{"id":6526,"date":"2023-07-13T11:21:29","date_gmt":"2023-07-13T15:21:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=6526"},"modified":"2023-07-16T09:01:16","modified_gmt":"2023-07-16T13:01:16","slug":"https-dahlman-online-index-php-2023-07-13grayinginpataskala","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2023\/07\/13\/https-dahlman-online-index-php-2023-07-13grayinginpataskala\/","title":{"rendered":"Graying in Pataskala"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is a “Sunday Story”. There’s no politics here, just some observations about a little neighborhood in a little town called Pataskala.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Summer Fix Up<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s summertime in Pataskala. And this summer, besides having to cut the grass three times a week, there\u2019s a new trend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone\u2019s home value is rocketing up. Sure, part of that\u2019s inflation, but part is the economic boom that\u2019s boosting the Columbus, Ohio area. Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Intel, Facebook (oops, I mean Meta), are all building on the east side of town – just beyond the outer belt. And that\u2019s us; right where Pataskala is.  We part of the new Midwest “Silicon Valley”!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How big a deal is it?  Our house value is up more than 80% in the last ten years.  Luckily the property taxes aren\u2019t quite keeping up, though they\u2019ve increased too.   So maybe those increased values make the owners feel like putting more effort into their homes.  We just power washed our twelve year-old vinyl siding and it came up great.  There\u2019s no need for the expense of ripping all the old off and putting new on, not to talk about the disruption to five dogs from people pounding on the outside walls all day.  Two dogs were already freaked out from the groan of the power washer.  But others in the neighborhood are tearing even newer siding off and replacing it completely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s fine:  it makes the neighborhood look sharper. But there is one concern. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colours<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Our house is \u201ccream\u201d (or \u201calabaster, chateau, or clay\u201d). On one side is our neighbor\u2019s newly painted brick and stucco.  It\u2019s \u201coff-white\u201d(or \u201cweathered white or melting icicles\u201d). On the other side, their new siding is the color of an old red barn (maybe \u201cmountain berry, or harvest red\u201d). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But several others decided to choose the same color.  Of course they say their houses are all different:  \u201cseaport, granite, smoke or dove\u201d. But to this old history teacher, they all look battleship gray. Remember those World War II movies; the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay or the USS Arizona before December 7th?   US Navy Battleship Gray; fresh off the pier and ready for action. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of my sisters is an artist.  She has a \u201cprofessional\u201d eye.  When she looks at blue, she sees dozens of shades and hues, all carefully categorized and used in her work.  I\u2019m sure if she looked down the street, she\u2019d see all the differences in the \u201cgray\u201d.  But to my, untrained eye, blue is blue, and these are all just Battleship Gray \u2013 some darker, some lighter, but all gray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I have to admit, it looked sharp \u2014 On the first house. And it looked OK on the second.  But now  it\u2019s going up on the third, I\u2019m beginning to feel like we\u2019re living in officers\u2019 housing, here 566 miles from the nearest Naval base. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My street should be renamed Battleship Row, even though the houses are more Frigate than Capital sized.   While gray is striking in contrast – it\u2019s just gray when you put them all together. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Words<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

And, by the way, there is the whole difficulty with the word \u201cgray\u201d too.  Is it \u201cgray\u201d or \u201cgrey\u201d?  I had to do some research on that, and discovered that, as Bill Murray said in his famous soliloquy in the movie Meatballs<\/a>; <\/em>\u201c\u2026It just doesn\u2019t matter\u201d.   Either “g-r-a-y” or “g-r-e-y” is OK.  So what\u2019s the problem?  Well, like a lot things involving my writing, it\u2019s all Mom\u2019s fault!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yep, here in the USA it\u2019s Battleship G-R-A-Y.  In the Crayola box<\/a> it\u2019s listed as G-R-A-Y.  You can even order Battleship G-R-A-Y<\/a> paint for your own equipment.   But \u2013 if you want fine English breakfast tea (or you\u2019re a fan of Captain Jean Luc Picard of the Starship, Enterprise) you order Earl G-R-E-Y<\/a> tea.  And F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote about G-R-E-Y days in This Side of Paradise<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It was a grey<\/strong> day, that least fleshy of all weathers; a day of dreams and far hopes and clear visions”.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, he was an American author.  Maybe he had an English\/English teacher, or an English mother helping him fail spelling tests like me!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, I\u2019m glad my neighbors care about their homes.  It makes everyone try to \u201ckeep up with the Joneses\u201d, and make their property look nicer.  And all these gray homes are making our house stand out; more than even the \u201cBiden for President\u201d sign in the front yard did a couple of years ago.  But it would be nice if they could find another shade.  How about a nice light blue; \u201crobin\u2019s egg, or turquoise\u201d, or, — oh no: \u201cgreyed-out blue\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sunday Story Series<\/h5>\n\n\n\n