MONDAY THOUGHTS: WATCH YOUR STEP

The weather is so pleasant today! 

It's positively BEAUTIFUL outside. 

I decided to stop looking out of the window, and admiring it all from the inside out.

The flatbed truck had caught my attention earlier in the day. 

I wondered if a car was about to be towed. 

Then another truck arrived with dirt in its bed, and parked on our side of the street. 

A third truck with a long slide/funnel attached showed up. 

Could they be landscapers? 

(I have to say, of everything to be done in a neighborhood, the lawn care around here has not been lacking.) 

Would they be pouring cement? 

Dirt? 

I'd noticed the temporary "No Parking" signs posted across the street, too.

A little after noon, I decided to take a walk. 

My walk had a dual purpose. Exercise was one. Operation "Are they going to repair the grassway, easement, arborway, berm, verge, nature strip, parkway, boulevard", or whatever we Washingtonians call the grassy area between the sidewalk and the curb?", was the other. 

I was excited by the prospect of beautification. 

No sense in allowing Lady Bird Johnson's dream for the area to die, right? 

If not for the eroded eyesore, the street, which was newly excavated and paved recently, would be lovely.

We've been witnessing the steady erosion on our street for years. 

I still don't understand why, when the new sidewalk was constructed, the area next to it was not touched. Why on earth would we want to see the SIDE of the sidewalk? 

Is there not some kind of living, grassy carpet that could be rolled onto the area? 

What is the point of having a sidewalk if, after you cross it, you have to take a short, potentially ankle-breaking, knee-twisting trek through varying depths of depressions and exposed tree roots, just to get to your car, or cross the street? 

One shouldn't need a boost or helping hand from the grass to the sidewalk. 

They're adjacent to each other and, in a perfect world, are flush, level, and in no way treacherous.

I've always wondered who or what agency is responsible for the grassway, easement, arborway, berm, verge, nature strip, parkway, boulevard. 

Would I be in big trouble if I went to Home Depot and bought sod and seed, or contracted that nice landscaping company on Oxon Hill Road?

Every time there is substantial rainfall, because of the steepness of many hilly streets east of the river, as the water rushes downhill, the trenches get deeper and deeper. Now, in some spots along the over 150 feet from the middle of the street to the intersection, you can actually see the UNDERSIDE of the sidewalk.

I'm hoping that the workers will return soon. 

Maybe the guys who worked today weren't contracted to handle our dilemma, but they definitely saw it. 

I'm hoping to see "no parking" signs on our side of the street, soon, and lush, green grass where grass is supposed to be. 

Some flowers would be nice, too. 

Tulips.

We've been fortunate not to have much snowfall this winter. In the past, in those deeper areas of the grassway, easement, arborway, berm, verge, nature strip, parkway, boulevard, it was hard to know just how deep one's foot would go on that first step.

All of that aside, I enjoyed my short walk, and the warm weather. 

However, I'll leave maneuvering the terrain of the grassway, easement, arborway, berm, verge, nature strip, parkway, boulevard to the squirrels, for now.

By the way, what DO we call it in DC?