In honor of Saturday, Nov. 7's, frugality forum at the Edendale Library, Chicken Corner will be conserving its words (in this entry only!) ... because hereabouts we don't buy the notion that talk is cheap.

Some Saturdays the Edendale branch has classical music.

Here's info, emailed by Niels Bartels, librarian:

We'll be having a frugality forum at the Edendale Branch of the Los Angeles Public Library this weekend. It will be an open discussion on doing more with less. Bring your money-stretching tips, your challenges, and your questions to ask.

Saturday, November 7th, 1-3 p.m.; 2011 W. Sunset Blvd., L.A. 90026; (213) 207-3000; there's parking behind the library.

It promises to be rich.

The "development" at Chicken Corner - named "Durbin" by its developers, the Angeles Group, gets ghostier every day -- a ghost town that went from A to Z without stopping for residents. Ailanthus trees have grown to fifteen feet, tobacco trees, too. All kinds of growth amid the sun-baked frames of homes that were never even half built. A sign that promises an "April 2009 debut" of the "homes" is still there. Piping and other materials that were left on-site when it was all but abandoned look like they have been there for a long time. For a while there was a white clunker - a Lincoln or Monte Carlo from '90s, I'd guess - parked on the lot. Now it is gone.

So when I saw that a representative of the Angeles Group was included on the agenda for the Echo Park Improvement Association's monthly meeting on Wednesday night, I made time to go to Barlow Hospital's meeting hall to find out how things were developing for the Durbin development.

But there was no representative from Angeles in attendance. According to board members, they had been invited, one guy had said they might come to address the group. But they didn't come.

It seems fitting that the ghost town would lack a representative. One we could see at least.

Los Angeles at large is talking about the D-word after the Dodgers lost to the Phillies last night. But in Echo Park the D-word became the D-word when the team started winning. Because that is when the traffic started to become unbearable. One neighborhood list is clogged with posts about how the McCourt Dodgers organization has underperformed (throat clearing) on promises to control traffic in the neighborhood after it reopened the Scott Avenue gate. Lots of questions about why the MTA doesn't have special bus service. A report of beer bottles and condoms. A moment of truth that was all but scheduled a couple of years ago when the Dodgers attended community meetings and tried to quell residents' doubts about the extra tri-zillion cars that would be tiptoeing (ha!) through the neighborhood after big games, upon the reopening of the Scott Avenue Gate. (If you're new to the issue, the newest Dodgers owners opened a gate that had been closed for years, due to an uprising of local residents in the mid-'90s.)

On one list, a neighbor offered:

We're lucky if it's only broken beer bottles we find, there are usually a bunch of used condoms strewn around, too.

Chicken Corner is heartened to see renewed passion for a renewed padlocking of the dreaded gate.

Our big concerns get very small at Chicken Corner sometimes. As small as our eight-legged friends and feared ones. We have a no-kill policy at our house with the unpleasant exception for black widows. The no-kill rule is for my daughter's sake. She loves bugs and in the last few years I have started to love some of them, too. We had a yellow and black garden spider in our yard this summer that was named Hearts. We had an orb weaver on the porch that we called Our Lady Spider. Some of the rolly-pollys have names too.

Inside, we have long-long-legged tan colored spiders with tiny abdomens; they walk slowly and awkwardly when forced to move. Many of these we leave alone, clearing away their webs, and then they make new ones. Sometimes, when I'm not in a mood for a big, slow spider in the bathroom, we catch it and put it out.

Yesterday, we saw a large one of these harmless spiders in the living room under a window sill. My daughter shined a flashlight on the lady spider, and we saw that she had an egg sack -- a little white ball with white bumps that soon would turn into hundreds of spiderlings.

"Sorry, lady spider. You're going outside with those."

I got a stiff piece of paper to carry her out with -- at which point she turned into a hero. She grabbed the egg sack and ran for it. But she ran slowly, and I kept catching up with her, trying to get her to walk onto the paper so I could carry it out. She ran and ran. I gave up on the paper and went to get a plastic cup. My daughter kept an eye on her in the meantime. I assume the spider was exhausted. She stayed where she was. When I got back we got her into the cup and then took her outside. She still had the egg sack, which she had carried all over the living room. It was cold out, and she probably found a way back inside -- future generation in tow -- anyway.

It's a bug's world. We're just visiting.

...to add your voice to the EIR literature on the Prop-O renovation of Echo Park Lake. For the record. Or for the lake, the community, yourself. Depending on your degree of optimism.

Chicken Corner and a few residents of Echo Park and environs took a walking tour of Echo Park Lake yesterday, guided by various representatives of Black & Veatch and other subcontractors and city employees. The project reps gave their vision of the future of the lake, which is a recipient of Prop O funds for renewal. The EIR for the project is underway and the deadline for public comment is Oct. 9.

Most of what we saw I liked very much. Lots of new wetland areas, soft edges around the lake, well-chosen vegetation. The plan moves the waterpump station from the peninsula to the south end of the park. (It's hard to imagine how anyone got away with locating a utility building at the most beautiful lookout point in the park - but it happened. These things do happen when no one says no.) The lotus bed will be restored.

More good: 12 to 18 inches of slime are slated to be scraped off the bottom of the lake. An underwater berm will serve as a dam - because the lake is actually a dam. The lake bottom will be made of clay. And the drainage plans were impressive, designed to stop the use of city water for filling the lake -110,000 gallons of water are to go in the north end and out the south end every day -- and designed to keep sediment and garbage out. One things I learned: outflow begins at the south drain at Bellevue then proceeds beneath Glendale Blvd. to 2nd St., which it follows all the way to the LA River.

Not so wonderful: A rep for the landscape architects said they want to get rid of the floating-marsh islands that presently exist on the lake because, the rep said, they wouldn't add enjoyment to the lake. "What about the aquatic birds who have protected nests there?" I asked. Rep said they could nest along the edges of the lake instead. But unscrupulous people and children take the eggs.... No answer. He also said some of the trees, which should never have been planted 70 years ago, would have to be removed. But new ones, better ones, would be planted.

Black and Veatch's rep Hala (couldn't read her last name) said they are planning to drain the lake in one go - instead of in phases as many residents have requested for two years - because it would be less expensive to do so. When Judy Raskin, local birder of note, asked how much money would be saved, Hala said they didn't know. No one seems to have done calculations for that. They're just assuming it will be more expensive. Then she started to become impatient with questions. (The point of draining in phases is so migrating birds could still use the lake.) She said of course Fish and Game would have a say in the matter. Unfortunately, it didn't occur to me at that moment to ask whether Fish and Game has to weigh in during the EIR. It seems strange that they wouldn't, but if they do they only have a few days to do so. And if they say the lake should be drained in phases then what good is an EIR that doesn't address that plan?

My friend Jane Bowers, who has a degree from the Kennedy School of Government and who is visiting from Boston, commented about how suspicious the Echo Park folk were of the information they were being given. (Well, that's Echo Park: it's full of smart, cranky skeptics.) She says she has more faith in the motives of people who are trying to get things like the lake rehabilitation done.

I had to agree that I want the project, and I didn't see any signs of villainy in front of me yesterday morning. I also like the overall plan, which seeks, happily, to respect the history of the lake and the neighborhood. But I care about the wildlife who presently LIVE at the park. And the way the animals and their advocates seem to be less than an afterthought for the giant private companies, well, that makes me cranky. Not a crank, but cranky. Certainly the birds add more overall enjoyment to a visit to the lake than a shapely view of the boathouse. And the cost of draining the lake in phases? Who knows what that would be?

If you have anything to say: Comments must be received in writing by October 9, 2009. Mail to: Maria Martin, City of Los Angeles, Bureau of Engineering, 1149 South Broadway, Suite 600, Mail Stop 939, Los Angeles, CA 90015; or e-mail (include "Echo Park Comments" in subject) to Maria.Martin@lacity.org.

Ever since I've lived in the Silver Lake-Echo Park region, I've always heard that there were underground streams running beneath us in this area. One myth -- or was it true? -- was that the constant water wash running down Angus in Silver Lake for some years came from an underground stream. It's been dry in that spot for a while now, so I assume a stream was not the source.

And then, of course, there is the bottling plant down on York Ave. Sparkletts, I think. Porch talk has them pumping their water right at the spot.

Now comes along my friend Darrell Kunitomi to put facts to work. He found a great map: described by Myriad Small Things as "the intimate history of the suburban landscape from the point of view of water in Northeast Los Angeles..."

It shows an 1888 map of storm drains and "water courses," toggling it with a modern map. Muy interesante.

I asked Darrell where he found the map, and he wrote:

I was out in cyberspace [a few days ago], and sent it along to you and several others, native Angelenos and fellow fly fishers who could be concerned with water matters.

It may have been from the marvelous L.A. Creek Freak blog. So much lore and history -- and longing -- on that site. Appeals to me, because as an Angeleno who fished Echo Park as a boy, whose father actually swam in the L.A. River in the 1920s as a boy in Little Tokyo and who vividly recalls a greener (vacant lots were our playgrounds, where we constructed tunnels in the high weeds and forts and treehouses) more open less congested Los Angeles (driving to Disneyland was fantastic when the orange groves were in bloom, and Knott's Berry Farm's parking lots were dirt) I miss my old city. I miss the butterflies that flew all over Los Angeles. I could catch over a dozen species with the net my mom made. I mounted them in Riker boxes. Now and then a lost Monarch came through.

I visit rivers and streams now as an adult fly fisher. In many ways I search, and find, what now seems lost in the city.

A greener time -- fed by the same waters that run beneath us today. Perhaps!

As you may know, the city took a stand on roosters on Tuesday. Citizens of Los Angeles now are allowed to have only one resident rooster per property. Janice Hahn introduced the measure, and it passed unanimously among the councilmembers who were present. After meetings that went far into the night, the editorial board of Chicken Corner has taken its own vote and decided that the new rooster rules are a good thing because, despite being introduced as a nuisance abatement issue, the new law looks like a shiny new tool for use in cock-fighting abatement. And, besides, who in tarnation (besides breeders and cock-fighters) needs two roosters? Not the hens.

Previously, Chicken Corner had been under the mistaken notion that we really weren't allowed to have even one in city neighborhoods (though there are many in Echo Park). Hens yes, roosters no, is what I thought. But I asked Eric Garcetti's office about it, and they got back to me with:

According to Hahn's office, there was no limit on the number of roosters at a residence before this ordinance. The only restrictions previously were that the roosters had to be 35ft from a residence and 100ft from neighbors' residences.

Over here at Chicken Corner we're crowing happily. Meantime, if you want to see a fine, rockin' rooster click here. Link courtesy of RJ Smith.

Reports at Chicken Corner log a success at last weekend's poop event in Elysian Park, where over 40 volunteers cleaned our beautiful park. A good, enthusiastic turnout, which was offset by a few who said no.

Pooper troopers kept a list of the top ten reasons for not picking up poop in the park, and as you'll see the top ten list grew longer than ten:

Top 10 Reason not to Participate with the Pooper Scoopers
1. "I'm going out of town that day"
2. "I pick up after MY dog"
3. "My dog poops off the trail"
4. "I fill bags of other dogs poop all the time"
5. "It's Saturday"
6. "My dog poops before we leave our house"
7. "I have Bursitis"
8. "Who me? Get my hands dirty?"
9. "I don't do group anything"
10. "I...don't want my "tats" to fade in the sun and all the heat!"
11. The poop biodegrades in to the soil (true, but not before it has done harm to wildlife and native plants)
12. Plastic bags are not bio-degradable
13. Gotta go to work.
14. My dog is too shy to poop in the park
15. Other people pick it up, so why waste my time?
16. Gross
17. I just got my nails done
18. I'm texting
19. My dogs takes off, and I don't see where they do it
20. The coyotes don't pick up their skat

Chicken Corner particularly loves the last one, number 20. Coyotes don't pay taxes, either. So...does this mean you can claim a federal deduction for leaving a big pile of dog poop in the park?

Meanwhile: insider tip. Chicken Corner has heard from publishing insiders a bit of gossip concerning Dante's Inferno. Apparently, the author had written an entire circle of hell just for the citizens who did not pick up after their dogs (with bio-degradable poop bags). But Dante's editor convinced him to cut the 10th circle. Dante later told his friends Dana and Steve that he regretted cutting the 10th Circle. But, of course, it was too late.

On Thursday, my husband and daughter and I got into the car and drove seven hours (counting a dinner stop in Paso Robles) to Monterey -- not to get away from Los Angeles, but to bask in foggy, damp air, and maybe see an otter or two. Considering all that was going on in Los Angeles this weekend, the trip could not be called a getaway (though it is an adventure).

First, there is the poop pick-up event taking place this very minute in Elysian Park. A service social occasion. All of dog society will be there, and I wish we were helping out, too, as it's not only poop that needs scooping but other bits of debris and trash that kills birds and robs our special park of beauty and grace. It was organized by the Echo Park Animal Alliance.

Next, there is the Frogtown Artwalk. This is the fourth annual -- organized by Tracy Stone -- and there are some 30 studios open to the public on a self-guided walking tour down by the river. In the past there have been fire-breathing pianos, there have been paintings, crazy furniture and...the river.

Well, it would have been swell to join in the fun back home. But it isn't exactly exile here at the Monterey Bay. So far, we have seen tiny deer that came near our lodging. Loads of seals. A lone sea nettle. Long-legged shore birds with long beaks. And the aquarium. We have met people from Merced and Cincinnatti, and I now believe that frozen vegetables are, in fact, "too good to be true" -- I won't be buying them anymore unless for very special reason (for one thing, they have been cooked and treated to cease enzyme action before freezing).

And, of course, the shoreline is better than you can believe. Just like in Los Angeles.

Whenever I take a driving trip away from LA, I am always struck by two things -- first by for how long I drive before I actually leave L.A. The journey begins way before we get out of town. And in this instance, it included an I-5 swing around the back side (north west) of the Angeles Forest, where there were patches of black that ran right up to the highway, and it all looked scary bare. The next thing is how enormously the state opens up and becomes huge faster than I can believe.