Neighborly visits, Whitmore Lake style

I have received three unexpected visits in recent weeks. Combined, I believe they paint a fairly comprehensive portrait of current semi-rural Michigan life. Two of my visitors left with the answers they sought, but the third was disappointed.

Yesterday afternoon two burly (or, perhaps more accurately, bulky) men knocked on the door. The dog went crazy, causing one of the tough guys to back up to a safe distance in the middle of the front yard. When I removed the stroller and other obstacles to clear a path to our rarely-used front door, the brave representative said,

"Do you know your neighbors across the street?"

Not sure what the correct answer was, I hedged: "Not well," which happens to be true. 

I discovered that these gentlemen were wanting to change the locks on my neighbors' house since it has gone into foreclosure. (That makes it the fourth house on our block.) They were hesitant to do so because the barking dog inside indicated residents who would be returning. They wanted my confirmation that people lived there. Thinking I might at least be doing the dog a favor, I assented. "Occupied," Burly #1 wrote on his form. Mission accomplished, they left.

I apparently provided a similarly acceptable response to the mother-and-daughter Jehovah's Witness team. The mother asked if I agreed that the Florida preacher intent on Koran burning was similar to the kind of craziness predicted by passages in the Bible. Craziness is craziness. Absolutely. I accepted the related pamphlet, and they left content.

Alas, I was not able to my third visitors with the same level of satisfaction. The apparently licensed pot growers from down the street arrived looking harried. They wanted to know if I had seen anyone unusual drive by. I explained that I do not know all the cars that drive down the street (nor do I spend my days watching the traffic). They wanted to know if anyone had gone by who looked like someone who might have stolen their plants. Had the foreclosers come by first, I could have had an answer for them. I didn't think I should throw the Jehovah's Witnesses under the bus like that--after all, we agreed about the preacher in Florida.