There sure is a lot of crap buried my yard.

Matchbox cars, glittery broken glass shards, unidentifiable pieces of plastic toys.  It’s just an embarrassment of head-scratching riches!  But the oddest of them all is something that looks an awful lot like an old, heavily corroded railroad spike (from a Ponce Heights railroad that was never built??)

So I’ll throw down the old gauntlet.  What’s the oddest thing you’ve ever found buried in your yard?

A Decatur resident nearly fainted this morning after reading portions of a Fresh Loaf post about neighborhood opposition to a Beltline plan that would add a crapload of density at the edge of Piedmont Park at the intersection of 10th and Monroe.

The individual, described as a 30 year-old male with a passing interest in planning & zoning, told website authorities that after having read two paragraphs in a “gripping post” by Creative Loafing reporter Thomas Wheatley, he started having violent, uncontrolled flashbacks.

The following is a sample of the article, and should only be read by those with no history of zoning-coma disorder.

“Allowing any development at 10th and Monroe, let alone an eight story building and four story buildings on land that is currently designated as single family residential, will constitute the worst form of bait and switch,” Jenifer Keenan, a Virginia-Highland resident, recently wrote in a letter to Beltline officials (and here in Fresh Loaf comments.) More than 120 homeowners have already signed a petition opposing the Beltline proposal.

Keenan, who was part of the grassroots effort to block Mason’s plan for two 38-story towers at the same corner, says the resident opposition isn’t about NIMBYism, but protecting Piedmont Park and the neighborhood from inappropriate development. She worries that dense development would mar the charm of the city’s most iconic greenspace. She also says that the city risks establishing a dangerous precedent if it decides to rezone property it owns. (Last year, the city purchased the unused railroad tracks and nearly 66 acres in the corridor from Mason.)

Asked to recount what he saw during these flashbacks, the man replied through tears, “All I can remember is first seeing a giant 60s style skyscraper and a large empty parking lot. Then I saw a large group of people yelling at each other about building heights,  parking variances, NIMBYism and something called “Livable Growth”.  Then everything changed and I was outside of a university, standing in the middle of a giant 5-way intersection.  The people here were very nicely dressed, but were obviously very angry about something and kept screaming about character and density.”

And while this one individual claims to have regained his composure for the time-being, it is unknown how many near-faintings caused by density-fighting flashbacks go unreported every single day.

Mingei World Arts‘ email blast has all the details for this Church Street’s final Staycation Sunday of the summer.  The big news is that The Yogurt Tap will be open starting this weekend and will offer free samples on Sunday for the event.

Here are all the details.

Sunday, August 9 1-4pm

The last Staycation Sunday in 2009!

Come on over to Church Street this next Sunday to Get Local. Each of the seven participating businesses on the block will be featuring local suppliers, offering samples and special sales, and door prizes at the end of the day!

What’s happening on the street?

Read the rest of this entry »

He’s founded a book festival and come up with the idea of selling a beer for upwards of $2,000 in order to help locals in need.

Now Decatur’s Daren Wang has another article to stuff in his folder of “Crazy and Crazy Successful Ideas”: banner tote bags.

First introduced at the Decatur Book Festival launch party last month – though I don’t recall him saying the idea was his – Wang came up with the idea of recycling old DBF banners into messenger bags and totes.  He worked with Ann at Mingei World Arts to find a craftsman to fashion the bags and the rest is history.  Well, the rest will soon be history.

On Monday, in addition to tackling the document-heavy DeVry annexation, the Decatur city commission approved the “recycling” of old city banners into totes, fashioned by Colombian refugee Maria Cristina Giraldo Echeverria.  Echeverria is guaranteed $10 an hour for the work and 10% of sales from the fund go to Decatur Youth Fund, according to an AJC article this morning.

The AJC was so excited about this fashionable recycling story – especially in comparison to that snoozer topic of DeVry annexation – that they put a tease for the story in that little “metro” box on their front page this morning.

But the real question is, what will Daren Wang come up with next?  A beer-powdered lawn mower?  Dog collars that call 911 when your dog senses danger?   Sponsored port-o-lets?  Oh wait…

ALSO: Both my wife and Carl alert us to today’s Daily Candy that features Himalayan Trading Post Candles from Mingei.