Trashy Update:

The box spring was removed from our front curb...and not by the bulk-trash truck! We think our neighbor across the street took it, because he was outside when we carried it to the curb and remarked, "Why, HELLO there." At the time we thought he was addressing us, but it looks like his greetings were actually intended for the box spring he was planning to swipe. Enjoy it, neighbor!

Bulk Trash

Our neighbor decided to cut down a small forest. Why? We do not know.

On our evening jaunt around the neighborhood, Roland and I happened upon a rare treat: looking through our neighbor's garbage. Okay, not their actual garbage full of banana peels and coffee grounds -- just the bulk trash they decided to put out on the curb for pick-up. Bulk trash pick-up is the last week of every month here, and there are very specific guidelines for what does and what does NOT qualify for pick-up:

OK: large limbs, shrubbery, bagged leaves (in sealed bags with a maximum 50 gallon capacity), furniture, appliances, mattresses and box springs

NOT OK: bagged grass clippings, new construction or remodeling materials such as lumber or roofing materials, bricks, concrete, rocks, dirt, paint, oil and hazardous containers

Do not ask me why a bag of leaves is acceptable but leaving a a bag of grass clippings outside for pick-up can carry a hefty fine of up to $200. Are they really opening the bags to check and make sure there's no grass in there?

Also, many people seem to see bulk-trash pick-up as an excuse to throw away regular sized items that could easily fit in their 90-gallon standard issue trash cans/recycle bins (weekly trash collection occurs in the alleys every Tuesday). Is this allowed? The rules don't explicitly prohibit it, but I'm sure it's annoying for the bulk trash staff, who are already probably having to deal with bags of prohibited grass clippings.

Then there are people like our neighbor, who apparently cut down half the limbs on his oak trees just to celebrate bulk trash pick-up day (picture above). 

Luckily, all this trash reminded us that we had our first OK contribution to bulk pick-up, the box spring from our old bed set-up that we unsuccessfully tried to donate for several months. Tip: The Dallas Salvation Army will NOT take queen & king sized box springs without an accompanying mattress. After convincing Roland that he did not need to do any "unwelding" to the springs to break it down, we carried it out to curb where it will hopefully be the topic of someone else's blog post.

Roland's Birthday Weekend, in iPhone Pictures

1. Roland's Birthday Popover - eggs, milk, flour - and a little rum (berries and sugar on top)
2. Birthday Eve lunch at R+D Kitchen
3. Looking suave with leftovers in the ritzy Highland Park area of Dallas

4. Sprinkles Cupcakes for a birthday treat
5. Coconut and key lime cupcakes, before they started melting in the 100 degree heat.
6. "The first duty of a cupcake is to be lemon-flavored." Key lime passed the test as well.

7. At Roland's parents for Sunday dinner/family birthday celebration
8. A full dozen beautiful eggs from Roland's sister. Fresh from her backyard chickens!
9. Traditional chocolate birthday cake made by R's dad. There has been some version of this cake (with the same sugar letters) every year.


Happy Birthday, Husby!

Dedicated to the neighborhood stray cat, who is mad at us

We may not have any pets in the Son family, but that's not to say we don't love animals.

Exhibit A: We like to watch the occasional rousing match between swine & cephalopod.

Exhibit B: We have great respect for exotic animals, even when they're taxidermied camels from the 1970's with creepy smiles for sale in an antique store.

 Exhibit C: And who wouldn't love a taxidermied otter?

Oh, Sweet Mama, your Daddy's got them Deep Ellum Blues...

A couple of weeks ago R and I took the DART (metro) way down to South Dallas for the Deep Ellum Arts Festival:

Conclusion: It was really damn crowded. Also, I was disappointed that most of the "art" was mass produced, imported from China and marked up 1000%. I was looking forward to handmade local artisan wares!
The most exciting (and terrifying) part about the festival happened right after we hopped off the DART and were waiting at the station with a crowd of people to cross the street. A man in a tie-dyed shirt coming back from the festival (who had apparently partaken in the copious amounts of alcohol available there), started running towards us to catch the train, and didn't see that another one was headed into the station right towards him. It was moving at quite a steady clip, let me tell you, and this guy was not in good shape. He seemed to be completely oblivious, and when it became clear that he had no intention of waiting for the train to pass, Roland cried out, "Stop! Dude, wait!" and suddenly the crowd all freaked out and started yelling helpful things like, "Ohmygod! You're not going to make it!" and "You're going to die!!!!" This snapped our oblivious friend back into reality as he became abruptly frantic and tried to run even faster. Advice: Do NOT try to outrun a train if you are a drunk old hippie. Or really, if you are anyone. Just wait for the train to go by.
Thankfully, the train operator saw the commotion and slammed on his brakes just as the guy ludicrously attempted to leap over the tracks, tripping over his feet and falling to the ground in the process. The crowd pulled him the rest of the way to safety, and the DART train operator stopped anyway just to show everyone that he totally could have averted disaster even if Old Tie-Dye hadn't tripped his way across the tracks.

Anyway, maybe it was because we came very close to seeing a guy get hit by a train that the festival didn't seem as exciting as it could have been. After 45 minutes of being pushed around in a throng of art-ogling Dallasites, we decided to ride the train back to Uptown and get a pizza at a New York Style Pizzeria called Grimaldi's. We ate most of it outside with a couple of beers while we people-watched. It was the best part of the day!

Jalepeños and onions on Kate's girl half, Sausage and onions on Roland's boy half.

Please stop terrorizing us!

The ants are in our shower now. Nowhere else as far as I can tell, just the shower. Online sources point towards a nest somehwere under the house near the pipes. I have already bought little ant poison pebbles and sprinkled them around the house's perimeter, but these shower ants have somehow evaded destruction. Help! I need advice on what to try next. Roland does NOT want to call an exterminator. What other options do we have?

Spring is here!

Spring is officially here in Texas, and the weather has been absolutely perfect. We invited Ben and Rosemary over last night to celebrate the changing of the seasons with a barbecue.

During the barbecue, Rosemary found the giant red "S" that I have recently acquired from an old sign at work. I'd like to hang it somewhere prominent, like in the kitchen or the living room, but Roland suggests the garage. Thoughts?

Lastly, we got a glimpse of our fickle friend, Ballsina the cat. She is a stray, left here (along with several other cats) by someone that used to live in the area and couldn't be bothered to take care of their pets anymore. :( Ballsina, along with her brother, pretty much have the run of the neighborhood. They climb fences, and as seen here, jump onto roofs so they can bird watch from a better vantage point.