Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Who are the people in your neighborhood?

Remember that old Sesame Street song. :-) I find it sad that not many people can name the people in their neighborhood. One of my neighbors just dubbed me Capt. Snoop. So I figured since I'm still snickering over that, I'll share my neighbors.

To one side of me, I have the Disablity Man. Do I actually know his name? Sadly, no, though I do know all of his kids. Disability Man has been here since before we moved in. He doesn't work, yet drunken he can get up onto his roof to fix the antenna during a football game. He can't work, but he is clever enough to tie a push mower to the back bumper of his sedan and drag it behind him so that he has a riding mower. His kids are sweet, but I think they've suffered too much verbal abuse by their father to actually do any better in life. The daughter is 21 now and has just had her second baby while living at home. The older son, haven't seen him in a while, so I'm hoping he got out. The younger son, he's our local graffiti artist. He thinks he gets away with it, but I've shared his name with the local officers when they ask who sprayed Nate all over the place. Hint to graffiti wanna-be's, don't use your name or nickname, I can guarantee your neighbors will know it's you.

I've spoken endlessly about my other next-door neighbor. The good news is, the 21/22 year old girlfriend is gone. Now the son never leaves his house at all. The daughter is still there, and she and her boyfriend have wonderful screaming matches at all hours.

Across from me, there is a family of lovely people (friends of my mom's actually) and then up the hill kind of behind them is this family who feel it is truly acceptable to go to work for the day and leave your two dogs loose outside. I'm still waiting for a paint pellet gun with skunk odor pellets. Every time one of those dogs charged me or my kids, I'd make it stink really, really bad!

The next few neighbors down the road are quiet, unassuming people who pretty much keep to themselves. Though one of them cracks me up, he has an abundance of wild plum trees and will chase you down the road begging you to take some. We hit the house on the corner of our block (opposite my corner) and their sons can be rowdy, but thankfully they are moving, so no more screeching tires at 1 A.M!!

Going out back, there is a nice older couple. Across from them is this awful woman whose dog bit I think it was 4 kids. She still keeps the dog (part Chow), even though one of those kids was her own son. She always acts high and mighty, never works (her ex-husband owns his own lighting company, so I assume he foots her bills), and in general doesn't talk to anyone. Suits me fine - her kids are obnoxious (I've had plenty of dealings with them when I spent a year riding the bus to help the driver out with student control.)

The next few neighbors, besides their obnoxious 4-wheelers, really do not bug me. A childhood friend (nextdoor neighbor growing up) is next in line. She is lucky and gets to live next door to this guy who can burp and fart at 100 decibel volume levels. I've never heard anyone able to carry a burp that shakes the windows of the house next door!

Beyond them is a younger family who are apparently moving to NC where life is cheaper. Then another divorcee who is sweet as anything. Across from her is the family with a really obnoxious 4-Wheeler fan (the daughter's boyfriend), the very pregnant daughter, their semi-troublemaking son who toned down when he got a job, and then the parents who never seem to have gained any control over their children. They live behind me in the road that circles behind us.

I do know most of my neighbors. I think it is a good thing to be aware of the comings and goings of traffic in your area. I know when a suspicious car is in the area, and after two local girls were raped by a released child molester about 10 years ago, I'm more than happy to keep my nickname! I'd rather know who is in my neighborhood and if I should be warning my children about them.

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

What is wrong with the world today?

I watched my neighbors after a death in the family. These are nice people. Quiet people who will do anything for anyone if asked. So after the elderly mother died, the police sat there at the house for three hours waiting for the coroner to arrive. Now I understand, the officer has his job, apparently they cannot leave family alone with a body, not sure on the logistics of that, but whatever.

One officer left after an hour and a half - meanwhile, I kept thinking why two officers? They are so shortstaffed that they cannot properly patrol the streets and interstates, but they can have two officers sit with a body for hours? Seems to me there is something wrong with that picture...

Monday, June 19, 2006

Motherhood...

So today's topic has to be Britney Spears. I am not a Britney Spears fan, nor will I ever be (though I do still love the cover Dweezil and Ahmet Zappa did of Hit Me Baby One More Time.) However, I think the media is going overboard with her. Sure she's young, she's possibly inexperienced, but she's also HUMAN. She has made mistakes, haven't we all, however every time the press has been right on her tail ready to catch her and then proclaim that she's a horrible mother and that the child welfare department has been called in.

So the first time, she was trying to escape paparrazi with her young son on her lap. That was a mistake, she admits it. But why are the idiots who were chasing her not held to blame? Where does the stalking law come into play? Any mother's gut instinct is to protect her child. If I had photographers chasing after me I think the first response would be to get your child to safety. These same idiots then turn around and sue for getting their feet run over. I want to see the stars grab cameras and then start hounding the hell out of the paparrazi. That would make for a fun show!

The next occurrence, her nanny dropped her son while lifting him from the high chair. I'm still unsure why this was Britney's fault. The nanny admits she dropped him. The kid was checked out and he was okay. Move on. He's not the first kid to squirm out of a caretaker's grasp. Meanwhile, there are kids out there who are being beaten on a daily basis and child welfare never show up to help. How about that kid in I want to say it was Chicago who was watching his mother die and 911 refused to believe him? That child suffered tremendous trama and the 911 operator and her boss state they had every reason and right to tell him he was going to be in trouble for lying. I find that far more detrimental!!

The last thing that happened, a pregnant Britney tripped on a curb and almost dropped her son. The key word here is ALMOST. So again she's a horrible mother to the media. I shudder to think what they would have said when I was carrying my squirming 2 1/2 year old out to the car in the garage. The steps into our garage are narrow and there is no rail. She squirmed, I tripped, and instinctively put her on top of me so that I'd take the brunt of the fall. Regardless, she got up and was fine, I was scraped and bruise, but was fine. However, I find that far scarier than tripping on a curb. The point is - we are all human and mistakes happen. Tripping on stairs, a curb, etc. is not an uncommon event.

Other things that I've done that would have created a media frenzy had I been a star. I put my 2 month old on the sofa while I was folding laundry. I turned my back for about ten seconds to fold a sheet and he rolled off onto the pile of clothing I had folded and had sitting on the carpet. I still don't know how a 2 month old could roll, but he did and I bawled for an hour after that. Meanwhile, he was fine and my pediatrician at the time said to get used to things like that because kids are full of the unexpected. I still shudder at the thought of that, he was fine, he landed on a cushion of clothing, but I felt like a heel.

Another time, my daughter was playing on the deck. She was about 3 and we had a heavy swinging gate on the deck. My son had forgotten to latch the deck gate. Jess got her hand trapped in it and her fingers were swelling up. I rushed her to the doctor to make sure they had not broken. She got interviewed to make sure someone hadn't hurt her while I was out of the room. That disheartened me, and in the end her story gave them all the proof they needed to know for certain that it was an accident. This was a first time we had to take her to the doctor for an injury, and here in VT they waste no time thinking it is abuse and then disproving it after. Guilty until proven innocent. That's what happens with Britney, I'm sure, and it's not right.

Saturday, June 17, 2006

What's wrong with the world?

In the past week, I've been watching the morning news and making notes of stories that tick me off.

1. So apparently if you are strict with your children they will be fatter. Too many parents already shy away from discipline lets help fuel their fire... sigh. http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=healthnews&storyid=2006-06-05t040600z_01_n01372730_rtrukoc_0_us-parents.xml


2. A number of anti-the death penalty people have been protesting the death penalty handed down in the Donald Fell case (in a nutshell, Fell and his buddy kidnapped a woman on her way in to work one morning, took her across state lines where they beat her to death. I realize that the death penalty is a touchy subject for some, but I personally want all of these people who say "No one close to me has been murdered, BUT I know Fell's death will not relieve their suffering." If you have never been in the King family's shoes, do not even bother trying to state how they will feel after Fell dies.

3. Another case is really getting on my nerves. Last year a minor got into the car his mother bought him (he was 13/14) and drove it into a rock wall killing his two passengers. Now the boy's mother is suing the parents of the two boys saying their actions were just as much to blame and the media attention over this case has cause injury to her reputation. First, why on earth would anyone buy their unlicensed/not even close to the driving age child a car??? Second, give it up. Those boys paid with their life. You son could have said NO, I'm not driving without a license. He didn't, he drove the car that killed two others, get over it and if the negative attention from those in your small town is too much for you, learn to parent a little more responsibly. Handing a kid car keys before they are licensed isn't great parenting.

Monday, June 12, 2006

Even the geese have had enough

I spent yesterday swimming in my basement. With the rain, rain, and even more rain, my basement is seeping nicely. In fact, you can watch water spurt from a hole at the top of the sump pump bucket much to my kids delight.

I've had my fill of rain. The basement is toast. Thankfully, the sump pump keeps up with it, but the rugs I had down near my washing machine are toast. Water has never made it beyond the front portion of the basement, now it has. So today's goal is to throw the rugs out. I have a plan on how to control this much seepage in the future, I just need to find the right things and get my basement to dry out completely.

In the meantime, I went grocery shopping yesterday and took my son with me. My husband and daughter spent the morning vacuuming up water and squeegeeing it to the sump pump area. (Whoever invented the long poled squeegee should be knighted!)

So as we were driving by the swamp, we saw six or seven geese sat on the banks with their heads tucked under their wings. Even the geese have had it with the rain.