Murphy’s Law

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So of course, this would be the week that either the heating element or the thermostat has died on our main ac unit, and we shrugged and said, “it’s March in Phoenix. We can wait ’til the spring AC service in April…”

-o.o-

Neighbors

One of the downsides of living in the suburbs these days is that homes are just too close together. In my neighborhood it’s not as bad as many newer ones I’ve seen, but between my house and the ones on either side there is perhaps 20′ of space. To make it all more confusing, the backyards here are designed like this:

Which means that to get to his backyard, he must walk right past my front door. So this morning, as I returned  from running some errands he happened to be leaving. I usually try not to catch his notice, since the only time he ever talks to me is to complain about something (fruit flies, my satellite dish, my lemons…). This morning, he caught me, and the “concern” this time is about the dogs. Wonder of wonders, they bark when he walks past my front door. I think he might actually have mentioned something about recording them barking. He’s especially concerned that I might not know how bad they are when I’m not home; one of them tends to jump at the window. Really, he’s concerned that she might break through.

Now that seemed slightly legitimate; I honestly doubt she could break it, but you never know, so I thanked him and said I’d try putting up some type of mesh (and actually, a baby gate would work perfectly, so I may do that) so she couldn’t jump at the window.

His response? I should block the windows so they can’t see him, ergo no barking.

No fargin’ way.

For one thing, one of the reasons I have dogs is that I’m home by myself a lot. I want to know if someone’s lurking around my front door. Frankly, I don’t give a crap if he doesn’t like it. When I’m home, I don’t make them stop unless they’re doing it out of boredom. They don’t bark at night, and they don’t bark outside (I bring them in when they get excited about the golfers).

Secondly, even if they can’t see anyone they’ll still hear people walking past the front door, because they walk on gravel. If he’s doing gardening near my wall, they hear that. They would even bark just as much if I put them back in their crates when I’m gone, where they can see nothing (I used to, to protect them and my house from damage, but they’re both mature enough not to tear anything up or get into things they shouldn’t). I suspect the only thing that would make him happy is if I either silence them or get rid of them. Or move, I suppose.

I keep hoping he and his wife will move to a quieter, more retired neighborhood, but somehow I doubt it.

My next house (someday) is going to have way more space between me and the people next door.

-o.o-