Neighbors

We live in a quaint little area - lots of farm fields, houses close to each other but not right on top of each other, decent sized yards and mostly nice neighbors. Truly - I have some of the greatest neighbors, but we also have one of the world's worst neighbors. Unfortunately there's nothing to be done about the horrible neighbor situation as we own our house and they own their house.

Rolling back the clock to roughly 10 years ago, when we first looked at purchasing this house. It had been empty for quite a few years, was about to go to foreclosure. The house was mostly maintained - the grass cut only 2 times each summer. Being empty one of the neighbors took it upon themselves to use the parking for the shed as if it was their own, and that the gravel lane that is a common way - was their own personal driveway.

Along comes Mel & Gene, purchasing the house and making it our own. With some unwanted advice from the most lovely neighbors.

My first interaction with the lady next door - Me trying to sleep on the couch downstairs. I'd been in severe pain for days (a few weeks) and had been "working thru it"while we were moving, packing, etc. To a loud, non stop banging on my front door. Just to be told in no uncertain terms, that we need to turn off our kitchen light early or close the curtains/blinds because the light goes right into her bedroom window and she likes to sleep with her curtains open to see the night sky. My response (as Gene says) was so out of the norm. I just said "ok" and closed the door. WTH....I guess I didn't fully process what she was saying or demanding at the time. Any other time I would have given her a full blown, my house I'll do what I please response. My gallbladder/emergency surgery had me totally off to say the least! To this day, we have yet to have a nice/cordial conversation with the lady next door.

We would progress down the road of her being nasty, me standing my ground, her son being an ass, Gene calling the cops, etc. Inside our house, we would agonize over the best way to deal with such a "Karen". Ultimately we didn't do anything about it. We just take the notes that get taped to our front door read them, ball them up and toss them right into the trash.

We've been told to use the other commonway (down the end of the road) instead of the one right next to our house, we need to trim our bushes that are set back from the common way because they are a nuisance, we need to cut down the trees in our yard that drop their leaves every fall (somehow nature and where the leaves drop/blow from the wind is in our control)- trees that have been here for 60+years and these notes are always addressed to Melissa. I still haven't figured out who exactly Melissa is...

There was one time she left a note to trim the bushes (that I planted to provide privacy from our hours windows to their house windows), and I needed to get the grass cut before it rained. So I get home from work, start cutting the grass and she comes over into my yard yelling that she said to trim the bushes not cut the grass. I absolutely lost it. I stopped cutting grass long enough to say "I'll trim the bushes when I fucking want to, I have other things that I need to get done before the rain" and went back to cutting the grass. Gene, clueless was like you didn't have to be nasty. So I told him, I got her passive aggressive note on the door, she doesn't have to come tell me in person what to do. It's not her house or yard. Back then and still to this day - if you don't pay the mortgage, contribute to the bills for our household you have NO say in how/when/what we do to our property. I don't care who you are.

So here we are again, she leaves a note to trim the bushes. Although, she left this note while I was outside cutting the grass, and had the nerve to say we never answer when she knocks. HELLO no one is obligated to answer their door. Not to mention I was outside, and maybe just maybe we didn't hear you knocking. Gene gives me the note, I read it, crumpled it and threw it onto the floor I was sweeping.

24 hours later - I'm outside pulling weeds, on the phone talking to someone. She comes over, can clearly see I'm on the phone and continues to stand there. I don't stop my call because really, I have nothing to say to her, and all she wants to do is tell me what to do with my yard. So she says I'll help you pull weeds...uh, thanks? I continue my phone call, she finally walks away and starts talking shit. So I tell my friend to hold on, call out April what's your F'in problem? She wanted me to literally get off the phone so she could thank me for trimming the bushes ( which I didn't actually do and had no intentions of doing). Then accused me of not acknowledging that she was there. So when I was like oh - you scared me. That wasn't enough. She then proceeded to tell me how rude I was for not getting off the phone. Hmmm...you come into MY yard, where you aren't invited, linger when you realize I am actually busy, get mad that you aren't my priority and I'm rude?

I mean, I don't need her thanks for me doing my yard work, I don't need her telling me what to do and when to do it. I'm a grown adult and have been managing fine without supervision.

While I feel slightly bad for not being the nicest to her this time around, she's the person if you give and inch they take the literal foot.

So, to everyone out there - we all have neighbors, we may not like them, but remember that first interaction sets the tone for the rest of your time as neighbors. Maybe if she had approached us a little nicer the first time, things wouldn't be like they are now.

One of these days I'll write about the awesome guy across the street. Who keeps saying he's moving to the farm, and I reply no you're not!

Till our tails cross again,

Mel

Introducing Vera!

Vera has a great story and is proof Gene truly loves me. Gene went on vacation with his friend to visit a friend who lived down in the Carolina's. I took advantage of a week home alone to bring in a new cat. I figured nothing would go wrong, Gene wouldn't notice right away if at all.

I got Vera from a no-kill shelter I used to volunteer with, she was an indoor/most outdoor cat. Her outdoor colony had dwindled down to just her, a new colony came in and she was pushed out. I said this is a no-brainer. I have a yard, live in the country and have space in the house I can absolutely take her in. Worse case she would be mainly an outdoor cat, only coming in when the weather was bad. Vera had other thoughts on that.

Needless to say, Gene come home early from vacation, I was out with the girls for a girls night. He called to ask why the bathroom door was closed, I played stupid and said I didn't know. He continues...whose cat is in the bathroom, I know what a closed bathroom door means. Still playing stupid - well it must be our cat in the bathroom the door was closed accidentally. He's no fool...he knew without a doubt it's a new cat. He said we would discuss this later when I got home. That discussion has never been finished, Vera still lives happily under our roof and has never set foot outside again. Way to help me out, as I tried to plead my case that she'd be outside more than inside.

She continued to make her presence in the house known, in not the best ways. First she choose her human, how shocking it wasn't me but Gene. Which is fine, but she literally spends every waking moment in close proximity to her human bestie. To the point if he is downstairs for to long she comes down to look for him and stares him down till he goes back to his computer, right where she feels is the only place he belongs. It's baffling because he was NOT thrilled about her being here.

Some of that comes from her behavior right from day 1. She chewed (and still does occasionally) his computer speaker cord. The computer and all its other parts are completely off limits and to mess with them is a certain death wish. It got to the point I said to her, Listen if you want to stay you HAVE to stop chewing his computer cords! He's gonna kick you out if you keep this up. Maybe she got it, maybe she didn't. She still chews cords, but now it's for the air purifiers, humidifiers, the dustbuster. You know things that don't have anything to do with Gene.

She's become so comfortable around him and his space that she spends a good bit of time with her belly out . She has a mean/gruff side. She usually reserves that for me when I pet her to long. With Gene she's all sweet and doles out the cutest little nibbles. As another senior cat she has her own health issues. Chronic Bronchitis - really such a pain! She gets sick at least once a year for at least a month if not longer. So we treat with a steroid and have been floating the idea of using an inhaler daily for her. But she's really not fond of the Chamber that the inhaler meds go in, so we are trying to push that as far down the treatment line as possible. Fortunately a 2 week supply of meds is only $14, and no visit needed if she gets her annual check up regularly!

Til our Tails cross again!

Mel

Spring Fever

With the arrival of spring I get ants in my pants to be outside, working in the flower beds, enjoying the fresh air and warmer weather. Most of us truly enjoy the change of seasons, especially going from cold to warm. I love the cold, I love the warm, but by far much prefer the cold.

Last year I spent a lot less time outside in the warmer months which absolutely sucked. This year I want to spend more time outside. I had a schedule change that frees up a bit more of my time so I'm hopeful I'll be able to add more outdoor time. As I write this, I have the windows open slightly and the front door open. It's still chilly out, the sun is out but its cloudy. My early spring flowers are blooming, and I can see where I need to add some early spring plants in the rest of my yard.

Gardening is a never ending task. Whether it's planting new plants, moving plants that have flourished and need more space or just pulling the never ending weeds - there's always some work to be done in the garden, I have about 7 areas that are flower gardens, each of them definitely need attention and more plants. It gets expensive to continually be buying plants so I buy a few each year. Hitting up the clearance and crossing my fingers that they will come back next year. I know each year I buy stuff clearance or not that doesn't make it to the next year.

This last year we took down 3 trees, a bush and moved some perennial plants. We also moved our pond to a place that would hopefully make it easier to maintain. Fingers crossed that turns out to be true. I want to get some fish in the pond (another thing that I have struggled with keeping alive!) It's not in an area where it won't collect all the leaves in the fall.

Gene and I both envision our back yard as an oasis. His vision is a little different. His includes a hot tub, mine includes a great patio area for barb-b-queing, swing benches around the fire pit, a sitting area by the back she and plenty of hammocks to lounge in.

One day both of our visions will connect and we will have an oasis in the back yard!

Till our Tails cross again,

Mel