Neighborhood Update
I have some sad news for you, I'm afraid.
You may remember my posting a couple months ago about the woman in my neighborhood whose house caught fire (she was smoking in bed) and who was taken to the hospital. If you don't you can scroll back to March/April if you like, unfortunately the links are not working. Well, my neighbor Norm across the street told me recently that she had died - the smoke inhalation was too much for her, I guess, and she asked to be taken off life support. Her house continues to sit, boarded up, a sad sight. Since she apparently has no relatives to inherit, the city will probably acquire the house when the property taxes come due and are not paid.
Norm himself has finally sold his house and will be moving to Palm Springs shortly. I'll miss him when he goes - he's the sort of guy who knows everyone on the street (he's an entire Neighborhood Watch program in himself). He's a retired military guy; when my next-door neighbor Debbie's house got broken into two years ago, he dashed over with a gun stuck in his shorts to help. Fortunately the house was empty by then.
Norm initially tried to sell the house himself, but then gave up and got a realtor. This weekend, shortly after the "In Escrow" sign went up, I was puzzled when the "For Sale By Owner" sign reappeared on his lawn. A closer look, however, made everything clear: in the center of the sign was a small flyer reading:
FOR SALE
$10
SIGN WITH FRAME
Norm doesn't miss a trick.
posted by Dr. Alice at #
