what do you love that everybody else hates?

Post Reply New Topic

Have you ever read about the "landscape" movement of the 18th century in Europe--especially, England? I think you'd be interested in that.

You probably would have also thrived in those Chautauqua communities of the 19th century.

But, sometimes necessary.....mostly unhealthy stuff in there though....


Nope, Brooklyn. When I first came to NYC, I lived initially in Mineola and then East Williston so I'm a little familiar with a portion of that area.

Imagine a guy, 29, going to NYC with only $200.00 on a job and almost a month before getting paid.....how's that for being oblivious to reality? I was eating one deep dish slice a day at the local pizza place. Nothing to do on weekends but walk around. Was a strange time.

East Williston is really nice, but transportation really sucks. Mineola's not bad, either (and it's convenient--almost every LIRR train stops at Mineola!)

What part of Brooklyn? I guess you wouldn't want to get specific. You'd be really ritzy if you lived in Brooklyn Heights, though. I live in Queens Village, near Bayside.

I used to live in: Flatbush, Gravesend, Brighton Beach.

You must have paid the rent ahead of time when you came to NYC circa 1990, then were left with the $200. You couldn't have gotten a room in a bad area then for under like $80 a week.

When I first moved out in 1981, I spent a whole week eating nothing but rice and paprika.

<--- Lived in several places in Queens: Astoria, Kew Gardens, Far Rockaway (where he attempted suicide and ended up at Creedmoor Psychiatric in Queens Village for 2 months).

Well, I gotta tells ya, it was the classic 'depending on the kindness of strangers' happening. I mean, I've actually slept under bridges before, so, what the hey?

I get to my new office about 3PM. My boss had saved some rental notices with agencies circled. Called one up and told them the situation and if they knew someone that would extend a room provided they received confirmation of my new employment.

Now, here's the thing, the first guy I called said he knew someone if I brought in a letter of confirmation on company letterhead. When I showed up, he was amused and impressed. It really was a cool job
Anyway, found my way to Penn...found my way to his office with the paperwork and was in a bed, all clean and everything that night.

The $200.00 went to transportation and food for 3.5 weeks. Then, when I got paid, I paid off the room, paid for the time until the next paycheck and back to just transportation and one slice of pizza a day. Took 3 paychecks to get righted again.

LOL....That's why it's bad when you don't have a supermarket! You could have lived like at least a freeman on $200 a month in 1990--if only you had that supermarket! You could have bought lots of pasta, lots of sauces. In a supermarket pasta, can cost under $1 a pound. Hamburger meat was like $2.00 a pound back then. You could buy 20 lbs. of rice for under $10, sometimes for as low as like $4.99 And that would have lasted you the whole month.

You were fortunate to have a connection like your boss then....otherwise, you would have been totally screwed. You would have been forced to sleep in the street (unless you had some friend willing to put you up until you got on your feet).

Red Robin: I lived in Far Rockaway (Bayswater) from late 1976 to mid 1978 with my mother and her boyfriend. I lived in Briarwood (close to Kew Gardens) quite a few times over the last 30 years. I lived in Briarwood with my mother, and I lived alone there, too.

Astoria: Nope.

I know how to do bachelor cooking. But, the landlords did not want anybody cooking in their house. Somebody before me messed that opportunity up. But, hey, adversity builds character. Left home at 17 and never looked back.

No cooking----$200 bucks a month doesn't get you far in NYC.

But hey....like you say.....you've learned from feeling adversity.....it made you stronger!

Neat. I've never seen one. I shall have to google..
I like xeriscaped/native plants best, but that sure beats a traditional lawn!

[Special interest warning] They are and do! And before you know it, you have a mini, diverse ecosystem on this postage stamp lot. It's an amazing process to watch..from essentially dead to thriving..with no chemicals and Very minimal water (once established). [/warning ]

I've thought about doing this a lot in the past but never looked into it. I got the idea from the constant battle I am having with my yard. I got the yard with the house so it's not any plants or grass that I put there or wanted.

I noticed how well native plants (and some invasive species) seem to do, yet all the plants that are "supposed" to be there are fighting not to get taken over by others, or fighting the climate.

So I wondered "why bother?" I don't want to fight with my yard. I want to enjoy it. But I would need to investigate native species, find out which ones work well with each other, and then figure out how to deal with the invasive species.

And then I'd have to rip out all the plants left by the previous owners. They had a lot, and didn't maintain anything.

Ideally I'd want native grasses and wildflowers, along with some small trees. Maybe other types of plants. I live on a hill with drainage issues.

From my experience, the natives actually hold their own well against invasives. You do have to remove any initially, but the natives happily tuck themselves in and spread out here and there and..the invasives have nowhere to gain hold of. .. Weeding really does become a thing of the past, as typically does struggling to keep something alive.

The whole thing also took me from Very scared of bees to quite fascinated. I had No clue there were so many different, docile native bees. As well as their personalities..and how endangered many are (we usually focus on non-US-native honey bees and overlook the others). Not to mention...whereee did they come from? How in the world did they (and butterflies, daily hummingbirds, etc) find it amidst endless lawns.. But they did.

It also gives you the excuse to not mow..the taller grasses are Supposed to be taller. I enjoy that.

If you do decide to do it or have any questions, feel free to send me a note. I apologize in advance though if i reply with more information about it than you *ever* wanted.

I dislike it when people use Hertz to refer to sound waves. it is properly used only to describe the frequency of EM waves.

It is a standard reference in everything I have ever read about sound and frequency response. Especially when you get into the Nyquist frequencies governing sampling vs playback.

So it Hertz when you hear it?