Home 'n' hearth

A pissed-off citizen reports from Stratford Street in West Roxbury:

Dirty Tap and Toilet water due to Water and Sewer work in WR. Someone could have warned us?

Complete with a photo of a toilet with the lid up so you can fully appreciate what discolored toilet water looks like.

A concerned citizen reports from Kilsyth Road in Brighton:

POOL ON ROOF. EXTREME HAZARD. COULD CAUSE PORCH TO COLLAPSE OR EVEN WORSE. IMMEDIATE DANGER TO TENANTS. POSSIBLE BUILDING CODE VIOLATION AS WELL.

Or even worse?

H/t Stratis.

The Boston Business Journal reports the number of homes selling for more than their asking price is on the increase.

The Globe reports it's starting to happen, due to the tight rental market in Boston. Also, undergrads looking for fall apartments? So, so screwed.

WBZ reports there's no money left in the till to help people who can't afford their home-heating bills in a winter with oil prices now above $4 a gallon.

Well, not them, of course, but all those other developers. The Boston Business Journal explores the angst among developers about the 6,000 or so luxury apartments that could be built in Boston over the next couple of years.

And dachshunds generally prove somewhat useless in getting them out.

Jennifer Forman Orth, our go-to expert for invasive species, reports that with falling temperatures, more residents can expect their homes to be invaded by these brown bugs that, when startled, smell up the joint.

In most cases, she writes, they're actually western conifer seed bugs, which showed up here in the 1990s and which, fortunately, are not messing with local ecosystems:

You can often find them resting on the sides of houses, on doors and on window screens, where they are hoping to find a way to sneak in.

She provides handy side-by-side comparison photos of true stink bugs (also a non-native species) and the seed bugs so that you may better know a bug.

A disgusted citizen - no doubt hoping the city doesn't forget Allston in its newfound zeal to go after the rat warrens of the Fenway - posts a photo of a very dead, very flat rat in the middle of Park Vale Avenue, and adds:

A growing regular scene in the neighborhood - large dead rats on the street.

The city promptly marked the case closed, however, because:

Unable to locate dead animal. please provide a better location.

But, wait, this just in from Mead Street in L.A.:

We've noticed a definite increase in rat sightings over the past week or so. Building's dumpster has been overflowing with furniture/large debris.

“Farmers To You” Announces Roslindale Service Starting August 1

For Immediate Release

Calais, Vermont. July 23, 2012

Farmers To You, a partnership between Boston area families and Vermont farmers, is pleased to announce the addition of Roslindale to their served communities starting August 1.

The Roslindale Congregational Church will be the pick up site. Located on Cummins Highway just a few yards from the village center, it is well suited for a community centered site.

“We have been looking for a Roslindale site for a while” says Will Forest, Director of Outreach and Communications. “What is essential in making a successful community partnership is a committed site host and a location that sees the benefits of what Farmers To You can bring to Roslindale. We are very grateful to Branwen Cook and the Chruch trustees Committee for allowing us to use their site”.

The local site hosts for Roslindale will be Holly Carmen and Christine Wenc.

Roslindale residents who order online by Sunday can pick up their orders at the Congregational Church lot between 5:15 and 6:30pm on Wednesdays starting August1st.

With weekly delivery to hundreds of families in Cambridge, Somerville, Newburport,

Steve asks:

Anyone know a garden center near Dorchester that sells ladybugs insect control? Want to try natural b4 resorting to chems.

NorthEndWaterfront.com chronicles some of them.

Bird is the word.

Update, 10:09 a.m.: Animal Rescue League on its way.

At 8:42 a.m., butterh urgently tweeted from his Dorchester apartment:

Bird in my apt. Live adult, injured, ARL not open - What do I do?! We're freaking each other out. Need help.

Cyn Donnelly replied:

A towel or light blanket over the bird will let you pick it up and put it in a box or bin until someone can get it.

Purple glass isn't the only reminder Beacon Hill homes have been around awhile, as Mike the Mad Biologist shows us.

Across the city now, people are complaining about homeowners gone wild with beautification. In South Boston, a concerned citizen complains:

These things make it impossible to use sidewalks and force pedestrians, many with small children, to walk in this narrow street. This can't be allowed, in fact obstructing a sidewalk is illegal and against ADA laws.

Our own Stevil brings us this photo of the replicas of the MFA giant baby heads now on sale at Circle Furniture in the Back Bay. Just imagine these on your coffee table, staring at you. It'd be like that Twilight Zone episode with Telly Savalas and the talking doll. Times three.

The Boston Fire Department reports the Heritage Elderly Housing building, 30 S. Bremen St., was evacuated this afternoon after a worker dislodged the building's gas meter, causing a gas leak that spread inside the building.

Nobody was injured; MBTA buses were brought in for residents while National Grid repaired the leak.

Spring Seedling Sale May 19th and 20th 9am-3pm
Wake up the Farm Pancake Breakfast May 19th 9am-11am

Join us to celebrate the start of the 2012 season. Enjoy delicious pancakes with friends and stock up on seedlings for your home garden.

A resident of the West End apartment complex has filed what she hopes will become a class-action lawsuit against her landlord over a $500 "amenity fee" that supposedly helps pay for a fitness center, concierge and freight elevator, but which she says violates a Massachusetts tenant-rights law.

NorthEndWaterfront.com reports on a four-story brick wall came down on Thacher Court Sunday/Monday.

Erica Petersen is looking for a good mover in Boston or Cambridge.

Watch and learn.

Local venture capitalist Bijan Sabet reports he and his family are very happy with the technology they chose for their new custom-built home, except for the sad state of residential phone offerings - from both Verizon and competing home-PBX systems, all of which seem stuck in the 1980s:

The state of residential phone systems is a joke. reminds me of how mobile phones used to look before the iphone/android. adding names to the address book is torture. i gave up after adding my parents and my brother. ...

I'd love to see someone do for home phones what Nest did for thermostats. Build a beautiful android based landline phone system with a set of rich cloud apps along with Google's marketplace.

Over the weekend, the mayor announced a grant and loan program for people who either already own one of the iconic buildings or who want to buy one. Participants in the 3D program can also get discounts at local hardware stores and sign up for classes on maintaining the buildings.

Channel 4 reports.