The Mysterious Mystery of the Disappearing Neighbor

Stefan and I only have one neighbor, besides that we are surrounded by farmers markets, wineries and farms. We aren't extremely close to our neighbor; however it was nice knowing that there was someone else there. Imagine our disappointment when we came home from our Thanksgiving trip to find the neighbor's house abandoned. There was a pile of stuff left in the yard, but besides that nothing seemed changed. (A picture of the stuff is to the left it is sitting next to the tree. It is snowing and cold outside so forgive the poor quality as it is taken from my kitchen). We never saw a for sale or rent sign in front of the house so naturally we were confused. One of our favorite pastimes became making up stories about the neighbors and what became of them.

Mr. Al stopped by yesterday to bring us some fresh eggs from his farm (Mr. Al is our land lord and since his farmer's market is closed for the winter he has eggs for days). He was finally able to solve the mystery of the disappearing neighbor. Here's what happened. Our neighbor was having an issue with his oil heater (apparently I'm not the only one engaging in a war against one of these things). He tried to fix it himself but Mr. Al says he breaks everything he touches and this was no exception. I didn't really absorb all the specifics but somehow oil ended up leaking out and he didn't re-attach something properly, so it continued to leak out. The oil caught fire and here is where the story gets odd. There is smoke in the house and neighbor and his wife decide to go to bed. He wakes up the next morning and before heading to work he calls an oil heater repair man, because smoke is now filling the entire house. Most people would call the fire department or 9-1-1 at this point, but not our neighbor, he decides to go to work! The oil repair man got to the house and opened the door to the basement, the entire basement floor was on fire, and looked like it had been that way all night! He immediately called the fire department and they were able to put the fire out, there is a lot of damage to the plumbing and wiring but besides that the house is fine. And our mystery was solved, the neighbor didn't disappear, it just turns out he is a bit dense.