good neighbors

It's been a little bit of an adjustment for us, being here in a neighborhood.  In Maine we lived on a half-mile long dead-end road with about 15-20 houses on 2+-acre wooded parcels, but even after seven years there, we didn't know any of the neighbors' names.  Sure, we knew them by sight and knew their dogs' names, but it wasn't a really sociable setting.   Where we are now, with the houses so close by that I have to remember to keep the blinds closed at certain times (our last house didn't even have blinds or curtains), the neighbors are a constant presence.

Luckily, we have really nice and friendly neighbors who take in our trash barrel if they get home before we do, and bring us fresh-baked loaves still warm from the breadmaker.  They're also very organized and into being prepared for whatever comes - whether this is a particularly Mormon and/or Utahn thing I don't know, but it makes sense what with the fault line running along the Wasatch Front. 

Just last week we were invited to a neighborhood preparedness meeting at our across-the-street neighbors' home.  Most of the folks from either side of the street came, which was great as we finally got to meet people and put names to faces.  They handed out a contact sheet to be updated with names, phone numbers and email addresses; they gave us preprinted cards to place in the front window in case of a local disaster: green for all's-well and red for help-needed; we talked about who has generators, who has CPR training, who has medical conditions; we discussed the best way to get rid of the magpies plaguing the vicinity (inconclusive).

Afterwards there were desserts, made in Dutch ovens in keeping with the disaster preparedness theme of the evening: pineapple upside down cake, apple cobbler and some decadent chocolate-cherry concoction.  We learned that we are not the only non-Mormons on the street, that one other house loves xeriscaping (and so there'll be at least a couple people who keep talking to us once we pull up all the grass in the yard) and one of the neighbors works for an outfitter who does trips to Antarctica.  Everyone was super-friendly and very welcoming.  I can't remember any of their names now - we're going to sketch out a neighborhood map when the updated contact list comes out - yet it was kind of nice to feel like we were part of the community.  Not a big part - we like to do our own thing more often than not - but a welcomed part nonetheless.