Summer Sundries...

First, the good and delightful bits:

I have made a vegetarian vegetable pot pie, two batches of vegan chocolate-orange cupcakes with ganache and vegan chocolate-chip banana muffins this week.

I have still been feeling up and down throughout each day.  Loss of appetite, headaches and throwing up have deterred me from my morning walk and my yoga.

I have been dancing, but I have to be careful there too because it feels so good and it's so easy to over-do.

Baking early in the morning or late at night when I can't sleep seems to help me not feel so damned helpless all the time.

Too bad I can't do massage sessions at 5:00 AM or 10:00 PM on the random days that I feel okay a those times.

Now for the RANT. If you don't want to hear a cranky rant about dandelions, STOP reading NOW.

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I have not currently been sleeping well.  As a result, I am more grumpy and less able to deal with my crazy pregnant self.

I have always dealt with insomnia, but lately even my dreams are disrupting my slumber. This is one of the FEW reasons that I have no patience.

Lately, I have been losing patience with my lovely City. Firstly, there is an intersection near my house, which is a two way stop -- people RUN this stop-sign all the time. It's absolutely ridiculous. It should be a four way stop, or a G.D. roundabout since people refuse to obey traffic laws and don't realize that the CROSS street HAS TO STOP to the street that parallels MAIN street.

Secondly, the cross-walks down-town are NOT marked with blinking lights as they are in Boulder when there's a median dividing two way traffic (effectively making one street into TWO one-ways). There is a large median, huge trees and awnings/city posters in the way of visibility and the yield signs do NOTHING to help warn drivers that there could be pedestrians crossing from either side of the street.

However, our city would rather send condescending women in polo shirts around to lecture people about DANDELIONS than deal with these safety issues.

Speaking as a person who is ALLERGIC to grass, I STILL find it LUDICROUS that the city is PAYING someone to go around and measure, comment or LECTURE about this silly ordinance than to use their funding to correct BLATANTLY OBVIOUS SAFETY ISSUES.

We plan to cover our entire lawn with wood chips and either a raised bed or a mossy ground cover. That has been in the works.

I completely admit that we have a few dandelions growing in our front yard. You know what else I have to do almost every day? PICK UP OTHER PEOPLE'S GARBAGE. In MY yard!

All I can say is, I promise to take BETTER care of my dandelions if the city would STOP paying CRANKY, SNOOTY WOMEN to lecture about them.

I completely understand the "noxious weed," issue. Weeds are ugly and a P.I.T.A. They spread and are hard to get rid of sometimes -- crab-grass, goat heads, etc. Those can actually do a bit of damage.

 However,  dandelions??!

Lots of people EAT dandelions in salad --- are they REALLY such a nuisance? Besides, it's MY yard and even though the city claims it's their property (which legally, I'm sure it is) if I'm the one paying for it, then I am of the opinion that a REQUEST can respectively be made BEFORE someone who has a stupid amount of time on their hands (they're counting or measuring weeds for goodness' sake) comes to LECTURE me about it.

I listened politely. I am almost always polite.

I accept that I purchased my house within the city limits; thereby agreeing to maintain it in a proper manner.

However, I REFUSE to be lectured about the GODDAMN dangers of an edible plant, when half the time I go outside my house an UNAUTHORIZED vehicle has blocked me in, or obstructed my view so that I cannot leave my driveway safely, AND when every time I drive to a certain intersection I am NEARLY KILLED because some IDIOT is running a STOP SIGN.

DON'T talk to me about DANDELIONS!

We don't have crab-grass or friggin' POISONOUS TOXINS that could be KILLING PEOPLE in our front yard at least!

Last year, apparently someone from the city CLAIMED they measured the dandelions in our yard and sent us a NOTICE about it. Said they were over a FOOT tall. I went out and measured the THREE tiny plants --- NONE of which were above 5 inches tall. I pulled them out --- we always seem to be a day behind each other, the city and I....

THIS time, we have apparently TOO MANY dandelions. Oh they're not too tall, but there are TOO MANY.

There are perhaps seven small stems out there.

Sigh....

Maybe I'll just make a giant MUD PUDDLE SWIMMING POOL in our front yard? MAYBE I'll pave it the heck over and make it RAISED PRIVATE PARKING!

OH I know, I could OPEN A PERMANENT BEVERAGE AND BAKED GOODS STAND!

Hot chocolate, cider, coffee and pastries in the winter; lemonade, iced tea, sodas and sorbet in the summer!

I wrote an e-mail to the city about how they're "spending my tax dollars," on condescending people lecturing on foot, when there are greater "life-threatening issues," to deal with.

However, I was polite, yet indignant and irritated.

Well, what are elected officials for if not to read letters from concerned citizens? I'm not saying everyone agrees with me.

I AM pregnant though, and much more likely to have a bitchy reaction than I usually would.

We'll see what they write back.

End of Rant...

Maybe next year I'll plant FIDDLEHEAD FERNS and DANDELIONS and INSIST that to destroy them would be tantamount to razing my GARDEN to the ground! HA!