Most of the anti-tildites have moved out or moved on. Other than that, my weekly sandwich-drives still haven't attracted even ONE of the neighbor women. (Sigh.)
I'm so glad the anti-tildites have moved out because now there are some houses available in your neighborhood! I just bought the one next door. It'll be great! Your tildes can come over and make friends with my circumflexes, carons, breves, cedillas, umlauts, dots, hooks, macrons, perispomenes and rings.
It'll be one big happy diacritical mark party! I'll supply the beer umm, I mean lemonade.
The HOA stopped allowing home owners to rent out their units, which eliminated much of the bad seeds. ( l know not all renters are terrible). Apparently in this particular neighborhood though, the renters were terrible. We have only lived here about a year and a half, after the renters were axed.
Almost all the children have grown up and most of them have moved away. The neighbors daughter is still at home but she has a baby of her own now. So it's mostly just us old folks now.
Not much since the summer. Our neighborhood decorates for Christmas and usually to the hilt. This year the only decoration is the elf on the shelf at the entrance. Most days, he's mad because someone has come by and trashed his house (knocked it over). It's a clever display and the antics that go on overnight are hilarious.
The snowbirds are staying all year. The summer population has dramatically increased due to this. We love the summer when nothing is crowded and traffic nonexistent.
Most of the oldest families living here have died off or moved away. The house next door was empty 7 yrs before it sold. Now the owner rents it out. In 5 years there have been 3 different families. Not many families are friendly or even say hello. Not at all like it was here years ago. Really a bit sad:(
I've lived in this neighborhood for well over 50 years. In that time...
85% of the native trees have either been cut down or have come down during storms. 90% of the homes went from having wood siding to having vinyl siding (and only 1 of the wood sided houses is still 1960's avocado green). 100% of my neighbors have moved or died. The gold mine in the next block was turned into a subdivision (90's). The "airport" next door was turned into 2 separate schools (70's). The pasture at the top of the hill that once housed cows and horses was turned into a subdivision (80's) The large parcel of land behind my house went from being an overgrown forest to one of the top-rated golf courses in the state (90's). Neighbors used to know each other and their kids played together. Now neighbors don't speak to neighbors (about 2% of neighbors even know their neighbors name) and there hasn't been any children in this neighborhood since the 80's. The sound of farm animals (cows, sheep, chickens, horses, goats) used to fill the air (roosters woke folks up at dawn). Now there is silence. The house atop the river below me was burned down (purposefully) and an ugly 2-story "crate" was built in its place (it's now a rental). When I came here everyone grew a vegetable garden. Now 99% of them only grow marijuana. When I came here nobody locked their doors or their cars. Now every house has security cameras (protecting their marijuana?) and deadbolts. Used to give away extra produce in the summer and give neighbors cookies at christmas. Now no one wants either.
When I moved here in 1948 the town had almost 900 population and two churches. Now it has 360 pops and six churches. Back then the town was supported by truckers whose companies ordered them to get food and gas here and then drive all the way across Arizona without stopping. Since the freeway came through, the town is supported by RV parks catering to winter tourists. Of the sixteen houses on my block, six are either demolished or uninhabited. The house market is so weak that some tourists buy a house just to have a parking place. If they have an old RV, it's cheaper to buy a house than to buy a flashy RV so the parks will let them in.
Back then even a small town had a vibrant community. My father decided to buy a place here because the city across the river in Arizona had a sales tax on groceries and California didn't.
~
Randy D 