by Marsupial

Created on: July 04, 2008

If it weren't for one particular bird with a high-pitched chirp at sunrise and sunset, I believe there would actually be a few moments of peace in our neighborhood on any given day. Aside from that bird, there are a handful of noisy neighbors beside and behind our house.

There are the neighbors who leave their windows open, most likely because they do not have air conditioning. These friendly folks have children about the same ages of my own boys, which wouldn't bother me except that it becomes difficult to tell whether my own baby is awake from his nap or my own 3 year old has fallen and hurt himself. And don't get me started on baby monitors that pick up more than one baby in the neighborhood!

Then there are the neighbors who party into all hours of the night, which again would not bother me if it weren't for our young children who find it next to impossible to sleep. These noisy folks hold youth meetings in their backyard as well. There's a guy with a guitar and quite a bit of happy conversation. I just wish they could meet indoors.

The neighbors on either side of us are the most quiet. The only time we realize they are outside is when we are both working in our gardens and one of us suffers from allergies. My son has actually yelled "Bless you!" to a neighbor who sneezed. I'd love to hear a faint "thank you" next time. That would be too sweet.

But the most noisy neighbor of all is the guy who insists on using his chainsaw nearly every weekend. By the sound of it, I'd expect to find beautiful ice sculptures lining his yard. No such luck. When he's not using his chainsaw (perhaps because he's run out of trees), he uses a leaf blower. What is it about leaf-blowers that is so tempting to the user and so irritating for everyone else? This man will actually be blowing leaves around when there is a steady breeze. What's the point? I'm tempted to buy the guy a rake and throw it over the fence one of these days.

Now, mowing the lawn is one forgiveable noisy-neighbor activity, in my opinion. Although, I wonder how many people would get by just fine with one of those quiet, old fashioned push-mowers. The neighborhood might be able to enjoy the sound of birds and squirrels if the people weren't making so much noise all the time. But as it stands, I find myself cringing at the sounds of wildlife when the people are actually being quiet for once.

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