Disclosing The Neighbors

~ JodiLea ~ 1 Comment

Neighborhood Chickens

Question on the Property Owner’s Disclosure Form:  Is there anything about this neighborhood the buyer(s) should be made aware of?

Are you kidding me???

How do we be honest without frightening them away? You live in the same place for 24-years and you get used to things. Like the guy down the street who revs his motorcycle several times a day. Or the retired guy that mows his lawn 4 times a week. Worst of all, the house behind us and one over belonged to an elderly couple when we moved in.  When the couple moved out, The LOUD Family moved in.

LOUD is a gross understatement of the decibel level achieved by the mother in this family. Within two days the entire block knew the names of her husband, kids & pets. Sometimes we weren’t exactly sure who she was screaming at. These anonymous blastings were the LOUDEST of all. The woman could out-swear any sailor, and do it while screaming at the top of her lungs.

Did I mention this was mid-summer, and everyone had their windows open?

The night one of her kids decided to light a candle in their room is etched into my brain forever. The poor kid was called every name in the book (and then some), lectured or screamed at (sometimes both) for 2 hours. Straight. When mom had her say, she left the room. When mom thought of something else her “idiot child” needed to be told, she returned to the kid’s bedroom and screamed some more.

I could not listen to any more of this verbal abuse, and I got up out of bed and debated with myself the pros & cons of  “getting  involved”.  If she screamed one more time I was calling the police station. What I really wanted to do was start screaming back at her. It was 11:00pm and a school-night to boot. I need all the beauty sleep I can get, and she was disturbing my peace.

It turned out that I was not the only neighbor ready to call the police. In fact, a petition was circulated and signed by the residents requesting someone have a nice long talk with the LOUD Lady and tell her to SHUT UP. I’m sure the patrolmen who delivered the petition and explained common courtesy to her were diplomatic. Everyone held their breath a couple of days, then sighed relief.

That was 5 years ago. Summer has returned and windows are opened. The frequency of the LOUD Lady’s outbursts has declined, but she has started to become LOUDer again. To add to the cacophony, the LOUD Family started raising chickens this year. I never heard hens lay before this. It sounds very painful. Also LOUD.  And we have to disclose these facts, in writing, to potential buyer’s.  Damn it!

Maybe a nice Deaf Family will fall in love with our house, throw money at us, and insist we move out ASAP .

It could happen, right?

😉
photo credit: Compassion in World Farming via photo pin cc

Weekly Photo Challenge: Close

~ JodiLea
BFFs
Cindy & Me in 2008

This photo was also going to be last week’s entry for Friendship, but I ran out of time. This gal and I met in the 3rd grade, went to different schools, lived in different cities. We remained in touch and for a brief time are living in the same town. Definitely my BFF 😉

Just Tell Me Where To Go

~ JodiLea

Smart CompassA compass is as helpful to me as lipstick on a pig.

I need my buddy “Tim” to tell me where I need to go. Tim is the Englishman who lives inside my GPS unit and tells me what lane to be in and when to turn left.  He calls the freeway a “motorway” in an English (UK) accent. ( I don’t know why, but I find that cool)

When I turn too early, or not at all, Tim never hollers at me. He quietly re-calculates the route and instructs me how to get there from wherever I happen to be. Thank goodness somebody knows where I am!   So terrified of getting lost, I never drove anywhere outside of my town (on purpose), until Tim came along.

There are others* within my GPS that I can call on, who are entertaining, but tend to get on my nerves after 3 hours, so I usually return to reliable (and patient) Tim. Tim is not perfect. He often tries to get me to go strange and confusing routes. I guess these routes are shortcuts according to Tim, or he likes to mess with me. Either way, I ignore them when I happen to know where I am in relation to where I am going. This does not happen often, so when it does I feel pretty damn smart!

There are many voices I can buy from the website if I get bored with Tim.

* One is a Jamaican native who yells “turn the car around!” a lot. Then there’s Darth Vader – he tells me “your lack of faith is disturbing” when I don’t do exactly as he says. (I half expect to start choking) My granddaughter likes Billy Bob Thornton’s character from “Sling Blade” the best, who says, “Well, I guess you didn’t kill anybody” when you arrive at your destination.

Who tells you where to go?

photo credit: Su℮ ❥ via photopin cc