Granny Geek

It was rush hour at the grocery store. The Express checkout line was long, but it was moving quickly. The young woman ahead of us—she appeared to be in her late teens—was impatient. She was pacing, in place, and groaning quietly. She turned around, looked at me, and said frantically, “I forgot my phone in the car. What time is it?”

She wasn’t wearing a watch. I’ve noticed that many young people no longer wear a watch. They rely on their cell phones to find out what time it is. Not a bad idea, actually.

I held out my left wrist so that she could see my watch. It’s not a fancy watch. It’s a simple, easy-to-read, everyday watch that doesn’t require batteries. It operates on light. You read that right. No batteries. Nothing complicated. Just a plain, ordinary watch. Easy to read at a quick glance.

Her eyes widened. “I can’t read that,” she said in dismay. “I have to see the numbers.”

Nope. She didn’t mean that she needed to see the Arabic numerals on the face of the watch. Yep. She had to have a digital readout to know the time.

I’m still gobsmacked.  If you don’t know how to read an analog face on a clock, how did you learn fractions? How did you learn to add fractions? (“How much is a half hour plus a quarter of an hour?”)  Never mind. I told her the time, without comment.

I wish we would have had time for conversation. Maybe a few questions about fractions. Then again…maybe I really don’t want to know.

For the past several years, driving through the intersection of Jefferson and Westmoreland here in Oak Cliff has resembled a bad carnival ride. Potholes, cracked pavement and uneven surfaces resulted in lots of bumping, thumping, bouncing  and shaking. Dogs and small cars were known to disappear into the holes and ruts.

All that changed yesterday when, after myriad repairs, the City put a coat of blacktop on the street. WOWZA!  What a difference. It’s a smooth cruise through the area now. 

BTW, if you’re in the market for a used fire station, that yellow building with two garage doors is going on the auction block.  It’s the old Fire Station 26, which was built in 1945 and abandoned in 2002 when a new station was built. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The original station #26 was located at 3303 West Jefferson Blvd., and built in 1945 at a cost of $40,000 to serve the West Oak Cliff area. Built on a slope with a rock foundation, #26 has 7,315 square feet. Because of the numerous times the station has been remodeled and its “unusual” foundation, the station has seven different floor levels. Designed and constructed as a two story building, Station #26 is one of the few remaining stations with poles. 

 

Here’s the bad news.

Thieves have made off with the air conditioning units at the Martin Weiss Community Center here in Oak Cliff.  These no-good-niks cut through cyclone fencing to steal BOTH units: one from each side of the building.

The Martin Weiss Center is a favorite place for folks in our hood: there’s a busy schedule of activities for Seniors, exercise class, after-school activities for kids, and the Center is a voting place. Plus, there’s a swimming pool. You get the idea. The place is always crowded, so the loss of AC affects many of us in the community.

 

Early voting has started here in Dallas. So far, the signs outnumber the voters at our local polling place: Voters, 121;  Signs, 172.

We live in Dallas County District 4. Our Commissioner is not up for re-election this year.

John Wiley Price, “Our Man Downtown,” IS up for re-election this year. His signs are scattered throughout our District.

Price certainly has his share of problems.  We’ve lived in Dallas for only six years, so I don’t know a lot about his past. IMO, though, he’s been off his game for a long time.  And he’s off base again.  Mr Price, please instruct your peeps on the boundary lines of your district and tell them to get your signs out of our hood! Lord knows, we have enough of our own.

Coombs Creek is a rough, uncut gem in our neighborhood. In other parts of Dallas, Coombs Creek has been cleaned up and trails have been built.  Here, the creek itself is barely visible from the street because of dense foliage:   trees, bushes and shrubs have gone untrimmed for many years. And the recent monsoons in Dallas have left very high weeds growing wildly along the street.

Can you see the creek in the photo below? I didn’t think so. Follow this link to see how other parts of the creek in South Dallas have been cleared, and include walking trails.

Yesterday, a City crew appeared to mow and trim weeds along our section of Coombs Creek. Hooray! When the weeds get high, people drive along the creek in our hood and throw out their trash: garbage, old tires, TV sets, cats and dogs they no longer want. Sometimes the cats and dogs are just turned loose along the street. Then, local residents have to call animal control to pick up strays.  Sometimes, small kittens and puppies are stuffed  into plastic yard bags while they’re still alive and thrown along the side of the road. You read that right. Suffocation seems to be a popular way of disposing of unwanted animals.

Here’s the scene yesterday before the crew started mowing.

What a difference ten minutes makes.

The Code Department did its job well. The crew chief told me that cleaning up the creek bed isn’t the responsibility of Code: it’s the responsibility of Dallas Flood Control. Who knew?

The e-mails and phone calls started early yesterday afternoon and continued until evening. Friends and relatives from all over the country wanted to know that we were safe from the terrible storms and tornados that ripped through Dallas yesterday. Every message began with the same three words: “Are You OK?”

We’re OK. For the most part, we kept our eyes glued to TV as the tempest developed.

Unfortunately, many folks are trying to put their lives back together today, including those whose homes and cars were hit with flying trailers. Here at Geezer Manor, we had dark, dark skies and lots of rain. Lucky us.

We’re lucky to have so many caring and concerned people in our lives, too. Thank you, everyone.

Sharpen your pencils, Cliffies. Here’s one of those tricky word problems that we hated in high school.

A woman unloads 400 girls’ dresses, 200 pairs of girls’ shorts, and 4 rotating racks from her truck onto city property at the end of your street.

Assume that 5/6ths of the items have the original price tags still attached.

Given this information, calculate how much time has elapsed since a pallet of clothing was heisted from a loading dock at K-Mart.