One year ago Saturday, I posted about how the skunk habitat next door had been torn down to make way for a new housing development like ours.
While I wasn't thrilled about the upcoming noise and endless dustiness, I WAS pretty thrilled to have an actual dwelling next door instead of a fire hazard hovel where skunks and badgers partied into the wee hours and then fought with raccoons outside our bedroom window. The developer, Ken, was very friendly and assured me that it would be finished in six months.
HAHAHAHAHAA!
Even then, I knew that was bullshit, but at first, I really thought he might make it. The initial digging and cement pouring and framing of the house went pretty quickly. I actually went out to take a photo of it every day, because I am a dork who is excited by creation! So here's a short little construction slideshow (if you can't see the damn slideshow, here's the set on Flickr):
Ken was SO zealous that we often heard him working well past the 8 p.m. city bylaw deadline for "construction work" and once, on a Sunday, we actually called the bylaw officer to shut 'im down, because IT'S THE LORD'S DAY. But he remained civil to us - in fact, one time, when I complained to him that our garbage didn't get picked up because one of his trucks was blocking the alley, he beetled over and put our garbage in his truck to take to the dump.
I liked Ken. And I wished him the best with his box-y house.
And then...I don't know what happened. But I know what was happening next door - big fat NOTHIN'. Maybe he ran out of money? Probably he ran out of money. For months on end, aside from a little random hammering after 5 p.m., there didn't seem to be anything going on at the house (inside OR outside). I stopped taking my daily photo back in September, because it was just the same damn photo. In the interim, here are the exterior developments I did not photograph:
1. They put tar-paper up.
Fast forward to March 2013. It's been a year! And it's still not finished. But I was still holding out hope that soonish there would be a sweet, modern-looking pad next door. Until last week, when it started to look like this:
Ugh.
I was excited when I saw the red flashing around the roof, because I love red. And I was also excited when I saw the dark blue panelling (on the ground floor - you can't really see it in this shot, because the 2-5-10 Home Warranty sign that's not tied down and likes to blow up and whap passerby in the face is in the way), because I thought it looked niiiice.
But I was not excited when a bunch of tiny rocks started pinging off our back windows last week and I came out to discover that instead of using that nice wood panelling all over the house, Ken has opted for incredibly ugly sort of pebbly stucco finish instead.
Oh, Ken. WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYY??? I'm sure it's just cheaper but it just looks so terrible, Ken!
I honestly don't know why I'm so distressed about Ken and his stucco decision. I'm thinking about it A LOT...just, way more than anyone should. And why?
It's not my house. I don't have to live there. I barely have to see it from my yard. I guess I'm just worried that prospective buyers will be as shallow as I am and won't want to live there either and then THE SKUNKS WIN.
Further bulletins as events warrant.
