Grrr....Gophers!

Gophers are invading my front yard! Not only are there holes and mounds, but they stole my flowers. Does anyone have any good ideas on how to ask them to move somewhere else? I'm trying to avoid poison because of our dogs and all the neighborhood pets, but I need to take action. Many of you are gardening pros, so I'm hoping for some words of wisdom. Help me reclaim my yard!! :)

Bamboo

We have a stand of timber bamboo out front. Some of the stalks are 40 to 50 feet high. The stalks attain their height in one growing season. Which starts around the first of May. Here are the first two stalks to poke out of the ground.

I'll periodically post the progress. What do you do for excitement? I watch bamboo grow. What a life!

Press Coverage

Here (link fixed) is an article from today's county paper. It's actually the best article explaining the situation that has been published to date.

Please let me know if the link does not work. I think they archive the articles the day after publication and so the link breaks. If that happens, I should be able to fix it.

NO TRO - Film at 11:00

Well, we lost round one. The visiting judge did not grant the Temporary Restraining Order. He did leave the door open for us to take the next step.

The local Atlanta CBS affiliate was filming in the courtroom.
The local Atlanta ABC affiliate is interviewing Bill right now for the story.

Fascinating process. More later.

TRO

The Temporary Restraining Order has been filed. The court hearing is tomorrow at 10:30.
The print media is now showing a little more interest in the story. One of the Atlanta teevee stations may also cover it.

I'll post an update after the meeting tomorrow.

Nightfall on East Main

Well, it has been a long and interesting day in Canton, GA! The HCHA filed a temporary restraining order today to try to stop the commercial development on East Main Street. All three county superior court judges recused themselves, so now they have to bring in a judge from another county! At least we know our JUDGES have some ethics which is more than you can say for our elected officials! The developers at 750 E. Main Street also removed another specimen oak tree without a permit today! I alerted the building and development authorities, and they apparently cited them for other violations as well. They have a total disregard for city ordinances or their neighbors! It will only get more interesting and nasty from this point forward, so send positive energy our way!

So, I got home from work around nightfall, and took a stroll in the backyard to unwind. I took these photos to remind myself of why the fight is worthwhile.

A peaceful and picturesque evening to all,

Bill

We're moved!

Hi Everyone,
We are all moved and are pretty much settled in. I don't have anything on the walls or the garage perfectly organized, but we are getting there. So far everything has completely exceeded expectations. Our neighbors are incredible, our dogs love their giant backyard and I keep finding great things about the house.

Otherwise, I'm just getting through the school year and looking forward to summer. My student teacher is taking over a lot of responsibilities so it doesn't seem to be as much of a whirlwind as it has been in past years.

How is spring going for everyone else?

So,

What's happening here?

Pool Update

The pool is filled and the water is circulating. Now we just need those 80 degree nights to get the water warm.

FREE ROCKY!

Choo Choo part Deux

Back from Chattanooga. The show wasn't quite as good as last year. However, as always, Matt's work was great. He sold quite a few pieces.

Cheryl Toh, an artist from Seattle won best multi-media at the show. Her technique was encaustic wax. I appreciated her work, although I couldn't see owning it.

We had dinner at Table 2. I enjoyed it and my food was good. Others, well not so much. Also, it's really hard to find a cab in that town. We ended up at Lamar's eating fried chicken (really really good) at about 1 am.

This morning we went to Aretha Frankenstein's for breakfast. Rachel Ray (who I think is a little over exposed) featured it on one of her shows. The food was great. However, we waited an hour for a table and then 45 minutes for our food. I am sure Rachel Ray had a little better service. Overall, I am not sure I would go back to it. At least without eating first.

Back home today in time for the latest meeting on the East Main St issue. A new post on that tomorrow. In the mean time, a few pictures.





Matt's artwork


Millie Grant. Matt's fiance. They are getting married May 4th. Grant? Yes, she is Bill's second cousin. They met one Friday night at our house a couple of years ago.


Outside Aretha Frankensteins. Aretha did have some nice pipes!

Eggs

A coworker of mine has chickens on Vashon (Jim's old stomping ground). He brought in these fresh eggs to work. Aren't the cool looking! Tim's making scrambled eggs right now with them, can't wait to taste them.

A Musical Interlude

Choo Choo

We are off to Chattanooga today to the 4 Bridges Arts Festival. Our Associate Creative Director, Matthew DeFrain, is one of the artists in the show.

Chattanooga is an enjoyable small city with a lot of history. Last year we discovered Lamar's. It's web page does not do it justice. It's much more interesting. Imagine a bar that hasn't updated its decor since the 60's. The fuzzy wallpaper is especially fine. The crowd wonderfully mixed, and the fried chicken is fabulous especially at 3:00 in the morning.

Photos and a review tomorrow.

Critter Control

We have had some sort of creature in our attic.....oh since Jim was here for my birthday. Tim pretented like I was hearing things, neither one of us really wanted to crawl up there to see what it was. Tim finally called this local company called "critter control" to come check it out. Come to find out a mama squirrel decided to have babies in our attic insulation. Isn't that sweet. To the tune of $169 for the "trap set-up" and $49.99 per squirrel, critter control can "eliminate" our attic residence. We now have 4 traps nailed to our roof and we are constantly checking the traps to see if there are any squirrels. Tim said it's similiar to seeing presents under the christmas tree. Once the squirrels find their new homes in the traps then we call "critter control" and they come back to pick up the squirrels. Del, the critter control man showed up at our house in a big yellow truck with critter control written all over the sides and in the back was a very pissed off raccoon that kept hissing. We should all be thankful for our current jobs, can't imagine doing that for a living. Will keep you posted on the the traps.

Shear Madness

My new favorite show. It really makes one contemplate...nothing.

Bravo. Wednesday night at 10:00 Eastern.

East Main ??

Well, the neighborhood is a tad upset. (A little Episcopalian understatement) I guess seeing bulldozers actually working makes it real. Money materialized and the fight is on. And, bulldozers aren't the only thing slinging mud. It's getting interesting.

More later...

Monna's Visit

We had a nice visit with Monna. Although, it went by fast. I went to Dad's on Sunday and picked her up. Bill fixed a great halibut dinner Sunday night. Monna went to the Atlanta Merchandise Mart for the accessories show. I guess it was a success. She came home with a couple big bags of goods.

Monday's night dinner was at Downtown Kitchen. Our one decent restaurant in Canton. If you visit us, I am sure we'll go there.

She left on a 7:00 pm flight this evening.

When are you coming to visit?

East Main Thoroughfare

Things are looking dire for keeping East Main St residential. The people who want to turn the block in question into office professional appear to be succeeding. The stop work order on 750 E Main has been lifted and the driveway is going in as I type. One of the neighbors called to let us know they were working on it. It's 7:30 pm. The permit was approved and they are wasting no time.

Bill went to City Hall today and looked at a couple permits. One of the houses that started this entire "battle" has a permit submitted for a medical office. The promise from the other side was that the houses would be kept residential if they could make the other houses office professional.

Out attorney has suggested a temporary restraining order, but the legal bills are already high and the group is just not writing checks.

The mayor and some city council officials are up for reelection this year. We will be working on getting someone else elected. The problem is no one has come forward to run against him.

What a world. I will try and post pictures tomorrow.

Progress

No ladder yet, but it's clean and being filled.

Frog and Fatsia

I once read that frogs are an indicator of the environmental health of an area. They absorb toxins through their skin. As a result, they are one of the first species to suffer the effects of pollution. One of the teachers in the family can correct me if I am off base. Or, as mom used to say. Look it up. Google sure makes it easier to look things up these days. I will have to challenge myself to do that. But, I digress.

I am always excited when I see a frog in the garden, because I take it as a sign that the area is healthy. So, here's my little excitement for the day. Happy Friday the 13th.

East Main Street Update 4/13/07

The East Main Street situation is heating up. We are moving towards threatening a recall of the Mayor. Bill has the signs designed already. Recall Pruett. The same number of letters. Makes for clean crisp design. Here is a letter from the other side. Ms. Perkins doesn't even live on the street. Her "daddy" has a business in the block. I wrote a letter in response. I'll post it if it gets published.

Best,
One of the selfish neighbors.

New Monitor

How many people does it take to install a new montior? Dad has a new 22" monitor. He tried for one day to figure out where the cables plugged in. Monna to the rescue. Hard to believe but I was able to locate the ports. Had to stand on my head, but.... we are up and running. Of course he also has Vista Home Premium to complicate everything.
It is a beautiful day here in Aikin. 83 dgrees. Elsie and I have been shopping while dad has been volunteering at the hospital in dismissal. He must do a good job because he was called in after also working yesterday. I must not forget we delivered meals on wheels this morning.
Dad and I are going out for Mexican dinner tonight while Elsie is being installed as Assoc. Matron in Eastern Star.

Who's Your Daddy?

The story that won't die!

Frost Damage

We had frost over the weekend. It was in the 20s. The crape myrtles, hydrangeas and fig tree got hit the hardest. The warm weather is returning. Thanks goodness.


fig tree


hydrangeas in front

North Georgia Mountains

We were at some friends of our last night for dinner. They live about an hour North of us. Before I moved donw here, I never realized that there were such nice views in the South.

This is near Blue Ridge, Georgia.

Late Night Post

Ok, it isn't that late. It's midnight and only 38 degrees on April 7th (Happy anniversary Monna and Brian). Work on the cement pond progresses.

Simply Spring

Bill took this close-up of the dogwoods on E Marietta St., Canton.
Enjoy.

East Main Street Update 4/5/07

I attended the city council meeting tonight. The city council approved a 45 day moratorium on building permits in the Central Business District (CBD). They are going to advertise a public hearing where a new CBD zoning ordinance will be presented. Then it will go before the council for 2 readings and then voted upon. We don't know what the ordinance is yet.

Last October all sides (city, our neighborhood and the people who want the block to go commercial) reached an agreement at a council meeting on how to handle the block in question. Then, the other side decided that they didn't like if after all and proposed a new agreement. Then, the Mayor asked us to try and negotiate an agreement. That proved to be impossible. We finally realized that the Mayor and council wanted to avoid making a decision. They wanted us to, in essence, get them off the hook. We decided that we had already compromised with the October agreement and that we were done negotiating and running up the legal bill. Now, maybe the city will have to go on the record on the issue. What a concept.

I wonder why after months and months, they are now going to make a decision. Could it be that the Mayor and some of the council are up for election in November 2007? Nah, politics would never play into it.

The bulldozer is gone and the stop work order is still posted at one of the houses. The trees still stand. Power to the people.

April Wedding Anniversaries

April 7, 1973: Monna Lee (Wilson) and Brian Maddy -- celebrating 34 years
April 20, 1974: Effie (Bernard) and Jim Blubaugh -- celebrating 33 years

Can this be possible? As flower girl in both of these wonderful events, I'm somehow thinking that the math must be wrong.

Pink Dogwoods in Canton

These dogwoods are in the block south of our building. They are always so pretty when they bloom and so dramatic when the leaves turn in the Fall. The city is about to extend the "streetscape" to that block. I fear for the trees. I don't trust that they will leave them.

April Birthdays

April 12 Debby Maddy Gines
April 30 Theone Christian Bernard

There must be more. Feel free to add them.