Still plagued by the county's permitting rodeo, Jim Wermers, owner of The Borrego Mall, has completed the patio at Calico's and is close to finished with Carmelita's. Calico's, in use for a week or so, is a comfortable area housing extra tables and a patio heater behind a rustic finished iron railing to keep the morning coffee folks from falling into the desert landscaping.

The same railing went up at Carmelita's but, when it was discovered that an extension must be poured to accommodate the planned access gate at one end, a new permit had to be obtained and, thus, an additional waiting period until work could be completed. Well, the new gates are almost ready and, hopefully, so will be the rest of the patio.