Another reason to hate Oregon. We owe nearly $300 in taxes. At least paying it won’t kill us or prevent us from moving when the people moving in next door raise holy hell in the yard. Yeah, it’s been rented. This is right about when I figured it would happen, too. All I’ve seen so far was an older guy in a white SUV and a couple that could be either young or middle-aged who carried in some piece of furniture. The guy took off in the SUV after they hauled the furniture in, leaving them to take off on their own in some other vehicle that was parked on the other side of the house, out of my view. I’m just so glad that house and its driveway aren’t right up against this house and that no dogs are allowed! If any dogs do come in over there I’m going to call the rental company and complain and complain and complain till something’s done about it, and I will not let what happened with the blacks and Mexies scare me out of doing so!

Tom said I shouldn’t jump the gun and assume the worst, but as I reminded him, you know we’re not allowed to have good neighbors. The only reason the lady on the other side isn’t a problem other than car door slamming is that she has no space in which to be a problem in the first place, though God could see to it that she started having company with stereos, or that she moved out and someone with a stereo moved in if He really wanted to. Regardless of who’s over there, they can’t have dogs, they can’t have kids living in that tiny shack, and there’s no basketball hoop on the driveway either.

Anyway, they can scream and blast music in the yard next door, and they can open their doors and windows and throw on their inside stereo when it gets warmer, but at least they can’t be playing basketball just a few feet away anymore than anyone on the other side could.

Tom agreed that if it got to the point where it was too obnoxious for me to work here in the living room which is practically in their yard, then we’ll swap offices. Better yet, we just got a wireless network hook-up also known as Wi-Fi, so I could drag my two PCs into the bedroom and stack up the boxes that are in there in here. But if it’s really, really horrendous, we’ll just move. I don’t know where the hell we’d go, but we do have the means to give notice right away if we had to. This much gives me great comfort as anyone who knows me knows I hate to be trapped by leases, poverty or other means.

Because their back door is on the opposite side of the house and because they have that nice, enclosed deck on that side as well, I’m hoping against hope that they’ll do their daily barbecuing on that side of the house, but I’m sure that whatever kids are over there will be running in and out of the yard on this side every chance they get. With my shit luck, they’ll put up swing sets and kiddy pools there, too. People don’t usually want big yards to act as buffers like we would, they want it for dogs and kids.

I have prayed nearly every day that God spares us from legal, health, financial and neighbor problems, but I’m not yet convinced that He gives a damn whether or not Jodi S is constantly annoyed by rude, selfish, loud unruly neighbors. It’s hard for me to pray for even these simple things because it’s awfully hard to forget just who allowed the horrible experiences I’ve endured in life to happen to me.

Tom doesn’t think we’ll notice they exist 99% of the time, but that’s just my dear optimistic husband for you. So what if there’s a 14-year pattern that says otherwise?

Oh, here’s a blue pickup that just parked along the side now. Tom assures me they won’t park on the side after they’re all moved in and that they’ll park on the other side. I hope so because while the door slamming wouldn’t be like next door, it could get obnoxious depending on how many people are there and how often they come and go. Our place and theirs are the only houses on this street that have a strip of space in front right next to the street to park because the houses are set back slightly further. None of the other houses can park in front unless they want to park on their lawn, and of course, there’s no on-street parking. Whatever the case, I’m sure there’ll be someone home all the time there. We’re also not allowed to have neighbors who work, remember? I see a twin-size mattress. Unless the people are just roommates that spells animal to me right there. Why do the 2-bedrooms always have to go next to the 3-bedrooms?!?!

Later…

The pickup left and just returned. Come to think of it, I’ve been hearing someone’s stereo that’s been parked somewhere around here lately. I wonder if it’s them. I also heard music before I saw that the pickup had returned.

What a pisser. They’re having highs in the 70s in Springfield, but as I always said, New England winters may be colder and snowier, but they don’t last till mid-June. This is the time it typically starts warming up there. They should have highs in the high 60s to low 70s till late May, then have highs in the 80s from June till August, then they’ll have some 90s mixed in with the 80s till September. August was always miserable there, deathly humid.

Later…

The bad news is that the blue pickup does have a stereo. It pulled up alongside here closer to our house so someone else could later pull in behind. It’s too dark now to see who else came in, but they arrived without music or a show of any kind. I haven’t yet heard any dogs, kids or house stereos. I’d bet just about anything that the vehicle that came in quietly doesn’t live here, but the pickup does. As for dogs, if they’re coming, I wouldn’t expect them till they’re completely moved in which I would assume would be sometime over the weekend.

The visitor just left and the pickup backed up closer to the door without any music, so that’s promising. With all the stereos swarming around here, maybe it wasn’t them I heard. Maybe someone with music happened to go by as they pulled up. Time will tell. It’s dogs I’ve got to worry about most. There’s nothing yet to say they didn’t ban the no-pets-allowed rule.

The front light is still on so unless they’re going to make a regular habit of that at night, someone still plans to either come or go.

Thank God for the air cleaner! Yes, basey sounds override it as well as shrilly ones like sirens, but it does a way better job than the fan. With just the fan I’d never get any sleep in the daytime on such a busy street and with her coming and going on the bedroom side.

Parking on the side (which is really the front) shouldn’t be an issue noise-wise, but Tom said that if they do make a regular habit of that, they’ll probably get ticketed. He parks on concrete that’s been designated for parking, but they can only park on a strip of grass and gravel.

I’m glad their living room is also on the other side. That way if they are blasting music, it would be harder to hear over here unless they’ve got the door and windows open.