MISTAKE!

Yesterday was another gorgeous day. In the morning I was working around the house when I heard a loud rumbling sound and looked out of the door to see a giant crane on tracks passing down the ditch near the side of our house. I did not think much of it, but then Steve came in from town and said he had seen two cranes working on our hillside, probably forming a path for eventually attaching our side steps to the steps damaged in the landslide in the middle of the Residence’s property. He mentioned that he did not know they were going to do that, but he had heard this stupid idea (among many others) tossed around at the annual meeting. Later as we swam, I made my way over and was surprised at how much land they were taking out and how steep the sides of the cut were-as if not planning for rain and like there would not be another landslide there again. That was not my idea of stabilizing the hillside!
We thought little of it until the Andaloro brothers from Palermo, who own several of the apartments in the level above (that we have had friends rent), came to see us today and asked if we knew what was going on. We laughed and said sure, the stairs were being stabilized after the landslide last winter. Then Calogero said, “No, seriously, do you know what is going on? Because I have called the police, and we do not know who has authorized this work or why they are taking earth away from our hillside and destroying the bottom of our stairs. I just talked to our engineer and this is NOT the work that we applied for a permit for. It is NOT us that is doing this work!” Things were even more frustrating because the Carabinieri could not guarantee coming because they do not do field work on Saturdays, and the local police do not have office personnel on Saturdays.
Apparently, someone else is doing this work by mistake and no one can find out who. The police eventually arrived and took down the licenses of the cranes and the relevant information, but a lawsuit was mentioned as the only way to stop the work and the hillside is now in more danger than over of falling over onto the home below it once the heavy rains start. The pictures are of the Andaloros and Emilio and his son Nanni discussing the problems that result when you turn your back and head back to Palermo!
Seeing it from the bottom the next day, I am sure they took out half of the hillside that belongs to the Residence, roughly from the blue door over. And who knows what else besides the plantings that stabilized the hillside, and the bottom of our drainage sytem and steps.
Meanwhile, Limoncello is learning to fly around outside of his cage and to elude us giants when we try to put him back in. In an attempt to lure him back, I have put a plate of food in a convenient place, only to have him step into it when he feels like snacking. He also has learned how to take rides on rugs when I put one nearby. He’ll step onto it and I’ll drag him around nearer to his cage. This reminds me of having a two year old around! Only not nearly so much work or fun.