by Jennifer Shell

Created on: April 29, 2008

It is finally starting to get warmer outside. For the past several days, we have been able to enjoy the beautiful weather by leaving our windows open. This has not only allowed us to turn the heater off, but it has sweetened the winter-stale air inside our house. Also, we've saved several days worth of heating and cooling costs on our utility bill (although I doubt we'll see much difference when said bill arrives in our mailbox).

When we moved to this house back in October, we were both amazed at how quiet the neighborhood is. (Except, of course, for the train that runs behind the houses across the street which I secretly love to listen to...unless it's 3AM and being driven by the sadistic conductor who thinks it's amusing to blast the whistle through the entire neighborhood.) Now that the temperature is on the rise, and we've had the windows open, I'm noticing that the neighborhood isn't as quiet as we first thought.

Aside from the two children who spend an enormous amount of time outside, in the street, on their big wheels or bicycles or just running and yelling at the top of their lungs just because they like to hear themselves, there are other things I've yet to get used to.

* The three-or-so cars that live at the end of the cul-de-sac which are each suffering from muffler issues, and the visitors to that end of the street who have purposefully loud vehicles with equal irritation factors.
* The fifteen (exaggerating here) tiny Chihuahua dogs that yip and yap inside the house behind us.
* The one stumpy-legged puppy with a complete lack of respect for property boundaries and a complete lack of fear of anyone trying to "scare" him off said property.
* The pit-bull dog that lives in a pen in the yard of the house behind us who barks incessantly when his mommy or daddy is outside for any reason.
* The two boxer dogs in the yard next to us who (though they are beginning to get used to seeing us) bark viciously, drool madly, and attempt to jump the fence.
* And last but not least, the couple across the street who scream at each other so loudly while shut up inside their house that I can hear them clearly in my own.

I guess this is just neighborhood life. Still I keep wondering if these things are police-worthy. Probably not. I would say that if I called the police department with a complaint about any one of the above issues, they would say, "Hey lady? We've got better things to do. How about shutting your windows?"

Yeah. No offense...but go find a donut shop.

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