Urban Sprawl

"Once upon a time there was a Little House way out in the country. She was a pretty Little House and she was strong and well built." This children's classic by Virginia Lee Burton was always one of my favorites. And now I'm living in it. Ok, the house we live in is not really pretty or well built, but maybe at one time it was "way out in the country", who knows. We happen to be living in the latter part of the book.

Basically, our street and many around us are under constant construction of some sort. Older houses, like the one we are in, are being torn down completely and replaced by huge half-million dollar homes which really, you wouldn't have thought could even fit in their lots.

When we moved in, in January, the lot behind us was completely empty but a new, towering monstrosity (which I certainly wouldn't mind living in) was up in just a couple months. Now the lot right next to that, which is also basically in our backyard, is going through the same process. At least we have some privacy with our backyard fences, one of which was just replaced by our rich neighbor.

Our days are filled with the music of power saws and hammers, loud trucks and men shouting. I dont think you can ever walk more than 3 or 4 houses down our street in either direction without encountering large equipment of some sort. Ethan is really not all that impressed when he sees an excavator or backhoe, now that he lives among them.