Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Neighbors

I'm still struggling to find some balance... so please do bear with me. Not only have I stopped using the computer at home, but for some reason this week has been extremely busy for me at the office - I've had to design a new report for my boss to use to meet with some of our board members... and lets just say that I've needed to learn some serious accounting skills for this one!

It's no secret that we have some bizarre neighbors... and for the price we paid for our house... it's a little bit concerning to me. I mean we bought this house in THAT neighborhood to avoid people like this... ugh!

The people across the street - the ones with the kid that thought his fireworks show should go from 2AM to 3AM... are just the worst possible scenario when it comes to neighbors. They are the ones that - shortly after we moved in - had one of their dogs try to attack us... which of course started a war of words. Their other dog is a pitbull that would kill anything just walking down the street if it could get to it.

When the dog in question tried to attack us... it wasn't like he was out just in their front yard... they are on the corner - and this dog was in their back yard... when we heard a huge crack - and a fence board flying... he literally ran at the fence and busted through with his HEAD! I just keep waiting for the news trucks to come out because these dogs have hurt someone. The scariest part for me is that the corner of their house happens to be the bus stop for all the kids on our street as well... the kids have moved to the other side of the corner... but still - it is just too close.

We've lived in our house for almost two years now... the dog incident happened maybe a month after we moved in... and since that time - the kid seemed to have become a decent human being - that is until the 4th of July... but we do have a theory that he might have been drunk... who knows.

He has come over and helped John put mulch out in our yard... and offered to help with the lawn... neither of which will ever happen again... but just made us think that they were becoming normal members of society.

That is until I started noticing something...

You see in Houston right now - the temperature is roughly hanging in around 106 degrees everyday... which means to all of you that haven't experienced the heat and humidity that we have... it is MISERABLE. HOT. STICKY. All of which makes you seek air conditioning... I mean it's like a race to figure out exactly how quickly you can get from one air conditioned place to another... with as little time in between as possible.

Our neighbors though - spend literally ALL of their waking time in their garage... they have it set up like a freaking living room. They keep the door halfway open... and sit in there all the time. What is up with that?! Are they living so far outside of their means that they can't afford to turn on the air conditioning? Are they pod people? How can they stand it?

This isn't the first time we've experienced something like this either - we once lived across the hall from some people in an apartment that had literally 10 kids... a Cadillac Escalade... and ZERO furniture in their apartment.

Are we just crazy neighbor magnets? I mean I haven't even TOLD you about the people around the corner... that HAVE to be renters... because I can't imagine paying $200,000 for a house... and letting it look like that... I mean literally everything in their front yard, side yard... and probably back yard too has died. Not just browned because of the heat - like the rest of us... but literally DIED... like crispy - snap it in two - died. We've been meaning to call the Home Owners Association... but haven't gotten around to it yet.

So that's our neighbors in a nutshell... what are yours like?

5 comments:

  1. The naked gardening neighbors?

    Or the neighbors with the pit bull, bull terrier, and rottweiler that killed one of our chickens?

    It's hard to know where to start!

    We feel your pain, girlfriend!

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  2. Yikes Kim, you make me glad to be renting right now :) Kind of sounds like there should be some way of viewing and checking out the neighbors when you are considering buying a house, huh?

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  3. We all have them. One of ours robbed us, the ones up the street are just plain weird, the dude next door is a hermit and his house looks like a garbage heap and the old couple on the other side of us are nice but nosy and opinionated. And like you, we live in a nice neighborhood across from one of the most beautiful city parks in America. I think people are just getting stranger and we are in the minority of normal folks!

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  4. Ooh, I just thought of a simple reasonable explanation. Modern houses aren't built for airflow like the ones 50+ years ago, so if the AC dies most of the house is oven-like. It is probably cooler in the garage than in the house (and depending what broke on the ac it could be a small fortune to replace it). I know after Rita when we were without power for a week with the high temps (Ike was delightful comparitively), we stayed outside all the time. We might possibly catch a breeze outside but not in the house.

    Now that doesn't make them normal, just less weird.

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  5. W-O-W. Fun times!

    We have strange neighbor issues, too. We own a condo and thought that the pool, gym and lovely grounds (that we don't have to maintain) made it a nice starter home for us. It's a great place - except for the neighbors.

    The elderly lady downstairs loves to accost C and accuse him of not picking up after Riddick. (Not only do we clean up our dog's mess, we pick up after others as well!) She gets in her car and follows him when he walks the dog. Seriously, it's stalking. I wait for C to take Riddick out, because I'm so afraid of a run in with her!

    Our next-door neighbors recently got two dogs, one of whom is very small but wants to kill anything that moves. They bark (viciously) non-stop, and it really upsets Riddick. We've started crating him again during the day, because he was getting so worked up while we were gone. We came home to two pairs of destroyed sneakers and one chewed-up area rug, not to mention various blankets and throw pillows that he's dragged over by the door. He has never chewed on anything before, even as a puppy! We think it's the barking that's upsetting him - everything he's chewed on has been brought over by the door. He seems much happier now that he's back in his crate - I think it makes him feel safe.

    Sorry - long!! Just wanted to say that I feel your pain. Hang in there, and carry some mace to ward off that dog!!!

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