Summertime and the Living is Easy

This is our first attempt at something I have seen on other blogs: an open thread with no topic at all. Of course this being OrangePolitics, I hope you will keep it local. What issues are on your mind?

...What's your favorite way to ease the pain of the students' return each fall? Are they like a plague of locusts descending on our summer buzz, or are they re-invigorating us from our heat-induced stupor?

...Have the forces of evil been on hiatus, or are they still quietly plotting Chapel Hill's demise? ;-)

...Since the Chapel Hill News saw fit to cover what some of our elected officials did on their vacations, feel free to share your own stories, book reports, etc.

... Have fun!

Issues: 

Comments

Has anyone else noticed the scarcity of butterflies this year? I know this doesn't sound political, but given our EPA air quality issue, I am wondering if that could be an explanation for why my butterfly garden is so thankful for the bees and the goldfinches this year.

What's up with the dress code at BW 3? They are banning guys in big white t-shirts since a lot of (wanna-be) gangsters wear them, and there's been some violence overflowing from BW3 and Avalon. Talk about addressing the symptom and not the cause! How pointless. http://www.chapelhillnews.com/front/story/1508072p-7672669c.html

And another thing... Chapel Hil's brand new Stormwater Management Utility is off to a rocky start with a big glitch in the first round of billing: http://www.chapelhillnews.com/front/story/1517512p-7686855c.html

Terri--We've had the same number of butterflies here that we normally have--though we DIDN'T see the Luna moths this spring. I just assumed they hatched while we were out of town....

melanie

Lucky you. The folks at Niche have noticed fewer butterflies too. Are you bribing them with some special plant nectar?

I haven't noticed a butterfly dropoff, but I've noticed a great increase in beautiful moths, which has led to a great increase in bats, which has led to a great increase in paranoia whilst hanging out on my back porch at night. (I now have a front porch _and_ a back porch -- Chatham County is so best!) I'm now on the lookout for flying squirrels.

I also noticed a 100% increase in the incidence of road construction workers along the Gomorrah-Pittsboro 15-501 corridor (61, up from 30 the week before), just days after the N&O reported that the road construction would be delayed by 18 months, to June 2005.

To the high school student screaming at her father over her cell phone outside the Southern Village Weaver Street on Saturday night, apparently about whether she ought to be able to sleep over with her friends and, presumably, snarfle up some coke and crushed Oxycontin or whatever the trustifarians are doing these days, ending with the quote, "That shit will not fly with me, Dad. I'm not standing for it": You suck.

Don't miss the local literary open mikes. At McIntyre's at Fearrington, with Peter Mock: First Thursday of every month. At The Cave, Franklin Street, with WCHL commentator and writer Nancy Alex Day: Third Tuesday of every month.

For Sale: My 1974 BMW 2002 tii. Engine rebuilt 70,000 miles ago. Formerly a rally car, comes with two sets of wheels and tires. Four years ago I made the five-speed conversion with a 1981 320 transmission, and it's been running great. Recaro racing seats, and of course, the Kugelfischer mechanical fuel injection system. Original color - Granada Red. Some rust, needs routine brake work. I used it as a daily driver up until two years ago (bought a new car), always ran great. Have been running it once a week since. Comes with complete original shop repair manual, separate shop manual for the Kugelfischer fuel injector, and the original owner's manual.

It's killing me that I'm selling this car, which has been in my family for more than a decade, but we recently bought an old house, and working on the old house has quickly taken priority.

Happy hurricanes,

d

Just The Lantana that Ate Chapel Hill....

melanie

Is anyone battenning down the hatches for the big storm? The Chapel Hill Herald makes it sound like a big disaster, but the forecast just sounds like a lot of rain to me.

It's a wildlife free-for-all in Northwoods!

The Good: My 1st attempt at an herb garden has drawn a few beautiful hummingbirds to sniff around the blooms of my basil plants. This is giving me an excuse to spend quality time with my new digital camera.

The Bad: The deer ate all my hostas in spite of all the anti-deer measures I've tried. Can't blame them though. Since Vineyard Square was developed I've noticed more and more unafraid deer all over place (like homestead rd.) in daylight hours. Also another opp for me to take nature pics!

The Ugly: I would welcome almost any suggestion short of a violent one on how to deter individual(s) from allowing their dog(s) to carpet bomb my front yard with poo??? This is not just bad pet manners, its gross. I wonder if the Town has any of those old red light cameras laying around that I could borrow...

Ruby--we were lucky. And yes, I battened down the hatches. If that storm had tracked farther west, as it was initially predicted to do, we could have seen a LOT of trees down. As wet as the ground is, the oaks and trees with spreader style roots have nothing to hold onto (according to a forester I saw quoted on WRAL's site, the ground is akin to pancake batter right now)--and can go over in 40 mph sustained winds. We could EASILY have seen Fran style tree damage. (At least according to the Forestry folks.)

I, for one, ALWAYS take hurricanes seriously.

melanie/hoping Earl misses us TOO.

The butterfly disappearance is explained by my nervousness (they're all in my stomach!)

My new political/cultural talk show, "Shooting the Breeze," will begin airing on WCHL this Saturday (at either two or three o'clock in the afternoon ... stay tuned for details).

I look forward to chatting with some OP regular contributers. Stay tuned!

Any comments on the new speed limit signs on Hillsborough Road?

 

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