Meet the Neighbors

We had the new roof installed this weekend. It's a built-up roof (more on that in a later post), which meant that hot stuff was to be poured on top of it, with the risk of its dripping into the house. We were therefore recommended to leave the house for a couple of hours (which turned out to be 5). This gave us an opportunity to get to know our neighborhood!
First, we talked to Silvia, one of the first people to move into the neighborhood. The very first one was our neighbor to the south, Ray, who together with his dad built the house in 1946. Silvia lives right in front of Ray, and that makes her our SW neighbor. She has the reputation of knowing anything that goes on in the neighborhood. She told us some very interesting stories about people who lived in our house and how one time our large mesquite tree fell off but was pulled up again and somehow made it through. Right next door to Silvia is a house that has some interesting characters - both inside and out. The owner (who apparently can play some tricks of dubious nature) rents it to a couple who has lived there for more than 6 years. However, they recently got divorced, so the wife is hardly ever there. Not clear where the guy is now and whether we met him or not. We did meet a few of the inhabitants (or should I call them outhabitants - they live outside in a tent!). One of them has a couple of pitbulls - I met the female, Diamond, who is very friendly and loaded with milk - she recently gave birth to ten pups - and a cockatoo! The cockatoo can say "pretty bird" and "close the door", but most of the time we just hear her SCREAM HER HEART OUT.



Next door is a couple who has 5 cats and 2 dogs, but we haven't met any of the pets, because they live indoors. We did meet the owners - Carla and Bob. They've lived there since 1991, and they have a bunch of fruit trees. Apparently Carla makes her living by selling dolls and toys on EBay. Bob just left before we made our approach, so we didn't get to talk to him.
To the north is a rental that was just re-rented to a couple of roommates this past week. The old tenants, who we've met as we moved it, just bought a house and moved out. The new tenants are students at the University, and one of them is called Brian. The other is still in NY, so we didn't get to meet him.

In between meeting all those new people, we also needed to go somewhere and have breakfast. I asked the roofer for a recommendation, and he, without hesitating a second said "Frank's!" It's only about a mile away, and fairly cheap, non-presumptuous and tasty.


Mark had Frank's Veggie Burro and I had French Toast With Lots Of Sugar



Both were very good.

And to finish it up - here are a few pictures from the neighborhood:

Hummer dealership and the Catalinas from the road. Our house is to the right, where all the trucks are parked - these are the roofers' trucks.


This lizard lives around our house.


A bird on a tree


Good to have an animal hospital (or two) around. This is one of them. the other is across the street.