Davis Forever!

Out with the old and in with the new

If you head out north from town and cross over 5th street, then you might see signs like this one:

You might not have realized it, but that little stretch of Davis which is roughly between 5th and 8th Streets is known as 'Old North' Davis. I think 'Old' in this sense must pertain to things built before 1950, because it is hardly like we are living in an ancient city.

Well, this might be all fine and dandy if you are an Old Northerner, but clearly there is a large chunk of Davis that lies to the north of Old North Davis, and which has been established in - shall we say - more recent times. Residents of this area have begun discussions about getting their own area of Davis recognized as - and I kid you not - 'New North Davis'. This area would be between 8th Street and Covell, and between Oak and J St.

All of this raises the issue about the future of the Cannery Park project. This proposed development would occur north of Covell, so if this gets the go ahead, then we would clearly need a new district of 'New New North Davis'. As a 'Middle Modern Era South Davis' resident, I see that we could be starting a disturbing trend here.

Animal swap shop in Davis

An ad appeared on craigslist this week (which has been subsequently retracted) which read:

Baby Llama for sale

A six-month old baby male llama (answers to the name of Jesus) is available to a good home. Very friendly and would make a great pet if you have the space. Will sell for $200 or would be interested in exchanging for a sheep, short-finned eel, or Nigerian dwarf goat.

Call 530 - xxx - xxxx

Does this sound a little crazy to you? I, for one, have yet to see a llama in Davis (cats, dogs, and the occasional chickens...yes. But llamas, no). The fact that this advert was retracted made me think this might all be a coded message for some drugs deal. I initially thought that the Nigerian dwarf goat must have been a made up creature, but as the link will reveal, it is real (they even have their own association).

The final part of this ad that puzzles me (well, lets just pass over the fact that someone named a llama 'Jesus') is the fact that two of the three creatures in the proposed swap deal seem suitable replacements, but the third seems very odd. I admit ignorance of taxonomic classifications, but goats, sheep, and llamas all seem to have a certain 'wooly' quality to me. Eels, however, seem to be the odd man out here (odd eel out?). Swap a llama for an eel?!? An eel??? Again I profess ignorance whether 'short-finned' eels are substantially different to any other type of eel ('long-finned'???) but I do wonder whether eels make suitable pets. I guess this could be a household that loves sushi and is in search of some extra ingredients? Maybe they have one of those spoilt kids who has moved on from "Daddy, daddy...I want a pony and I want one NOW" to "Ponies are sooooo last year daddy. Now I must have a llama....or maybe an eel".

Only in Davis!