Every Tuesday and Thursday, we run down what’s going on in local Internet discussion groups.
TakomaDC
During a Saturday power outage, Rich took a walk through the neighborhood to see which traffic lights were out. “On this walk, I saw a mother bird and two nestlings on the ground near Trinity Church,” he writes. “I planned to try to do something about them. I would have put something on this list requesting advice, but of course we had no power.” No access to the listserv during an animal event? What’s a Takoma resident to do? Apparently, nothing. On Sunday morning around 7:45 a.m., when Rich remembers the birds and has access to the list again, he reports he found the “mother and one of the babies were gone (I hope that’s a good sign), but the other chick was still their. I have it on my back porch, and would like whatever ideas you have, since I’m pretty ignorant of animal husbandry. Meanwhile I’ll Google.” As it turns out, however, Rich is perfectly capable of figuring out how to rescue a baby bird without the online help of his neighbors. At 8:19 he writes: “Never mind—I got advice that it should go to Humane Society. I’m off to deliver it.”
ustreetnews
Doctoroflaws is shaken by an attempted mugging—and is even more rattled when he runs into a councilmember while making his getaway. “On my way to work this morning (around 8:30 am), a group of 10 or so boys (I am not great with ages, but I’d say they were all between about 10 and 15 years old) attempted to mug and/or assault me in the 1200 block of V Street,” he writes. “Thanks to some quick feet – and a car that happened to turn on to V St. and honked at them – I was able to get over to 13th Street at which time the boys stopped chasing me. I continued my walk to the metro stop where, handing out campaign literature, was DC at large council member Phil Mendelson.” The Doc says the incident reminded him that crime can happen anytime, anywhere, and that thugs aren’t necessarily deterred by, um, local politicos passing out flyers. “Now, it could have been anyone of the numerous people who are running for something this year (many of whom I have seen at the U Street metro stop passing out literature), but my experience reminded me that it is important to always be aware of one’s surroundings no matter what time of day it is.”
shepherdpark
“Just before 11 a.m. Saturday morning,” Mark spots a strange animal on his front lawn. “At first I thought it was a cat, since neighborhood cats usually would do that sort of thing on our front lawn. Then I didn’t quite know what to think in the next second. Possum? Dog? Wha?” Mark decides the beast must’ve been a coyote pup or a wolf pup. “Its legs were tall and spindly, seemingly bigger than necessary to support its compact torso.…Has anybody else seen this creature? It seemed to have short hair, a combination of silver/gray, white and light brown, and a scraggly face from the one glance I got at it. It also seemed to be more afraid of me than I of it.” Luckily, the alleged animal pup was also similarly shy when faced with tasty neighborhood cats. “I was afraid for some of the outdoor cats who wander on our block, but our two most frequent feline visitors weren’t brunch for this animal.”