Neighbors

I don't know if I have ever mentioned some of our neighbors. They have been here since we moved in, although I have to confess that I'm not sure if they have always been the same ones. They aren't particulary friendly and they all look the same to me.


I took this from my front porch. The vacant lot across the street from my house is a favorite breakfast spot. You see, we have guineas.

They can be a little noisy, but I don't mind. They are a fun addition to our neighborhood.

The story goes that they used to belong to someone who let them run free. The owners moved and left the guineas. They roam in about a 3 or 4 block area. I don't know where they nest. We lost a couple during Ike. Our count has been between 2 and 5 over the years. There are people who put out feed, but they mostly forage around in yards and flower beds.

I'm not sure if they are considered wildlife. They are more like livestock. Whatever you call them, they are fun to have in the neighborhood.

Signs of Life

Although our "arctic blast" made it look like our yard was mostly dead, spring has sprung and there are signs of life all over the place.

Flowers are blooming.


Sadly, the bougainvillea has lost it's former glory. This:

has turned into this:

It is on the list to be whacked down to the ground. There is a little shoot sprouting near the base. I'm curious to see how far it will get this year.


All sorts of things are shooting up around here. Not the least of which are these:

Building has started in my neighborhood again. This was taken from my backyard through my next door neighbor's yard. Although it looks like one unless you look at them squarely at the front, this is really two separate houses. There is another one going in behind them.

I must say, I am very grateful that 3 houses are going up at once instead of one at a time. Building a house is noisy business. I'm glad it will all be over at once and not drawn out over many, many months.

Next up, edible garden-y things....

Other Growth

While our fall garden may be stunted, the neighborhood is not. Here are some scenes from my back deck.


These are 2 "houses" that are being built behind us. I say "houses" because they are being built on lots that are a mere 25 feet wide. That is more townhome than house to me. Where once there was one house, there will be three. *sigh*

If you look past my next door neighbor's house and into the next yard, you will see an excavator and a little bobcat. The house and awesome-beyond-all-hoarder's-belief garage is going away. Two fabulous new homes are to be built on that lot soon.


It is not very quiet around here these days what with all the banging and air compressors and smashing going on. I'm also feeling a little encroached upon. Those houses in the back are built right up to the alley and are hovering over my backyard. More motivation to get out of here. So again - *sigh*.

Tuesday's Tip

Today's Tip: get to know a bee wrangler.

OK, so this may not be something you ever really need to do, but let me tell you, when you need one, it's really handy if their kids are friends with your kids and she'll run right over and take care of things. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

My daughter and I spent a good deal of this glorious day outside. We planted a few things, watered a few things, and did some reading in the grass. We retired inside to contemplate dinner. About an hour later I went outside and found this:

That is my mailbox. With a beard of bees. They all arrived in the hour we were in the house. Amazing.

Fortunately, the mail had already come, so I didn't need to disturb them to find all of the fascinating sales fliers my mailman brought me.

Enter the Bee Wrangler. I haven't known Jennifer long, but our kids are friends. I called her up and she be-bopped right over.

Can I just say, "Wow." I have never seen this process. I am bee phobic enough to be more than a little freaked out at the thought of being in a little net tent with hundreds of bees, even with the protective gear. But Jennifer is brave. Jennifer is experienced. Jennifer went right to work.

She has this cute little bee box that she hooks up to a Shop Vac looking thing. She gently sucks them up and they land into their temporary home. When she gets to the queen in the middle of all the bees, she unhooks the vacuum and holds the house in her lap. She then gets the queen on her finger and puts her in the box being careful not injure her.

The process isn't quite complete yet. She left that little box leaning up against the mailbox. There were quite a few bees that were still airborne and didn't make it into the box. She said they will land there and then quit flying after dark. She will come back by and just pick it up and take them home. She will relocate to them a new hive tomorrow.

I now know more about bee habits than I ever dreamed. It really is fascinating. But I'll leave the bee wrangling to Jennifer. I'll stick to my safe spot on the porch. : )

Getting Ready

We have spent the morning getting ready for the arrival of Ike. The girl and I took a break and walked around the neighborhood a little to see what everyone else is doing.

We saw taped windows.


A few boarded up windows.


We didn't board up or tape, but we did secure the porch furniture.



A few people left, but most are still here. The only thing I saw that kind of worried me was this.

A small trailer in a carport. Hmm. I hope he makes it.

We still live in a construction zone.

I originally ran this post in September, 2007. Things are still booming in our area, so I thought I would encourage myself to keep moving forward with getting the house ready.

I hear there is a housing slump.

This is the view from my front porch.



Of course, you noticed the backhoe and obvious goings on at the first house. Did you notice the framing of a new house going on 2 doors down? That is another new house.

This is the view from my back fence.


The first thing you will notice is that there is no house behind my house. It was torn down to make room for a new house. Across from the lot are 2 actually under construction. The one on the left is new and almost done. The one on the right is a major redo. They have more than doubled the size of the house. There is another one to the left of the one on the left that you can't see. It is also new. And that is not counting the 5 other new houses on that block, 2 of which are actually 3 (4?) story duplexes. There used to be 8 addresses on that block. When all is said and done, there will be 15.

You see why we want to move. It is going to be as crowded here as it is in the suburbs soon!

Just Peachy

There is a peach tree that I see every morning on my walk. I have watched it as it bloomed and set fruit. That fruit is all ripe and hanging heavy on the limbs now. I walked by the other day and the owner was out in her yard. I commented on how much fruit she had. She asked if I wanted it. Apparently, picking peaches off your own tree is not as exciting to some people as it is to me. I thanked her profusely and told her I would be back later with my kids. And I was!



About half went into a cobbler thing. The other half went straight into Bubba's tummy.

Housing Slump?

I hear there is a housing slump.

This is the view from my front porch.



Of course, you noticed the backhoe and obvious goings on at the first house. Did you notice the framing of a new house going on 2 doors down? That is another new house.

This is the view from my back fence.


The first thing you will notice is that there is no house behind my house. It was torn down to make room for a new house. Across from the lot are 2 actually under construction. The one on the left is new and almost done. The one on the right is a major redo. They have more than doubled the size of the house. There is another one to the left of the one on the left that you can't see. It is also new. And that is not counting the 5 other new houses on that block, 2 of which are actually 3 (4?) story duplexes. There used to be 8 addresses on that block. When all is said and done, there will be 15.

You see why we want to move. It is going to be as crowded here as it is in the suburbs soon!