Archive for March, 2009
I’ve found an interesting, if somewhat long, blog post courtesy of Kevin at www.Fortworthology.com. In this missive, Andres Duany writes in NewGeorgraphy, asking whether the “real” New Orleans can ever be restored, because apparently the historic city was largely built by hand and with materials that were assembled slowly. Mortgages were not used, and thus people in the Big Easy had time to develop their culture precisely because they did not rush around desperately trying to earn money.
This, of course, is the antithesis of the modern American, who, he claims, and it doesn’t seem he’s far wrong, never stops working.
What would Fort Worth be like, I wonder, if everyone had to live on what they actually earned on a day to day and year to year basis? Of course, this brings us back to the stories of financial talk show host Dave Ramsey and his mantra: “Debt is normal. Be Weird!” I wonder if anyone else in this region is thinking that life would be better if we consumed less, not just to save the environment (though the environment would be a co-beneficiary of such thinking) but because we only have so long on this earth and working may not be the highest use of our hours.
There’s an Irish saying, “you’ll be a long time dead.” Which makes me wonder: should everyone be spending all their living days working?
Anyone want to answer that for me?
In addition to all the recreational digging that has been done, it’s time for an update on my gardening resolutions for 2009. To revisit the 8:
1. I said I would build proper, 12-inch tall raised beds. We now have two, one-foot-tall beds and will be filling them with dirt shortly. However, I have to admit it was my mother’s husband David, not me, that built them. He also saw the wood, discarded on a curb waiting for someone to pick it up, and I went and got it for free. The result was I got my raised beds for almost nothing, and I didn’t have to do any work. I’m actually rather still in shock about this. David says we can get free compost from the City of Fort Worth at the Botanic Garden, although he admits it’s not perfect. “What do you mean?” I ask.
“It’s not particularly fine and it’s got little pieces of stuff, like plastic, in it. But it grows stuff just fine.”
All I can say about that is I’m not a picky person when the price is right. Especially when the right price is free.
2. I said I would construct a quality irrigation system using drip irrigation with a timer. We’ve got plans to do this. Right after we dump the compost into the beds.
3. I will make a reasonable and well thought-out planting plan. I guess I’d better get to work on that. The tomatos and peppers that I started growing a little over a month ago are almost ready to be put in, and I also managed to get three blackberry plants which I hope to put in this afternoon. I’ve scoped out some nice 1×1 staves to put next to the tomatoes so they can be tied up as they grow.
4. I will keep up with the weeding. We’ll see about that.
5. I will not start any other time consuming major projects or new hobbies between March and June. So far so good, but I’m wavering … last week I lost another chicken, so baby chicks may be needed.
6. We will not go on any two week long vacations during the harvest season this year. We should have this one in the bag because we don’t have the money.
7. I will try to keep well-informed and inspired by reading blogs about gardens. Okay: truth to tell. I didn’t do it. But I’m going to start!
8. I will update this blog with my successes and failures. So far so good. There’s this one, then also “How to Prune Your Roses,” ”How to Start Tomatos Inside” and “Gardening Saves the Day.”
Yesterday morning, as we were putting our lunch together for the family outing to the FW Zoo (an outing which, I would like to note, we would be sharing with just about every other family with children in the city, it seemed) a strong knock came at the door.
“Who could that be?” I worried. I looked outside. A utility work truck was at the curb. I opened up the door and there was a workman, with hard hat, sunglasses, and boots on.
“I’ve been assigned to shut off your electricity,” he said.
Well this was very bad news, and not something I was expecting. Since the burglary, I’d not kept very good records, but I didn’t remember forgetting to pay the electric bill. Although I knew immediately I almost certainly had. I told him this.
“Well,” he continued, “I saw your kids yesterday working on the yard, and I thought it was so nice that they were cleaning everything up, and I was like, ‘no, these people are not going to get shut off.’ I have some flexibility. It’s on my work list, but it’s not considered urgent. I can put it off a couple of days.”
“Gee, thanks,” I said, stupified.
“Yeah, well, I just really thought it was great, all the repairs you’re doing … anyway, you’ve been blessed. Make sure you pay that bill right away.”
“I will, and thanks so much.” He smiled and shook my hand, strode down the path, a man doing a good deed.
Gee, I thought, as I walked away from the door, I guess taking good care of our houses really is important to others. Our yard has needed some attention for a while, and I guess he knew it from driving past. Apparently it was like Rudy Guilliant’s “broken windows” campaign, where he said the City of New York had to spruce up in order to be more efficient, friendly and safer. We had generated good will just by raking up leaves and carrying out the brush.
The most interesting thing about this was it wasn’t me who did the yardwork. I bought the tools. But the two oldest kids were the ones who actually cleaned up the front.
“Hey kids!” I yelled. “All that yard work you did yesterday, just saved us from me forgetting to pay the electric bill.”
The kids looked on in surprise and then smiled modestly. They didn’t have to say anything; their deeds had already spoken for them.
It’s hard to write this because the faucet in the master bathroom is leaking so badly it’s like a relative of the Chinese water torture to listen to it. I have to call the handyman and ask him to come out.
I’d like to say that this has been a particularly interesting week in our Fort Worth Blogs. Never before have so many big news stories come out in one week. Well, never before in the 5 or so months I’ve been writing at Renaissance. The stories:
Last Friday, the Star-Telegram laid off more staff. You can look at this story from two perspectives: either the voice of Steve Smith at WestandClear, or J.R. Labbe at the Star-Telegram. In fact, I recommend reading them both alongside of each other to get the flavor of the difference in how a blogger and a newspaper write about the same story.
Kevin at 5ksandcabernets is taking a buyout from is Star-Telegram job and moving to Austin to be closer to his todder son.
Austin is disappointed to hear that FWISD seems to be thinking of making some layoffs, and has his own suggestions for how the superintendent can make things better for the District. And he’s written a nice post about bringing back the Victory Garden.
Meanwhile, Rob at Howtomakecoffee.asia has posted on how to find organic coffee, and tells us about a strong, dark coffee type, Barako, that is grown in his native Philipines,.
Fortworthology.com is sponsoring a talk on Traditional Urbanism Saturday, March 21st at 1:00 p.m. at the J.D. Moore Building in the Near Southside.
Richie at NextCommunications.com has compiled a list of 33 stories about working in PR and perhaps more widely topical, social media to celebrate his 33rd birthday. David at The Ranch talks about a new idea: Social Travel. You don’t travel to see new things, but to meet new people.
Personally, all week long I’ve been on a Staycation, that’s where you rest up and do fun stuff around town. This morning we’re off to the zoo. Wish us luck … with parking. Yesterday by noon there were cars filling the playing fields all around the zoo, and it wasn’t even half price day (that would be today.) We’re getting up early and packing a lunch. See you all tomorrow.
So the warm weather is here and that means it’s time to get back on bicycles and head for the Trinity Trails, as we did yesterday afternoon. It was a leisurely ride from South Hills up to enter the Trinity Trails at Overton Ridge Park and head down a creek to where the creek joins the Trinity just beyond Hulen Blvd, then up to University Blvd. on the Trails and back.
We rode through the park passing joggers, families with children, and dogs, so many dogs. shih tzus, poodles, a bull mastiff, a chocolate lab, a set of three boxers, an ancient-looking chihuahua of mottled grey fur tones, two pale golden labs which were playing in the water, it seemed a regular Cruft’s Dog Show on the leashes in the sunlit afternoon.
The animals we saw were not just canine, however; we saw many, many ducks. On a bridge riding across Overton Park Creek, Dean pointed out a lone duck with a funny “cap” of feathers on his head. “Look at that!” he said. “It looks like an old lady going to church!”
“Merganser,” I told him, though later through a web search I found out I was wrong: it was a Wood Duck. We also saw plenty of Mallards.
But my favorite animal to see on the Trinity Trails is an animal you see in the river itself. At first, you might think it’s just a stick, floating on the water and protruding a bit above the surface, but it you look again you’ll see the round shell of a turtle. I’ve seen snapping turtles and red eared sliders, and as we rode along the river, there were dozens, too many to count, so I began looking for the biggest one, a turtle a foot across or more. I saw one, maybe two such. “Dean!” I said. “Look at that one!” But of course we had already passed it.
Out on the main stretch of the Trails, between University and Hulen, bike traffic was heavy, with lots of those “biker guy” types with the tight shirts and shorts of bright red and yellow or blue and white cranking along and passing us with ease. We seemed created to be passed, playing the Local train to thier Express.
Nevertheless, their example seemed an inspiration. What if I borrowed a bike from my mother, who does long distance riding, maybe I could be on one of those touring rides they hold in spring. After all, I need to come up with something to give me a goal to get in shape, since taking the advice of “you don’t have to join a gym to lose weight” I’ve stopped going. “How would you like to go on one of those bike tours they have?” I asked. “Do you think we could try?” Optomism was the order of the day.
If you’re interested too, you could check out Bicycle Tours listed by month on Bicycle Texas.
It seems that when the rain stops and the sun comes out in March, and the family feels the gentle 65 degree temperature, a strange transformation takes place. Yes, it is an emotional throwback to the pioneer days, when spring meant that you needed to get out there with the mules and plow your field, sow your wheat, and pray for it to grow.
In the old days, the farmer would inspect the plow and get the mules warmed up. We felt a corresponding need to get tools for our task and so did what any normal modern would under these circumstances. We went to Home Depot. I wanted a narrow shovel, to attack the stumps, a rake, to rake last fall’s leaves, and something to turn over compost. We inspected an Austrian-made pitchfork, which retailed at $35, but something about the idea of bringing this combination tool and weapon into a household with middle-school aged boys and their horseplay made us chose a mini-tine rake fork instead. We carried our loot home, and got down into digging and raking.
The following morning huge piles of dead leaves had been extracted, but not all was well. The cheap-!@@ rake we bought the day before was breaking, (Dean told me I should have known that it would, since it was plastic and all, though I pointed to the sticker that said 5 year warranty) and I thought we needed a wheelbarrow. We went back to Home Depot and demanded they take the defective rake back and they were very nice about that. They probably knew they’d come out ahead in the end, and they were right.
The feelling of being in Home Depot in the spring is something you just have to experience. All over are infant plants, berries, fruit trees, seeds, ornamentals, roses small and large. The very air smells of hope, promise, and the future. Everything in the store seems destined to turn into something bigger.
The metal wheelbarrow which was cheapest ($45) had a ten dollar assembly fee attached. We thought we might buy the kit and stick the task of putting it all together on our 14 year old son, but they were out of kits. So we asked if they’d sell us a pre-assembled at the kit price, and yes, paydirt, they would. We walked out of the store feeling clever, despite the fact that, having picked up a couple more “needed” tools, we’d spent another hundred dollars.
There are days when you just can’t rein in your wheelbarrow, rake and shovel desires. In the afternoon, the entire family was in the garden, moving leaves, digging stumps and constructing a garden box. TThe temperature was perfect, the sun shone, and overall, the world seemed like a good place, where wheat, or tomato plants, would grow, a promising future was ahead, when we would use all these tools again and again and be grateful for this day when we had bought them.
With all the talk about the threatened closing of the Star-Telegram, I began to consider what bloggers could do to support the city if we no longer have a city paper. I think there’s lot of speculation about this, and some have had great hopes that the revenue stream that newspapers have historically enjoyed will switch over to the blogosphere. I don’t see that happening, because the replacement for large display ads in newspapers is not clickable logo boxes on blogs, but webpages that interested readers find by searcihng Google when they want to go to the store. There should be some growth in blog ad revenue, but I doubt blogging will become a good way to get rich.
If that doesn’t scare you off, you are probably interested to read my “steps to become a citizen journalist.”
1) Chose a specific, discrete focus for your blog. Regional blogs are just beginning to appear and tend to focus on lifestyle, even more specifically on music, art, or restaurants. People with connections in other areas might consider sports, hard news, or business. National blogs probably need to keep to a carefully and narrowly selected niche.
2) Check the keywords you’re focusing on and see if there are other blogs on the subject. Decide where you will fit into the market.
3) Chose your blog’s name and make sure it is available as a URL Buy your own domain and use a blogging platform such as WordPress to set it up. You do not have to be a programmer to do this, you just need to follow the steps that are available at the WordPress site and others.
4) Make a plan as to how often you will post. Daily or more is the gold standard; weekly is the minimum.
5) Write your posts, keeping to the schedule you decided on. Find new information about your community and share it, on your blog, along with your personal responses and ideas. Best practice is to keep posts to 500 words or less, though sometimes we all find that difficult.
6) Form a network with other bloggers in your subject area, commenting meaningfully on their blogs.
7) Do social media if you can, if you can’t, make sure you still blog regularly and comment regularly.
8 ) Keep your day job. The financial outlook for the average citizen journalists is not a living wage. Maybe someday, but in the meantime, you should write because you want to, not because you hope to get rich. Think of the service you provide to your readers, and pay it forward. I’m not sure what it will lead to, but as they say no good act is ever wasted.
9) Yes, you will learn as you go.
This is a press release from the City. Sounds pretty good, especially the part about herb gardening:
The Fort Worth Water Department’s next semi-annual Yard Smart Seminar is Saturday, March 21, at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden Center’s Lecture Hall. The seminar is free and open to the public. No pre-registration is required.
Doors open at 8:15 a.m., and the program begins at 8:45 a.m. The event concludes at 12:30 p.m. with a tour of the Water Conservation Garden.
The purpose of the Yard Smart Seminar is to relay environmentally friendly and water-saving gardening information that can lead to healthy, beautiful lawns and gardens.
Dotty Woodson, water resources specialist for the Texas AgriLife Extension Service, will discuss Rain Water Harvesting. Growing Herbs & Vegetables is the subject of Tarrant County AgriLife Extension Agent Steve Chaney’s talk.
The third session, Ask the Expert, is a one-hour discussion between the public and a panel of four professionals on gardening and irrigation.
To learn more, call the Water Department at 817-392-4477.
Local Author Rosemary Clement-Moore will be signing her new book, Highay to Hell, at Barnes & Noble in Hurst this Saturday, March 14, 2009 2:00 4:00 PM. This will be the third in her award-winning young adult mystery series about girl-detective Maggie Quinn. And, bonus of bonuses, you will get to meet El Chupacabra. By buying the book, I mean, not when you attend the signing.
Last I checked, Clement-Moore was a member of the DFW Writer’s Workshop, which is where I met her. I’d like to note that the workshop will be holding a conference for DFW Writers in the Irving area this spring, May 2-3, 2009, featuring talks about writing, agent pitch sessions, and the opportunity to hang out with other writers in a fun atmosphere. Yes, I do plan to attend, if for no other reason than I want to talk to the three New York literary agents I invited while working on the conference committee.
Making the rounds of the blogosphere is a report that places 8 of the nation’s top 50 newspapers in danger of going under. One of these is our own Star-Telegram.
I think the problem is an evolving citizen attitude of what is important. My mother still subscribes, and is frightened by the concept of a town without a paper and a citizenry that doesn’t read one, and thinks similarly to one of my profs. in the teacher credentialing program, who told us accusingly, “your generation doesn’t read the newspaper.”
I guess I’m a bit put off by the level of trust some in the over-60 population have in the newspaper. I suspect that once it was the best source of information, when the alternative was going over the back fence and hearing gossip from next door, but the increased and expanding sources of information on the internet have a way of undercutting the claims the newspaper has always made of non-bias. It’s as if, in the past, the newspaper was the most unbiased news source, but now the internet is that. And this, not the price of paper, may be what is cutting their market off at the knees.
I will also add just one more thing that i perhaps more scary for the creative community than the apparent failing of the newsprint and magazine industry. That is, that the idea of paid journalists whose full-time career is writing short non-fiction copy is only about 100 years old. Before that, most writing was non-professional. Could it be that we have been living in a heyday of pay for print copy, and the number of employed writers is declining, not to rise again for God knows how long?
I don’t know, and i’m standing by to see what comes next.
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