2 posts tagged “neighbors”

Well, have I got a story for you. There's no love lost between us and our neighbors on the one side (we like the other side fine)...the ones of which I speak I have complained about here before; they have the beagle who never shuts up. Endeavoring to be the good Buddhist, I smile and wave at them when I see them...but that may be a little more difficult from now on.

Sunday morning it was raining. I was in our kitchen making a lentil salad to take to my sister's for our Mother's day dinner. Our kitchen is large. Here's a picture:

Kitchen windows

Those windows look out over about five feet of yard...then a low wooden fence...then about five feet of their yard. I was working at the counter there by the sink. As I said it was raining out, so the light was on in the kitchen.

I saw the neighbor's 12-ish year old son walk by with his jackey over his head...I didn't think anything of it. They usually go to church. (Or I should say they usually dress up on Sunday mornings, I'm assuming the destination)

I often wonder what they think of us sometimes dancing in the kitchen...smooching over the sink...I know they can see in and they know we are a couple...So a few moments later, I look up from veggie chopping and the kid is back. He has his hand at his belt buckle. I think, "Oh no, is he going to scratch himself?"

Nope. He whipped it out and peed. Right there. Between the houses. Not only in full view of our lighted windows at 10 a.m. but with nothing but about forty feet of clear yard between him and the road...I fled.

I yelled, "Oh my god!"

Trent who was doing laundry in the basement said, "What?"

I repeated, "Oh my god! You will never believe waht I just saw."

"One of the neighbors naked?"

I kid you not, he actually said that. But he was just thinking of the most outrageous thing he could...and I had to tell him he was pretty much right on target.

Maybe that's why we have a patch of dead grass in the back...

SO you know about our one neighbor with the beagle that is allowed out to start barking at 5:45. The ones I complained about on July 9th...the inconsiderate Christians.

Well, across the street we have Mr. Friendly-pants who always wants to chat. That's fine. That's not inconsiderate, just a little annoying when we don't want to be friendly...but he keeps some odd hours especially for someone with preteen/teen kids. Like last night at just after 3 am when some thuds from outside woke Trent & then me. For nearly an hour he was out in the street jabbering away with someone, moving cars around, slamming doors. He goes hunting/fishing with some guy a lot (Brokeback much?) So that must have been it...

I finally got up and (loudly) shut our bedroom windows--windows we were overjoyed to have open to get some fresh air in the house after days of recycled AC.

What is WITH people. Trent said he didn't remember his neighbors waking his family in 20 years of living in Mapleton. But, you say, that's pretty rural...yes. However, I grew up in Kettering 15 minutes from where we live now and in the 18 years I lived in that house, our neighbors never woke us up either.

I know it's not everyone...but a lot of Americans are rude, self-centered assholes.

(Not all of our neighbors are annoying. We actually like the young couple who moved in next door on the opposite side from the beagle...and Marlene, the "mayor" of the neighborhood we like her lots). 

On a much more pleasant note, we saw a good movie that has gotten some poor press: "You Kill Me" Ben Kingsley & Tea Leoni...very funny gallows/dead-pan humor. Of course we went to see it for Jayne Eastwood.  :-)