Shreveport City Council Begins to Take a Look at Neighborhood Speeding

According to KTBS, the public safety committee of the Shreveport City Council is taking a look at addressing speeding through residential neighborhoods.  This is a move in the right direction and long overdue:

One of the hottest topics at the meeting is the need to crack down on speeders through residential streets. "It's one of the top complaints that we get and it's something that affects public safety quite a bit," said Councilman Jeff Everson.

My personal experience with this is as a resident on a street that is a cut-through between two major arteries in Shreveport.  After watching people flying down our street at speeds well over the posted 25 mph speed limit, we began a campaign to get some help from the Shreveport Police Department and city officials.

We began with an open letter to various officials to simply come sit out in our yard, have a glass of tea, and watch the races.   We got some response from our Caddo Commission member, Matt Linn, which helped get the ball rolling toward some action.  I began doing some research on traffic calming techniques that have been used in other communities.  Then KTBS did a story on our Operation Checkered Flag campaign and by mid-October we had a stealth box on one of the utility poles which began gathering data for SPD.  Immediately after placing the box, we had radar officers writing tickets  -- a lot of tickets.  But then it stopped.  They wrote tickets for a few days and then left.

So I wrote another letter on December 8 to Chief Willie Shaw and asked that the radar officers please keep us in their rotation and noted that the speeding is still a major problem.  I acknowledge that this is a city-wide problem and we certainly don't expect to have an officer here 24/7; we just want to be kept in the rotation.  I also challenged other city officials to find a viable option in conjunction with the radar such as speed tables or rumble strips.  (Speed tables are not the same thing as speed bumps.)
In response to my second letter, SPD wrote to tell me that only 10% of the cars on my street were going ten miles per hour or above over the speed limit; I was told that 119 tickets were written by those radar officers but "not all of them were for speeding."  But, they did place another stealth box.

I wrote again questioning this data and requesting to see what the stealth box collected and posed ten other questions:

1. I find it simply stunning that only 10% of the traffic on our street is going “over ten mile per hour over the speed limit.” Is this for a certain time period? Which data box does this statistic come from? Is this statistic derived over 24 hours, a certain time of day, or a general average? Ten percent is a very low number based on what I’m observing. I would like to see the data collected from both boxes. Please let me know when would be a good time that I might come pick that up from you.

2. If the officers wrote 119 tickets, but “not all of them were speeding violations,” what was the probable cause for pulling those cars over? Were they speeding? What were the citations for? My neighbors and I saw officers here on average about 3 hours a day – sometimes two, sometimes four, so say three hours on average. Each time the officer wrote one ticket after another, seldom able to reposition his car before pulling over another violation. That squares with your 119 number, but not with the 10% number. I’m curious about that.

3. Your letter indicates that “approximately 10% …were driving ten mph above the posted limit” with one vehicle over 60 mph. Was that one vehicle the only one between October 4 and December 8 that was going sixty or above? Again, that doesn’t square with what I’ve seen. What time period was this? Is ten mph over the speed limit the acceptable speed? So the speed limit on my street is really 35 mph (the posted speed is 25 mph)? If that’s the case, what would we need to do to lower the speed limit? I’m fine with five mph over, really – thirty isn’t so bad, but 35 is excessive on this narrow street that has neighborhood kids and pets outside and street parking.

 (The number of drivers who don’t understand “failure to yield to oncoming traffic” is astonishing – sometimes this narrow street is a three-laner.

Some of my questions were, of course, outside the purview of the police department such as why 18-wheeler trucks are allowed to come through a narrow residential street.  This is where the City Council must be involved.

I received a very nice letter in response from Captain Cleat Temple who answered every one of my questions that he was able -- again, some were outside his area of enforcement.  But, we did get another radar officer for a couple of days who wrote a who bunch more tickets.

I'm glad to see that the City Council is at least recognizing that neighborhood speeding is a problem.  On October 7, Mrs. Jessie Bradley was killed by someone driving over 100 mph on a residential street; the driver ran into Mrs. Bradley's car as she was driving to a National Night Out gathering.  Simply tragic.  How many more lives must be lost or threatened before action is taken?

In Bossier City, I know that some neighborhoods have double fines for speeding in residential neighborhoods.  This is one action I proposed that the City Council examine for Shreveport.  There are many other traffic calming measures that can be taken depending on the street.  There is plenty of research out there that other communities have done that our City Council can draw upon.  According to KTBS:

City leaders want to increase the traffic fines in residential neighborhoods to deter those speeders. "Our neighborhoods are where our children play and where our elderly members are working in the yard, and there's a lot of people who are close to the street," Everson said. "If you have someone driving through at 60 miles per hour, it presents real danger. We get a lot of calls about certain areas, especially cut through streets."  

 Everson said many of Shreveport's neighboring communities have already made their traffic fines higher in residential areas, which has helped to cut down on instances of speeding in neighborhoods. "We're paying attention to that and looking at what we can do help keep our neighborhoods safer and keep those speeds at a level that works better within areas that people are living and calling their home."

I encourage the City Council to be vigilant in their study of this problem and to take quick action.  In our neighborhood, for example, our neighbors are outside daily working in yards, watching children play, socializing, and just doing things that people do outside in suburban neighborhoods. There are joggers on the road, bicyclists, and families pushing strollers.  We sit outside daily and see drivers obliviously flying down the street; sometimes we can even see them holding up their cell phones and texting while driving.  It's only a matter of time until another tragedy occurs in some neighborhood, a tragedy which we should make some attempt to avert.

My offer from October stands:  any one of the City Council members, or all of them, are welcome to come sit, have a glass of tea, meet the neighbors, and watch the races.  They're still speeding with abandon even as we speak.

Residential Raceway Update

We've had a responsive week on our traffic problem on the residential raceway.  We've had Caddo Commission member Matthew Linn out twice, Gerry May from KTBS out several times, and we've had a radar cop for two days for a total of about five or six hours.

And yet, they speed on.

KTBS did a story on our checkered flag campaign.

The radar box that SPD attached to a utility pole is still hanging out, gathering data.  I sure wish I could see the reports it generates.

The officer sat out and ran radar Thursday afternoon for about three hours and he wrote tickets as fast as he could.  He didn't sit idle more than one or two minutes between tickets before another zoomed by.  Same on Friday: he was here about two hours on Friday. I don't think they run radar weekends or after five because he hasn't been back.  We hope he returns tomorrow -- with friends.  I know how shorthanded SPD is and we appreciate their response and hope it continues.

We've backed off the checkered flag action now that SPD is running radar.  I think most people generally don't realize how fast they are going but there are a few that speed by incredibly fast and when we wave at them or yell at them to slow down, they just go faster to prove they can.  The only negative comment we got on the KTBS piece is that we are control freaks.

I'm continuing my efforts at slowing people down in absence of the radar man. I thought about traffic shaming.  This car, for example...

...is going well over 40.

So is this one.

And this one.

And this one.

And this one.

I could do that all day long.  All of those (and more) were taken in one hour's time this morning and they're all over 30.  But you can't tell how fast they're going in a still photo, and you really can't tell in the videos I did, either.  That's what that data box is for that SPD installed.  And that's why I sure wish I could see those reports!

In the end, I guess people are just going to continue to use the street as a raceway.  I hope that it doesn't take a tragedy to get them to slow down.  One of my neighbors puts orange traffic cones a couple of feet off his curb when his kids play outside, just to warn people to slow down.

I'm doing more research on traffic calming and various ways to get people to slow down.  The biggest factor will be getting my neighbors to stand up and fight this battle with us.  The old Squeaky Wheel rule, you know.

Meanwhile, the race is on.

Update on Residential Drag Races: Only one response from my pleas to city officials

Last week I posted an open letter (and mailed hard copies) to SPD Chief Willie Shaw, Councilman Oliver Jenkins, Caddo Commission member Matthew Linn, and Otis Jones, Jr., Director of Transportation for Caddo Parish School Board, regarding the speeding issue on my residential street.

The only person who has bothered to respond is Matthew Linn - a courtesy for which I'm very grateful.

From the others?  Crickets.  Nothing.  Not an email, not a letter, not even a phone call.

Meanwhile, the drag races along my residential street continue.

So I've started doing some research because I think if you're going to gripe about a problem then you should at least be able to offer a solution.

There is something called Traffic Calming which works quite well in cities both in the U.S. and Europe.

Some of the genius of Dutch and other European methods is not the use of signage and enforcement to slow traffic, but literally a different road design, and that includes putting s#! in the way. 

It is, in essence what my friend across the street was doing when she placed the huge green city garbage can in the middle of the road.  And truthfully, that's the only thing that has worked so far.

In addition to excessive speeds, we also have a huge volume of traffic as this street is used as a cut through to avoid traffic on two major arteries nearby.  I've been counting cars through the day - taking five-minute interval counts every half hour to get an average of about 1800 cars a day.  This is about the same number of cars that Ockley gets, just off of Kings Highway.  Ockley is wide and zoned for 35 mph, with painted center lines. There are four lanes which in practice is two wide driving lanes and a parking lane on each side.

In contrast, our street is zoned for 25 mph, is a narrow two lane blacktop with no center line and has numerous residents who park their cars in the road.  (I can't even tell you how many of these have been hit.)    So, the volume of traffic is a problem.

In addition to the 1800 cars, trucks, and SUVs that zoom through here, we also have 18-wheeler trucks come through to make deliveries to the business areas that border our once quiet neighborhood.  There is no way an 18-wheeler should be zooming down this street, yet there is no signage that says not to, so what's to stop them?  There also seems to be a large number of lawn service companies with trailers full of equipment that have no qualms about swerving around parked cars dragging their loads behind them.

Yesterday we came VERY close to seeing a collision between a UPS truck and a sky blue BMW.

So, given all this, and the lack of support from city officials, (with the exception of Mr. Linn- God bless him), perhaps my neighbors and I need to get more vocal about our problem.  Perhaps we need to appear at City Council meetings and engage the media to make ourselves heard.  Perhaps my neighbor needs to continue putting things in the road to forcibly slow the traffic down and maybe some tree limbs need to "fall" into the street.  Some natural speed bumps.

We've taken to standing on the curb with checkered flags just to let the speeders know they "won the

race" and can slow down.

(As I write this a taxi cab just flew down the street at 55 mph).

As I've been talking to people about this problem, I've learned that it's a city-wide problem.  Do they even write tickets anymore?  Why are drivers in such a hurry?  Slow down!  Life is passing you by fast enough -- at least slow down and enjoy the view.  Quit zooming down my street while texting.  Watch out for children and animals.

What to do?

To help us out, I suggest that the city post officers here at random times to run radar.  Rumble strips might help, and speed tables would help.  In some areas, roundabouts help, but I don't think that's viable for my street.

Until the city gets on board to help us, there may just be some civil disobedience going on.  Nothing harmful, mind you.  No spikes in the road or anything like that.  But maybe a big green trash can.

Open Letter to Willie Shaw, Matt Linn, Oliver Jenkins, and Otis Jones, Jr.

Chief Willie Shaw
Shreveport Police Department

Oliver Jenkins
Shreveport City Council, District C Representative

Matthew Linn
Shreveport City Commission, District 4

Otis Jones, Jr.
CPSB Director of Transportation

 RE: Traffic Concern & Speed Limit Violations in Residential Neighborhood


On behalf of myself and many of my neighbors, I find it necessary to report a serious concern regarding speed violations on our residential street. It has become a critical problem and will get even worse as the construction begins on the Youree/Kings Highway intersection.

For years people have used our residential street as a cut-through when traffic backs up on Kings. This will get much, much worse once the construction on that major intersection reaches its peak. That’s a temporary problem lasting only as long as the construction, but it will exacerbate our already very critical problem of speeding on this street.

Our neighborhood has many young children that play outside in the afternoons and that walk home from school after being dropped off by the school bus. Throughout the day, but worse at peak traffic times, the majority of people driving down our street are driving well over the speed limit. It is absolutely not uncommon to see cars driving 40 and 50 miles an hour in our 25 mph speed zone and sometimes worse than that.

Even school buses are guilty: there is one that comes through here so fast we haven’t been able to get the number to call and report him.

The problem is so bad that my neighbors have resorted to either putting garbage cans in the road to slow people down or standing on the curb yelling at people to slow down. A couple of weeks ago, one woman was trying to catch a loose dog and in order to keep cars from hitting him, she stood in the middle of the street waving her arms so cars would slow down. This is all very dangerous and I hate to think what would happen to a child who darted out into the road as kids have been known to do.

Sitting outside in the late afternoon and early evening is like watching the drag races or traffic on an interstate.

I know that SPD is seriously understaffed and that officers are needed in high crime areas, but we would certainly be grateful if this serious problem could be addressed before something disastrous happens.

I invite all of you to contact me for an invitation to sit in the swing under my magnolia tree, sip some iced tea, and watch this circus.  Plan to come in the hours right around lunch time or from about 3:30 or 4:00 to 6 or 7:00.  Friday evenings are especially wild!  But any time is  sufficient to see the show; in fact Sunday morning one gentleman slammed on his brakes, burning rubber in the road as he backed up to confront a group of us waving our arms for him to slow down!

I know that people speed all over town and there's nothing special about our case except that this construction (much needed, I might add) is making our problem even worse than usual; the level of frustration among the people that live on this street is at a breaking point which contributes to the danger.

I've sent a version of this post in a letter to all of your offices and I have also emailed it to you all.  My contact information is therein and my email is on the sidebar of this blog as well.  Feel free to come watch anytime, and see for yourself.

Thanks in advance for your help.

The Fastest Three Months of the Year

That was the fastest three months I've ever seen.  It flew by.

I am referring, of course, to the Centenary Gents baseball season which began February 8 and ended this past weekend.  Oh, there are a couple of playoff games left -- it's not completely over, but those games are in Texas.  The 2014 season at Shehee stadium is finished.

And I'm sad.  I miss them already.

There is nothing like baseball to herald in spring.  After the long, cold winter (and we had a few cold days down here in Shreveport!), and the endless dull gray skies, it is pure joy to walk into the baseball complex to bright green grass and the players warming up on the field.

Overzealous, perhaps, Steve and I showed up at a couple of those February games a little unprepared for the cold wind that left me frozen by the end of the ninth.  By the April 22 game the girls were all in shorts, tanks, and sandals soaking up the sun while others took shelter from the blazing sun under umbrellas.

The April 12 game against Austin College was blessed with perfect weather.  We had a mild 75 degrees and a mellow breeze that whistled gently as it blew through the protective netting above us. That was the first game where you could discern the scent of sunscreen in the air from the fans in the bleachers. Centenary won both games that day.

Steve and I started following the team last year after talking about it for ages.  We finally got around to going and have been hooked ever since.  For years I would sit on my deck or in my swing under the magnolia tree in the front yard and listen to the ping of bats as the team practiced.  Sometimes I could hear the music from the PA system as they practiced.  The stadium is within easy walking distance from my house, and we have indeed walked to a couple of games (not the cold ones).

Centenary was in a sort of growing year this year; they lost some good seniors last year and so there were several new players this year.  In fact, there were only three seniors on the roster this year.  They're three pretty good ones though:  first baseman Mark Martinez plays with all of his heart.  At 6'1" and 220 lbs., he's not the fastest runner on the team but when he connects with his bat, that ball just soars.  He's a dynamite first baseman and it will be odd seeing someone else at that position next year.  One of the highlights for me this year was when Mark hit a triple against Austin College; like I said, he's not the fastest runner on the team, and I think everyone in the stands was cheering for him as he breathlessly arrived safely at third.

Another senior saying goodbye this year is outfielder and sometime pitcher Nic Parrott.  We saw Nic sail a couple of beautiful homers this year.  Also leaving this year is pitcher Jake McFarland.  I hope they're all on to bright futures and take good memories of their time at Centenary with them.

Next season looks pretty good as Centenary retains many players from the current roster.  Assuming they all come back, and there are a few new recruits to replace the departing seniors, it should be an awesome team.  There was some great hitting this year and the pitchers have been fun to watch.  Very promising is sophomore pitcher Holden Novak:  he's a tall, lean, 6'4" and he prowls all over that mound as he prepares to take charge with his arsenal of pitches.  He's got a mean fast ball, and a great curve ball.  He's exciting to watch.

I'm also looking forward to watching Christian Sebastien (C-Bass) for one more year before he moves on.  He's a very powerful and athletic player who has no problem with his bats.  Outfielder Chris Jones is faster than lightening and he makes plays happen.  As a freshman, he plays with a great deal of confidence and he will steal a base if you don't watch him!

We've had a grand time watching "our boys" this year.  The fans are great and we've met some really nice people, most of whom seem surprised, and pleased, that we are just neighborhood riff-raff showing up to watch baseball.  "Who's your son?" we get asked all the time.  They're all our boys now.  (My daughter graduated from there, if that counts.)

And the dogs.  Oh my, the dogs.  There's the lady with the yellow retriever and the brindle boxer - beautiful dogs!  And Izzy!  (Izzie?), the wonder dog!  She's just precious.  There are dogs of all sizes that come out
with their owners to watch the game.  Most of them just go to sleep, some watch the other dogs, and some beg to retrieve the balls that sail overhead toward the snack bar or the drainage ditch.  Every time a ball fouls out of bounds by the batting cages you can hear a thunder of sneakered feet as little boys run with their gloves to get it first.

The students that come out to watch their friends play are first class.  A highlight of the season for me, and I still laugh about it, was the basketball team who comes out to support the baseball team.  The baseball team does the same for them, and there's a tradition of heckling the other team that goes on.  Sometimes, I guess, people get a little sensitive about their kids out there on the field, and on one occasion (team shall remain nameless!), some mamas got mad at the heckling.  I have to admit, it might have been a little far when our basketball players were ribbing one of the guys on the opposing team about being, well, vertically challenged.  "Hey!  You need some phone books to stand on while you bat?"  "Hey ump!  How can you call a strike - he's so short the strike zone is too small!"  "Do you need a Fisher Price bat?"  Yeah, it was pretty intense and there was some mama drama, but when the basketball team showed up the next day for Game 2 with a dry erase board depicting a ruler and a sign that said, "You must be this tall to bat," well, you had to be there.  But it was pretty funny.

I can't believe the season is done.  I have to wait until next year for my peanuts and diet Coke, kicked back in my seat behind home plate (did I mention it's absolutely free to get in?), listening to horrible country music during warm-ups and between innings.  Really, I can live the rest of my life without Joe Diffey's John Deere Greene, but then again, it now has a sort of soft spot in my heart.  You can occasionally hear a fan or two holler at the box when they play the same old songs.  Last week during an especially tense game against Trinity, the person doing music played Jason Aldean's See You When I See You and a girl turned around and yelled "Quit playing the depressing music!  We're trying to win a game here!"  It was pretty funny.  All in good fun.

Yes, the sights and sounds of Centenary Gents baseball is over for now.  It's been a wonderful season, and we'll be back next February.  With blankets.  And until then, I'll always think of you, Centenary, when I hear this one:

Leaves and Acorns

<------- is what I did yesterday and today.  I raked up 17 bags of leaves (and acorns), filled two trashcans with sticks, pruned three crape myrtle trees and blew of the driveway twice.

As I was raking today the acorns were falling so fast it sounded like popcorn in a microwave.   Like hail hitting the cars.

Meh.

Time for a beer.

Raccoon Drama

Here I am all ready to surf today's news when Steve comes in and tells me about an Animal Control truck across the street..."with CAGES!"

We have neighborhood raccoons so this scares me a little.  The raccoons are quite domesticated and eat cat food off our porches.  I can't count how many evenings Steve and I sit outside with two of our neighbors across the street just talking and watching the neighborhood and those raccoons will come out and walk right up to us.  We've had many a laugh watching the raccoons.

One night our neighbor Julie had a pizza box sitting there and a raccoon walked right on up to the box expecting his slice.

We enjoy watching them.  They're cute.  I know the whole "they may have RABIES!" thing.  I get it.  Someone apparently called animal control.  We know who it was.

So I called our neighbor Nancy who promptly goes outside and confronts the Animal Control guy.  He explained that he isn't going to euthanize them and that if he catches our neighborhood charity cat, Peter, he'll let him go.  The raccoons will be relocated.

My money is on the raccoons.  If you've got Iams cat food and a bowl of water on a porch, why would you go into a stupid trap?

Raccoon Drama.

Adventures in Yard Sales - Part 3

Oh thank goodness it's over!  It wasn't as crazy as the yard sale we had ten years ago and for that I am thankful.

A quick summation.  I got up at 4 and very slowly got dressed.  You'll remember that as soon as I'd finished putting my garage sale junk out yesterday I fell off my foot and sprained my ankle.  (And trust me, I had NOT been drinking ... yet).  I kept it iced most of the evening yesterday and slept with an Ace bandage on it.  When I unwrapped it this morning it is still grotesquely swollen and getting pretty colorful (see photo - trust me, my foot is not normally that puffy).  Anyway, I got dressed and put on my walking boot (a souvenir from the last time I sprained my ankle) and headed outside to finish setting up.

Our first customer showed up an hour early, at 6, with his flashlight.  He was sympathetic to my plight as I hobbled around setting out last minute junk.  Donny & Gena weren't out yet - when Donny said 7, he meant 7.  The man waited, peering through the slats of Donny's wood fence every so often to see what was back there.  Gena finally came out and we got things going.

There is a double driveway between our two houses so we were wandering back and forth from one to the other and it was easy for buyers to do the same.  It's funny how yard sales go - as I've said, last time we met some really strange folks, but this time we met lots of really nice people.  One lady even had an Army connection with Steve.  They'd been stationed at the same base at the same time.  They talked Army stuff for a long time and had a good visit.  She bought a lot of stuff from both sales and we ended up exchanging phone numbers before she left.

I guess the oddest customer wasn't really a customer at all, but a fellow driving down the street on his bicycle who wanted to know if we had an air pump for his low tire. 

It was hot as blazes out there and I spent most of the morning sitting in my lawn chair with my gimp foot propped up on an old 19" TV I was selling.  I thought I might get some pity sales but I don't think I did.  Feel free to hit the tip jar and contribute to my pity party.   One lady did regale me with tales of her friend's recent foot surgery which required seven pins in her foot.  I didn't feel so bad after that.

I sold a lot of DVDs, a few books, a couple of purses, some pots, pans, and skillets,  a weedeater, some minor knick knacks, some fish and turtle food, some weights, a couple of board games...by the end of the day I ended up clearing about $150. 

Donny and Gena did slightly better because he made a late sale of about $100 in albums.  I think they ended up clearing about $250 or so.

The worst part of it all was putting that junk back up.  Some of it I threw out, but most of it we just stored in plastic tubs and put back in the garage.  Steve thinks he wants to do this again in the fall when it cools off some.  I guess it'll be okay as long as I don't fall off my foot again.

Was it worth it?  I don't know.  It was a lot of work, it was hot, I've hobbled myself for several days (or weeks) to come, but I did meet some nice people.  I cleaned out a lot of crap I didn't need anymore.  We shared camaraderie with the neighbors (we all went out to Tacomania for lunch after the sale).  I guess it was worth it.  Do I want to do it again?    Not any time soon!

Adventures in Yard Sales - Part 2

We're still on schedule to have this yard sale tomorrow morning.  As I reported earlier, we've spent the whole week cleaning out, sorting, washing, pricing junk for the yard sale.

This photo is part of my spread.  Donny and Gena have theirs out too but I didn't take a picture.  I don't have all mine out yet because some of it will go outside the locked gate in the morning; what's out now is secured behind a gate for the night. 

And I sprained my ankle.

Yeah.  Tell me why this crap happens to me?  I'm working like a busy bee all afternoon in the 100 degree heat getting this mess set up and around 4:30 I rolled my right ankle and hit the ground.  It quickly puffed up to the size of a small orange.  The Teenager helped me into the house where Steve came and fixed me up with an ice bag. 

And here I sit.

This should be interesting.

Early predictions?  Donny and Gena will crush me again in dollar totals at the end of the day.  He has 300 classic albums for sale, a multi-component stereo system he's asking $600 for (and that's his bottom line), a $150 rug (never used), a $200 antique clock...plus the usual garage sale crap like coffee mugs and clothes.  They do have some nice looking stuff over there.

I don't have anything over $25 in my haul. 

Going to ice the ankle for a while.  Updates tomorrow.  Live blogging a garage sale.  How lame. 

Adventures in Yard Sales - Part I

My phone rang yesterday morning:  "Pat, we're going to have a garage sale this weekend.  Get your stuff out."  The dread in Gena's voice voice was palpable.

Omigod.

My next door neighbors have decided it's time for us to bite the bullet and have another garage sale, so Steve and I have been busy digging out, cleaning out, sorting, pricing, washing, and organizing all the junk we want to get rid of.  Between the combining of our two households, we have a lot of junk and duplicate items.

I like to go to estate sales and the occasional yard sale, as regular readers know, but having one is something I so hate to do.  It's not the work involved, or the prep.  Let me give you an example of how our luck runs with yard sales.

My neighbors, Donny & Gena (you remember them - Taz's parents), and I joined together about ten years ago for a yard sale.  We worked all week long dragging stuff out of closets and cabinets.  I sat on the living room floor for hours pricing clothes.  We set up as much as we could the night before - got clothes racks ready and tables.  Donny even mowed the grass so it all looked nice.  We put our signs out and I think we even put an ad in the paper.  We were to start at 6 a.m.

On the big day I set my alarm for 4:30 so I could shower and get my junk hauled outside and set up.  When I looked outside at 5 a.m., there were people poking around outside with flashlights.  There wasn't anything out there yet, but there they were, looking around the side of the houses and in the backyard to see where we'd stashed our stuff.  I called Gena and we got a move on.

Buyers come in waves at these things.  You either have nobody looking through your junk or you have twenty people at once.

We were doing pretty good early on.  Lots of customers and everyone was pretty nice.  Donny & Gena had some high ticket items and did really well; they had an oriental folding screen that he got $300 for.  I was jealous.  All my junk was $1.00, $0.50;  I think my highest priced thing was $5.00 and I got haggled down from that. 

As the morning goes on you get the lags between customers and then they all want to haggle.  I realize that's part of the deal, but when you're asking $5.00 for a lined, suede coat in great condition, and someone says, "Will you take $1.00?", you've got to wonder..."is this even worth it?"

About 10:30 a battered, rusted out car pulled up and two adults and a child got out.  The woman was in shorts and the man was in cut-off overalls with no shirt underneath.  The child was about eight and had nothing on but a diaper.  They all were covered in scabs and had dirt in the folds of their skin.  They browsed, visited a little, and seemed in no rush to go anywhere.  They bought a coffee mug.

By this time, not quite 11, it was already hot and humid outside.  I had refolded, straightened merchandise, rearranged things for the umpeenth time.  Gena and I got sidewalk chalk and drew arrows in the street pointing to our sale to drum up more customers.

A car with seven people pulled up, grazed through the stuff, complained because we didn't have drinks, and wanted a $0.25 ashtray for $0.10 because it had a chip in it. 

Then the lady drove up who wanted to know if we had any S&M items.

That's when Gena and I started drinking.

She bought an entire box of Donny's old Playboy magazines.  

By that time, the hagglers didn't bother me.  "Will you take $0.50 for this stack of albums?"

"Sure.  No problem."

In the end I think I made about $50.00, barely enough to cover my part of the newspaper ad.  Donny and Gena did much better at about $800. I think there's an art to pricing that I haven't figured out yet. 

Whatever we had left Donny just set out nice and neat on the curb with a sign that said "Free!" and we went inside.  By the end of the day it was all gone.  All of it.

Anyway, we're going to give it another go.  It took both of us about ten years to get over that last experience and we might be crazy to do it again, but here we go. 

Stay tuned for Part II Saturday.

Grouchy Rant

I'm too grouchy to blog today.  Ever have one of "those days"?  I'm on vacation!  I shouldn't be this ornery!  I can't even blame it on unruly teenagers!

I had to go to the doctor today for simple lab work for my annual checkup.  I had a 10:00 appointment to get blood drawn.  I had to wait 30 minutes and then the tech couldn't find the vein, had to stick me twice and now I'm bruised.

My neighbors (whom I like very much and we're good friends) had a tree trimmed.  A big one.  This was a necessary thing.  But the dumb trimmers stacked the limbs on the city property 8 to 10 feet high and the length of the property and now I can't see to back out of my driveway.  I called the city to see if they could pick them up and was told I'd be put "on the list."  The dreaded list.  The neighbors on the other side of this neighbor have been "on the list" for three weeks.  They had to cut up a tree that fell during a storm three weeks ago.  Those limbs are all dead and brown now.

Well, so I called my neighbor and asked him if he could call the city also and that might speed things up.  He said the tree guy is going to pick them up but it might be a week.  Might be tomorrow; might be a week.  Meanwhile, we have to park on the street so we can come and go, or else have someone else run interference when we back out of the driveway.

Normally things like that I just take in stride and don't get ruffled.  I'm very easy going.  But my street is pretty busy - people use it as a cut-through to avoid a busy traffic intersection nearby.  Can't see around the limbs.  Gonna get hit.  Danger.

So I get online looking to distract my aggression and it only gets worse.  Obama and the Democrats continue to run this country into the ground.  What is he thinking offering a bailout for Greece when we can't even manage our own affairs?

And WTF is wrong with the Government Motors CEO who wants to add a dollar a gallon tax on gasoline to force people into more fuel efficient cars?  I'm going to drive my V-8 Crown Vic until the damn wheels fall off.

And as God as my witness, I'm stocking up on incandescent light bulbs as fast as I can.  Damn nanny state Democrats trying to tell me what kind of light bulb to use.  Instead of my incandescent bulb, you want me to use a squirrely bulb that puts out weak light and requires three pages of EPA instructions on what to do if you break one in your house?   And yes, I know GWB signed this stupid law but it was still stupid.  Still is stupid.  I bought a case of light bulbs today.

Meanwhile, we still have to put up with Obama's hypocrisy and arrogance, his constant blaming Bush for things unless it's something that suits him.  Victor Davis Hanson sums up the current state of affairs:

The stock market is sliding. Gas and food prices are soaring. The housing market is as bad as it has been for the last three years. Unemployment is back over 9 percent. Economic growth is anemic. The national debt has risen $5 trillion in just three years. This year’s $1.6 trillion budget deficit is not stimulating anything but uncertainty and despair. Medicare and Social Security are not sustainable at present rates of payouts. Record numbers of Americans draw food stamps and unemployment insurance. An unpopular Obamacare has not even been implemented yet, and the administration has already granted 1,400 exemptions from it.

But it's all Bush's fault.   Still.

See?  I'm too grouchy to blog today.

On another note, the raccoons in the neighborhood are multiplying!  Two babies crawling around The Teenager's car today (notice: the car is parked on the street because he can't see to get out of the driveway safely).  The babies made me nervous crawling up into the undercarriage of his car, but they came out, got pretty close to me, then scurried across the street.

It's five o'clock somewhere.  I think I need to go have a beer and chill out.

Help Save Taz!

Bumped to the top (posted 3/14/2010)

Call for help!

This is Taz. Taz belongs to my next door neighbors and good friends, Donny and Gena. This photo is of him when he was a puppy, last February. Donny got Taz at the pound for Gena for a Valentine's Day present; they had recently lost their first dog, Cocoa, to old age.

Taz has been a joy - he's part Chow and part Shepherd and crazy as they come. He's a smart dog, though; Donny has taught him how to pick up the morning paper from the curb every day. Rain or shine, Taz bounds out to the sidewalk and fetches the paper.

Except now Taz doesn't run anywhere. It turns out that he was born with a defect to his back legs which means without surgery on them, he'll be crippled, unable to walk, and probably have to be put down. Donny and Gena managed the $1200 for the first leg, but then something went wrong and they had to go back in this past week and do some correction. Another $700.

We're hoping this surgery takes. Then once he's healed, hopefully the other leg can be done.

Gena tells me it's very, very hard to keep a Chow/Shepherd puppy quiet and still so his leg can heal. I can only imagine.

I'm posting this because they need some help with saving this dog. The expense has become such that they may not be able to do the second leg. Should this first leg need more surgery, they'll quite possibly have to put him down. I just can't bear to see that happen. He's such a sweet dog and it's not his fault that his legs aren't perfect.

I'll post a more current picture of him in a day or two - right now they are trying to keep him very still and I don't want to excite him by poking around with my camera.

I have about $25 in my PayPal account right now. I'm donating it to the Taz Fund and am asking anyone else who wants to help save this dog to contribute whatever you can. Every Single Dime will go to Taz's medical expenses along with your good wishes.

Some people will say, "He's just a dog, for cryin' out loud!" but I'm a dog lover and it breaks my heart to see him try to limp across the yard. The vet believes they can fix this, given the chance, and he can live a happy dog life with four good legs!

So c'mon folks - hit the button below, or in the sidebar!

Update: Links hopefully fixed - thanks Trish for the heads up and the generous donation! You rock!
Update II: Links not working consistently - use the sidebar button, or the one below!
Update III: Thanks, Red! Taz & his parents are grateful!

Update IV: HUGE Thanks to Ms. Johnson in Florida! Many warm fuzzy puppy kisses!

Saturday in the Neighborhood

It was a beautiful day today in Shreveport! Clear blue sky and a nice warm day! I really needed to do some yard work but I didn't; instead I headed over to my mom's and got her outside. We sat on her porch in the sun for an hour or so while I cooked a roast for her. We talked catty about the neighbors and had a nice afternoon.

This evening Steve and I are grilling ribeyes and laying low. He's fighting a crazy headache and I'm working on about four hours sleep - not nearly enough for me.

After I got home from mom's, my neighbor came over and knocked on my door; Eric said, "Come look at my new car!" He was beaming with the pride that only your very own first new car can provide! It's a Volkswagon CC. Eric is the son of my dear neighbors, Donny and Gena; he's ... 24? Maybe? I'm not sure. 23? Eric, how old are you?! Anyway, Eric has been driving one of those "well at least it's paid for" kind of cars for a few years now, and this is his first brand new car. And it's a beauty! Looks fast just sitting still! HUGE trunk - HUGE! Kickin' stereo! With XM radio! I'm thrilled for him! But I think his dad might be asking to borrow it from time to time - I think Donny is jealous! "Uh, Eric! Can I have the keys?!"

We all stood out in the driveway and admired the car for a while (had to get the book out to find out how to open the hood; and did you know these new cars don't come with "keys" but with - gadget-looking-things instead?) then Eric took charge of his new wheels and zoomed off to the Mudbugs hockey game. Godspeed!

We have no Super Bowl plans tomorrow. I bought football squares at work and unless fives, eights, and twos are good numbers, I'm not expecting to win. I will make hot wings and guacamole though and we will watch the commercials! I don't really care who wins. Unless they score a five, eight or two.

The Wailing Wall

This is just a WTF moment for me. It's not just me, it's my neighbor too. Otherwise I might think I'm being overly critical. In fact, my neighbor Donny is the one who raised this eyesore to a new level for me. Ever since he mentioned it to me TWO YEARS AGO it's been a pet peeve. This green WALL, wait, no -- this PARTIALLY green wall is the gateway to my neighborhood. It belongs to a Mexican restaurant at the end of the street. On more than one occasion Donny and I have threatened to sneak down there in the dark of night and paint the whole thing ourselves (and we probably would NOT choose baby-puke green). While we're at it, I might take my hedgeclippers and chop down the tangle of growth at the end of the thing. Jimmy Hoffa could be in there.

Dear Mexican Restaurant: I just wonder if someone could tell me at what moment do you decide, "I'm not going to finish painting this wall." You ran out of paint? Here's my Sears card - go get some more! This has been like this for TWO YEARS! Do you seriously not see this when you drive into the parking lot each day? Does this not reflect in a negative fashion on your restaurant? Do you not CARE what your neighbors think of you? PAINT THE WALL!