditional with lots of custom wood things. I didn’t care.
Okay. I think this is a rarity. It’s Spring so I’ll probably see more Real Estate Agents on Crackhouses, but this one is not one of them.

Get out there and garden. It is a lovely day.

One of the neighbors threw a fantastic Cinco de Mayo party where a few neighbors and their kids showed up. 10 points for the baby who slept through it all. She was so quiet (ie asleep) that it was easy to forget that, oh yeah, there is a baby in the corner. But 100 points to the hostess for planning and doing all that she does, it is great having a neighborly party person on your block.
Once again it was an opportunity for those who have not seen K&M’s renovation to see how one could add a lot of space to these teeny rowhouses. They did a wonderful job, as for 2 years they lived in a construction zone. Their neighbor saw how much space the renovation added that she also had work done on hers, with the help of M & our neighborhood handiman Lem, who was also there. Of course, it didn’t take 2 years. It helps to move out for renovations.
So a lot of us neighbors there, comparing notes and getting to know each other. The problem when you live on one end of the block, you really don’t know the people on the other end real well. Also depends on if you are out in your yard, doing any sort of renovations, and the like, presenting opportunities to interact with your neighbors. Lucky, there are several of us on the block that are geared towards beautifying our yards and treeboxes so several of us are out.
Now you too could join this happy band of citizens, once you get a certain real estate agent off crack. There is a house on the block, 1620 4th St NW (MLS DC5580335)up for sale. On the small house side of the block for $420K. $350K maybe, but $420K? I’ve been inside that house. Yeah, it was renovated in 2003. Yeah. If you want more information you are going to have to email me.
Yes, the block is not like Dupont or Foggy Bottom (where $420K for a tiny townhouse would make sense) or any other tony neighborhood. But the negatives are offset by many of the positives. And some of those positives are the other people who inhabit your block.

Duffy’s Irish Restaurant and Pub says they’ll be open on the 12th and Big Bear Cafe also says they’ll open their doors (just for an art viewing) next week as well. Duffy’s is across the street from the 9:30 Club and I can’t wait to share a plate of fish and chips with Jimbo. Also, when Big Bear does open I would like to check them out and see if it is a place I’d want to hang out and maybe it could host a Truxton Circle meetup.

At the Zoning Commission meeting last night the Zoning Commission had voted to strike section 410 in it’s entirely. I think. I’m actually confused now. According to the agenda they were voting to strike all references of R-4 districts from the 410 Zoning Regulations. But it seemed to me that they voted to get rid of the whole thing because there was something else in the regulations that better suited R-5 zones, where 410 was just confusing.
Now the people who will benefit most from this are the residents of Square 507 fighting Wilbur Mondie. By striking R-4 from 410 or 410 altogether, the loophole for Mondie to build skinny little 14 ft wide townhomes on the land is gone. Yay.
I must say it was the best public city government meeting I’ve ever attended. I was the only member of the public there. Even though the Zoning board started 15 minutes late, the meeting lasted about 5 minutes and all was good.

I have a fuzzy picture somewhere but twice this week I have spotted a mounted policeman on my street. First time was Wednesday? Not sure, but there were two cops on horses. The sight of them delighted the kids. The second time, yesterday, one guy galloping down the street as an SUV raced beside and behind him. I wasn’t sure what the heck that was all about. The guys on the corner? They only shifted a bit during the police horse sightings, moving into the shady shadows. A few minutes later they would move completely.