duck-shaped pain

The house that sits behind our and the one across the street from it both belong to the same family. This guy came here one day and bought both of them, one for each of his daughters and their families. Now, if I were to have a house, I know I wouldn't want it to be right across the street from another family member. I would at least have to be across town or, ideally, some completely different location/town/state. But I guess it works for them.

Anyway, here's some annoying things about our neighbors:

• They wash their cars, all six of them (between the two houses) -- plus a motorcycle, every single day. At least once. Whenever I look out in the backyard, there's one or more of them, washing the cars. I have nothing against clean cars, but every day is a bit excessive, especially in drought conditions like we're having this year.

• Want to talk to your sister next door, but don't want to leave your front step? Why not just yell whatever you have to say across the street. That way, *everyone* can hear it! I know more about what goes on in these people's lives that I know about my own.

• They seem to add a new kid or dog every single day. The crowd just gets bigger.

Sorry. That's just been building up for awhile. Tonight, while I was sitting out on the deck eating an otherwise excellent dinner, I got to hear a yelled conversation about some family member's lice problem. Take it inside.

Anyway, that hardly distracted from the main event, dinner. I took some of the tiny potatoes I got this morning and roasted them with some garlic, olive oil, pepper, and rosemary. Then I added some parmesan cheese and ate them, along with some sourdough bread I bought at the bakery this afternoon. It was a fantastic meal. The beer I drank with it was a bottle of Oregon Original Raspberry Wheat, which was also very good. It's only in the summer that I get urges for fruity wheaty beers, and that's one of the best ones you can get in liquor stores around here. I also like Henry Weinhard's Blackberry Wheat, but I've only seen that for sale in Oregon. One of the local breweries here makes a good Apricot Wheat, but they only have it for a month each year, and that month was last month.