Spring has Sprung

Dorchester Rd. Friday Afternoon

Snow is melting, the air is warmer, dogs are even getting into the outdoor action, and the kids (at least my kid) think it's time to shed the winter coats. Not so fast kiddo!

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Now playing: Adolescents - Where The Children Play
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The Feral Cat "Neuterer"

This Saturday morning I woke up at my usual time—6:30 AM. While this is a typical Saturday morning for a mother of three boys, this Saturday morning was devoted to wrangling our feral cat population instead of my three sons. All the neighbors were involved and everyone agreed not to feed the cats the day before. I prepared all the traps and waited for my neighbor Sharon to help me out with the trapping. A cat walked into my driveway smelling the food that I had laid out. She was hungry after a day without eating. I decided to set the trap and sure enough within 30 seconds-- I caught my very first cat. I thought to myself, “this is easy.” So, I got on a roll and caught five more within the next 30 minutes. Needless to say I was pretty impressed with myself. Even my skeptical husband was shocked. When Sharon joined me, we caught three more for a total of nine.

Later that morning over on the corner of Argyle and Ditmas-- Andrea started her trapping. She caught two pretty quickly and then a third one a little later on. Andrea had two traps left and our goal was to catch the black male cat. As my son Alexander refers to him, “The Daddy”. She called me later to say that he had walked into the trap but was smart enough not trip the trap and walked out. Sunday is another day.

Seeing how easy it was, my other neighbors Beth and Svetlana, set another trap. They caught the same cat twice. This cat had already been fixed. They moved the cat and we caught another female. With no more room in my garage, I brought this cat to Andrea. Unfortunately she was a smart one and got out. Those are the breaks.

For the first evening feeding, we discovered we had a nursing mother. We did not know where the kittens were so we had to set her free. One days work and we had eleven cats. Our goal is fourteen cats.

The Reddish Boys of Rugby Road do Stuy Town

We all went to visit MeMa today and went to one of the many under utilized playgrounds in the complex. PS 217 is insane on the weekends. The tot lot on Cortelyou varies from crowded to empty. Every once in awhile PS 139 has their playgrounds open. I just wish Victorian Flatbush had playgrounds like Stuy Town.
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The Pulaski Parade Part II

The Pulaski Parade

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The New Office, Home Office

Here is my home office. This is now where I work for DJEMG. It's up on the third floor away from everything. I even have a lock on my door. It's cool so far. Then again, it has only been two days.
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Listening to: Richard X. Heyman - Home Again
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Before, During, and After - Pink of Course

The first picture is how this room looked just a few weeks ago. This is how the tenant had it set up. The second picture is right after we painted and moved up all our stuff. Now it's Alexandra's office. Pink of course.
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Now playing: Angelo Badalamenti - The Pink Room
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My First PTA Meeting

Yeah! It's as exciting as it sounds.

Dylan and the chocolate ice cream

Well, we headed out to IKEA last night in hopes of hitting some holiday traffic. What a nightmare! We made it as far as Ft. Hamilton and 86th street before giving up. On the way back we went to Rocco's on Ft. Hamilton parkway and 60-something street. They are known for their Calimari. It's pretty good. We promised the kids chocolate ice cream if they ate their spaghetti. As you can see from Dylan's face-- Mission Accomplished.

Alexander the Painter

Dylan and Alexander both took turns painting. I thought it was neat until the paint dried. Where they were "painting" looked streaky and messy. No Technique! Alexander is 2 now and should know better. :)

A Different View of Newkirk Plaza

This is the view from my master bedroom. it's kind of cool and reminds me in some ways of growing up in the Fordham section the Bronx.

A Newkirk Friday Morning

The day off... heading out to DD for coffee... What a beautiful view on a street many think "ain't so beautiful.

Biking on Rugby

There are few kids who ride up and down the block on their bikes for hours at a time. Dylan and Alexander wanted to be part of the gang. Dylan can just about pedal and Alexander needs to be pulled or pushed around. Needless to say they were the last kids in for the night on the block.

Waiting on line for balloons

Newkirk Plaza had a function this evening-- NEWKirk, Music on the Plaza. Essentially they had live/ recorded music, staff giving out balloons, a raffle and a guy making elaborate balloon animals for the kids.
Tonight was week 3 of a 4 week series sponsored by FDC. I think it was a great idea for the families of the neighborhood. The only downside was that the balloon maker pretty much made anything the kids wanted. The elaborate balloon animals caused some serious delay in servicing the 50 or so children. Luckily my two children were pretty good (for a change) waiting on the line for roughly an hour. Larger families clearly had a different experience, some good and some bad. While it's great that "little Joey" got an elaborate Spiderman hat, the kids should have had a limited choice. My sons swords and holsters were perfect. Maybe a butterfly for the firls? Or a boat? Let us see what happens next week.

The real bonus is that I came home to working air conditioners and my package from Vonage.

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Now playing: 7 Seconds - 99 Red Balloons
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