....but not a drop to drink.
The precise quote is:
"Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink"
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
Here on West 8th Street we've had much rain in the last 3 days. And when it rained, it came in buckets and sheets. Fungi is growing in a neighbors front yard and we are starting to look more like a rain forest rather than a residential area.
The vegetation, including the grass obviously loves the moisture but there have been numerous flood warnings and watches posted throughout the area! We of course, here on West 8th Street haven't anything to worry about when it comes to flooding but the Mighty Mississippi lies only a short 8 blocks away and those closer, up to 3rd Street have been at times affected by the Old Man's whim.
Our great metropolitan area"s motto used to be, "A River Runs Through It" but the citizenry re-coined it, "A River Runs Over It". Humor during serious events seems to be a specialty of ours!
The moisture has kept the citizens of West 8th Street away from their duty of mowing their grass. I'm sure that after this slow moving cool front finally moves through our little corner of the world, the sounds of gas powered lawn mowers will no doubt be deafening.
Listening to the National Weather Service on my weather radio at this moment it tells me that Thursday night we are to expect a "record setting low" in the mid 50's.
It's 6:30pm and quite overcast and dark looking as your blogger types this out and the temperature is sitting at 88 F.
The 50 F. temp will be a blessed event.
As we stood outside the air was so thick with moisture that it was uncomfortable to even take a deep breath.
Although your author has a great love for the fall season, one will never hear him complain about the heat and humidity since he remembers all too well the month of January here on West 8th Street.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Monday, July 9, 2007
Update.....
It's been a long time since I've actually added anything to this blog and your author apologizes for this. I could say we've been busy or distracted but we will not because there actually isn't any excuse, BUT.....we will go on from here and try to be more "timely" in our postings.
With that said, it's onward and upward!
In The Sumertime:
Summertime here on West 8th Street is actually very nice and mostly quiet. Of course everything is "greened" up and people in the neighborhood, for the most part, take good care of their lawns.
We do have an abandoned home down the street a ways and the back yard looks like something out of a Tarzan movie but other than that, all the yards look good.
A neighbor nearby has a very nice lawn and has it maintained by some business that specializes in yard maintenance.
Your authors own lawn is not so "pristine" but I've made one promise to myself and that is whatever grows in my yard at least "looks" like grass, even though it may not be classified as such!
The McGruff Factor:
The warm days of summer are upon us and most of the citizens of West 8th Street are staying inside for the most part and partly because of this, crime, as far as this author is aware of, is at a minimum right now.
But of course with school not being in session we do have a problem with groups of unsupervised children "strolling" down the alley at night sometimes. In one case, a neighbor had their battery taken out of their vehicle but the vehicle was in very poor condition, being used only for transportation of a dirt bike to and from a track not far from here.
Renting For Fun:
We have a few of what this author calls "vagabond landlords" who rent their homes to whoever first shows up with cash in hand.
One such landlord that we have talked to seems to rent his property out more as a hobby rather than a cash flow operation. He'll rent to a family who then lives in the home for 1 - 3 months, they trash it, stop paying the rent and then move out in the middle of the night to some other undisclosed location.
Eventually he discovers that his "tenets" have flown the coop so to speak and him and his wife dutifully come in to clean and repair the home for the next tenet.
This landlord explained to me one time that the previous tenets, whenever the floor was in dire need of sweeping would lift the fresh air vents from the floor and sweep the dust and dirt into them and then replace the grating.
I suppose that this was efficient for the tenet but hell on the furnace when it had to be used in the winter time.
When those tenets finally moved out, on the sly of course, I seen the landlord carrying out multiple buckets of dirt he had removed from the venting system of the furnace.
This author has suggested to him that when he is looking for a new tenet he should make it a point to check their credit rating with the three credit reporting agencies.
I tell him that if he uses a good credit rating as his measure of who to rent to, that he might be able to keep out the "undesirables", knowing that at least those with a good credit rating at least pay the rent and their other bills in a timely manner. Also this avoids the "fairness" matter altogether. No race, creed, color or religion is taken into account when renting the home with this method.
But obviously my advise has so far gone unheeded and at this time, the home has sat vacant for the last 3 weeks while being rehabbed for it's next adventure.
Also in our fair neighborhood, at the beginning of each month, there seems to be at least one renter who would rather have their belongings removed from the premises by the landlord and put out near the alley for all to view and rummage through than move it to their new abode.
This at times causes a problem with the neighbors as they look for items of some value in the piles of what is otherwise junk and the stuff gets strewed about the area.
Looking Out My Window:
I see green everything and nice, well maintained homes. I also see that our fair city needs to redo or repair the curbing on West 8th Street. It has become rundown and shoddy looking.
Keeping The Faith:
Although living here on West 8th Street is mostly uneventful, the author would like to see a "Neighborhood Watch" group formed. I am of course unsure if this blog is ever read but if anyone who lives within a reasonable distance of West 8th Street would like the same they could post a reply to this blog and I would respond in kind.
With that said, it's onward and upward!
In The Sumertime:
Summertime here on West 8th Street is actually very nice and mostly quiet. Of course everything is "greened" up and people in the neighborhood, for the most part, take good care of their lawns.
We do have an abandoned home down the street a ways and the back yard looks like something out of a Tarzan movie but other than that, all the yards look good.
A neighbor nearby has a very nice lawn and has it maintained by some business that specializes in yard maintenance.
Your authors own lawn is not so "pristine" but I've made one promise to myself and that is whatever grows in my yard at least "looks" like grass, even though it may not be classified as such!
The McGruff Factor:
The warm days of summer are upon us and most of the citizens of West 8th Street are staying inside for the most part and partly because of this, crime, as far as this author is aware of, is at a minimum right now.
But of course with school not being in session we do have a problem with groups of unsupervised children "strolling" down the alley at night sometimes. In one case, a neighbor had their battery taken out of their vehicle but the vehicle was in very poor condition, being used only for transportation of a dirt bike to and from a track not far from here.
Renting For Fun:
We have a few of what this author calls "vagabond landlords" who rent their homes to whoever first shows up with cash in hand.
One such landlord that we have talked to seems to rent his property out more as a hobby rather than a cash flow operation. He'll rent to a family who then lives in the home for 1 - 3 months, they trash it, stop paying the rent and then move out in the middle of the night to some other undisclosed location.
Eventually he discovers that his "tenets" have flown the coop so to speak and him and his wife dutifully come in to clean and repair the home for the next tenet.
This landlord explained to me one time that the previous tenets, whenever the floor was in dire need of sweeping would lift the fresh air vents from the floor and sweep the dust and dirt into them and then replace the grating.
I suppose that this was efficient for the tenet but hell on the furnace when it had to be used in the winter time.
When those tenets finally moved out, on the sly of course, I seen the landlord carrying out multiple buckets of dirt he had removed from the venting system of the furnace.
This author has suggested to him that when he is looking for a new tenet he should make it a point to check their credit rating with the three credit reporting agencies.
I tell him that if he uses a good credit rating as his measure of who to rent to, that he might be able to keep out the "undesirables", knowing that at least those with a good credit rating at least pay the rent and their other bills in a timely manner. Also this avoids the "fairness" matter altogether. No race, creed, color or religion is taken into account when renting the home with this method.
But obviously my advise has so far gone unheeded and at this time, the home has sat vacant for the last 3 weeks while being rehabbed for it's next adventure.
Also in our fair neighborhood, at the beginning of each month, there seems to be at least one renter who would rather have their belongings removed from the premises by the landlord and put out near the alley for all to view and rummage through than move it to their new abode.
This at times causes a problem with the neighbors as they look for items of some value in the piles of what is otherwise junk and the stuff gets strewed about the area.
Looking Out My Window:
I see green everything and nice, well maintained homes. I also see that our fair city needs to redo or repair the curbing on West 8th Street. It has become rundown and shoddy looking.
Keeping The Faith:
Although living here on West 8th Street is mostly uneventful, the author would like to see a "Neighborhood Watch" group formed. I am of course unsure if this blog is ever read but if anyone who lives within a reasonable distance of West 8th Street would like the same they could post a reply to this blog and I would respond in kind.
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