Cracked Pots Next Door

Our neighborhood here in Tucson is a bit different than our neighborhood in Sacramento was. When we first moved here, we threw ourselves a welcome us to the neighborhood party, since it seemed clear that the other neighbors weren't going to bring baskets of fruit or plates of cookies. At the party, many of the neighbors were introducing themselves to one another, since they apparently had never done so.

In our Sacramento neighborhood, pretty much everyone knew everyone and kept up on each others lives and tried to help out when someone else needed it. I know this might annoy some people and seem to Leave It To Beaverish for some, but it I really do think it is better to know your neighbors and to look out for one another's property and keep up with their lives.

We are starting to make some progress around here tho. Last week, one of our neighbors came and whacked down a tree for us with his chain saw. Diane was working on it with a hand saw and the neighbor's wife thought that he should offer his services and his saw. While he was cutting it down, Diane wondered if I didn't feel guilty that he was doing the work for me. They probably asked Tom Sawyer the same thing when he gave all the kids in town a chance to help out with whitewashing his fence. No, I didn't feel guilty. I was glad to give the neighbors a chance to be neighborly.

Here is an article about some of the exploits of the son of one of our other neighbors. He made a remarkable discovery of some Sinagua pottery several years back. Sinagua is a name given to a tribe that floated around Northern Arizona and disappeared some 600 years ago. The pottery he found was perfectly preserved and quite large, one being three feet in diameter and the others holding twenty gallons each. Check out this article for some more info about the find and why they named it after his brother Tim, that passed away shortly before the find.

I know that we are more likely than not to ignore those that live closest to us, unless they are too noisy and we need to call the cops. But I think you should find out a little more about your neighbors anyway.