New Neighbors Mystery Project Revealed

The new neighbors cleared out the blackberries and leveled the ground and then stopped, probably due to the rain… until yesterday.

My partner noticed that they are putting something in where they cleared out the ground behind the fence on the south side of our property yesterday afternoon. It’s an out of the way area that gets a good amount of morning and early afternoon light, but is fairly shaded most of the time. At first we think it to be a shed, but then I notice the posts are only about four feet high. Then I wonder if it is a playhouse for the little girl, as there are a lot of boys and the only other female kid is probably pushing eighteen. However, last night, our dog Lucy went outside to go potty, and was intrigued by whatever was on the other side of the fence, which could only mean one thing… there were animals. Was it a run for their Chihuahua mix, or was it possibly a chicken coop? I tell my partner and he announces that if they get a rooster, we’re getting one too!

So this morning rolls around after a late night watching St. Elmo’s Fire with our friends Laura and Ashley and I casually glance out the window to make sure the squirrels or some evil nighttime woodland creature hasn’t tore up our vegetable garden again, and notice there are indeed live creatures behind the fence in that corner. And through a hole in the fence that was covered over in chicken wire years ago before we ever moved in I see the unmistakable stance of a chicken scratching and pecking at the ground. The neighbors do have chickens! Now, I am dressed in a pair of Tootsie Roll Pop pajama bottoms covered with Mr. Owl and yesterday’s T-shirt, but decide that I want to investigate without making it look suspicious why I am going outside dressed as I am and not letting out the chickens, so I grab the half-full compost bowl on the counter and make my way to the upper part of the backyard. After dumping the compost into the compost bin, I walk closer to the fence to see what lies on the other side. It’s what I would call a ghetto, but a lot of urban chicken farmers do simply gather what they either have or can scrounge up, chicken coop. Well, technically it is garden fencing on three sides, open top, an old large plastic dog kennel I assume to be the henhouse, and a large piece of plywood covering the front. And of course, chickens. About six, I believe, and all different kinds.

Okay, so now that we know that they have chickens, and they obviously know we have chickens as ours are on our side of the fence, just the north side of our property, do we introduce ourselves yet? Why am I making such a big deal out of talking to new neighbors who have now been in the house for a month? And where were they hiding these adult specimens all this time… the garage? How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop? Yes, all these questions are running through my head at once, and I decide, well, we will introduce ourselves at a time that doesn’t seem weird, like while we are both working in the yard, or cleaning out our coops.

And on a side note, yes I understand that I have been writing about the Half Bath Renovation, but we hit a little bit of a snag where the toilet flange is concerned. Isn’t that a funny word, flange? Flange flange flange! Anyway, I painted a second coat on the walls, which dramatically improved the look and so the room is completely painted and ready for the concrete backer board installation, which hopefully will be today. But c’mon, I had to write about the neighbors chickens, and probably would have interrupted our regularly scheduled Half Bath Renovation anyway!