Rant about neighbours
Dec. 17th, 2006 09:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tripperfunsterThey are strange, backwoods, hillbilly freaks!
Okay, I live in the country (sort of). We live outside the city, and most of our 5 neighbours have about 4 acres each, so we're not right on top of each other, but you see people driving/walking by, etc, and the kids of the people across the street come over and play with my kids occasionally.
For the most part, even though they are 8 and 9 years old (boy and girl) and my kids are only 3 and 4 (boy and boy)they play together fairly well, (with supervision). but some odd things have been happening, and I'm not quite sure how to address them. Well, I"M pretty sure, but hubby disagrees. Okay, here's the wierdness;
1)They shot our pig! (with a pellet gun) We both own pot bellied pigs from the same litter. Sometimes our pig sneaks away and visits their pig, and sometimes, they fight with each other, leaving bloodied ears, snouts, etc. I mean, they're not pit bulls, you just yell, and wave your arms, and they generally separate and that's that. And mostly, it's THEIR pig visiting OUR house, not vice versa, but last summer, two days after 'Hogrid' (our pig) visited them, I noticed something stuck in his leg. I grabbed him and had hubby hold him while I pulled it out, thinking it was just a bit of metal or something, and low and behold, it was a pellet from a pellet gun. Now, of course, without the help of CSI and ballistic tests, I can't prove that pellet came from THEIR gun, but ...duh! That's the only place Hogrid has ever been, aside from our house, and I highly doubt that some stranger pulled into your yard, whipped out a pellet gun and shot our pig.
When I confronted the 9yo boy, he flatly denied knowing anything about it.
2)Smeared shit. Last fall, 'someone' smeared dog shit all over the doorknob to our shed. (WTF??) About a week later, I opened the flippy gas cap on the truck, and a hardened blob of shit fell out of there too. (I assume from the same shitcident). We have 3 'close' neighbours. An 80 year old couple (whom we get along just fine with) A younger couple with a baby (the wife is a cop), who we wave 'hi' to, but never really talk, and gee...lemme think...oh yeah, the couple with the TWO KIDS THAT COME OVER TO OUR HOUSE ON A DAILY BASIS. *wracks brain* Who could have been the perp??
3)Hubby spent a good amount of time putting xmas lights up on our trees and bushes. (plus some timers and other stuff.) Tonight, most of the lights didn't go on, and when he went out there, most of the strings of lights had been unplugged from the sockets AND from the other strings of lights AND some bulbs were missing AND the timers had been fucked with.
What really burns my ass here, is I am nice to those kids! I invite them in to play with my kids, I give them hot chocolate and cookies, we chat, etc. I mean, I'm certainly not perfect, but i don't think I've given them a reason to be vindictive towards me.
I don't know a lot about their parents, we've chatted and had coffee, etc, and to me, they seem pretty...I dunno...stoopid, but it's hard to tell. They don't really get along well with each other, and they let their kids do things (LIKE HOLD ONTO FIREWORKS WHILE THEY'RE SHOOTING OFF. I kid you not..) and they have a TON of cats that they never fix (yeah, that falls to ME when they wander over here, pregnant and begging for food.) And one night last summer, I came home and the dad was BURNING THE BULLRUSHES IN THE DITCHES. I thought my freaking house was on fire as I was driving up, but no, it was dad and the boy, watching the ditches burn and smoke. When I asked him ...uh, why? He said, "Oh, because mice hide in the grasses."
Uh, yeah...YOU LIVE IN THE FUCKIN' COUNTRY, DUMBASS! don't your 1200 un-neutered cats kill enough mice for you?
Plus, now that it's cold, their pig is over at our house every day, freezing and starving, and rooting through our garbage. grrrr. I'm not really mad at the pig, but I hate having to worry about leaving a garbage bag by the back door in case it gets strewn around by a hungry pig. (and yes, of course, we feed their pig every day!!)
Okay, I could go on and on, but I'll stop now.
What do you think I should do? (aside from move. We love it here, sans neighbours)
And a (not so) funny little aside, the first time hubby met the dad, he told me, "Hey, I met the man across the road." I said, "Oh, what's he like?" Long pause... "Erm...he kind of reminds me of a pedophile." EEP! (needless to say, our kids are never there without one of us!!) I don't THINK he's a pedophile, but of course, generally, people don't hang out with people that they suspect are freaks, right?
*sigh*
Okay, I live in the country (sort of). We live outside the city, and most of our 5 neighbours have about 4 acres each, so we're not right on top of each other, but you see people driving/walking by, etc, and the kids of the people across the street come over and play with my kids occasionally.
For the most part, even though they are 8 and 9 years old (boy and girl) and my kids are only 3 and 4 (boy and boy)they play together fairly well, (with supervision). but some odd things have been happening, and I'm not quite sure how to address them. Well, I"M pretty sure, but hubby disagrees. Okay, here's the wierdness;
1)They shot our pig! (with a pellet gun) We both own pot bellied pigs from the same litter. Sometimes our pig sneaks away and visits their pig, and sometimes, they fight with each other, leaving bloodied ears, snouts, etc. I mean, they're not pit bulls, you just yell, and wave your arms, and they generally separate and that's that. And mostly, it's THEIR pig visiting OUR house, not vice versa, but last summer, two days after 'Hogrid' (our pig) visited them, I noticed something stuck in his leg. I grabbed him and had hubby hold him while I pulled it out, thinking it was just a bit of metal or something, and low and behold, it was a pellet from a pellet gun. Now, of course, without the help of CSI and ballistic tests, I can't prove that pellet came from THEIR gun, but ...duh! That's the only place Hogrid has ever been, aside from our house, and I highly doubt that some stranger pulled into your yard, whipped out a pellet gun and shot our pig.
When I confronted the 9yo boy, he flatly denied knowing anything about it.
2)Smeared shit. Last fall, 'someone' smeared dog shit all over the doorknob to our shed. (WTF??) About a week later, I opened the flippy gas cap on the truck, and a hardened blob of shit fell out of there too. (I assume from the same shitcident). We have 3 'close' neighbours. An 80 year old couple (whom we get along just fine with) A younger couple with a baby (the wife is a cop), who we wave 'hi' to, but never really talk, and gee...lemme think...oh yeah, the couple with the TWO KIDS THAT COME OVER TO OUR HOUSE ON A DAILY BASIS. *wracks brain* Who could have been the perp??
3)Hubby spent a good amount of time putting xmas lights up on our trees and bushes. (plus some timers and other stuff.) Tonight, most of the lights didn't go on, and when he went out there, most of the strings of lights had been unplugged from the sockets AND from the other strings of lights AND some bulbs were missing AND the timers had been fucked with.
What really burns my ass here, is I am nice to those kids! I invite them in to play with my kids, I give them hot chocolate and cookies, we chat, etc. I mean, I'm certainly not perfect, but i don't think I've given them a reason to be vindictive towards me.
I don't know a lot about their parents, we've chatted and had coffee, etc, and to me, they seem pretty...I dunno...stoopid, but it's hard to tell. They don't really get along well with each other, and they let their kids do things (LIKE HOLD ONTO FIREWORKS WHILE THEY'RE SHOOTING OFF. I kid you not..) and they have a TON of cats that they never fix (yeah, that falls to ME when they wander over here, pregnant and begging for food.) And one night last summer, I came home and the dad was BURNING THE BULLRUSHES IN THE DITCHES. I thought my freaking house was on fire as I was driving up, but no, it was dad and the boy, watching the ditches burn and smoke. When I asked him ...uh, why? He said, "Oh, because mice hide in the grasses."
Uh, yeah...YOU LIVE IN THE FUCKIN' COUNTRY, DUMBASS! don't your 1200 un-neutered cats kill enough mice for you?
Plus, now that it's cold, their pig is over at our house every day, freezing and starving, and rooting through our garbage. grrrr. I'm not really mad at the pig, but I hate having to worry about leaving a garbage bag by the back door in case it gets strewn around by a hungry pig. (and yes, of course, we feed their pig every day!!)
Okay, I could go on and on, but I'll stop now.
What do you think I should do? (aside from move. We love it here, sans neighbours)
And a (not so) funny little aside, the first time hubby met the dad, he told me, "Hey, I met the man across the road." I said, "Oh, what's he like?" Long pause... "Erm...he kind of reminds me of a pedophile." EEP! (needless to say, our kids are never there without one of us!!) I don't THINK he's a pedophile, but of course, generally, people don't hang out with people that they suspect are freaks, right?
*sigh*
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no subject
Date: 2006-12-18 05:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-18 02:59 pm (UTC)Yes, I'm inclined to go over and bitch to them about the shit and the lights and the shooting, but my husband thinks it will just add fuel to the fire. Generally, he's good at reading people, but it just drives me crazy to do nothing grrrrr. (hence me slandering them on the internet!) :D Needless to say, they don't have an internet connection.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-18 03:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-18 07:37 am (UTC)I'm a bit curious about how you and your husband disagree on handling your situation with the neighbors. I have to say I would be less than thrilled to have these guys move next door to me, but then I guess I'd have some idea of how my neighbors feel about living next door to me. The kid shooting your pig worries me. I'm not surprised he denied doing it. Few kids of any age generally admit to doing things that are likely to get them in trouble. But I'd watch him around my animals and, more importantly, my children. Many "normal" kids will have one time incidents similar to the one you described. But if this is a pattern of behavior, you should be aware of it to protect your animals and children from him.
The shit incident just sounds like someone who is bored. I wouldn't bother with confronting it unless it happens again. Forbidding the neighbor kids from coming to your house will only cause more trouble in the end and I wouldn't do it unless I thought there was no other way to handle things.
The thing with their animals is a lost cause. Just buy more food and feed 'em all.
It worries me that your husband's first thought was that your neighbor seemed like a pedophile. Peoiple talk themselves out of their gut instincts all the time. If your instincts are telling you that something is wrong, it probably is. Close supervision is a very. good. idea.
Good luck. At least your neighbor doesn't get explicit gay porn in the mail. God only knows what type of freaks someone like that would be. *g*
no subject
Date: 2006-12-18 07:49 am (UTC)Yes, yes yes on the supervision thing. I"m a bit wacky about that anyway (I don't even leave the kids alone with MY parents, let alone some freak who happens to live near me.
And as for the pig shooting...I would bet it was the dad who did it, not the kid.
I think we should confront them, but hubby thinks it would just incite them more. In a way, we're probably both right. *frowns*
Okay, hubbies waiting for the computer...gotta go. :D
no subject
Date: 2006-12-18 02:25 pm (UTC)Interesting that you think it's the father shooting the pig. As for confrontation vs not, you probably *are* both right. *is unhelpful* I think a lot depends on whether your neighbor is too lazy to wave his arms or if he's just mean.
I hate it when neighbors don't take care of their animals. If I'd wanted 1,000 more pets I would have bought them myself, thanks. I used to worry about offending people if I fed their pets or gave them a warm place to sleep. Now I pretty much dare them to comment.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-18 02:00 pm (UTC)We had neighbors similar to that but not quite as severe (we live in Ohio too). We live on a quiet dead end road. They had crappy beat up cars in the driveway, tons of cats, and they tore down the road not concerned a bit that there might be children playing or riding their bikes near by. Their house burned down and because of property lines, they had to get a petition signed by the surrounding residences to rebuild, I know this is cold, but no body signed it.
Anyway, it might not hurt to take the cop neighbor a casserole (or something) and get to know her a little better so you can discuss things with her. She might be able to help or at least give some good advice.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-18 02:55 pm (UTC)WE are the new ones here. And it's funny too, because the people who lived in this house before us had a HUUUGE fewd with the 80 year old couple. (they were old too). *sigh*
We moved out to the country to get AWAY from stoopid people! ;)
no subject
Date: 2006-12-18 03:20 pm (UTC)*has lived in a pretty rural area of CT most of her life . . . * *LOL!* Ah, well, hope things work out for you.
These neighbors certainly sound like a piece of work . . . :^'
no subject
Date: 2006-12-19 01:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-21 04:42 pm (UTC)Also, stupid people get in the wrong lane (left only) and then almost ram into your car to get into the middle lane. 8^' I thought we were gonna die on Tuesday!!! *cries.*
no subject
Date: 2006-12-20 07:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-20 04:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-20 05:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-20 09:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-21 01:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-22 02:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-22 05:01 pm (UTC)I"m soo not computer savvy, and it took me months to remember how to do this without looking it up. basically, it goes like this
Here is your long rant, bla bla bla.
you punch in this before the rant
confusing enough?
I'll write the whole thing, saying 'arrow' for the < things, okay? If i write it properly, it will just make it a cut, and you won't see it!
left arrow lj-cut text="the title of your rant" close arrow THEN YOUR RANT GOES IN BETWEEN THE TWO GARBLEYGOOKY HTML -TAG THINGS left arrow /lj-cut right arrow
does that make sense? Generally, you can 'preview' your post, to make sure it worked correctly.
I hate html, and like I said, it's taken me quite a while to get even a weak grip of it.
:D
no subject
Date: 2006-12-22 05:06 pm (UTC)I'll try again putting each thing in a bracket, although, you don't use brackets at all, okay?
(<) (lj-cut) (text) you actually type in the word 'text', (=) (") now you type in the title that you want your rant to have, and that works as the link to your cut (") (>) HERE IS YOUR ACTUAL RANT, ALL THOSE THINGS GO BEFORE THE RANT, AND THE NEXT STUFF GOES AFTER YOUR RANT (<) (/lj-cut) (>)
Okay, hopefully this will show up and not work as a cut! teehee
no subject
Date: 2006-12-22 05:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-22 05:40 pm (UTC)