Sunday, August 07, 2005

Meet the Dobermans



This is what I look at everyday from my front yard.
Actually here. Let me give you a better idea.








This is the view from my bedroom window. Lovely, isn't it?





It really is frustrating. I've started to use their house as a landmark in directions. "We're the third street down on the left, right after the charred house with the boarded up windows."

Would it really take over a year to get this house fixed again? Insurance reimbursement aside. Over a year?! And counting!

If they were nice, and if I didn't already know they would automatically decline any help from anyone, I would volunteer to help them out. Because I am a good neighbor and because I would benefit from the effort. But they're not. And knowing that they wouldn't appreciate any of our efforts and say thank you... it's not worth it to me.

During the second week of July, their windows were open for the first time in years. Old furniture was sitting on the curbside waiting for trash pick-up. But what I didn't know, was that it meant nothing. I imagined they would be outside every weekend doing a little bit of this, a little bit of that. Cleaning up the mess they call a yard. Preparing to go back to a life in a home without wheels. Alas, no. They're taking their sweet damn time. Even this weekend, when I saw their front door open, I had a glimmer of hope. But I know it will be short-lived.

They're like a tease. Every now and then they doing something that will get my hopes up, make me optimistic for a well-kept neighborhood. And then just like that I realize that they're like the pre-2004 Red Sox. They do so well that you envision a different end of season, then just like that they ruin it and kill your hopes. Maybe next year.

7 comments:

kris said...

Oh my gosh how awful. Do you have no recourse?

Then again, we never could do anything to the neighbors with the life-size Christmas characters on their front lawns. In May.

Duke_of_Earle said...

Could be worse. They could throw loud drunken parties till the wee hours and not invite you.

Or worse yet, they COULD invite you and bang on your door if you didn't come.

Good luck! What about your other neighbors?

Mad Housewife said...

I'm sorry, but that looks like trailor trash in a lovely neighbourhood. Don't blame you one bit for complaining! And with their house all boarded up... I can see the value of the neighbourhood going down, down, down...

I'd keep complaining if I were you. Aren't there laws for zoning that go against this sort of thing? I mean, it's too close to their house, too close to your house. And I still want to know where their waste is going. Is the area on sewer or individual septic? And if it's septic, does their tank go under where the trailor sits? Because I think it has to be stretched farther out from the homes.

Daniel Hoffmann-Gill said...

Jodi, you never told me you re-linked.

I heart you!

Jodi said...

Kris - I've tried. B'lieve me. I tried. Conversations with the town officials have been blogged.

John, I don't think there is any more room in that trailer for anyone else. That would be my excuse for declining their party invite. And, oh yes. The new neighbors (moved in November) to my right are very blog-worthy. Once I think of an appropriate last name for them, I'll be sure to include them here.

Leslie, I haven't had the guts to call the town again. I know I should. Good point about the sewage. As far as zoning, no such luck. They are not on my property and since the trailer is over 15 feet from the property line, nothing can be done about that.

And Daniel, yes I am linking to you again. I link to you because you are entertaining, political differences aside. And besides, you know I can't stay away for too long. I heart you, too.

Jodi said...

ugh. this is even worse that I imagined. I would so be complaining to anyone I could every day. that's ridiculous. go kick some butt!

Thomcat said...

do you hear a banjo playing over there ?