This Is Framingham

Some creep put up plastic ties across Grove St. at neck level so someone on bicycles and motorcycles would get hurt or killed.
As a bike commuter, this makes me upset but also kind of freaked out that someone hates bikes/motorcycle riders that much to hurt/kill them.
I made a post a while ago about how I really try to be as courteous as possible (staying as far right as I can, obeying traffic signals etc…) to motor traffic and I just ask the same.  It’s a co-existence. 
I don’t know if this was intended for bikes or motorcycles but the fact that someone is comfortable with possibly killing someone over his annoyance is really sad. 

Here’s an article from WBZ:
FRAMINGHAM, Mass. (WBZ) Framingham police say it was “a murder waiting to happen.” Someone strung thick plastic zip ties across a street at neck level.

The ties were found hanging 4 or 5 feet above the ground across Grove Street by Belknap Road on Monday night. Police removed them and they were found there again on Tuesday night and Wednesday.

“Any reasonable person would consider this a deliberate act and just the way it was set up is, in my opinion, a murder waiting to happen,” Lt. Paul Shastany told WBZ.

If someone was riding a motorcycle or bicycle fast enough, they could have been seriously hurt, he said.

“I think it’s terrible. Why would anyone want to injure a cyclist?” asked Adrinne Myer, who was riding her bike through the neighborhood Thursday.

Shastany said the zip ties have been sent to the Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab in Sudbury to be tested for any DNA or other evidence.

A witness told police Tuesday she saw a man in dark clothing standing near a telephone pole with a cord strung from the pole to a tree.

He’s described as white, in his late 20’s, 6 feet tall, 200 pounds with a crew cut and a stocky build.

Officers have increased patrols in the area and put up warning signs.

Anyone with information is asked to call Framingham Police at 508-532-5923 or 508-872-1212.

It’s not too often I make a $#@% list post but lately we’ve had an overnight visitor that rips up our yard.
I’m guessing whatever it is looking for grubs and we’ve tried grub treatment but that doesn’t seem to work.  Then we went to the Framer’s Exchange and got some fox urine (I didn’t even know that was a product until this issue), that didn’t work so then we tried going a step up and using coyote urine.  Whatever it was just went to town on the lawn and even left a poop like it was trying to tell us that what it thought of our scare tactics.
We didn’t have this problem last year so I’m not really sure what’s going on but if anyone knows any good tricks for repelling things that dig up yards or really good grub killer, I’d love to hear it.

We live at the crossroads of 2 one way streets and its not uncommon to see someone breeze by the one way and do not enter signs. 

The other thing about going the wrong way on this street is that you have no choice but to take a right (taking a left just brings you to the hospital parking lot or driving into Learned pond) which is also a one way street and again, going in the wrong direction.  We get a fair share of ambulances, and even police cars coming down that street so it’s amazing there’s never been an incident.

I do call the police if someone is going in the wrong direction and then parks, in that wrong direction, so there’s some proof but since it happens so fast, they’re gone before I’d even get to the phone to report it. 

I feel like I shouldn’t call the police unless there’s something to show them but maybe I’m wrong.  If anyone has had an experience with something like this feel free to share.
 

As stated in my previous Shopper’s World post, I am not a fan of the new “world”.  I hate it.  I know some people say it was cold in the winter to shop at there but it’s also cold to walk around and shop here in the winter too- or are you supposed to get in your car and drive from one end of the parking lot to the other?  I can’t tell what the purpose of this layout is but I think it’s horrible. 

I avoid this place as much as possible out of spite but there are times I have to go.  A few weeks ago I was there with my little sister, her infant in a stroller and my mom.  We were at Babies R Us and wanted to get to DSW (pictured in the background). 
It’s such an uncomfortable process to get from one side to another. Cars don’t want to stop at the crosswalks and then when you get into the parking lot you have to cross the lanes looking both ways 2 or 3 times to make sure no one is zooming down the lane or from around the corner. There are some sidewalks that go in one direction through the parking lot but if you’re trying to go in the direction from south to north on the east side then there is no path and you have to dodge traffic.

I can’t help but wonder what people were thinking when they approved demolishing the historic old shopper’s world and the not-so-functional plans for the new one.  It’s not a relaxing place to stroll around and shop. It’s sad that I dread going to a place that I used to look forward to going to.

The Wrentham Outlets have the same idea of old shoppers world and put the parking on the outside of a pedestrian-only shopping area.  Maybe someday they’ll tear this thing down and reformat.

That’s all I have to say about that right now.

On route 9 west, almost at the Southborough border, is the Tin Alley Grill.
I don’t even know where to start but I want to make it short because I don’t want to recall my one evening there for too long.
They serve the usual “pub grub” and it’s mediocre at best, but what earns it’s $#@% list status is the stench that came wafting out of the kitchen all night.  It was so weird, all of the servers were walking out of the kitchen with food like everything was normal.  I kept expecting to see one of them come barreling through the swinging door, yell “Oh my God!” and then throw up but I guess the smell is just part of whatever was brewing in the kitchen. 

It took the whole “meal” for me to realize it wasn’t just me that noticed it. Everyone at the table was secretly in denial until some one had the guts to ask what that vile smell was and then it was time to leave.  Even if they are ”Home of the $1.00 Draft” it’s not enough to get me to go back.

I noticed an interesting police log recently:

CIVIL MATTER: 1699 WORCESTER RD, TIN ALLEY GRILL (ADVISED) 
 3 MEN WALKED OUT ON A $186 TAB. THEY WENT ACROSS TO THE MOTEL 6. RESTITUTION MADE

I can’t believe they spent enough time there to consume $186 worth of food/drink and still had the strength to escape without paying AND cross route 9!

It started maybe 2 weeks ago, Ethan and I noticed this loud chirping from outside and didn’t think anything of it because that’s what birds do.
Then we started to notice that the loud chirping would go on for extended amounts of time. 
Next we became aware that it was only when our cat, Clyde, was outside. 
We’d see that when Clyde was sitting on the front steps, the bird would sit on the closest telephone wire and stay there chirping. If Clyde walked across the street the bird would move over to a wire or a branch across the street and continue the harassment. Anywhere Clyde went, so would the bird.

Now even if Clyde is sitting in our window, the bird comes over and starts chirping.

This isn’t a little tweetie bird chirp either, it sounds like the sharp noise a smoke detector makes when it’s battery is low. 

So, the other day Clyde was out and went around the back of the house.  Of course the bird followed him and I don’t know exactly what happened but Clyde came running from around the corner with the bird flying right next to him.  Clyde ran up the stairs to the front door and I let him in. 
He just sulked around the house for the rest of the day and when I offered for him to go out he just stood in the doorway.  Now he’ll just sit on the front step but won’t venture much further because the bird is even worse now and it will take dives at him.

Here’s a photo (with his commentary) Ethan took of the little guy we found the bird is protecting.  Cute, but it’s depressing Clyde that he can’t enjoy going outside like he used to. Too bad he’s a big wimp and won’t defend himself.

Note: I just wanted to apologize for the fact that my camera is a piece of junk.  The top photo here was the last straw, so I’m saving up for an upgrade. 

The only accident I’ve even been in was at this stop sign a few years ago.  It was my fault. The person in front of me started to go and then I looked back at route 9 to make sure it was clear, and it was, so as I turned forward I started to step on the gas only to find the Durango in front of me stopped after initially moving and I rear-ended it at a whopping 1 mile an hour.
I was more than apologetic but this lady was mean and dramatic acting like I came wailing into her at 80mph while drunk, on a cell phone and eating a bag of chips. 
When the police officer got there and was telling her I gave him my insurance info, she looked at me and then at him, put her hand on her hip and said “Oh, you mean she HAS insurance?” I’m not really sure what that was supposed to mean, isn’t it the law to have insurance for MA plate car?  Did I look like some scrub that was trying to drive with an uninsured, MA plate car?
The officer, who was really nice, told me that stop sign is the one of the top places (if not the top) in Framingham for accidents.
This lady got $20,000 for her sore neck (mind you, I was in my little econo car and bumped her towering Dodge Durango) but then tried to get MORE money from my insurance company and that’s when it become known that she was in an identical accident at the SAME exact stop sign a week earlier and got money from that person’s insurance too. 
Hmm…stopping short to get $20,000 is a pretty good plan if you are a total sleazebag.
The insurance companies conducted a stakeout on her and watched her to see if she was really acting like her neck had this much damage or whatever she was claiming.  I’m guessing she was caught because she retracted her demand for more money and went back to the bridge she lives under. Anyway, that’s why it’s on my $#@% list. (even though I know it was my fault)