My Neighborhood

                                                MY NEIGHBORHOOD



  I'm sure we all think our neighbors are strange, funny or weird. We try our best to figure out the things they do and why they do them.  I recently moved to a new neighborhood and have been very amused by the goings on there in.  I live on the corner of Adams and Kellett in a small two bedroom house.  I can stand in my kitchen and touch the ceiling without tip-toes.  I am 5'2, so this is very funny to me as I have never been able to reach anything without being on my tiptoes.  The rest of the house has high ceilings and so I wonder why the kitchen is the only one so low. It is a mystery I intend to solve.

    My landlady lives across the street on my left, which is convenient as I don't have far to go to pay my rent.  Across from her is another neighbor that is rather strange.  I don't know exactly how many people live there, but I saw at least 6 people in the doorway along with 2 dogs and a cat. Across in front of me is an apartment with 2 units.  At one time I have seen as many as 6 cars there. One apartment has a mother and daughter living in it. They have 1 dog. The other apartment I have not figured out who or how many live there. I have only been here for a month, so I'm sure I will answer that question soon enough.


    Sunday was a beautiful spring day and my husband and I were out in the yard doing things. The 2 dogs, 1 cat neighbors were all standing in the door watching the 1 dog apartment neighbors plant flowers. The daughter was playing with her dog, she would spray water into the air and the dog would jump and bark and go crazy.  He was really loving it. The girls across the street preceded to yell at her. "We are going to call animal control on you, because your dog does not like that and it's cruelty." This then prompted the girl's mother to tell an old man walking his dog down the street, " They used to have 3 dogs and the animal control took some away."  This went own for several more minutes and then all was calm again. Now what provoked this banter between neighbors is a question that remains to be answered. I may never know the answer because I tend to keep my nose on my face where it belongs.


    I'm sure my neighborhood is not the only one that has loud cars driving through it. I have 3 cars drive by everyday with that loud rap music blaring from inside.  Thankfully they do not drive by all at once. I do believe if they did my whole house would be shaken from its foundation. My poor little dog runs under the bed when she hears them coming. I can not help but wonder how the people driving these cars hear anything.  The whole car shakes and vibrates so much I am just waiting for it to fall to pieces. I just don't understand the reason, but I know on my next trip to Wal Mart I am getting ear plugs for me and my dog.


    I'm sure I will have more to tell about this neighborhood as it seems to be overflowing with strange, weird and funny people. I hope you stop in from time to time to read about my neighborhood.





    I have been watching the house across from me on the corner. It seems that the woman with the girls has moved, but yet every other day they return to load the car with boxes. This has been going on for almost 2 months. How long does it take to move?  There is still an old car sitting in the yard and they come back now and then and load 2-3 boxes in the car and leave. This has become a mystery to me, one I hope I can solve soon.  It sure doesn't take me long to move, but my neighbors?

    Now if this is not crazy enough for you, perhaps this will be.  The girl on the other corner is very strange. The other night she went across the street to the empty house of the people moving and proceeded to take a stick and beat the walls, hit the door and run around the yard yelling. This was strange enough, but then she decided to stalk a cat, grab it and lay down in the ditch and roll around. She did this for about 30 minutes.  I just sat there and shook my head.
   
  It is certainly turning out to be an interesting neighborhood. I have no doubt that this will not be the last of my story. Stay tune for more antics and going ons.




    Maybe I'm just being silly about all this stuff, but I think my neighborhood is most unusual and I do so enjoy writing about it.  So here is another entry for you to ponder over.

    Last night a suv came racing down my street making a horrible noise. I looked out the window and seems it had a plastic trash can under the front bumper. It turned the corner and started swerving back and forth. I was for sure it would run off in the ditch. It went to the next corner and did the same thing. I could hear it over on the next block. What a racket. Really, how much brain does it take to stop the vehicle, get out and remove the can?  I guess more than this driver had. Somewhere there is a innocent trash can lying alone, battered and bruised. Such things as this make my neighborhood worth writing about.


      And the story continues. Another installment from my neighborhood. Hope you are enjoying these little tid bits. They are all true events.


      The house on the corner is still presenting a mystery to me. The people have been gone for a month and yet they return now and again to take stuff from the house. Never a lot of stuff just enough to puzzle me.  Sometimes it is a box or two, sometimes just one item. This is so strange to me, it simply amazes me that this house has been empty for 5 or 6 months, yet they continue to move things from it.  Really, how long does it take to move?


        On the other hand across the street in front of me, a woman with three boys moved in. I love kids and do so enjoy watching them play. It gives me lots of stuff to write about. The boys of various ages and for brothers they are good to each other. They play swords with sticks and often I can hear them yell, stop hitting me, that hurts. The mother told them to stop hitting each other and that lasted all of 5 minutes. More yelling and you could hear the whacks they were taking and giving. I'm sure this bunch will be worth watching and writing about.





        Not much has gone on in the neighborhood lately. Things have settled down and all is peaceful. It's strange that we sit and wonder about our neighbors. What we must think about them, what goes own behind their closed doors. Are they happy or sad, rich or poor and so on? I think my neighbors to be a mixture of every kind. One couple across from me uses sign language and sometimes I get tickled watching them get in a discussion where their hands and arms are flying thru the air as they talk. I do not make fun of anyone, it is just amusing to know that we don't need to speak or hear to get our point across.

        The lady on the corner with the boys has moved out. One day she was there, the next she was gone. I can only speculate why. The lady next to me is hardly ever home as she sits with the elderly and sometimes is gone days at a time. She has two dogs, Stella and Fred who have become my dog, Ladybug's friends, We watch over them when she is gone. Stella is a black lab and a big baby. You ought to hear her cry. She justs wants attention, but she is so comical and just as sweet as can be.
Fred is a terrier and really shy. He thinks Stella is all of it. This is quiet a love story. They are so funny to watch. I think any neighborhood has the potential to be full of amazing stories and interesting possibilities.





      So, my neighborhood had really nice decorations this Christmas. It was nice to see them all lit up. There were no overboard houses, that's what I call houses that you can't see because the house and yard are just covered in decorations. Wouldn't want that electic bill.  The new year I hope will hold many possibilites for my neighborhood and the stories I hope to write.
      My husband was outside with our little dog and he spotted something in a tree in our backyard. He came inside to get me and there on a branch was an opposum. He/she was rather large and just laying there on the branch. I went inside and got my camera and took lots of pictures. It was just so amazing to see him/her up in the tree. He/she stayed ther till after dark and was gone by morning. We named it George after George Jones the posum.  It was a new adventure and I'm glad that I got to see such a rare event. I kept waiting for it to hang by its tail, but no luck.