Buffalo

i just added "fix buffalo today" as one of the blogs that i follow. i am 80% sure that i am moving to buffalo, NY some time in the next year. property is super cheap there, and my plan is to be a slum lord. *ahem* i mean, a real estate investor. i say slum lord because that seems to be where you can make the most money. you buy a run down place in a run down neighborhood and then you spruce it up a little and rent it out. do that x5, x10, x50 and you've got an empire feeding you cash every month.

now, don't get me wrong, i fully have plans of making buffalo an awesome town. my properties will focus not just on making money, but on beautifying the neighborhood, and raising property values for the entire community. that's one of the draws for me. i will get to garden like mad!!! can you imagine me with 5 yards to design and maintain?! what a treat!!! and the better my houses look, the more rent i can ask for every month.

now, one real concern i have is that the population in buffalo is decreasing. if no one lives in buffalo, that would be a problem for me. i don't want numerous rental properties that i can't rent or sell. that would be bad for me. not only that, but i'm going to be living in buffalo, and i want to live in a cool place. there are universities there and that draws a large percentage of the population. education and health care. so, basically, students and the doctors that keep them healthy.

i guess taxes are high in the state of new york. that keeps businesses from coming there and all that snow doesn't help much either. it's not like you can ski in buffalo. there's no mountains to speak of, and only crappy skiing about an hour away. so, why come to buffalo? well, housing is cheap. super cheap. and the cost of living is super low. but what are you gonna do for a living once you get there? that's the main deterrent for people, i think. no jobs.

so, buffalo is the amazing shrinking city. check out this blog: fixbuffalo.blogspot.com. the city is going away. it's being reclaimed by nature every which way you turn. so, should we try to stop it? should we try to focus people on settling in the center of town and allow the outskirts to crumble? should we just go with the flow, and adapt to the nature of what is happening?

OR!!!!!!!

should we fight!? should we wage a war on The Nothing, like in the never-ending story?! a war on the shrinkage! we could start all kinds of campaigns to draw people to buffalo. "live cheaply!", "buy a house for under $100K!", "marry someone and settle down in the country!", "start your business here!", "at the foot of niagra falls!" i mean, whatever happened to honeymooning at niagra falls anyway?! there are so many ways this place could be marketed, and its just not happening. i mean, when was the last time you saw a commercial by the buffalo chamber of commerce advertising how great it would be to take a vacation to buffalo? go sailing on lake erie! take a beach vacation without the saltwater!

so, that's my question. fight or flow? what does the future hold for buffalo? and if it is disappearing, will i really make my millions in real estate investment there? we shall see, my friends. we shall see.

and if we let nature reclaim the city, would that be all bad? what unforseen good could come from that?

day ... ???

ok, so this must be like day 290-something? clearly i have neglected my blog. my original plan was to sell these fancy heirloom melon plants online. yeah, like that was going to happen! i mean, if you wanted to buy a melon plant where would you buy it? home depot. for like $3 bucks. and you could have it in your hot little hand right there that day. my melons were special because they were an award winning heirloom version, but still, how big is my fan-base really gonna be there? not big. or more like non-exsistent. so, it was a nice try! a fun adventure, and i got a little more experience with growing plants from seed from that project. c'est la vie!

there's more to the melon saga. there's a lot of deep complicated back story, but suffice it to say, the day before thanksgiving 2009 i suddenly moved to los angeles from salt lake city. In the process, I abandoned the 9 melon plants that were planted at my now-ex-boyfriend's house. Like I said, it's complicated.

i also left the drip hoses and the automatic sprinkler timer at his house as well. he doesn't garden, but perhaps his housemate will appreciate them.

so! what is next you may ask? well, that is what i am asking myself as well. what is next? well, here i am in california! with, like, a year-long growing season! hooray! that is awesome! i've planted tomatoes from SEED(!) OUTSIDE(!!) in MARCH(!!!), pruned the LEMON TREE in my yard and the MANGO TREE i ordered online just got here last week! i've also found myself searching for a new direction for my career. i'm considering going back to school for horticulture, or even more specifically, viniculture. viniculture is the study of tending grape vines for the purpose of making wine. hell, i'm in california! why not?

going back to school does not sound like a fun prospect. however, the list of classes i'm looking at does sound fun. it sounds interesting to me, and since i will not have to take general education classes, perhaps it will be bearable. who knows! i have no idea what i'm doing with my life. just riding the wave people. just riding the wave!

so, this is my plan A. staying in california and doing something with plants.

then there is plan B. plan B involves following my long lost true love and his ex-wife and 3-year-old child somewhere in the vicinity of buffalo, NY. that's where the ex-wife is from. my long lost true love is an animator and book illustrator. he can find work in new york city, and me, i can find work anywhere! (because i have very very low standards and i am very easy to please when it comes to my career.) now, how new york city would work with a career in plants, i don't know. it would fit very nicely with my musical theatre career, and perhaps i should prepare myself for that possibility, but honestly, right now i'm burnt out. burnt out from it all. all that showbiz crap makes me tired. not only that, but it makes me feel bad about my body. when i am in shows i get kind of crazy about my weight. it's not good. so, if i end up following this new little family that i have made myself a part of to new york state, perhaps i will find myself going through a transformation and self discovery period yet again.

day 29

day 29.  i missed a few days, but a lot has happened in that short time.  i planted 6 lambkin melon plants at my boyfriend brian's house.  i'm thinking maybe i should take another 3 over and add those to the mounds i created.  i mean, where else would i grow them anyways?  numbers 21, 2, 4, 22, 11 & 15 are at his house.  i also gave number 7 to a co-worker of mine.  she's adding it to her garden.  i was finally able to plant at my boyfriend's house because i set up a sprinkler timer and soaker hoses over there.  it was quite a job to till the soil, remove the rocks and plant and mulch everything, but it looks great now!  i'll take some pics & post them tomorrow.  

day 26

actually, i have over-extended myself a little too much this growing season. i wish there were sprinklers watering all of my stuff. and now it is time to harvest some stuff and i don't even have time to do anything with it because i am too busy watering! funny. i think today i will pull up the purple clover. it is almost totally dead. i don't have the gumption to keep hand watering it all season long. and i will harvest all of the lettuce and chard. that will be dinner tonight. there are fresh tomatoes and a pepper at brian's house that need to be eaten. yum! tonight i would like to finish tilling the plot at brian's house too. maybe even get the babies planted! i got drip hoses and a timer so they will be taken care of. i need manure to till into it and the transplant solution from my garden shed. busy garden night!

day 25

day 25. i will be planting 6 of the lambkin melon plants at my bofriend's house. yesterday, which was day 25 (i am writing this a day late), i cleared the junk out of the side yard where i will be planting them. i pruned the tree that partially shades the area so that you could get in there. there were new little trees growing out of it's roots and into the chain link fence. there is a good chunk of it growing through the fence into the neighbor's yard, but i didn't cut that off just in case they wanted it. plus, it does add a bit of privacy. i am wanting to plant something green that will cover the fence to add even more privacy. green and edible. maybe.

day 24

day 24.  look who came to visit my garden! 

day 23

i've decided that i will give some of these away.  i started with my neighbors heather and her son c.j.  they took number 23, which i thought was interesting since it is day 23!  hmmm...  and then i gave number 5 to the other avid gardener in the complex, chelsea.  i am going to try to plant between 4 and 6 plants at my boyfriend's house, but i need permission from his roommate (the owner of the house) first.  i will have to set up an automatic sprinkler system over there if i do that, because i will not be able to water daily.  i think i have the perfect spot, though.  it's on the side of his house and there is a water spicket right there.  it will get some nice shade which is good, because i think our utah summer sun is pretty harsh and i don't know that they would be able to survive it.