The Story of Chocolate Lava

One of the challenges we've had with the house is that we have had to replace the screen doors and windows (because, you know, we don't like bugs, bats, and beggars to have free and ready access to the house when a window's open--crazy, I know). What's been especially challenging is finding a screen door for the backyard slider.

The door panels themselves are very tall (95") and very narrow (30"), and we hadn't been able to find a stock screen door at Home Depot or Lowes. Rather than installing an expensive retractable, we decided to go with a screen made specifically for the door by the original manufacturer.

Lo and behold, there was a Milgard dealer in Riverside, fairly close to our work. Recently, we stopped by during our lunch hour, and explained to the owner what we were looking for. We told him the measurements, and he was quite perplexed as they're not standard. He casually asked us where the house was, and we gave him the rough location, and then the street name. He said he was familiar with the area and in fact lived further up on the hill. He then asked us which house we bought. As we tried to explain the location/appearance of the house, he said "You don't mean the Chocolate Lava house, do you?" Assuming he was talking about a house further down the street, we kept on describing the house, how it's the only house on the street that's not a 70's era Ranch House.

"That really sounds like the Chocolate Lava house," he said. And then he described the house on a slope with brown-stained concrete, and it finally occurred to us that he was talking about the our house.

So thank you, Tim, for giving us the slider door lock (for free!) and for giving our house a name. We might not have walked out of your fine establishment with a screen door, but we walked out with an identity!