We Are The Second Most Hated People In The Neighborhood

Always A Bridesmaid, Never A Bride.

What do you do when you have a retiree who does a lot of porch sitting and staring, and your house just happens to be the general direction a certain retiree happens to be staring all the time? Since the retiree has plenty of time to stare, she also has plenty of time to watch each and everything that you, your kid, and your dogs do, and by circumstance has more than enough time to make judgements.

The other day, as the daughter, her friend and I worked on the side of the house, the side which is in perfect view of the aforementioned retiree, the kids, as children will do, noticed we had an audience. This unnerved them a bit as kids have generally been taught that staring is rude. I told them not to pay the audience any mind, that we pretty much feel like performing monkeys every time we go out there and we shouldn't worry about it. They managed to ignore it.

Here is the thing, one whole side of our house and yard borders one of the busier thoroughfares in the neighborhood. It is not an extremely busy street, but just one of the main streets through here. Since we live on the corner, one whole side of our back yard runs along this busy street. She lives across the street and her house faces ours in such a way that she has total view of not only our whole front yard, but a whole side of the back yard as well.

We have dogs. We have two dogs who hate with a passion the fact that people have the nerve to walk past their fence, the fence that runs along the busy side of the street. People walk by this side of our house and yard all the time, it is humanly impossible for me to know when someone is going to venture past. I can't put my dogs out without them barking their fool heads off at someone. It just never stops. So, I keep them in most of the time, but I do have to let them out to potty, and when I do, inevitably someone will walk by, maybe even with their own dogs, and this will cause my dogs to bark. I have even seen my dog in the middle of dropping a turd start running to that fence he is that determined to get the message out.

Combine the actions of my silly, but granted annoying dogs, and the unfettered staring and you've got a recipe for neighborhood strife. My neighbor behind us, who actually does like us, and our dogs told me last night that some people are talking about my dogs barking too much. I asked who, but she wouldn't say, so I said, "is it those people?" and pointed in the direction of their house. She didn't answer, but her body language said it all. She said, "I'm just telling you, don't take it personal, just do something about it."

"What can I do?" I asked. "I call them in when they bark, I really try to keep them quiet, but they can't help their instinct to guard their territory.'' I can't run out the door every time they bark, it is not like I leave them out there for hours on end. We are talking minutes here, I have literally been sitting on the toilet and heard them start barking. So, I am in a situation with a woman who has nothing better to do than sit on her front porch and stare in my general direction and take notes every time my dogs bark on any given day.

I got a little miffed about it because I feel sort of like we have this big yard, but my dogs can't ever go out because if they bark at strangers walking by, my neighbor is going to report us, and that will cost us a lot of money in fines and fees, and our dogs could be taken away. It is not like they are barking at cars, or the wind, they feel provoked when someone walks by, especially if they have dogs with them. I told her "this is unbelievable, we've got a junk yard across the street, yet they go over and hang out and visit with him, but we're the trash in the neighborhood because our dogs bark at people."

"Oh no", she assured me, "people are more upset about the junk yard." So, I guess I can be glad that we are only the second most hated people in the neighborhood. That makes me feel so much better. I don't know what to do. I guess I will just have to be more vigilant, but I feel like flipping her off the next time I'm outside watering my grass and see her staring over here. I won't though. I also won't get rid of my dogs, although I will be even more careful about them barking.