Changes in the Neighborhood

One thing I find fascinating is how Mexicans continually try to run a business from their home. Our neighbor to the right turned his home into three separate studio apartments. Our neighbor to the left added a boat renovation business. The neighbor beside him decided to build 18 apartment units - they build until he runs out of money, and then it sits, and then it starts up again. The lot across from that neighbor has been fenced for several years, and it looks like they just keep trying to add sand to level out the land - they still have a ways to go.

Around the corner from us, one family tore open the front room and turned it into a kitchen-take-out area, with one table for dining. That business only lasted about a month - long enough for me to try their inexpensive chicken dinner prepared Cuban-style, and then they shut down.

Across the street, an unused lot became a chicken pen, complete with guard dog that barked ferociously when anyone got too close. A month or so ago I noticed that the chickens were gone, but the dog was still there. Last week the dog was running loose, and I worried that it would be a threat to the other animals - but maybe it wasn't a very aggressive guard dog because it didn't seem to bother anyone in the street.

I have to walk past that lot to get to the home where I feed a neighbor's cats. The other day I was passing by and I heard a strange groaning/grunting sort of noise. A strange noise from the guard dog. I looked over and rather than the guard dog, I saw this...

A solitary goat. As I walked by the goat came to the gate for a closer look. It seemed happy, and there is plenty of grass for it to eat. And no guard dog.

Did they put the goat there to keep the grass in order? To provide milk? Or is it there to become a meal one of these days? I don't want to think about it.