Love Thy Neighbor

All week my dad has been belting his bluegrass songs across the neighborhood as we took the porch down, put a new roof on, and installed gutters. His favorite goes something like this...

"If you don't love God, you can't love your neighbor. You've got to love God to love your neighbor..."

During this time he had many encounters with our neighbors. First, "Bob's wife" (we don't know her first name, but the sign on the garage says "Parking for Bob" & "Parking for Bob's Wife" so that's how we refer to them) came over and chatted about the house and the neighborhood. She had many tales to tell, having lived in the house for over 15 years. She was very pleasant and I even found out she is a musician. Our other neighbors, Lane & Amy, came over with their little girl to say hi. Then our older neighbor, Maxine, had a long conversation with dad about the house and life and even gave me some space next to her house to plant tomatoes in! I often wonder what people think of my dad, but they seem to smile and listen, so I guess it's ok :-)

Many of you know that we have the meanest, city code calling neighbor in Greeley. The day we closed on our house, the city put a notice on our door that the hedges were too high and the grass was too long. Later that month we had a notice on our door that our dogs were barking too loud-while inside our house! Then, one Sunday night, we got a knock on the door from a police officer who was called because we were watering on the wrong day...even though Sunday was our day. Everyone in the neighborhood despises this "Codger." You should hear the stories. There's cat trapping, restraining orders, yelling fights, and everyone knows who he is but no one talks to him. That is, except Ed. Yes my friends, I have evidence that my dad is a miracle worker and that he takes his bluegrass music to heart. Here they are, engaged in conversation, and I think Codger is smiling! (I remained incognito by pretending to take pictures of the house)






He isn't even neighbors with these people and I think he's had more conversations with them this week than we have in two years. Maybe Eric and I can learn from his example and should heed the advice in the song.

Here is a picture of the front and one of Eric wielding the nail gun.


We still have lots of landscaping to do, cement to finish, shutters to put up, a porch to screen in, and lots of touch up painting and sealing. I haven't been able to get a picture of the gutters since all it has done is rain for two days. If you don't hear from me, just stop by and chances are you'll catch me in the yard!