The Shrieking Shack

Here we are in our new home, relaxing....and the dogs next door are left alone all day so they bark (pretty much non-stop all day), my daughter has recently discovered her vocal chords and the higher pitched section of her range and the cat has decided to howl (yes, howl, not meow, not meew, not yowl, but HOWL) because he doesn't have food in his food dish. Yep. Welcome to the Shrieking Shack everyone...it doesn't exist in Hogsmead anymore. It's here. At my apartment. Where I'm living....weeeee!!!!

I don't even know our next door neighbors names yet and they are already annoying me. I like to think I'm a fairly easy going, easy to get along with (even if we won't ever be busom buddies), but they are trying my patience. First off they have two dogs that bark when someone isn't home and whenever someone comes up the steps to the apartment (we have a shared landing so they bark whenever we come home). It isn't the dogs fault that they are left alone and are lonely and we actually can't hear them in the bedrooms so...I can live with it. The BIGGEST pet issue for me is the poop. I'm sorry. If you own a pet it is your RESPONSIBILITY TO PICK UP THEIR S***!!!! Do NOT leave it around for the neighbors to dodge and step on. GRRRR! If I had a dog I would pick up their pet poopy and take them on walks every day...not leave them in the apartment and take them out to the landing on a leash so they can reach the grass and stand there smoking a ciggarette until they do their business. It pisses me off. It also makes me mad because I feel like I'm going to be the obnoxious neighbor who tattle tales on them to the management, but I don't want to have to worry about stepping in doggy poo everytime I go outside. I would also like to let my daughter run around in the grass too. Sigh...

To add to the noise level, yesterday they were playing their music so loud that their bass was felt through my walls. It was during nap-time which was part of the reason it annoyed me so much then, but I also don't want to listen to their music! I haven't even met them...

and I already want to strangle them.

The Neighbors

I believe I may have mentioned that I really dislike the neighbor across the street. He doesn't live in my complex, he lives in one of the town homes across from us. He is, apparently, selling his unit and will be moving soon. I can't wait! He has a muscle car license plate reads: "--ELITE" That should give you some indication of how highly he thinks of himself and his car. It's a cherry red car that does a load roaring VROOOM every time he steps on the gas. Which he does, all the time. While he's sitting in the driveway showing it off, while he's leaving to go to work VROOM VROOM VROOM over every speed bump, when he comes home from work. Now I know that he doesn't have complete control over the sound. It is a special car after all. What kills me is that he will rev the engine while leaving the house, set off his wife's OBNOXIOUS car alarm and just let her alarm go until it automatically turns off. After all, he doesn't have to hear it, he's on his way to work...or wherever he goes. He does it all the time too. Seven am on a Sunday morning...oh yeah, he revs the engine, sets off her alarm and wakes up half the neighborhood. If I thought that going over and talking to him would help I would, but from the stories about how his wife (or girlfriend, or whatever) has acted towards the people who live in the apartments I don't think it will. I can't tell you how happy it made me when, a couple weeks ago, a nice "FOR SALE" sign showed up in their yard. *Happy Dance!*