u/Boomer_With_Dementia

Hi Athens,

I posted a long list of plants and deer a few years back, a search should find it. I did not (I don't think) focus on ferns.

Anyhow, here is a report and a question.

My Question.

Polystichum Setiferum

This one has lots of common names, curious if anyone has tried it and if the deer ate it or not.

Ferns that deer do not eat.

Japanese Painted Ferns, Athyrium Nipponicum.

Nice fern, spreads slowly by spores.

Dryopteris Filix-mas, Male Fern

It is strange, they will sometimes eat a fresh one from the nursery, but once it gets settled in it seems fine. So maybe it is a variety thing. So not 100 percent, but close enough. Other Dryopteris have been eaten, it is a huge family though.

Eastern Bracken Fern

Aggressive, if it wasn't native it would be classified as invasive, that said, deer do not eat it.

Ferns that deer do eat.

Ostrich Fern Matteuccia struthiopteris

The deer do not always eat this to the ground, but they do sometimes.

Cinnamon Fern Osmundastrum cinnamomeum

I might sometimes confuse Ostrich with cinnamon, but the deer will eat both.

Glade Fern, Homalosorus pycnocarpos

This one has recently been reclassified, but I think I have it right, The glade fern that is native to Athens county.

Interrupted Fern

Deer eat this

They just mowed both sides of the hocking, so the grass is low. On the south side between White's Mill and Richland Ave the Canada Geese have carved up their turf and are taking the babies out for some grass grazing.

It is ridiculously cute. Go see em before the coyotes do !!

The north side had a flock of motherless geese. I don't know Geese politics, so I won't predict why the families are on the south and the childless are on the north. Probably safety, no bike path on that side???

About 12 rounds of fireworks at about 12:30 in town. Usual suspect is Acacia, this was not quite as loud as the weekly barrage.

Mostly I post these because they usually repeat about 1 hour later, although the 4:20 AM round a few weeks ago was really cute. I don't know what kind of weed the kids smoke nowadays to turn them into obnoxious assholes, but that strain is new to me, and I hope it gives them cancer.

EDIT:

Added the following.

The responses to this are sort of interesting. One way to think about it is that r/athensohio is a community, and Athens Oh is a community.

So lets compare the subreddit to the physical community of Athens City and the annoyances that might arise in each.

Subreddit vs Annoying Fireworks Poster

In this subreddit nobody is forcing you to read my posts, you can just ignore them or block me. I mostly post these fireworks posts as a record of events so that I can present to the administration that this is a problem. If this post is something that annoys you, nobody is making you read it, or respond to it, that was your choice. Block or scroll past.

Real Life Athens vs Real Life Fireworks

In real life in Athens though, when the regular barrage of fireworks comes, I can not just ignore my pets freaking out, or me being awoken. I have to either document it so that I can appeal for action, or move out of the town I have lived in for 20 years, and have been attached to for 43 years.

So I ask the folks who replied, some of them I know in real life, some of them who I know have been involved in their HOA for their little community, so they should have some concept of community. Please think for a moment about communities online and in real life, and the annoyances that happen within those communities, and options available to deal with them.

If you are annoyed by something that you can simply swipe past, or block, but instead you seek to oust me from the community. Then put yourself in my shoes, or my cat's shoes. Or just think for a moment.

Just friggin ignore me, how hard is that? Ignoring me is certainly easier than ignoring commercial grade fireworks at 4 AM.

It is funny, about 10 days the flower report seemed very important because it was all just beginning. Now that I go to post a flower report, I can't help but notice that EVERYTHING is in flower.

That said, what is spectacular out here in Athens?

There are some red roses on Congress close to uptown that are incredible. Clematis are in many cases still going strong. It is worth driving around to see the big old "ironclad" rhododendrons in yards in the country and in Town. The plains have some 12 footers on side streets, and some houses on Route 50 towards Albany have some big ones. There are cemeteries in Northern Ohio that have killer Rhododendrons, Ashland, and then one near Elyria a google search would find it.

The cold snap had the benefit of keeping the early Peony flowers in good shape for a long time. I understand that florists can keep peonies in the fridge for a long time, and since we became a fridge that seemed to work here. The tall ornamental alliums are maybe past peak, but still good. My viburnum was really lame this year, but I bet some were/are great. The sweetshrub (calycanthus? Sweet Bubby?) at the History center is looking sharp. North side so it probably holds on for a while.

I bet the rose garden in columbus is looking good, unless Rosette Disease got it.

Happy flower watching..

Large barrage of fireworks at 4:20 AM.. which is just adorable.

We have a LOT of cops. I have interacted with them quite a bit this year. I rarely encounter a repeat, so what do they do during their shifts?

Barney effin Fyfe could solve this case in a day.

In the last city council meeting there was an ordinance for second reading. The proposal was to give 120,000 for a year of consulting to Sunday Creek Horizons.

I don't claim to know all the details of this arrangement and would gladly be educated by someone who does. In the interest of keeping this from being contentious I will break it into facts, and then speculation.

Pleas note that I have put at least a few hours of thought into my post, and if your reply with some knee jerk reaction without a basic understanding of government processes or history it won't really help the conversation. So if you disagree with my concerns or can educate me, please do. But please don't just spew half considered opinions. And yes I know I can be over the top, but at the moment I think I am being reasonable, and mostly encouraging people to PAY ATTENTION.

I will put (?) where I have specific concerns discussed later in the post.

FACTS:

• Our Mayor wants to give this consulting firm 120,000 over a year.
• This firm Sunday Creek Horizons is made up of former state political office holders, Zack Space, Jay Hottinger and others.(?)
• Our Mayor says we will run out of money and have to lay people off, or quit mowing if his tax increase doesn't pass(?) (WSAZ article, and Council meeting)
• Scope of work with Sunday Creek Horizons Includes
  • Armory
  • ADA
  • Economic Development
    • Boat Ramp(?)
    • Farmers Market Pavillion
  • Legislative Advocacy
    • Army Corp of Engineers, Hocking River(?)

My concerns:

General big picture concerns. Why do we take taxpayer dollars and ship them to a consulting firm?

Is this stuff that a city employee can't do on their own? I mean 120K sounds like a full time equivalent staff member. Why pay outsiders?

Is this some revolving door, semi-sleazy arrangement of former officials move into consulting and current officials pay them handsomely so that everyone scratches everyone else's backs and money is exchanged today for favors offered later? I understand sometimes there are areas of expertise where a consultant is needed, or roles such as the bus service that might be reasonable to outsource. But it just smells a little funny to me.

I thought we were about to be broke, yet we have $120,000 to give to former/future politicians as consultants?

Maybe the whole middleman/professional consultant scam has slipped into government as it has slipped into higher ed, medicine and just about everything else.

The mayor also pushed for ORCA (Bailey's trail system) to pay Sunday Creek Horizons. He must like them.

Boat Ramp?

I have put a canoe into the hocking many times, I didn't need a stinking boat ramp. The boat access area downstream, did that take consultancy advice to create? Do we want boats so big that they need a ramp on the hocking? Canoes and Kayaks yes, Motorboats? I don't want that.

It just feels like one of those things were people who want to canoe the hocking already can. I have paddled from movies 10 to whites mill. Paddled the whites mill pool in order to fish. And paddled downriver. I need no further services to continue to do that.

Farmers Market Pavilion?

Why do we need consultants to help build a pavilion?

Army Corp of Engineers, Hocking River !!!!

What the heck is he planning? Has it been discussed, is this like OU president glidden wanting to see rowing crews on the hocking like it was Oxford (England not ohio)?

Another general thought is that when you watch the meetings, you just see council going through the motions and rubber stamping. I guess there is a known risk in Mayor/City Council forms of governments where the mayor gets real pay, has a real staff and sort of can bully council who get paid peanuts and have no staff. Especially in a one party town. Not that I want a two party town.. god help us. But he does seem to call the shots and they fall in line with very little discussion. It is unfortunate, I recall times when council was strong. That said, I understand it is a frustrating thankless job.