Now is the time in Austin when we Fruit Fly

Last Saturday was "It's My Park!" Day in Austin, and though I think that name could still use a rework, it is one of my most favorite Austin things - basically a day of service in the parks.  (We have one on MLK Day too but it's not quite the same, and I have to work on MLK Day).  You go spread mulch or plant trees or clear brush and then you eat oranges and whatever bizarre meal replacement bar is sponsoring the event (this year it was Lara Bars and I replaced quite a number of meals with them).  Errr, some projects also have breakfast tacos and doughnuts, and some are kid-friendly (rock painting?) and some are dog-friendly (I don't sign up for those, sorry dogs).

Anyhow, I ended up cleaning garbage out of the creek in Dottie Jordan Park.  This sounds really dumb to you probably, and most of the people picking up litter with me were also confused about why I ended up wading in knee high, but the idea of a park, of many parks in Austin that have their own creeks is just mindblowing. Growing up in a desert dressed like a garden will do that; the smallest truly naturally occurring groundwater features or the tiniest native frog almost make me gulp back sobs sometime.  So I will clean garbage out of Austin streams with pleasure.

But like I said, I really like this day, so I also (well technically I did this earlier in the morning) built a fence at tiny Palm Park right downtown, so that people who want to get their drunk on do not brazenly park in the park, but rather must stop at the parking lot.  On paper, and in the way I have crudely worded it, this also sounds dumb, but again, IT WAS NOT.  After 2.5 hours, 20 dudes from Texas Gas Service and I made a very nice looking double cedar-rail fency with concrete poured and everything.  We joked about how soon it would take some drunky to crash through it, and scrimped on the donated concrete by digging up medium-sized rocks from the parking lot and winter-growth brush.  The rocks were my idea and the Gas Service engineers seemed to think this was pretty perspicacious, and I ate a doughnut and said you are welcome. 

In closing, please enjoy this City of Austin Parkviewer, probably one of the only remaining non-Google-based navigable satellite maps you'll be likely to see; what it lacks in actual clarity it makes up in home town pride; AWKWARD TEXT+IMAGE MELD KEEPIN AUSTIN WEIRD FTW!!!!  As for me, I am going to sit in this chair with the slouchy posture my normally type A spine is only able to achieve tonight thanks to Luis S., yoga instructor of the hilarious Spanish guitar version of Stairway to Heaven which was very hard not to fall out of breath cracking up to, today.