The Frog in the Dumpster

We have had a serious escalation at our house in the War on Stuff -- Tom got a dumpster which is now occupying our driveway.  He's been working on both the basement and the accessary stuff collection we have off site.  I have yet to make any substantive contribution to this but I do have good intentions.

The dumpster is inclined downward, like the driveway, and soon after we got it there was a foot or so of rainwater accumulated in the lowermost edge.  It became clear over the following days that the dumpster had become home to a really loud frog.  We only heard it in the evening, and I don't know for a fact that the frog was a permanent 24 hour resident or just showed up in the evening, like a musician in a subway station.  You can hear it -- but not see it -- in this video (I don't know how to make an audio recording on my phone, but I do know how to take video, which is what I did, even though it was dark).

One evening (when I had neither a camera nor my phone with me) I actually saw the frog.  It was grayish-green, and only about two inches long, immobile and silent on a nearly submerged cardboard box.  I ran to the door and called Iain to come out and see it, but of course it was no longer there when I got back.

Now this is not the only collection of water on our street that really isn't supposed to be there; where the basement of the apartments used to be, there's a deep depression that -- depending on the amount of rain we've had recently -- has more or less water in it.  At the moment there's lots of water there; I took the picture above yesterday afternoon.  This has been there ever since the apartments were demolished, and there's an equally noisy resident frog there, too.  I've never seen it, but I hear it often in the evening when I'm walking the dog.  It usually seems to be coming from the vegetation at the edge of the pond, rather than from the pond; that's outside the frame of this photo, on the left.  But it's the same sound as from our dumpster, and on a nice evening, I would hear the dumpster frog all the way to the middle of the block, and then -- like a pinging cell phone tower -- there would be a handoff to the pond frog.

A couple weeks ago Tom hooked up an aquarium pump and some plastic tubing and drained the dumpster. After that, we didn't hear the frog any more. I hoped it had just moved on to a wetter place and not become bird food.

The pond is likely to history, soon, too -- first the pile of rock and the utility locating markings appeared, and then the pile of large pipes, and then last weekend this piece of equipment. At least as of yesterday afternoon, nothing had happened yet but I am sure it will be soon, and then I expect the pond and the pond frog will be gone.

Since Tom drained the dumpster, it has rained more. And the frog is back.

Addendum from May 25:  Not a very good photo, but here he is.

Atlanta Streets Alive, Back in West End

It was a few weeks ago that the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition brought Atlanta Streets Alive - the Coalition's wonderful Open Streets event - back to the West End.  They had been there last spring for the first time.  That time, after I finished my volunteer shift in the information tent, and was walking around in my Atlanta Streets Alive logo T-shirt with "Volunteer" on the back, several people approached me to ask about the event.  What is this?  Why are the streets closed?  So I told them that it was an event to get all of us to experience our city on foot or on a bike, that it had taken place (thanks to the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition) over the last several years in other neighborhoods, but it was the first time it had come to the West End.  This time, my volunteer assignment was to be a greeter, so I approached people and asked them how they were doing.  Sometimes I asked if they lived in the neighborhood and if they said "yes," I asked if they participated last year.  I think every person I asked said "yes" to that. 

It had rained in the morning but the event was pretty much rain-free.  I suspect that the weather kept some people away who otherwise would have been there, but it didn't keep us away.  This was our first Atlanta Streets Alive on bicycles.  I had to work the first part of the event, so Iain took off on his own.  Early on he ran into Cole from Terminus Legion, and ended up riding with him around the route.  

The greeter business was slow, but I talked to the people I could talk to and got my picture taken many times by the Coalition's photographer, who once removed my backpack so the "Volunteer" would show on the back of my T-shirt.  I haven't seen any of his pictures, but here are some of mine.  Since the last Atlanta Streets Alive event, I bought a bicycle, so this was my first time to do the event on a bike.  As a result, almost all my pictures are from when I was working as a greeter.

Here's the group assembling before the bicycle parade.  I was glad to see the sousaphone players were back, but I didn't get to hear them play.

I told this woman she looked fabulous and asked if I could take her picture.  She graciously agreed.

Here's Chantelle Rytter on one of the famous phoenix bicycles.

And someone else on another one.

And someone on a three-wheeled bike without a phoenix.

This is the only picture I took after I finished my volunteer shift and headed off on my bike.  This area (near the Shrine of the Black Madonna) was very congested so I was walking my bike through the crowd and got to see these women playing drums, up close.

But mostly, once the volunteer shift was over, I rode my bike.  I traded my "thanks for volunteering" coupon for a can of Fat Tire beer and discovered that it's not that easy to ride a bike while drinking a can of anything, so I threw it out after a mile or so.  Somehow I missed the team from Free Poems on Demand who were there somewhere, but I didn't see them.

I was on my second loop around the route when I saw Iain seated at a picnic table having chicken and vegetables with Cole and some other people, including a couple of guys who used to live in the neighborhood.  This was  at the same community organization where we'd gotten food the last time, so I knew it would be good.  So I stopped and after I got my plate they made a place for me at the table and there was great conversation.  We had to leave before the others because Tom was going to pick us up soon.  

So it was another terrific Atlanta Streets Alive.  If it wasn't for this event, I probably would not have bought a bike.  And last week, while I was out of town, Tom bought one too.  So we'll be ready for the next Streets Alive event, which is September 27, on Highlnd.  Don't miss it.