Neighbors
My neighbors are a mixed blessing. To one side of me is Wogistan. I think it's a dormitory full of (subcontinental) Indians who are taking classes at the local commun ity college. And by local, I mean walking distance though, I am thankful, behind a swath of trees and fields from me proper. The dormitory means several things: they seem mostly to be cigarette smokers (gag), they routinely leave their deck door open in the summertime with their AC running (of no moment to me) but that allows a gagging (again) stench of rancid curry to waft out, the landlord does yard work about once a year and ... Well, you get the idea. I'd like the nice West Virginian couple who was here when I moved to not have ever moved.
But then, on the other side is an absolutely wonderful couple who moved here for his job from Austin, Texas. They're the ones with Lola the feisty young pug. I couldn't ask for better neighbors. I've passed along Deck Farm™ produce to them last year and will again this season. They made me a salsa fresca from my jalapenos that was fantastic. I love salsa fresca! So, you get the idea - they're good folks.
Over the holiday week, they were away while we had hot and dry weather, unpleasantly hot and dry weather. I saw that the plantings they'd done in the front yard were suffering so I ran my sprinkler on them for about an hour one day. And I left them a message just as an FYI. So what happens when I get back? They give me a $25 AmEx gift card as a 'thank you!' How nice!
It's wonderful to have good neighbors. They get poblano peppers next.