Dog Day Afternoon

We have a new way of being awakened in Jackson Ward and it's not about the noise, although that is excessive.

No, it's the vibrating bed and it takes an awful lot to shake the foundation of an 1876 house hard enough to rattle the floorboards on the second floor. And yet they're doing a damn fine job of just that.

I went to bed around 2 last night and at 8:30, I was jolted out of sleep by my wooden bed on the wooden floor shaking so hard that it interrupted a rather pleasant dream. It wasn't just hearing the ruckus through my open windows, it was actual movement. Since there was no going back to sleep, I got up and went out to talk nicely to the perpetrators.

Turns out the 'hood is getting new gas lines, all of which tie into the main line on Leigh Street. This means that both the street I live on and the side street one house away are being torn up daily in this endeavor.

Don't worry, the workmen assured me, it'll only be another month. I guess that means that weekends aside, I'll get a full night's sleep again some time in October.

And then there's the non-stop noise all day, drowning out my music. The endless dust being excavated and swirling around every time a car drives over it. The sudden lack of parking due to equipment and cones.

Ah, the price of progress.

To escape, I decided to take myself to lunch and since Tuesdays are Dollar Dog days at City Dogs, that's where I went, even though it meant dodging the hordes of VCU humanity on Main Street.

I'd already been to the City Dogs in the Slip, here, so I wanted to see how the Fan location compared.

There's really only one big difference between the two: how the mostly male customer base dresses. Downtown, the place was all men in business attire. Today was all guys in t-shirts, but still all men.

If not for the servers, I'd have been the only female in the place.

The dollar dogs are the Richmond Originals, marinated Thurmann's dogs with mustard, onions and chili. Being the dainty creature that I am, I got two and a lemonade (it seemed appropriate for this kind of heat) and sat back to enjoy my lunch with the guys in air-conditioned comfort.

A beer delivery guy asked if he could take the stool next to mine and I welcomed the company.

The bartender was placing his order when it occurred to him that the band Former Champions was playing there later this week. I know nothing about this band, but this realization necessitated him upping his PBR order by 50%. At the very least, I now know that Former Champions fans drink a lot of PBR.

He also got shot down when he tried to put in an order for Carta Blanca, a beer I'd never even heard of. The beer rep informed him that there was none available. Nada, zip.

"They told us to blame it on BP," he explained. "For real or is that just the new scapegoat?" I had to know. Shrugging, he laughed. "I just say what they tell me to." Apparently Carta Blanca is headquartered in Mexico, for what that's worth.

Me, I'm still headquartered in J-Ward where the nights are late, the mornings are early and sometimes a girl has to go eat some dogs just to escape the noise and heat.

Unfortunately, the vibrating bed can't be escaped for some time to come.