Unexpected Snowfall in October in DC

snow on marigolds

snow the rose bush

soft snow flaking down

Recently we had an unexpected snowfall and I just had to run outside and snap some photos as it came flaking down on the back porch furniture and in the front garden. Snow on the roses! Snow on the marigolds! An amazing sight! Since then the weather has been a lot warmer but I think we are returning to the colder temperatures soon. So it is just as well that I brought indoors the plants that won't survive the cold.  I've crammed the geraniums, jade and ivies into the kitchens in my house, hoping they can survive on sunny window ledges.  I've also started a red amaryllis that is supposed to flower at Christmas time. It was a giant bulb and it's now -- two weeks later -- got some bright green shoots. 

Graffiti is Like Dog Poop

I'm really annoyed and pissed off by the graffiti guys in our neighborhood who think they can put their stupid initials or signs on our garage doors with cans of black spray paint that they get at Home Depot. Are they young kids just trying it out or are they drug thugs signaling the alley is theirs? Do these letters have some meaning or are they some code words that only the gang knows? I've seen the same words or letter combinations sprayed elsewhere so it's clearly the work of some neighborhood jerks. It's like cat piss on house furniture, or dog poop on the sidewalk, or barf left on the floor;  totally annoying and unnecessary and causes work for someone else.  Someone will have to go out the back alley and clean up their mess, taking valuable time away from something else more important.  It means not only having to scrape it off, but also clean the marred area and re-paint it. It means a good two or three hours of aggravation.  I just can't find anything positive about it at all. I also realize I haven't reported this assault on my property to the police -- knowing full well that it will take an hour of my valuable time to go down to the local police station and file a written complaint, probably with some surly or lazy police clerk who doesn't want to deal with something so "unimportant" and I will have to persuade him or her that my complaint is valid, that I want these vandals found and I don't want it to happen again. And ask them what they are going to do about this rash of  graffiti in our neighborhood and probably listen to some claptrap about how nothing can be done about it. Maybe I'm just being negative and they will be glad I'm filing the complaint!  I'll blog on that when I do it! No matter what, I then have to find the time to clean up SOMEONE ELSE'S MESS.