Okay, so many of you may know already about my white trash neighbor. If not, here is the brief synopsis. Last winter, our nice quiet old neighbors moved out & their daughter w/ 3 kids & 3 dogs moved in. Whenever Holly was outside, her dogs were outside, off leash, and not fenced in (we have a very small neighborhood - all the houses are close, so this is a kind of big deal). Repeatedly, we had to call Holly in because these dogs were snapping at her through the fence & I even saw them try to pee on her. (No, I'm not kidding!). One night, as we're trying to put Andrew to bed, I heard the commotion outside once again, and had had enough. I handed Andrew to Mike & went outside to deal with this. One of her dogs charged me in my yard with its ears pinned back and tail straight out barking at me. Knowing enough about dogs to know this is a defensive stance, I stood in the same spot (there was no way I was going to go back in my house and risk this beast following me), and called for her to call her dogs. The neighbor got her dogs back in the house & shut the door. I went over there, and knocked on her door. Now, I had a lot of adrenaline pumping & I know I can be a bit of a B at that point in time, but at any rate, I asked her if she lived there now, to which she replied yes, and then I very sweetly (yeah right) informed her that her dogs need to be leashed when they're outside & that they routinely try to attack my dog through the fence. Fast forward to Andrew's birthday in June. For months, we had been tolerating these dogs being locked in her garage barking all day long. It was June & I couldn't have my windows open because it was so disruptive. At 9:30 at night after his party the dogs were still barking. I finally decided to take action & called the police. She just happened to come home while the cops were there writing her a warning & low & behold she opened the garage & the dogs charged the officer down the driveway. PERFECT! She proceeded to yell profanities over my fence to me and our friends who were joining us for a drink after the party. This went on for probably 10 minutes in total, and at some point I quit talking to her & just let her look like the idiot. A few weeks go by (the barking has not yet stopped) and my cat was outside laying next to my fence by my house (way on my property) and 2 of her dogs come charging onto my property to attack her through the fence. Luckily Holly was outside and went over there barking with her hair up (which, for those of you who know Holly, is very uncharacteristic). I yelled at her to get her dogs off my property & told her that I wasn't going to tolerate it anymore, and I was going to let the police deal with her from now on. The next day, the barking continued, I called the cops, and low and behold, the barking stopped for quite some time. Recently, it has started again. I don't want to be the neighbor who calls the police all the time. I actually think it is a waste of resources to call 911 (as advised to do) every time her dogs bark for the better part of the day. So, I went down to the police station to see what we could do about the problem. They told me that if it's that big of a problem that I'm willing to go to the police station to see what options there are, they would put it in as a "keep the peace" violation which is a $25 fine per occurrence. I'm glad they are willing to do something, but I still don't want to be that neighbor! Now, I'm not an unreasonable person. By excessive barking, I mean beginning at 6:15 am when the B leaves the house until she returns at 4:30 pm. Now, maybe they stop for a little while here and there, but I would say out of the 10 hour stretch, they are barking for at least 7. Dogs are dogs, and they will bark, but give me a break! So, onto today where the beef is big enough to get me to blog about it. There is a family two houses down from us that have a black lab named Izzy. Today, I was playing with Andrew on the side of the house & I saw Izzy run across the street and down the sidewalk. I noticed one of my neighbors friends grabbed the dog by the collar and said "I'm not taking this dog home if we don't know where it belongs". I was right there with Andrew & said that I knew the dog & I would take it home. No big deal, right? Later in the afternoon, Andrew & I are playing in the back yard, and miss White Trash herself says "Where's your black lab, sweetheart?" (say that in the snottiest tone you can come up with & it's almost how she said it!) I was like "What are you talking about" She then proceeds to tell me that I said the dog was mine, and she knows who the dog is, it's Izzy & she lives 2 houses down. I was shocked by the confrontation (which you all know I don't like anyway), and simply said that I didn't say that, and told her exactly what I did say. She then proceeds (and pardon my language) to tell me that I am a fat ass, a bitch, and a pussy, and am afraid of dogs. I told her I'm not afraid of dogs, I just have a problem with dogs that attack my animals through the fence and bark all day. She continued on with the barrage of insults for a little while. I did call her a B, which I feel badly about, because I do not condone that type of language in front of Andrew. Why can't I just have a peaceful afternoon in my backyard? I really hate living here now because of her. She makes every day uncomfortable. Now, I need advice. Her brother owns the house. She has 3 babies from 3 daddies & can't afford a place of her own. We have met the brother on several occasions, and he is a really nice guy, as are her parents. So, do I:
A) Contact the brother, inform him of the situation, and tell him that my next phone call will be to the police for harassment
B) Skip the bro & go straight to the police
C) Sell my house & move to a cute little house in South Elgin w/ St. Charles schools that I can afford & is listed!
D) Ignore her, and teach Andrew how to say "Hi White Trash" whenever he sees her! (he he!)
E) Call the cops every time the dogs make a noise & make those $25 fines add up to the point she's put out on her scrawny little behind!
No comments:
Post a Comment