Tag: misc

Games Children Play

From the screaming and yelling the neighborhood kids are engaging in and a certain chant, I believe the kids are playing Jerry Springer. I’m not going to look out the window to see if anyone is playing the role of Trailer Trash Transvestite. And yes, I’m posting this at 10:55PM. And, yes, the kids are outside at 10:55PM. No, I don’t know why the kids aren’t in the house.

It’s 8AM Thursday, do you know where your toy sized dog is?

I’m not sure about the breed, but it wasn’t a bichon frise, and I’m not entirely sure if it was a shih tzu maybe a scotty but it was a little white dog on the 1600 block of 5th St NW without a human around that I met up with on the way to work. It barked at me and walked away (south on the even side of the sidewalk) as I tried to approach it to look at it’s tinkling tags. I walked about 30 feet off my normal route before I turned around and gave up. I’m not going to mess with a dog that doesn’t want to be bothered with me.
Anyway, if that’s your dog, that’s where I last saw it.

Halloween recap

Well it got to a slow start. 5pm, nothing. 6pm, nothing. 7pm, kids on the block hover on one side of the street and costumed relatives driven in hover with them.
Sometime between 7:30pm and 8:10pm an impromptu costumed block party breaks out, with blond little tykes in too cute costumes(with parents), running up and down the sidewalk around with black princess fairies, as teens in Scream/Jason masks gossip and josh around, while semi-un-costumed adults of the whole diversity rainbow give out candy and flit back and forth across the street. Passing slowly by twice was a police cruiser, whose occupant added to the festive spirit by giving a ghoulish laugh over the car’s loudspeaker. A few Latino trick or treat families stumbled on to this scene and one woman giving out candy had her costumed kids take pictures with the passing kids.
My favorite costume was the bloody skateboarding doctor. A kid/young adult went house to house on his skateboard and he had a blood splattered lab coat, face shield/mask, and a stethoscope. A few others on my block got a kick out of his get up as well.
Then the uncostumed gang of teens started showing up, and that’s when I turned out the lights and walked a few doors over to crash the Halloween party for parents. It was breaking up when I called it quits a little before 9pm. When enough big slovenly teens start running around and the cute kid numbers are nil, it’s not fun anymore.

Reminder: Halloween

Today is Halloween, and yes, kids do trick or treat in the hood. I know of at least three houses on my block giving away candy. I don’t know or think kids bother with condo buildings, but they will go to houses. Also be aware that the lame non-costumed losers will beg you for candy (if you are giving it out), accept it as part of the day. But there is no reason you have to give them the good stuff.

Announcements

Inshaw.com/ann.htm has been the page I’ve been posting the odd announcement. I say odd, because I post things when I get around to it. There are some groups whose stuff I don’t post, but most of the time if I don’t post something, it’s because I’m lazy. Or I didn’t get it early enough. I need a week at the least. Or there was other stuff going on when I got the message and then it got buried under a ton of other emails. Or, there is the odd chance that my spam filter caught it.
Anyway, on this page over on the right hand menu, I’ve got a link for those random haphazard announcements that can overcome my too full email box and my habit of procrastination and not wanting to do stuff.

Waddaminute: Porch Culture

Something said at the Shiloh FLC Gentrification forum is not sitting right with me. And this is just my life experience, which may not reflect someone else’s who may have lived in a different era and place. But the idea of porch culture being so prominent isn’t exactly jiving with my memories.
I grew up in a mediumish North Central Florida city in the 1970s-1980s. I’ll admit there has been some climate change, but the general weather is hot & humid. I had no clue what people meant by humidity until moving north because when it was hot it was always humid. Shade did not matter, much. So in the 70s I think people did hang out on their screened (Florida has big bugs) porches, but as air conditioning, sweet, sweet humidity controlling AC in the form of window units became more affordable in the 80s and 90s people in my neighborhood were seen less often on their porches.
Also, I think cable also played a part. My family got cable in the early 80s, 1982 or 1983 to be exact. Yes, it is entertaining to watch the world go by sitting on the porch, but so are the stories and wrestling and that new Michael Jackson video in the AC.
FF to today in Shaw.
Not that no one hangs out on their porch or stoop. I will occasionally sit outside in the front yard, when the mood grabs me. Cell phone guy will be out, in his front, broadcasting his business (at some point he’ll wander to his backyard too) loudly and clearly. Other households will sit out front for a smoke, or to decompress before heading back inside. There are so many inside things that demand our leisure time, so it seems unfair to blame gentrification for the decline of porch culture. Maybe technology is to blame.

GAS LEAK! at 3rd and R


Gas Leak at 3rd @ R
Originally uploaded by In Shaw

There is a Haz-Mat crew (orange jumpsuits) and cops and firemen all over the place. From the small band of Latino workers under a shaded tree and the small backhoe on the corner, it may seem that some construction work was going on and a gas line was hit. I wonder if the GC called 811 before digging? Anyho I had to leave the smell of gas (or something) was irritating my nose something fierce.

Friday wrap up

Instead of going to work I went to Ocean City, MD (for a professional meeting) and grabbed some seaweed and small shells for the compost bin. I’ll wash off the salt and throw what I have in compost bin tonight. Seaweed (once you wash off the salt) is very good for compost and the shells I guess provide calcium.

If you spend more than 10 minutes on Google and can’t find what you’re looking for it may be time to consult a librarian.– Lesson learned at conference.

Has anyone noticed that a bunch of houses on Bates are up for sale? Has anyone also noticed that it seems to be the same realtor? Or is it just me?

Lastly, I’ve been thinking of the whole, well now our Truxton/Shaw houses are worth 2x or 3x as much so such and such should happen. The fault I find in this is that houses in more established DC neighborhoods are also worth 2x to 4x as much. It is not that anything has happened. There have been improvements in transitional neighborhoods such as ours that make the price raises just more than inflation. However, my $300K (formerly $100K) fee simple house with yard is worth as much as a studio sized condo in Dupont with no parking or balcony. On the plus side I could trade it in for a small detached house with a lawnmower worthy yard in the uncool section of College Park, MD (PG County). I guess my rambling point is although we know how much our own and our neighbors’ houses are worth, we should also know the comparables across town.