Got another one.

This one was unusually tame, displaying no fear of me.  He came close enough to ask permission.  Nevertheless, this isn't a posed shot.  If you're quiet and gentle, they'll soon return to their natural ways, even though they know you're there.

Comments

[Jens Fiederer]

Photographers or boys in general?

[JRoth]

You have nose-in parking on your street?

Everybody's right: California *is* weird.

[Megan]

They switched to nose-in parking my fourth or fifth year here. I guess they were right; they got five spaces out of what had been two. The five spaces are full, too.

But, you know. What do I care? IDEHAcar.

[Megan]

I guess it goes to show that our streets are too wide. Which they are.

[JRoth]

Well exactly. You need a crazy-wide street to be able to have nose-in parking on both sides and 2-way traffic. The good news is that it's (I think) more traffic calming than parallel parking; the bad news is that it's more dangerous (even with calmer traffic, you still have people backing into a driving lane with pretty poor visibility.

Because I know you, Megan, I looked it up: your configuration requires between 56 and 70 feet, curb to curb. That's insane! That's enough for at least a four lane divided highway, or even a tight six lane! In normal cities, 50' is the complete ROW (on a residential street), including both sidewalks, curb parking, and two lanes.

All of this is moot if there's only nose-in parking on one side or whatever, of course.

[Megan]

There's only nose-in parking on my side. But even with nose-in parking on one side of the street, there is PLENTY of room for two lanes and parallel parking on the other side of the street. Our streets are too wide.

Of course, a couple blocks away, the elms cover the entire width anyway, making a glorious tunnel. We're very lucky to have them.

[JRoth]

Wow, you are lucky. Are there a lot of elms left in CA? Did Dutch Elm not make it across the Rockies? Or is it just an isolated stand?

[Megan]

Dutch Elm came and took a lot of our trees, but mortality wasn't 100%. Sadly, those big trees are old now.

We're talking about replacing them with Valley Oaks, which make a glorious street tree. But not for a long time.

[LizardBreath]

Are elms that survived Dutch Elm immune? Could they be taking cuttings and growing saplings of the next generation of elms in nurseries? Or are they just not worth planting any more?

[PG]

How much do you think it will cost to get cuts of wood from the elms when they do have to come down? I have friends with a 100 year old house in Connecticut who are frustrated every time they look around their kitchen, because it was initially constructed internally with lots of elm, but someone in the 1970s thought it would be a good idea to replace a chunk of that (but not all) with pine.

[Lo]

Warm hoodie + flip-flops... is this species native to Sac, or is he on a northern migration?