Yesterday during our tree planting expedition we were cleaning up the trash from El Wasseems over by Ferry and Oxford and planting some tree over there.

Across the street there was The Buffalo Free Market. Looked pretty neat. I guess there idea is people bring stuff fthey don't want and trade or give it away. The people in the neighborhood seemed excited.

In this picture there were only a few people as they set up, but within and hour it was packed with people.


It was such a weird mix of urban punk and ghetto. I watched some people pouring vegtable oil intto thir car for biodiesel. The house they seemed to live in was a house on one side, but burned out without roof on the other. It reminded me of this one house in germany that was split in half, one side crumbling into decay and the other very up to date.

El Wasseems on Ferry and Main street has the most digusting corner on main street. It appears people buy stuff at El Wasem's go outisde, unwrap and throw the trash on the street. The was an unbeleivable number of cans, wrappers, bottles, bags, etc. I think that really the store needs to be held accountable for some part of it and should probably clean up around their storefront but clearly they don't. At least they should have a trash can outside. I guess the block club is thinking about installing a trash can there. We had wanted to plant trees but people just drive over the sidewalk too much for that and the baby trees are expensive.

It seemed like the area directly around El Wasem's had another kind of shopping going on that was totally unrelated to the Buffalo Free Market across the street. The kind of shopping where young kids buy something on the street from not people that live in the apartment buildings behind the store. As an example, For a while when we were cleaning some ~15 y/o on a skateboard was hanging out against the wall of the store looking really out of place. Then a dude comes out of the apartment building, he and the kid trade something in their hands and the kid takes off on a skateboard. Maybe they were trading baseball cards, I doubt it.

At least I missed the joints.

Our block club is planting ~30 new trees on linwood today. (e:matthew)
was an organizer. I never thought I'd be up shoveling at 9am on a
Saturday.

I am eating dinner at Bistro Europa with (e:terry) and these pretty ladies are fretting about someone calling them hetereo-norminative? I'm not even sure what that means butI am guessing from the conversation that it was said in a derogatory way.

On another front the police were beating down some black dudes outside the old KFC. The window is boarded up. Not sure if it is related.

To start out with, these pads are from Hills. When did they close
1989? Then they must have gotten wet, followed by dusty. I keep
asking myself why I hold onto them because anytime I need a sterile
pad - this us not what I am looking for.

Seems like all the suggestions finally paid off as they are looking to implement Bottle and Can recycling at Roswell. I am posting this in case (e:libertad) or (e:tinypliny) are interested and didn't read the in betweeners. I only noticed it because I was reading it while waiting for something to upload.

[box]Recycle Committee Members Wanted

In response to a number of comments that have been received in the Suggestion Box, a small committee will be formed to address recycling of bottles and cans. If you are interested in participating, please contact Cynthia Schwartz via email at cynthia.schwartz@roswellpark.org. The committee will be made up of employees working in each of the 12 major buildings so that the logistics of recycling in specific buildings are taken into consideration as well as the process of collecting, storing, and returning bottles and cans. You will be notified mid-May regarding committee selection and the first meeting date.[/box]

I really wish I could be involved but I seriously don't have time for anything else.

I spent the day doing work for work althought it is my day off. I would say, I could just take the time off next week but I don't have time for that, argh.

The plumber is here to fix a drain in our tub and he told me it is nice we kept this house up, most houses in the city are ripped apart. He would never live here anyways though cause the "neighborhood is garbage."

Here was the crappy window with peeling finish. I wish I got a close up. For those of you that had seen it up close, you know what it looked like.


I sanded it yesterday. Sanding sucks, even with a power sander. I want a power sander that hooks to my vacuum. I think mine might actually do that, I need to consult the instructions.


I needed spar varnish because the window is in a shower and it gets wet and dinged. Ya I know, why a wood window, even a half wood window in a shower. I don't think it was always a shower, and maybe not even always a half window. I think this may have just been a closet at some point.

In order to get the varnish I needed I decided to go to a boat supply store. I figured wood on a boat was the closest to wood in a shower conditions you can get. Plus, I hate waiting at line a home depot and didn't need a gallon of varnish for just one window.

Luckily, there is an awesome marine supply called Obersheimer's Marine Supply Store at 1884 niagara st. The varnish was about $31 for a quart of goldspar but it seemed really high quality.


I took the trim off to sand and varnish it. It was so much easier that way. I looks so pretty here. I learned you don't need to remove every single spec of varnish left from before, after sanding it just kind of fades into the new stuff.


Here we are three sanded and re-applied coats later. After retaking up the trim I think I will do one more coat tomorrow before work.


It seriously took me from about 9am till about 11pm to finish. We even had to pick out all the glazing and re-glaze the stupid window, move the hinges which involved chiseling new hinge places, and shine the hardware before re-attaching.

Other random stuff.

When I got home from the bar the other night there was this whole box of candy. I was really excited and sad because I am no longer eating mass amounts of candy. Nikl Nips are sop gross. I mean they taste good but just look at the ingredients sometimes - they do have not one redeeming ingredient - not even sugar.



These tulips in the garden were so pretty. There are so many tulips around the 24 right now.

I wanted to go hiking at zoar valley but I spent all day working on
sanding a bathroom window, adding new hindges in a different spot,
removing molding to and wood filling.

The project took way longer than I thought. I still have to bleech
some stains and re-urethane it tomorrow. I am using outdoors thompson
waterseal seeing as it is in the shower.

Then I have to reglaze the glass as part of the glazing is missing.
The thing is the window is open, as in not attached to the house so I
have to finish it tomorrow so the window can be shut. This should be
a fun way to burn a vacation day ;(

It seems like instead of the outdoor fun I used to have, now I just
have homework. I mean it's very satisfying to do stuff, I just wish
it didn't use up all the nice days.

(e:terry) is digging a pond in the backyard and found the foundation of
an old structure. He is going to use it for a bridge which should be
pretty cool when it's done.