Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Stuff and stuff

Here's a post about a little bit of everything... from neighbors to birthdays to amazing eyes:

As you know, we went to St. George last weekend and my brother Matt agreed to sit the animals while we were gone. That means spending the night. Since we seem to have an overabundance of critters (4 cats, 1 fish, 1 dog - a tiny group for US), it's just easier to have someone stay over. Kida is still relatively skittish around strangers and totally devoted to us. Unfortunately, when Matt arrived the power was out so Kida couldn't see who was in her house - she just knew it wasn't one of us. Matt tried to coax her in, but she was having none of it. Instead, she tried to alert the neighborhood sporadically that there was a stranger in her house and someone needed to do something about it.

Matt fed her and the rest of the animals in the morning and headed off to church. When he got back, he found this on the door:


From Richard

He gave me a call on the cell to alert me to this, but there's not a whole lot we can do about someone else's perception. I've only heard this dog bark three times in the naer-year we've had her, and really can't imagine her keeping someone up all night.

When we got home, Darling Man went next door because even though the note wasn't signed, we were pretty sure we knew who wrote it.

Our neighborhood is one that turns over slowly. The people who live there have lived there for decades, including our next door neighbor. He's set in his ways, has a lovely garden, and pines for the lady who used to live in our house. And he doesn't like us. It's nothing personal. He doesn't like our cats, the way we mow the lawn, the fact that I pulled out the boxwood hedge next to the sidewalk (that was overgrowing it). We may not be ideal, but we are good neighbors. We keep the lawn mowed, we're quiet, we're friendly. But we're not Laura and never will be. And he has a problem with that.

Monday night, the drunk across the street staggered over to talk to us about Neighbor Man. He said that he wasn't always like this. That he used to be friendly and happy. Drunk Neighbor and Neighbor Man spend a lot of time together. They talk. The other day, I saw Neighbor Man mowing and blowing Drunk Neighbor's yard and wondered if something was wrong with Drunk Neighbor.

Apparently, there is something wrong with Neighbor Man. He's running his blower for hours everyday. In fact, he's running it so much that he's killing the grass in his yard. Then he blows Drunk Neighbor's drive and the street. Every day. I watched when I stayed home on my birthday. He blows the street in front of every house that touches his property and the houses across the street from them.


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Proof.

I don't know what to think, honestly. Drunk Neighbor is pretty sure that Alzheimer's is setting in. He may be right.

On another subject, the azaleas and wisteria are amazing right now. My back yard:



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We had a family dinner at the farm for my birthday on Monday evening. Dad cooked out barbecue chicken while Mom pulled together coleslaw, potato salad, rolls and salad. For dessert we had sugar-free angelfood cake, sugar-free strawberry ice cream topping and sliced strawberries. Delicious!!!
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There was lots of visiting. Brother Andy came down from Atlanta for a few days. The dogs played with ZBoy and ran around like crazy - getting so thirsty that they wound up emptying the birdbath.


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Brother Jerry also arrived, but late. Being a towtruck driver, he's at the mercy of the phone that's clipped to his overalls. He was half way out to the farm when he got a call, had to turn around and go back to town for a tow, then drove out again. I'm glad he made it, even if our visit was short. The next day was a school day, so ZBoy had to get home and go to bed.


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The picture I took with my new camera of ZBoy's eyes inspired me to take pictures of some of my family's eyes. Note that EVERYONE has blue eyes in my family!!!!

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Matt


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Andy

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Darling Man

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Mom

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Jerry

JL & Me - Spring Break 2001
Me

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ZBoy

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John

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James

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Dad

That's a lot of blue eyes!!!!

16 comments:

Sandy said...

That is a LOT of blue eyes! The laugh crinkles are most obvious, though, in yours and your mom's. Great pics.

Anonymous said...

We could add our blue eyes and double the number, except Joey! His are kind of greyish.
DotnFL

karatemom said...

the eyes ARE the window of the soul and they shine through in your photos..but I have to say ..
I love ..Love ..love the photo of the dogs at the bird bath..omg ..i love it....( also you remember I lost my beloved "Velvet" my german shepard about 2 years ago.....

great pics!

as for the neighbour stuff..we all have issues with them...you cannot escape it.

Robbiegirl said...

Well blue eyes are patently the best!

We're a bit outnumbered in our family - me, my uncle John (who doesn't have the same colour blue as me) and both of my grandfathers, and that's it.

Everyone else has brown or hazel except my mum who has weird yellow-green eyes like a cat.

Mine are actually a strange sort of blue, fairly light with some grey and a touch of green. Not the traditional china blue. I like to be different.

Mel said...

I love that photo of the dogs, too. And my eyes are also blue. And green. And gold. And gray. It all depends on my mood. :)

Anonymous said...

The neighbor from hell! I would probably send him a fruit basket full of prunes - with a screw you note attached to it.

Great pictures. ;)))

Anonymous said...

We are a split eyed family. My mom has green, Kev and Ken have blue and Aaron and I have brown. Next time you have a family dinner at the farm can I join please? Your dinner sounded yummy!! (Happy birthday again!)

Beckie said...

Wow, I don't think I even know anyone in person that has blue eyes...isn't that sort of weird. Wait, I just thought of one person, but one is still not very many.

I have always wanted blue eyes!

karisma said...

Lovely blue eyes! I met a little boy yesterday who had the most vibrant blue eyes I have ever seen and the longest lashes too! I am only one with blue eyes in my house, everyone else has brown eyes.


As for neighbours, they can be so annoying. Believe it or not I actually dislike one of mine. I never thought I would say that about another human being but they are just NOT nice people. It took me years to finally accept what everyone else saw up front. (My Miss Pollyanna syndrome would not let me though! You know there has to be some good in there somewhere!Well there wasn't!) These people are not happy unless they are hurting someone else! Very Sad! I feel so sorry for them, with this attitude they will never be truly happy!

Anonymous said...

Is that the BEST picture you have of my eyes?!?!

John

SwampAngel65 said...

Oh...I was getting pissed at your neighbor, but when you said the "A" word, I started to feel sad...I hope he doesn't live alone. Just smile and say Ok, then continue doing things as you always have. Let him blow the neighborhood (hmmm, that didn't sound quite right, did it?) but he better not start doing it at midnight or 6am!

Your flowers are beautiful!!! I've always loved wisteria.

ZBoy's eyes...oh, he's gonna be trouble when he gets older!

Tiggerlane said...

I think you need to start an entire saga of Drunk Neighbor and Neighbor Man - with photos! Now that I know a portion of their stories, I can't wait to hear the rest!

Me said...

I love how your mom's eyes twinkles. you know she's smiling even though you can't see her face :)
That's kind of strange about your neighbour with the leaf blower.
but Happy belated birthday!!!

Unknown said...

That is a lotta blue! We have amix in my family. I could find plenty of blue but we have some brown's thrown in. :)

Unknown said...

That is a lotta blue! We have amix in my family. I could find plenty of blue but we have some brown's thrown in. :)

Jodi said...

Who's the cute guy in the cowboy hat? I love the eyes' pictures.
J.