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A regular summary of irregular news and notes from neighborhood blogs and email lists around the District.
How Bizarre II: “This scam drug addicts have been using at least 20 years to strong arm people into giving them money,” writes an MPD 4D member, in request to a query about a stranger knocking on another member’s door with the offer to mow their lawn. Another member contests, “Wouldn’t you think Drug Addicts, being addicts, would sell their lawn mowers for drug money thus how would they cut grass??? I agree that is a terrible scam but why finger ONLY drug addicts????” And a third poster writes, “I had a random guy knock on my door, I looked out my side window & asked what he wanted. He asked if I wanted my grass cut & I said no, especially since he had no lawn mower with him. I watched him go to my neighbor’s house, leave & about 10 minutes later I heard a lawn mower running & he had returned to do her lawn. He’s been back a couple of times since to do my neighbor’s lawn, but I’m just skeptical about hiring random people who show up on my doorstep.”
How Raccoons Work: “The neighborhood raccoon family has decided my attic crawl space is the place to be. Any suggestions on who I should call to get rid of them? They are HUGE and can flatten their bodies to get past all manner of things. I can’t see any holes in the roof line that indicates easy access. Any suggestions on what to do are welcome,” writes a member of the TakomaDC email list. Other members suggest various critter-trapping businesses, though one has some folk remedies: “I said ‘by, by’ to a family of raccoons by soaking cotton balls in ammonia and throwing them all around an area in my attic that was not accessible to people. They don’t like the smell, understandably! I also collected some dog urine on a leaf (will rent my “Grand Pup” out for this service…just kidding) and laid it down in the nearby crawl space.”
Snakes in a Basement II: In a response to a reader’s request for assistance handling a snake in her basement, another member of the Chevy Chase email list writes, “This is probably a new one for the [email list] too! Then keep the lid down on the john down if there is one—that’s probably how it got in.”
Your Dog Here: Apropos of nothing and with no accompanying text, a member of the Hill Hounds email list sends an email with this link: “http://dog-shaming.com/“