Neighbors

My deepest apologies to those who have been unable to relocate my blog. The long and short of it all is that someone that I don't know (and obviously didn't know me) posted some comments on my last blog. They weren't rude or anything, but unnerved me. I don't mind that other people read my blog - especially people who find me through the blogs of other people I know. This one, though, I don't think found me that way. It was unnerving, so I changed my blog name to remove my personal identification. Probably something I should have done a long time ago.

Still working on the no sleep thing. I think it must be the birds chirping at 4:00 am thing. It gets to be about 4:00-4:15, and I'm up - awake and ready for the day. Maybe it's a hormonal thing. So fantastic to be a woman sometimes.

Yesterday was a very lovely day. We had celebrated Father's Day the day before with my sister. So, Sunday was just a relaxing day. My two dogs were outside - Simon and Abbie. Have I ever mentioned my crazy neighbors? Well, one of them was outside yesterday. Simon is a barker and a yipper. It's the little dog syndrome in him. His pleasant greeting of barking really means, "Can you come over and play with me? Can you? Can you?". Well, she wasn't having any of this. She's about 50 years old and a little crazy. She growled and barked back at the dog. We couldn't believe it.

A little history on her. When I first moved into my house, all of my neighbors welcomed me, except them. About a year after I moved in, the father died. 3 weeks later, I noticed a big pop up tent in the backyard. At night, not being nosy, I would look over and see two body shapes in the tent. Then, a port-a-potty was there, and eventually a big trough. I would watch the tent from time to time to see what this was all about. Fall became winter - tent still up and it appeared that someone was living in it. We live in Western New York - you know, snow on the ground - 4 seasons....why would someone be living in a tent? So, one day I was getting my mail, and I saw someone who lived in the house. My curiosity got the best of me, so I asked, "Is someone living in the tent in the backyard?". Now it was January - tent went up in August. The response was "Yes". Ok. Why? That was my next question in my head, but didn't utter it.

One day my dad came over to help me repair something. He looked out the window and said, "Why is your neighbor bathing in that tub?". Sure enough, she was fully clothed, but spongebathing in the trough of water like she was Laura Ingalls Wilder. I couldn't stand it anymore. There had to be something wrong with this woman. So, I called the local social services agency and they came out and talked to her. Within a couple of days, the tent was down and the woman was again, I believe, living in the house.

So, when she growled at my dog, I probably should have been a little more compassionate, but come on, you growled at an 18 lbs. dog. He's smaller than her dog is. What to do?

Well, crazy neighbor and all, it was a great day. I'm not sure who lives in a tent (and we never did find out who the 2nd body was.....), but yesterday was lovely. Again, sorry for the movement of the blog. Feels better, though.