I bought a house in the Oleander area back in April.  Since then I've met a few neighbors and have observed a few neighbors from my kitchen window.  One in particular was Ta Mac ... he's the guy who lives in the back cottage next to my house.  The first time I met him he came out onto his porch one day while we were taking a break from working on the house and talking outside.  He said "Having a picnic or something?" to which I gave the friendly reply of "Nope, just taking a break.  I bought this house and we are fixing it up.  I'm your new neighbor Kindra"

To this he walked slowly backwards into his house, shut his door, and then his blinds.

Since then I joke when I see his truck (the plates read TA MAC, he has a Hanoi Jane Urinal Sticker, and a Vet sticker on the bumper), or if I see him walk by I'll say "Ta Mac!" as if we were comic book characters and he was my arch enemy.

Yesterday I came home and noticed something small on my front step ... I got closer and saw that it was a hexagon shaped wooden box with a hole carved in the middle.  A hummingbirds nest and an egg sat in the hole.  A note was attached.

*Note, no hummingbirds were harmed.  This nest was abandoned

A housewarming gift from your grumpy neighbor in 1906.

-Tim

So Ta Mac! has a name ... Tim.  I couldn't help but smile ... so he isn't a complete weirdo.  Just a lonely grumpy old man - he never has visitors.  I guess he finally took to me, maybe he realized I wasn't like the previous tenant, that my kid is very well behaved, and we also don't make alot of noise.

So Aidan drew a gorgeous picture of him standing in his doorway waving at us, and us standing across the grass waving at him (with Aidan holding Igby by a leash).  We made this into a thank you card and are going to stick it in his mailbox today.

But I'm still going to say "Ta Mac!" when I see his truck ... habits are hard to break, and I like pretending I'm fighting a super villian.