ROMEO &

1 Backyard chickens

Dogs are great — man’s best friend and all — but can they make your breakfast? Several White rock area residents keep chickens, which produce an average of one egg each per day, as pets.

“But wait,” you might say. “Chickens aren’t pets; they’re dinner.” Try telling that to neighbor Brenda Sanchez, who recently spent cash and time treating one of her cluckers for an eye infection. “Sure, we should have just eaten Fuzzy, but instead I paid $150 at the vet,” Sanchez admits. “We kept Fuzzy in the house and nursed her back to health, giving her antibiotics and eye drops for a week. I even snuck the bird into the elementary school one day because my daughter was the only one in the family who could get those drops in.” note: once you’ve named a chicken Fuzzy, you most certainly cannot have it for dinner.

Bill and Barbara Katz, frontiers of the urban chicken movement in our neighborhood, aren’t typical farmers either. “a hen will produce eggs for two or three years. Once they stop, usually a farmer would end it, but I just don’t have the heart to,” Bill Katz says. To the Katz family, chicken farming is about more than just eggs.

The“chickenculture”ismorethan a hobby or fad, Katz says, but a way of life that sets the “chicken people” apart from the crowd. “Most people bring wine to parties; we bring a dozen eggs — you get used to it.”

2 Free ukulele lessons

Buckner and Northcliff 214.321.0505

TheUkulele lady of Dallas, Noel Tardy, opened a ukeshopinsideKeep UN Stitches, and she offers free lessons the second Saturday of the month at 10 a.m.

3 Not competing with cars

Cyclists, runners and walkers can take thepavedSantaFeTrailfromnear Baylor Hospital all the way to the White Rock Lake Spillway.

4 Saving the hives

SusanandBrandonPollardofOld East Dallas are on a mission to save thebeesthroughtheircompany,the Texas Honeybee Guild. They rescue hives throughout North Texas, and they provide and care for hives at restaurants, including Park on North Henderson.

5 Food trailers on Lower Greenville

CitycouncilmanAngelaHunt’sproposal for a $1.3 million spruce-up on Lower Greenville between Bell and Alta calls for a gourmet food trailer court near Greenville and Prospect.

6 Wagons at the Dallas Arboretum

Schlepping a kid, a stroller, snacks, sunscreen, woobies and everything else to the arboretum is a juggling act. So we were relieved to find they rent wagons for $5. That way, the kid and the woobie are both happy.

1 The boom at Granada Theater

Greenville and Longview 214.824.9933 granadatheater.com

The Granada’s sound system is like no other. Free earplugs are available at the bar.

2 Karaoke at the Goat Gaston and Garland 214.327.8119

We usually prefer the privacy of Korean karaoke, but karaoke at the Goat on Sunday nights is serious entertainment.