# Uh-oh. Neighbor issue rears its ugly head!



## Night Owl (Feb 28, 2008)

So yesterday I'm outside playing in my graveyard, and I see a police car pulling into a driveway a couple of yards down the street. In a minute or two the cop comes up to me and says a woman is complaining about my dog being loose, and he states that he will issue a citation if it happens again. I calmy explain that it was windy and the door blew open and the dog ran out. He said tell it to a judge and starts threatening to write a ticket again. I beg out of it, and the cop leaves.

Today, I decided to go over and try to make ammends with this lady because I don't want any bad blood with a neighbor... esp. this time of year. I made the mistake of buying a huge Pumpkin to take to her as a peace offering. She refused the gift and launched into how Halloween was evil and against her religion so she didn't "need no damn Pumpkin". It was at that moment I realized what the real beef was about... and I wanted to do some _truly_ evil things instead of just putting up a few foam tombstones:finger:

Sorry to vent, but I figured you guys would understand and be pretty familiar with this particular type of insanity. Do I hear a "hell yeah"?


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## HauntedHacienda (Sep 16, 2008)

Hell Yeah!!!


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## HalloweenZombie (Jul 22, 2007)

How about a tombstone with her name on it.


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## ScareShack (May 26, 2006)

I have been there with a few of my neighbors. I had one lady keep calling the police about the "project mini hearse" i was making 2 years ago. If I drove down the road she called.
Stop a few house down she called.

Make friends with the police....im not saying take them to DnD for coffe and donuts, but when they stop be real nice and act dumbfounded on why they are there(dont we all do this)..lol....I have had them here way too many time that i wish to mention....they understand after x amount of times.
(think they go...call to That house...the goffy guy again.....yes i live in a upscale neigborhood that I dont fit in....im traing my neigbors as we speak still)

As for your neighbor....Glad u still have that pumpkin...she dont deserve it it sounds like.

I have one house across from me that says im evil to there grandson. No... I have 4 of the most well mannered kids around.

I learned to ignore them.....the few....think some learned to accept me, so all is good now. 3 years here its working.
I dress up all year long and go outside. Latly I been spotted dressed up as an 8 foot high clown roaming our housing trac(walking kids home).

all in all...I know neighbors are important....but you should fell good(i quess) on her givin u the pumkin back...stay clear of that house...be polite to the rest. You will be fine. Yes it is irraiting at times, but follow ur heart and do what u do....Haunting!


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## beelce (Jul 21, 2007)

There is no way that you can please all of them...just smile and let her sit in her own ****


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## skeletonowl (Aug 8, 2006)

I hate people like that. It was really nice of you to try and go make peace!


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## Night Owl (Feb 28, 2008)

I love you guys SO much right now! Thanks for making me laugh, and don't worry... The graveyard stays no matter what, _and_ has one extra Pumpkin tonight!


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## Haunted Bayou (Feb 16, 2007)

"can't talk to a psycho like a normal human being"

She is just one of those peeeeple. There isn't a thing you can do but definitely keep a watch on your dog. Especially, if the cops around there are butts.


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## Spartan005 (Mar 13, 2007)

If I were you and that lady said that to me after offering her a gift, it would take just about every nerve in my body not to throw that pumpkin in her face. That really sucks, but just try to ignore her I guess


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## spidermonkey (Jul 29, 2008)

Yeah she is sooo religous that she swears.


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## Brad Green (Jul 29, 2004)

Live and let live, you can celebrate your pagan festival, Halloween, and she can celebrate her equally pagan festival, Christmas (a.k.a. The Festival of Saturnalia).


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## dynoflyer (Oct 8, 2006)

HalloweenZombie said:


> How about a tombstone with her name on it.


_*Oh, Hell Yeah!*_


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## ScreamingScarecrow (Oct 1, 2008)

Did you cover the poor pumpkin's ears so it wouldn't have to listen to being cursed?


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## Lilly (Jun 13, 2006)

you should carve the pumpkin with a tongue sticking out and 2 hands by the ears, nanner nanner towards her house


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## Haunted Bayou (Feb 16, 2007)

Lilly said:


> you should carve the pumpkin with a tongue sticking out and 2 hands by the ears, nanner nanner towards her house


NAW, carve "nuckin' futz" with an arrow pointing to her.


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## Night Owl (Feb 28, 2008)

Here's my favorite exchange between the cop and me: _Me_)"Oh no! Did he attack her or bite her? That's not like my dog! What happened?" _Cop_)"Do you want to go talk to her?" _Me_)"I thought she made a complaint to you, so you would know what happened... so I was asking you." _Cop_)Well, she called me here, so *evidently* that's what happened...the dog attacked her. _Me_)"Ummm, ohhhhkaaay. That explains everything."

I suppose ya'll have figured out by now that my dopey 12 yr. old Beagle mix did not go near this lady or her yard. See? You're already smarter than the cops around here.

Oh, by the way... did your hear? Halloween is EEEEEVIL. Evil, I say.:googly:


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## Aelwyn (Jul 7, 2008)

spidermonkey said:


> Yeah she is sooo religous that she swears.


That's what I thought!

Yeah, just ignore her. After a few more false calls to the police, SHE'LL be the one getting the visits, not you.


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## Spanky (Oct 8, 2007)

As far as the cop goes- 
1.Politness without sarcasm.
2.If he didn't see your dog out, he can't give you a citation without _some_ sort of evidence.
3.Politness without sarcasm. 
You need the cop "on your side" when dealing with a loony. Don't do anything offesive to, near, or about her.
Good luck and hopefully you wont see or hear from her the rest of the year.


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## Aelwyn (Jul 7, 2008)

Spanky said:


> As far as the cop goes-
> 1.Politness without sarcasm.
> 2.If he didn't see your dog out, he can't give you a citation without _some_ sort of evidence.
> 3.Politness without sarcasm.
> ...


I agree. Offer him a coffee or something, ask about his plans for Hallowe'en, maybe introduce him to your LEASHED, well behaved dog.

Of course, my evil side thinks you should don a GIANT pentacle, wear all black, go over and offer her a freshly baked pumpkin pie. Then at Christmas, don the Pentacle and go over and offer her a Yule log.  But don't listen to my evil side---she gets in trouble a lot. :devil:


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## biggnboog (Oct 11, 2008)

sorry to hear.. we are all for a tombstone with her name on it


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## Dark Angel 27 (Sep 11, 2008)

suuure blame it on the dog. 

they get blamed for everything!

as for the neighbor, its sad that she is like that....my little brother had trouble with some one like that....kept calling the cops on him....the dude had issues. and so does this lady. 

Yeah...i'm all for the headstone....make it big enough for her to see.....that'll teach her!


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## Don of the Dead (Aug 17, 2005)

I had issues several years ago with a church next door. Kept calling the cops about us "abusing" our dog cops finally told them to knock it off. I told my wife 1 more incident I was attending mass in my Leatherface costume.

cops can be cool, I had to call tonight on some "thugz" stealing some of my blood window clings. They booted the little [email protected] and gave my yard the thumbs up.


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## Bone Dancer (Oct 7, 2005)

I totally agree with Spanky, be polite to the cops, you want them to view you as the adult in this situation. Don't over do it, just be straight forward and friendly. Do your best to ignore the lady as much as you can. And if you can, be nice and polite to her too. People like her totally hate that.


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## Jackpot (May 21, 2008)

Try and be nice to the cops and your neighbors is always good advice. Sometimes it can be really hard though, I had something similar happen a couple years ago the cops kept showing up about my dog being loose, who at the time was a golen retriever yellow lab mix. Of course the dog that was running lose was a standard size poodle, it took forever to convince them it wasn't my dog. around here also though almost all the cops are those football players whose glory days were in high school where they could push must everyone around, except those of us who were bigger then they were, and they weren't good enough to make it to college so they became cops to still feel important and push people around.

Now when I say cops i just mean the city police dept. the county sheriff's are generally really cool and i have yet to meet a rude state trooper. 

I digress though, and same reason here was the lady was jut not liking my decorations as they offened her. I never did try to make peace with her though she did it to most everyone on the block in one way or another and after awhile the cops just stopped showing up. Sometimes you just have to try and ignore it, but tyring to make peace typically doens't hurt. Also never did find out who's poodle was running around.


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## dynoflyer (Oct 8, 2006)

biggnboog said:


> sorry to hear.. we are all for a tombstone with her name on it


Clint Eastwood had tombstones made with names of directors/agents and other industry people he disliked in a scene from the movie, "Ballad of Josie Wales"

Great minds think alike, apparently. :devil:


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## Spooky1 (Aug 25, 2008)

Sorry to hear you have such an unpleasant neighbor. Best to keep to the moral high ground and be nice and pleasant to the old bag. It will make her look bad.

On a side note USA today has an online pole about decorating for Halloween. Last I saw 35% of respondents don't celebrate Halloween. Why do people seem to refuse to have fun?


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## Ghoul Friday (Oct 6, 2007)

Sorry about the neighbour with too much time on their hands and not enough real things to worry about.



Haunted Bayou said:


> "can't talk to a psycho like a normal human being"


Nice Poe reference. You'll have me singing Trigger Happy Jack all day now


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## Night Owl (Feb 28, 2008)

Yeah, you're right. I truly wasn't trying to be sarcastic with the cop... my reaction was just total bewilderment. As it turns out, I spoke to him by phone a little later and we had a _much_ less stressful conversation. I think he was just lashing out becuase some lady decided to make him into a glorified dog catcher. Can't blame the guy.

As a follow up to all this, I think the lady felt bad after thinking it over awhile. I never lost my composure and told her if she changed her mind I'd be right up the street. She came to the yard while I was out last evening on the porch (enjoying the Fall weather) and started a conversation. I had just bought a $2.00 pot of Mums so I told her instead of a Pumpkin I could give her the flowers to put in her yard where the neighborhood dogs had been digging. She was much more gracious, and we ended the whole fiasco on a good... make that a _satisfactory_ note. I'm still somewhat leary of her. Frankly, I find religious fanaticism to be way scarier than anything Halloween could produce. Just my opinion...


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## Night Owl (Feb 28, 2008)

Here he is, folks...








Public Enemy #1


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## Aelwyn (Jul 7, 2008)

Glad it turned out okay!

And yes---your dog looks big and vicious!


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## wandererrob (Aug 8, 2007)

My god! Look at the vicous beast attacking that child and cuddling her to death! The dog is gong to suck up all her body heat!!

OH THE HUMANITY!!


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## Night Owl (Feb 28, 2008)

LMAO! You're killing me here!


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## wandererrob (Aug 8, 2007)

That poor, poor child!!!!11111ONE


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## Spooky1 (Aug 25, 2008)

Tell the truth, after you took the picture the dog pushed the child off the couch to claim the couch for his own (the blanky too).


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## Revenant (Mar 17, 2007)

Egads, what a fearsome beast! The look of panic on the child's face is rending my heart.


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## dynoflyer (Oct 8, 2006)

. . . after terrorizing the child into a coma, public enemy # 1 feigns sleep to lure his next victim closer.


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## Papa Bones (Jul 27, 2005)

Night Owl said:


> Here he is, folks...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


What a terrifying beast you have there. (the dog, not the kid)


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## Papa Bones (Jul 27, 2005)

Aelwyn said:


> I agree. Offer him a coffee or something, ask about his plans for Hallowe'en, maybe introduce him to your LEASHED, well behaved dog.
> 
> Of course, my evil side thinks you should don a GIANT pentacle, wear all black, go over and offer her a freshly baked pumpkin pie. Then at Christmas, don the Pentacle and go over and offer her a Yule log.  But don't listen to my evil side---she gets in trouble a lot. :devil:


My evil side would bust out the cool whip and draw a tombstone with her name on it on the pie.


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## Haunted Bayou (Feb 16, 2007)

Ghoul Friday said:


> Nice Poe reference. You'll have me singing Trigger Happy Jack all day now


Glad somebody caught that. LOL!

Your white-face beagle looks alot like my white-faced ridgeback...
Man, what a fiend! Couch hog!


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## cindyt7 (Aug 7, 2007)

Wow, sorry. That was a very nice gesture to try and bring her the pumpkin. You did what you could.
Beware though, a good friend of mine had a neighbor with similar outlooks to yours and she called the village on him so often they started sending out inspectors to make sure everything was up to code. He ran an actual haunted house through his garage and backyard. They looked at every wire on every prop. That was really rough on him needless to say. He was shut down for an entire week, couldn't even have lights on... I'm not trying to scare you, just keep this in mind when you see her.

We need our own little Halloween Land, where we can all live in peace and harmony, blood and gore together


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## cindyt7 (Aug 7, 2007)

Great picture. It's always cute when the dog's twice the side of the kiddie, but is smashed in with no room.


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## kruella (Feb 23, 2007)

Night Owl said:


> Here he is, folks...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


OMG, your dog is so sweet looking! What a witch!!!
Makes me so angry when people pick on dogs and children.
I can't believe the cop, WTH?
That lady should be nice to dogs, they are the only creatures who end up visiting their hag old butt when their sitting in a nursing home.


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## SQWIB (Oct 14, 2008)

I would agree to being polite to the cops, but the one that you had dealt with, he could go scratch my a$$.
And as far as the lady went, I would make her life a living hell in anyway I could.

Its a shame but there's some people that you just cant ignore and you have to fight back somehow someway, because she will not let up, ITS PERSONAL now!!!

And I don't want to hear any speeches like "2 wrongs don't make a right ", "Don't stoop to her level". "You're a better person than that", only people that are willing to lye down and ignore it hoping it will just go away, use these terms.
Now get out there and do something about it,you already know she don't like you because you enjoy Halloween...USE THAT TO YOUR ADVANTAGE!!


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## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

SQWIB said:


> I would agree to being polite to the cops, but the one that you had dealt with, he could go scratch my a$$.
> And as far as the lady went, I would make her life a living hell in anyway I could.
> 
> Its a shame but there's some people that you just cant ignore and you have to fight back somehow someway, because she will not let up, ITS PERSONAL now!!!
> ...


You mean like send out invitations for a halloween kegger/costume party to all the local high school kids and use her address?


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## corner haunt (May 21, 2008)

"can't talk to a psycho like a normal human being"



Ghoul Friday said:


> Nice Poe reference. You'll have me singing Trigger Happy Jack all day now


Me too! Love that tune!
Glad to hear thing calmed down with the nasty neighbor.


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## cindyt7 (Aug 7, 2007)

SQWIB said:


> I would agree to being polite to the cops, but the one that you had dealt with, he could go scratch my a$$.
> And as far as the lady went, I would make her life a living hell in anyway I could.
> 
> Its a shame but there's some people that you just cant ignore and you have to fight back somehow someway, because she will not let up, ITS PERSONAL now!!!
> ...


All you'd be doing by "stooping down to her level" is proving her opinions about you in her mind correct. Putting bad karma out brings back bad karma. I'm sure she's short on true friends, she looses in the end, not us.

We have to live with these people, why start a war with them. Offer all the adults on your block a beer, hot chocolate or something when you give the kids candy. If the other neighbors like the haunt and get to know you, she'll clearly be outnumbered. And most wont be willing to listen to her whine about it...

oooooooh and I heard she's giving out toothbrushes and toothpaste this year. Now if you were to mention that "rumor" to anybody, you wouldn't even be lying. You heard it from me


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## Spooky1 (Aug 25, 2008)

Night Owl said:


> As a follow up to all this, I think the lady felt bad after thinking it over awhile. I never lost my composure and told her if she changed her mind I'd be right up the street. She came to the yard while I was out last evening on the porch (enjoying the Fall weather) and started a conversation. I had just bought a $2.00 pot of Mums so I told her instead of a Pumpkin I could give her the flowers to put in her yard where the neighborhood dogs had been digging. She was much more gracious, and we ended the whole fiasco on a good... make that a _satisfactory_ note. I'm still somewhat leary of her. Frankly, I find religious fanaticism to be way scarier than anything Halloween could produce. Just my opinion...


I'm glad things simmered down for you Nightowl. I understand the desire some folks have to lash out when a neighbor acts like that, but it's not worth going to war for one incident. I'm glad guilt got the better of her, and who knows, maybe you can help her see the fun side of Halloween (hey it could happen). Good luck. 

Of course you can only turn the other cheek so many times before it's time return the favor with interest.


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## SCARCOPHAGUS (Sep 14, 2008)

Just handle this in a way that can't be traced back to you, on a date no one would expect. Revenge is mighty tasty cold, Im told.

Just keep it civil. Like, put a booger under the handle to her drivers side door or something. I speak from experience, the next time you see her driving after that, you will say 'oh yeah'


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## spiderella (Oct 21, 2008)

I would make a copy of the page in the bible that says, "Judge not lest ye be judged yourselves." Then I would highlight the phrase and stick it in her mailbox.


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## Night Owl (Feb 28, 2008)

Honestly, the woman kinda' terrifies me 

She told me the other night she carries a pistol for "protection" against the dogs, and said she will use it on the vindictive neighbors if the f***k with her stuff. I got the message loud and clear... she's bat**** crazy! I just want to stay off her "list", if you know what I mean. Oh yeah! _And_ the heffer gave the pot of Mums to the woman that lives across the street.

One thing is for sure... I won't hesitate to call the cops if she gives me any crap in the future.


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## Spooky1 (Aug 25, 2008)

Jeez, sounds like it's best to stay as far away from her as you can. I hope she doesn't freak out on any ToTs.


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## beelce (Jul 21, 2007)

I would kill her with kindness


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## Cassie7 (Sep 16, 2007)

Ya know, BeeIce is right. Kill her with kindness and she'll have only imaginary stones to throw at you. Police are trained to sniff out when people are being overzealous and abusive of the system.

Right after we bought our house, hubby made it his quest to befriend as many neighbors as possible. One little old lady that lives to our left (lives alone, corner house), he occasionally cuts her grass for her and helped clean out a badly overgrown brush area in her backyard. Directly across from her is another little old lady (lives alone, corner house), and next to her and directly across from us is yet another little old lady! We talk to her the most, her name is Olivia and she's like the neighborhood Mrs Cravits. She knows everyone and every thing that goes on around here. Every xmas we buy each of the women a nice card and poinsettia plant. You should see their faces light up when they opened the door to see hubby standing there with a big toothy grin and offering.

Plus, since all three women live alone, we keep a close watch on their houses and if we notice anything amiss, like a light on when it normally isn't, a door open when it normally isn't, we go over and check on them right away. They all really appreciate that and in turn, they keep a sharp eye on our house and aren't afraid to confront anyone that's in our yard when we're not home.

And when we purchased the house, the prior owners warned us about the cranky old ladies. Sheesh...I guess they don't know that a little kindness goes a long way (usually)

So, now going into our 4th Halloween here, the lady next door (never gave out candy until last year and loved it) said that we can use her yard (front and back) if we wish to expand our decorations AND offered to run power cords over for us. Both woman across the street offered their yards as well (Do you realize that gives us the entire four yards on the corner to play with??? And all lawns are nice and flat!). Plus the lady directly across the street, Olivia has offered us and our friends, family and boo crew free reign to park in her HUGE back yard.

Also, the neighbor on the other side of us has offered their yard, driveway and power as well. They are a couple in their 30's with 3 kids (all of whom adore hubby), having a little marital trouble and the dad often uses hubby's ear as a sounding board. I won't go into the wife or detail but suffice it to say that their house is owned by HIS father so we plan to stay on his good side.

But how cool is that for a setup? Totally sweet with a capital S W E E T ! We are so lucky.

Sorry, I ended up rattling/babbling but after reading your post and the replies, I began to deeply realize how lucky we were to take the 'kill them with kindness' high road and how much the little we've done has paid off.

Her offering an olive branch to you by coming over to chat with you is a good sign. And perhaps she's just not a fan of Mums, I know I'm not. But the fact that she accepted them is a good sign. Just tread softly and leave the big stick in your brains attic


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## Dark Angel 27 (Sep 11, 2008)

i am glad that the whole thing has simmered down...and that pic is totally cute!


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## Spooky1 (Aug 25, 2008)

Cassie may be right. It can be a scary world for an older person living alone. If she doesn't have family or friends nearby then it's easy to see fear creeping into their everyday life. The neighbors they knew move away and they are surrounded by strangers. They can act distrustful (or crazy) which then alienates them from the new neighbors. Be as nice as you can and if she doesn't warm up to you then just let her be. At my old neighborhood I use to clear the walkways of an older neighbor or two. One was always appreciative of the help, on the other hand I never heard a peep from the woman next door.


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## Night Owl (Feb 28, 2008)

Actually, she's in her mid forties. I think everybody got the impression she was an old biddy from her actions, but nope. I'm with Cassie, though. Sound advice. Yes, the woman is aggravating, but I don't want to escalate things by any stretch. As far as I can tell, I'm not one of the neighbors she want to murderize, (anymore) so that's good enough for this girl! I'll smile at her from afar, and hope for the best...  If she reaches out to me for some reason, I will be nice. I guess that's all you can do. Thanks so much for all the advice, you guys! It made me feel so much better to have some nice, like minded, SANE people to talk about this with!


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## Revenant (Mar 17, 2007)

Well, nice and like-minded anyway... and 2 out of 3 ain't bad.


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## higginsr (Oct 4, 2007)

Night Owl said:


> Thanks so much for all the advice, you guys! It made me feel so much better to have some nice, like minded, *SANE* people to talk about this with!


Sane? Where all the sane people at???? We all have this crazy little over the top obsession the 'normal' world might not understand, which makes us all a little left of center! lol
Glad it worked out well for well for you...
and as an aside, never but never put her name on a tombstone no matter how much fun it would be... in today's age that is considered terroristic threats and in the very least will tarnish your rep a little more and in the most extreme could be real grounds for a civil and/or criminal suit..
cheers!


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## Spooky1 (Aug 25, 2008)

Maybe we're sane-ish?


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## Death's Door (Mar 22, 2006)

Hey Nightowl - nice pic of your two kiddies. I can't believe that cute doggie is causing chaos in the neighborhood. I mean, just look at the picture - anyone can see that your doggie is tired from running rampant in the neighborhood and chasing down old ladies or anybody or anyone that gets in the way. heheheheh!!!

I have two beagles - Max and Jakey Bonz. They are 12 years old too. We had them since they were six weeks old. If anyone knows beagles - they love to bust out and cruise the neighborhood. It's their nature even if they are part beagle. Very good family dogs. 

I'm glad that things have calmed down but just be careful with your neighbor. Those kinds can turn on a dime.


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## BoysinBoo (Dec 10, 2007)

> Sane? Where all the sane people at???? We all have this crazy little over the top obsession the 'normal' world might not understand, which makes us all a little left of center! lol


Left of center? To (incorrectly) paraphrase George Carlin: Think of how crazy the AVERAGE person you deal with every day is...then realize that half of them are crazier than THAT!


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