Depression House

http://www.troublethewaterfilm.com <-- one of the most powerful docs I've ever seen. I was so gob-smcked by the sheer horribleness of it that I actually had to go and dig some holes in my yard and justbreathe through the nauseating truth of it, in the light of the street lamp. 

--

I have finally been able to spend some time weeding out the horse herb. Turns out to be a very aggressive bugger indeed. Amazing in the right spot, but it has suffocated some blue grama grass and attempted to take over a salvia. 

And most importantly, I have purchased some lovely plants to integrate the new fence. Because the fence has to go to trial in 2 months, and I want it to look smashing.

This is truly a Halloween homeowner story. ANd perhaps more.

The deal is, I decided that I would get a fence if I could do it for under $2500. It seemed like a decent investment. My dog tends to wander into the neighbor's yard to crap, which is annoying and uncool. This wpuld address that. There's a future likelihood of chickens. So, fence would be good.  And there;s the recent local crime wave (ranging from burglary to gas-siphoning to

To address all these needs, I decided on ornamental wire fencing http://www.hutchison-inc.com/html/fence_wire/fence/ornamental.php, the old school kind. Period appropriate and all. It could be put up with t-posts driven a foot into the ground. Long lasting, semi-permanent.

Wade, our local go to 'no job too small' jack of all things, recommended I check the city code and make sure the plans were all ok. So I did. Googled up a bunch of FtWorth pages on fences and rules. Called city code people, utility people. Talked to neighbors. It was all good and settled. The code lady and I laughed at my attempt to describe something or other. She asked if the fence was 50% open, if it was less than 48in. not chain linkk, etc etc.'  'Yep, Yep, Nope. Its an ornamental wire fence.'  She asks: 'So its intended to be used as fencing?'  'Yep! Right there in the name. ' Ok then you're good. Check! check! All systems go! And I order the fencing. Which has to come via pallet from someplace in Colorado. 

So, finally Wade has finished the bathroom remodel and the emergency door repair and it's my turn. He works his ass off, pounding in the T-posts with this pounder thing. Fence goes up. 

And it is weird and awesome. Suddenly I feel safer. A totally disproportional amount of stress-reduction, especially given the thing was only 1/16 'finished' with the wires tightened, plus no gates.

Then MuniCode Man pulls up and begans photgraphing and measuring and poking and prodding at my fence. He explains that it is an illegal fence.  Say what? I explain the nice code lady and the whole thing with the utilities etc. He goes away shaking his head. Only to call later that afternoon. He has confirmed it with his supervisor. The fence is made out of chain link. 

to be continued...

I didnt leave the house on Saturday thinking I would go and meet K. Friends told me months ago that the lady who runs the herb store was looking for a graphic designer. I was already pretty booked, so the warning that she doesn't really do email, had no website; this would be an in-person thing, was enough for me to procrastinate. Intrigued but also lazy/busy. It wasn't until last week that I took a walk and wandered down her street again. When I had passed by before, I'd been struck by the garden. SO full of life and energy. With a brook and bees and gorgeous fig trees and pomegranates, salvias, squash and and and.

I went round to the front of the big old house, now a store called Herb 'n Health, and went inside.

An hour later, I came out with a bursting folder of design references and a check to get started on some designs. 

As I understood it, my potential client had been just about to leave for Arizona, a side trip of which would be to meet with a graphic designer in Tucson. And off the street is a graphic designer who lives 4 streets over and is learning to be all organic and stuff.

So, kind of awesome, right?

She is a very enthusiastic woman. If i recall correctly, enthusiastic literally means "filled with the breath of god", 

And she sure is.

She kind of exhausted me actually, but I am full of the breath of facebook/coffee/cigarettes/cheese/beer, so I tire easily.

(Hell, I'm eating low fat organic dark chocolate ice cream as I type this, which contains at least 4 of the bolded and italicized foods on the Acid-Glue list.)

--

I have now read her manifesto and I am intrigued.

It involves gulping sludgy slimy concoctions, followed by a mindfully sipping an herb and juice and vinegar tall one.

I feel like I have to give it a try. 
Claim: a 10 day regimen (and then mostly avoiding the Acid-Glue foods) will detox you and set you on a path to health, shed some pounds, get some sludge out of your body and mind.

Eh, couldn't hurt.

I need a new habit. Like constantly drinking pureed herbs and grass.

(no, she doesn't have a website )

couldn't think what to say in skype.
slightly terrorized atm
working on deadlines and solutions simultaneously.

there is skittering under the house.
so i am working on my porch, which is lovely and the whindcime is tinkling,
but i just keep jumping and starting
I seem to have like PTSD, though it's more like Mid-Rodentia Stress Disorder :/

Now squirrels cause my heart to pound.
I actually just kinda hallucinated that my husky dog was a giant rat as she 
came through the curtain that hangs over the door that leads to the laundry room
where I hear them

My friend Mir's blogpost has been germinating in my head for last few days as the pixels and To Do notes zip by (...faster than a excited! livechat.)

My friend is super brave and I love her. /waves excitedly at Mir/

...

And my name is Jen S.

I am an internet addict.

Sometimes I have a handle, and sometimes it sucks me in.

Need prairie therapy STAT. EVen if it means getting up at 6am /shudder/

<smaller>Editor's Note:  This: "Need prairie therapy STAT. Even if it means getting up at 6am /shudder/" is me totally blowing off the degrees and varieties of my addictions.
Yes, it is definitely awesome to get out and walk and all, but we are not yet talking about solutions, we havn't really even acknowledged seriously some of the others.

So, um, ... noted, got it?</smaller>

Here is the letter I will be sending to Ft Worth City Government. I urge you to do the same:



Dear Mayor and City Council Members



As the elected representatives of this community, you should be working with the best interests of the residents of Fort Worth at heart when you make decisions. Sadly, I do not believe that is the case. It does not appear that our health, our property values, or the general livability of this city are even considered when the highly risky plans of your gas industry cronies are approved.



Allowing injection wells within city limits is a terribly misguided proposal. I assume it will pass. The local government seems to be run by lobbyists and shills for an industry that puts profit over all else. You do not have the right to claim you are working for the people's best interests unless you are spending your energy and voice defending us against the scourge of urban Natural Gas Drilling (if you are doing so quietly, thank you!). This injection well plan will exacerbate the poor air quality and rapidly declining livability of this city.



I run a small graphic and web design business. As soon as I can get my house sold or rented (to some poor uneducated soul) I will be taking my creative capital and energy elsewhere. If you think that enthusiastic young people and creative entrepreneurs like myself will continue to move to this area, you are mistaken. The air may be almost
as bad in Dallas, but at least they have a decent public transportation system. In the coming years, shale communities will likely become home to mostly poor and undereducated folks who havn't the ability to leave. Cancer clusters will clog the medical system and respiratory diseases will stunt childrens' futures. What educated and ambitious person would risk their family for a City that sold out its citizens for a brief profit boom?



Furthermore, it would seem that the current City Council and the previous Mayor did not even negotiate a good deal (for the City) in exchange for the gamble. Closed libraries and pools, water rationing, lousy public transportation, no apparent plan for post-fracking clean up, monitoring, or safe long term waste disposal. It is shocking. For short term gain, you have gambled away the futures of the citizens you were hired to represent.



As a tax-payer, voter, and concerned citizen of the Barnett Shale I beg you all to do the job you were hired to do: make decisions that best serve the interests of your constituents - all of them. I guess the question is who ARE your constituents? Us or Corporate Energy interests.



Please say NO to Injection Wells.



Recipients:

Mayor Betsy Price: betsy.price@fortworthgov.org

City Attorney: Sarah.Fullenwider@fortworthgov.org

Sal Espino: District2@fortworthgov.org

Zim Zimmerman: district3@fortworthgov.org

Danny Scarth: District4@fortworthgov.org

Frank Moss: District5@fortworthgov.org

Jungus Jordan: District6@fortworthgov.org

Dennis Shingleton: district7@fortworthgov.org

Kathleen Hicks: district8@fortworthgov.org

Joel Burns: District9@fortworthgov.org

MORE INFO :
http://www.fwcando.org/node/393
http://fortworthfollies.blogspot.com/2011/10/league-of-neighborhoods-aga...

http://OccupyDallas.org

Had to cut don a ton of Thai Basil. Menace.

There are zucchinis!!! and I fried up some zucchini blossoms in egg and flour. Amazing.

Roasted up the eggplant last week. 

Favas on the North side got eaten. I blame rats. Favas on the South side fared better, though I had to plant second round. Marigolds came back, as did peppers and tomatoes. The Japanese ggplants were beautiful, the Thai eggplants less so.Lots of butternit squash.   

The country into which I was born just executed a likely-innocent man.

Another one.

Not in my name.

R.I.P Troy Davis

Yea! A crew of folks spent the morning cleaning out the trash from Tandy Hills.

We were going to scrub the creek-beds, bone dry after months of drought... You know what that means, of course...

Last night we got 4 hours of steady rain! That means the creeks were both yucky and mucky.

Nevertheless we hauled out 20 bags of cans, chip bags, Taco Bell sauce packets, Whataburger bags, gatorade bottles and beer cans, and business cards. We also found a hymnal, 4 tires, and a deflated basketball.

After that I slept for 3 hours.