Dog Taxi Tackles Rock Creek Ripples

Dog Taxi loves herself some splashing water. And I am not talking about watching it from afar, or barking at it passively. No I mean she dives headlong into any breaking water to try and eat all the waves produced, by say, the ocean.

While we first noticed her craze at Dog Beach in Maryland, I’ve found that Dog Taxi will try the same water guzzling feat in Rock Creek:

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From Majesty to Mulch in Minutes

I bemoan the loss of any tree, no matter its age or placement. I feel that Washington does not have enough trees, which cool the city, absorb its rains, and make this a wonderful place to live. Yet life is tough for the urban forest, what with all the dangers like vehicular tree slaughter.

So when I see an old oak or elm, which stands proud and tall amongst the built environment, I am heartened. Yet when they fall, be by nature or by man, I am so very sad. And when they are cut down by the chain saw, I am beside myself with heartbreak:

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Prohibitive Ocean City Signage

Whenever I travel, I get a feel for a city from its public signs. Some places, like Barcelona or Paris, enjoy their signage, and make function bend to whimsical. In Ocean City, there was no joy in signage. It was all practical and very prohibitive.

Let’s look at what is not allowed, from just one sign on the Ocean City boardwalk which underlines its regulations with the bold Regulations Police Enforced…

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Grant Circle Vehicular Tree Slaughter

Recently I came across a crime scene in Grant Circle, and I am saddened and angered by its result – a needless death. One of the young trees was cut down in its prime by yet another speeding driver who drove through, instead of around, Grant Circle.

This vehicular tree slaughter took the life of a promising sapling. It also took any innocence that a person, or child, could be the next victim of a careless driver in Petworth.

Where are reflectors, rumble strips, speed humps, or at least working park lights – to slow drivers down and alert them that Grant Circle is ahead? Do we really need to graduate from vehicular tree slaughter to vehicular manslaughter before we get slowing on New Hampshire Avenue?

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Spring Clean: A New Back Yard

It took three truck-bending trips, but I just removed six thousand (6,000!) pounds of concrete from the back yard of my house. This was just the beginning of the rebirth of my lawn from post-industrial wasteland into a green oasis of beauty and serenity.

I did not start out to move so much concrete. At first, I just wanted to take out the sidewalk along my fence line, and replace it with a meandering path between a flower bed paralleling the fence, and through a yard of lush green grass. But with any household improvement, sh*t happened.

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