City to Gardener: Lawns Rule

A woman in Oak Park, Michigan is in big trouble for a terrible crime.

She is growing vegetables in her front lawn.  How dare she? How un-American! Doesn't she know that front lawns are supposed to be grass, and you're not supposed to grow anything useful there?

The offending front yard garden in
Oak Park, Mich.

I mean, what if she eats some of the vegetables. Or worse, shares some with her neighbors?  Terrible. She must be some commie. Because the real, American way to do things is to fire up a noisy, smoky lawnmower and blast away at the grass.

And doesn't this woman know that you're supposed to buy vegetables in a giant store with florescent lights that give you a headache, and not grow your own veggies?

 That's why God created supermarkets. You're supposed to drive to a supermarket, fight traffic, find a space in a hot parking lot, struggle against clueless shoppers in the store, pay an arm and a leg for vegetables grown in another country that taste like plastic and then go back out into the parking lot and find your car has been dinged by wayward shopping carts?

What's the fun in getting some fresh air, getting the sense of accomplishment by growing your own veggies, then having a very tasty salad with extremely fresh lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers that evening?

The city of Oak Park is going after this woman because her front yard is not "common." Again, it's supposed to be a lawn, you see.

"I don't know of any community where I have seen a full garden in the front yard. In planning and zoning, we try to put things in appropriate places, said Oak Park City Planner Kevin Rulkowski, according to the Detroit News.


So I hope this city jails this woman forever over her shocking front yard behavior. Critics say the city of Oak Park should be spending precious tax dollars on other resources, like fighting crime and fixing potholes.

But go for it, Oak Park. Get that veggie lady!  As it stands now, she could get 93 days in jail for growing her vegetables. That's more than many drug dealers get.

However, if we don't crack down now, people will do even more outlandish things. What will this country become if people started planting blueberry bushes or strawberries in their yards?

We MUST make an example out of veggie lady!

More Summer Flowers

Things continue to bloom nicely around my yard in St. Albans, Vermont as you can see from these quick shots I took yesterday:

Severe Vermont Storms Spark Damage, Confused People

A nasty squall line passed through Vermont yesterday, causing pockets of wicked tree damage and power failures while leaving most areas relatively untouched.

A strong thunderstorm looms over Lake Champlain off of
Burlington, Vt. Wednesday.

I like the drama of storms, so I was in my glory as the lightning crashed and the wind blew. Of course, I don't like it when things get too destructive. Like the church hall in Essex Junction that burned down after it was hit by lightning. 

I almost got hit by lightning, too, because I was stupid enough to stay outside during the storm. I was under a roof overhang at Burlington's waterfront. You know you're at least almost in trouble when you see a bright flash and a simultaneous, deafening CRACK!  BOOMMM!!!!!!

I'm still tingling from that one, and not in a good way.

I get too excited during storms. I tried to take video of the storm hitting Burlington, Vermont's lakefront, but in my agitated state, I kept fiddling with the camera and shaking, so the videos were so amateurish and blurry and hard to watch I'm not going to share them with you or anybody else. You get glimpses of storm-tossed trees and waves of rain coming through, but the videos have all the focus and steadiness of an ADHD patient on crack and meth.

So I'm not perfect during storms. And I take solace that a lot of people are worse. Why is that bad weather makes some people even more stupid than they already are.

Firefighters tangle with a fire at an Essex Junction, Vermont
church hallthat was struck by lightning Wednesday.

I was on my way back from covering the church hall fire for the Burlington Free Press, where I work, and encountered a busy intersection where the traffic signals weren't working because of a power failure.

Never fear, a town cop was doing a yeoman's job controlling and directing traffic. Things gummed up though, when the woman in front of me would not obey the cop's directions. He was trying to wave her through, his arms moving more and more frantically as she Just. Wouldn't. Budge.


I saw her raise her arms at the cop in a gesture of utter confusion. Traffic was backing up more and more and the cop finally went to the car to see what was the problem. After a conversation that got more and more animated, the woman finally crawled through the intersection at a slug's pace. She probably had the brains of a slug, too.

After a stormy day, a rainbow graces
the sky over Burlington, Vt. Wednesday

After a few more showers and storms, a big rainbow arced over Burlington and we all enjoyed a bright orange sunset.

Despite the dumb people out and about, there's nothing like a day of active weather to energize me.

Fun With a Flooded Road

Here in Vermont, they're predicted thunderstorms with some heavy downpours today.

Sometimes that kind of weather floods streets briefly. People usually make the best of it, splashing around in it, or trying to get splashed by cars speeding through the big puddles.

Last summer in St. Petersburg, Russia, a guy took this to a whole new level. A storm flooded a street, so the guy got out his surfing gear. The fun results are in the video below:

Natural Fireworks

Vivid thunderstorms rolled down from Quebec into northern Vermont last night, showing that Mother Nature can do much more with fireworks than any human could.

I enjoyed the show for awhile from a hill overlooking St. Albans, Vermont. It was twilight, and the thunderstorm pushed into the remaining blue ski off to the west. The top of the storm, the anvil was visible, with a bit of a red afterglow on it from the sunset. Lightning danced up there, seemingly coordinated. One end of the storm would light up, and then the other. Kind of a call and response.

Meanwhile, humans set off their own puny fireworks and fireflies danced around amid the light show.

I did manage to take a video, which is pretty cool. Watch it, below (Best to click on full screen to see things better):

Talent Keeps Getting Younger and Younger

Seems like I remember most kids between the ages of say, 5 and 12 when I was growing up didn't become big singing stars like they do now. I mean good ones, not just cut.

We have kids like Jackie Evancho, who hit it big by blowing them away on "America's Got Talent" last year.

Now I've stumbled upon this kid on the Daily What web site named Brendan MacFarlane. He'll turn 14 in September. He's already an accomplished, and apparently well known gospel, country and blues singer.

Brendan MacFarlane, 13, yet another kid who
brings the house down with his voice

I'd never heard of him until now, but watch the clip and be blown away by his singing ability. How can a 13-year-old sound like he's been practicing his chops for 20 years?

The song is called "Money Won't" The video is a little cheesy but this kid's voice sure isn't.

Summer Flower

Flowers don't last too long. I'm trying to gradually plant gardens around my St. Albans, Vermont home so something's blooming from early spring to late fall.

But you can't have everything. So I go around taking photos of the blooms in the yard, just to keep the flowers in some respect.

I like the shot in this post I took the other day. A day lily in my yard is misted with water droplets after an evening shower.