Santa Rosa Creek...

...is quite low again, despite the rather damp spring. This morning was the first morning in months that dawned bright and sunny. We arose a bit late after the dogs marauded around the house at. 4am. 

We were walking past the fortress house yesterday when our neighbor Bart, followed by his wife, Renee were calling 'Hi, neighbor' to us from their driveway. I confess that I looked around to see who they were talking to but concluded it must be us since there didn't seem to be anybody else around. A conversation about not having seen each other in ages resulted in the conclusion that our rainy cold spring had kept us all indoors and an invitation to come over for a beer and a tour. 

They were lovely and friendly, apologizing for all the beeping, thanking us for our patience (little did they know) and leading us up the inside stairs from the garage since the elevator hasn't been installed yet and only half the railings on the outside stairs have been completed. It also turns out that poor Renee had been in the hospital for two weeks with a gall bladder infection and pancreatitis, which explained why she was drinking water, and why moving into the house with nothing but a bed was a bit precipitous.

The only furniture in the house is a sofa in front of the biggest television I have ever seen, a big dining table with no chairs yet, and a bed in the master bedroom, delivered (without a mattress) while Renee was still in hospital. The house definitely looks better with a lovely light colored flooring throughout, and all the finishes in place. It still doesn't strike me as in any way cozy, but I will reserve judgement until they get some furniture which will no doubt help. I will admit that they have a fabulous view.

We sat out by the pool (which looks a lot better from where we sat than yesterday's view from the street) commiserating with them for what an ordeal it must have been to get the house built. They are expecting some kind of solar system to heat the pool, but the panels haven't arrived yet. They have some outdoor furniture which they purchased to put in front of the RV they lived in for over two years. Renee said she went into it (now in the garage) looked around and wondered how on earth they managed that. We wondered it all along.

We got to talking about memorable backpacking trips and It was a pleasant evening. Clearly, there are still quite a few things needing done, and although it still seems like a fortress, our shrubs  are growing up, what's left of the trees are leafing out and we came home feeling a lot better about them as friends and neighbors....

We left down the front stairs (a bad picture of which I took through the trees) , Bart gallantly offering me his arm when we came to the end of the railings. I gratefully took it....

NOTE: I just realized that this was my 4,000th entry. I thought it was tomorrow...I'll comment a bit more appropriately on that tomorrow, rather than just complaining about the neighbors' house.