Light On Dark Water

Standing where it ought not (cf. Mark 13:14), i.e., next door:

From the time we moved here in 1992 until six months or so ago, there has been a patch of woods on the west side of our house (on the east, north, and south, too), even though we live in town. A few times we discussed with its owner the possibility of purchasing at least part of the lot directly to the west, where the property line is only ten feet or so from our house. But we didn’t have much money at all to spare, and the owner wasn’t especially reasonable or cooperative.

Several years ago, right before Hurricane Katrina, she finally sold the lot, for more than we had paid for our house and lot together. After Katrina, we hoped the new owners might change their minds about building on it, and more than two years went by with no action. Then six months or so ago they cleared the lot and we knew the end was near.

Now it’s happening. My wife has been documenting the calamity in a Flickr album here. It wouldn’t be so bad if our house weren’t so close to the property line—as you can see from the photo above, the new house is very much in our face.

I keep telling myself to count my blessings, that this is still a great place to live. But it’s still depressing.

Pre-TypePad

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