Robert and I cooked a gluten free pizza from a mix I bought at Big Lots last year and threw in the freezer. It was pretty tasty. It had a real nice exotic mix of fancy cheeses from Nickel City cheese on elmwood and the Lexington coop. I planned on just getting cheese at Nickel City but they don't carry mozzarella.

We also fried up some artichoke hearts. I never tried it before but it was easy and delicious. I dipped them in eggs, rolled them with garbonzo bean flour and deep fried them with peanut oil - yum.

I wanted to be able to curl my mustache again after seeing a real nice looking one the other day so I decided to start by separating the mustache from the beard and trimming a bit.

For a long time we talked about getting chickens but never followed through. Its almost spring again and time to start planning, building and hatching soon if it is going to happen.

I was reading through the City of Buffalo laws about chickens and the brave fight of some Rhode Island St residents to keep chickens legal They won in the end and this is the law now.

§ 341-11.1. Exceptions for chicken hens.

[Added 7-28-2009, effective 8-7-2009]
It shall be lawful for any person to keep, permit or allow any domesticated chicken hens in any residential district under the following terms and conditions and after having received a license to keep said chicken hens from the City Clerk as prescribed herein under the following terms and conditions:

A. No more than five chicken hens shall be allowed for each single-family dwelling or multifamily dwelling.

B. No chicken hens shall be allowed in multifamily complexes, including duplexes, without the expressed written consent of the owner of the building and all tenants residing in the building other than the applicant.

C. No chicken hens shall be allowed without the express written consent of all residents residing on property adjacent to that of the applicant.

D. No roosters shall be allowed.

E. Chicken hens are to be restricted to the rear or backyard of any lot in a residential zoning district or the rear or backyard of a residential use in all other zoning districts.

F. Chicken hens shall be kept as pets and for personal use only; no person shall sell eggs or meat or engage in chicken breeding or fertilizer production for commercial purposes.

G. Persons wishing to keep chicken hens within the City of Buffalo must obtain a license from the Office of the City Clerk after payment of an annual fee of $25, and after inspection and approval of the coop and cage that chicken hens are to be kept in by an Animal Control Officer, pursuant to § 341-11.4 hereof.

§ 341-11.2. Chicken license application contents.

[Added 7-28-2009, effective 8-7-2009]
The application for such license shall include the following information:

A. The name, phone number and property address of the applicant;

B. The location of the subject property;

C. The size of the subject property;

D. The number of chicken hens the applicant seeks to keep on the property;

E. A description of any coops or cages that will house the chicken hens, together with a description of any fencing, barriers or enclosures surrounding the curtilage of the property;

F. A scaled drawing showing the precise location of cages, coops, enclosures, fences and barriers in relation to property lines and to structures on adjacent properties;

G. A description of the manner by which feces and other waste materials will be removed from the property or will be treated so as not to result in unsanitary conditions or in the attraction of rodents and insects;

H. A signed statement from the property owner, if the applicant is not the property owner, granting the applicant permission to engage in the keeping of chicken hens as described in the license application;

I. A signed statement from any and all tenants of the building that they consent to the applicant's keeping of chicken hens on the premises;

J. A signed statement from any resident residing on a property adjacent to the applicant's property consenting to the applicant's keeping of chicken hens on the premises;

K. The addresses of all properties within a fifty-foot radius of the subject property.
§ 341-11.3. Chicken coop setbacks and limitations.

[Added 7-28-2009, effective 8-7-2009]

A. Setbacks.

(1) The coops or cages housing such chicken hens must be situated at least 20 feet from any door or window of a dwelling, school, church or other occupied structure other than the applicant's dwelling.

(2) The coops or cages housing such chicken hens may not be located in front or side street yard areas and shall not be located within five feet of a side yard lot line nor within 18 inches of a rear yard lot line, except where the rear lot line forms the side lot or front lot line of an abutting property, in which case the setback from such rear lot line shall be five feet. No chicken hens shall be kept in front yard or side street yard areas.

B. Enclosures/coops and cages.

(1) The chicken hens shall be kept within both a coop and a fenced outdoor enclosure.

(2) The chicken hens must be kept in the coop and fenced outdoor enclosure at all times and shall not be allowed to run free in the fenced outdoor enclosure unless a responsible individual, over 18 years of age, is directly monitoring said activity and is able to immediately respond should said chickens need to be returned to their individual cages.

(3) The chicken coop shall be a covered, predator resistant, well ventilated structure providing a minimum of two square feet per chicken hen.

(4) The outdoor enclosure shall be adequately fenced to contain the chicken hens and to protect the chicken hens from predators.

(5) The coop must be kept in a clean, dry and sanitary condition at all times.

(6) The outdoor enclosure shall be cleaned on a regular basis to prevent the accumulation of animal waste.

(7) The total area of all coops or cages on a lot shall not be greater than 32 square feet for up to five chicken hens. Coops and cages, singly or in combination, shall not exceed seven feet in height.

(8) The chicken feed or other food used to feed the chicken hens shall be stored in a rat-proof, fastened container stored within a structure, which shall only be unfastened for the retrieval of food and immediately re-fastened thereafter.

(9) The chicken hens shall be fed only from an approved trough. Scattering of food on the ground is prohibited.

C. Sanitation and nuisances.

(1) Chicken hens shall be kept only in conditions that limit odors and noise and the attraction of insects and rodents so as not to cause a nuisance to occupants of nearby buildings or properties and to comply with applicable provisions of both the New York State and Erie County sanitary codes.

(2) Chicken hens shall not be kept in a manner that is injurious or unhealthful to any animals being kept on the property.

D. Slaughtering. There shall be no outdoor slaughtering of chicken hens.
§ 341-11.4. Review, expiration and renewal of chicken license.

[Added 7-28-2009, effective 8-7-2009]

A. Initial review.

(1) Upon receipt of a chicken license application and the requisite license fee, the City Clerk shall immediately notify the Office of Animal Control of said application, including the number of chicken hens sought to be licensed and the location of the proposed chicken coop or cages.

(2) The City Clerk shall immediately notify those property owners who own the properties within 50 feet of the applicant's property and provide them with an opportunity to provide written comments as to their support or opposition to the proposed chicken coop.

(3) The Common Council of the City of Buffalo and the Office of the Mayor shall also immediately be notified of the chicken license application.

(4) If the City Clerk receives no written comments evidencing opposition to or concern regarding the proposed chicken coop within 20 days of receipt of the application, he or she shall issue a license for up to five chicken hens to the applicant that shall be nontransferable and valid for one year from the date of a satisfactory inspection of an Animal Control Officer, which shall be subject to the renewal provisions set forth below.

(5) If the City Clerk receives written comments evidencing opposition to the proposed chicken coop and cage within 20 days of receipt of the application, he or she shall file with the Common Council the complete chicken license application and all comments received regarding the application for its consideration thereof.

(6) The Common Council shall determine, in its discretion, and taking into account the entire record before it, whether or not a chicken license shall be issued to the applicant. The Common Council shall be empowered to impose further conditions on the license that it deems to be necessary to preserve the public health, safety and/or welfare.

(7) Upon the approval of a majority of the Common Council, the Mayor shall take action on the license application in accordance with City Charter § 3-19.

(8) The Office of Animal Control shall cause an inspection of the proposed chicken coop to be conducted to verify conformance with the provisions of §§ 341-11 through 341-11.4 hereof within 45 days of the applicant being issued a license.

(9) After completion of the inspection by an Animal Control Officer and confirmation that the coop conforms to the specifications provided in the application approved by the City Clerk, the licensee shall be allowed to keep the number of chicken hens specified in the license on the premises.

(10) A license issued to an applicant shall include the licensee's proper name, the property address for which the license is valid, the number of chicken hens allowed at the property address, a unique license number, the date the license was issued, an expiration date exactly one year from the date of issuance and any conditions imposed by the Common Council.

(11) Only one chicken license shall be issued per applicant and per property. No licensee shall be eligible to obtain a chicken license for multiple properties, nor shall more than one license be issued to one property address.

B. Renewal.

(1) On the first day of May of every year, the City Clerk shall file with and notify the Common Council, the Office of the Mayor and the Department of Permits and Inspection Services of all chicken hen licenses issued in the prior year, including the names of the licensees, their property addresses, the number of chicken hens licensed at said property and the issuance and expiration dates of said licenses.

(2) On or before June 1 of every year, the Common Council, the Office of the Mayor or any other interested party shall file complaints received regarding licensed chicken hens.

(3) Any complaints received regarding any particular chicken license issued shall be considered at a meeting of the Committee on Legislation, at which the licensee and any other interested party shall have the right to be heard concerning said license.

(4) The Common Council may, in its discretion, not renew any chicken license for any reason after the licensee and any other interested party has been given an opportunity to be heard.

(5) On June 1 of every year, the Common Council shall proceed to consider renewal of all chicken licenses issued, as prescribed in Subsection B(1) through (4), and may revoke any license issued pursuant thereto.

(6) If, at any time, the Common Council is made aware of any complaints regarding a properly licensed chicken coop, it may proceed to hear the complaints of any interested party and the defense of the licensee at a meeting of its Legislation Committee and may revoke the license issued for any reason pursuant to § 341-11.4A(7) hereof.

(7) If a license is renewed pursuant to the provisions hereof, the applicant may continue to keep chicken hens pursuant to the terms and conditions set forth herein and imposed in the initial license, provided that he or she pays the annual fee of $25 on or before the expiration date of the license.

(8) Except in the case of a chicken coop that is not permanently affixed to the ground and is therefore mobile, any licensee shall first obtain a building permit in accordance with Chapter 103 hereof prior to constructing or erecting a chicken coop not inconsistent herewith.

While I was reading through the ordinances I came across the rules for keeping cows within the city of Buffalo. I wonder, is there any example of a milk cow living in the city?

§ 78-2. Required acreage and permit for keeping cows.

A. No person, persons or association shall maintain upon their premises within the City limits more than one milch cow unless said premises are in proportion of one acre of land to each and every cow above the number of one.

B. No cow or cows shall be maintained without first obtaining a permit for such purposes from the Department of Health, but no such permit shall be issued except in conformity with the City Code and with the rules and regulations adopted by the Department of Health in the interest of public health relative to the keeping of cows.

(E:heidi), (e:libertad), (e:terry), (e:xandra), rita and robert and I went dancing at dnipro last night for Bass Mountain. The setup and lights were awesome and as far as I a concerned they have the best dance floor in the city. The main hall is a giant theater with wall to wall solid vinyl floors.

The music wasnt really my thing this time. A huge portion of it sounded like the music from the Harlem Shake. I prefer just about every other kind of electronic genre but I still managed to dance my butt off as you can see on (e:libertad,57256).

I think everyone had a good time. Cant wait to go back next weekend for thr peep show.

...I am watching them ;) Seems like the start of a another great night.



I can't wait to dance tonight at Bass Mountain at Dnipro. Heres the linup from their facebook page.

BASS MOUNTAIN MAIN STAGE:

8-8:45 THE VERDICT
8:45-9:30 BETA
9:30-10:15 POTENT J
10:15-11 MARIO BEE
11-12 DJ BITTLE
12-1 BIG BASHA
1-2:15 **SHIFTEE**
2:15-3:30 **TERRAVITA**
3:30-5 LOKI

AREA 2 DIVERSE SOUNDS OF EDM (DOWNSTAIRS BAR)

8-9 ROLA
9-9:45 BEN E J
9:45-10:30 LOONEY TUNES
10:30-11:15 STUNTMAN
11:15-12:15 SWAGGLEROCK
12:15-1:15 EYES EVERYWHERE
1:15-2:15 PAUL K
2:15-3:30 SPACE JUNK (LIVE)
3:30-5 SITA & SKANNTRON

AREA 3 CHILL ZONE (UPSTAIRS BAR)

10-12 PERCEPTOR *GHETTOTRONICS SET*
12-2 SCRO
2-3:15 DAY V JONES
3:15-5 BEN E J

AREA 4 SUBFILLED RENEGADE VIP ROOM

10-11 CAPTAIN WOLFY
11-12 BOXYGEN BTB MIXMASTER BATES
12-1 SGM
1-2 NECKBRACE BTB FIYAHFACE
2-3 CHUCKS
3-4 THE MICK

We headed out to Scherer's Furniture @ 124 Genesee St. to buy a new bedroom set to match the new bed (e:paul,57246). According to their website they are the oldest furniture store in Western New York, I would totally suggest checking this place to anyone who is looking for quality furniture. The prices were also really competitive. I tried searching for the exact same furniture line online for each thing we looked at and their price was cheaper than anything I could find.

Ended up with a set from the Kincaid Rosecroft line . The furniture is solid wood and made in America. I figure its worth the investment because it will have resale value and won't have that horrible outgas smell from particle board. The Made in America line was a bit more expensive than their made in China line but I like the idea of supporting home industry. Its like shopping local on a slightly larger scale.

We ended up with the bed , dresser and mirror





I love the hardware on the furniture. I really wanted the rest but you have to draw the line somewhere. And an $500 nightstand is where I drew that line for now. The same nightstand was about $800 everywhere else online. The only sucky part is that they are out of them till they made new ones and we are on the list for April.

Yesterday, (e:mike), (e:terry) and I spent the evening on Amherst street for a change. There is so much going on down there. We started out at the 464 Gallery 4 year anniversary where I got some cute felted items by Artist Esther Neisen for myself and Robert, who was sadly missing from the evening due to studytime obligations. Its amazing how quickly you can miss people. (e:terry) got a lot of artwork for the walls at their new expanded office space.









While there we met up with Rita and john and some friends of their's.

Afterwards we went to Casey's. Not my best buds house but a bar with the same name on Amherst st. This is definately a lesbian friendly place. Saw lots of ladies making out. Just the other day I was reading about how Roxys is the "only" lesbian bar. Guess not. The drinks were so cheap. I think we got like 5 drinks for $13. Side note - they only take cash. We ended up leaving when someone played "I am proud to be an American" on the jukebox. I still think it was secretly Rita ;)

After that we headed down to Rohall's Corner This place was awesome. It helped that I got carded and the guy would not believe I was really my age. He thought I was using a fake ID and insisted I show him some grey hair. If it were within walking distance from my house I am sure we would go all the time. I love the style and comfort of the sitting area in the bar and the drinks were also cheap. can't wait to bring (e:hodown) down here when she visits next.

(e:terry) commented on how once the weather warms up all those places are just a short bikeride away. The question remains though, do I want to leave my bike in Amherst st at night? Thats something I will have to determine once I see it summerside.

Last night (e:yesthatcasey) and (e:xandra) and I went to savoy on elmwood. The food was super delicious although quite bread centric. That bread was so good though, esp the crostini. I was surprised they didn't have any entrees but all snacks and sandwiches. Not complaining, I love small plate items, I was just surprised.

One of the most amazing parts were some brie cheese wrapped in some sort of thin dough and then baked or fried and the steak sandwich. I also really enjoyed the olive bowl flavorwise. I had a bunch of cut up veggies and some marinade. My only criticism is that they could have added more olives.

We ordered a good variety of items. I was literally stuffed when I was done.

The price was a little steep for three, but we did have drinks too which always drives dinner prices up.

...finally.

I was just petting my new crystal fox tail (e:paul,57240) while looking at some old pics. Ironically I found this one of me sitting in my vegan army shirt with my vegan necklace in front of my "Every Fur Coat Hurts" poster which I think features of wolf trapped in a fur trap. I think this version of Paul would want to kill me for being a traitor.