Hell seems to be the common theme.....

The neighbor from hell.....

is making me very angry!! The house across the street has had 4 families in the last 8 years we have lived here and this family is by far the worst. We have a 2 acre lot, which in the summer is very private and can't be seen from the road when all the trees leaf out. You've all seen the pictures of my great dogs. Seems the neighbor from hell doesn't share my fondness for the dogs. About 2 weeks ago, I received a letter from the Animal Control Officer stating my dogs were roaming the neighborhood at will, causing property damage and routinely pursuing pedestrians. I was shocked!! I was worried. What had my dogs done to my neighbors that I did not know about. What had they damaged? Put a call into my friendly ACO, who stated that she had a complaint that my dogs were chasing a neighbor who jogs. Not true, I explained to her as I know all my neighbors, and no one jogs. We live on a private road. Was the complaint from someone coming up our road who doesn't live here? Nope! It was from the neighbor from hell, who said his daughter is not comfortable with the dogs when she jogs. (she is obesely over weight and hasn't jogged a day in her life!) What had they destroyed, I asked? They urinated on flowers. Hmmmmm. I was a bit perturbed that they hadn't given us a call to discuss that they had concerns. Certainly, I want to be a responsible pet owner, and would do anything to prevent my dogs from bothering someone.

Enter my darling husband, who decided to approach neighbor from hell, in his direct and untactful way. He picks a saturday, when neighbor from hell's son has his devil band over practicing their devil music in the driveway. (not something you want to listen to on a Saturday, or any day for that matter).

DH says to NFH, "if you have a problem with my dogs, I wish you would just give us a call instead of calling the ACO, after all that's the neighborly way to handle it." NFH responds, "I didn't call anyone and we're not neighbors". Oh, this is going well. DH says, I talked to the ACO and she said you called. oops, busted!! DH asks if son can tune down the band, NFH responds, NO. NFH responds his son will play his drums anytime he wants. GREAT.

Today, I get a call from ACO that they have had another complaint on Monday morning at 7:30 am that my dog was standing in NFH's driveway at 7 am. He wasn't barking, biting, chasing anyone, peeing, crapping or digging. He was standing! Next time the NFH calls with a complaint, I get a ticket and a fine. Funny, but my dog was inside with me as I was getting ready for work and don't leave till 7:30 myself.

What recourse do I have for someone filing false complaints? I wonder if this is retaliation? I seem to recall my daughter and NFH's son going on a class trip to Washington DC. Seems NFH's son was goofing around in the subway station and blocked my daughter from getting on the train. She is 16, standing in the subway alone, with all her classmates and chaperones on the train and she is stranded, calling me at work crying, because she doesn't know what to do. I never complained, or said a word about this to NFH. The chaperones complained to the school and NFH's son was suspended from school for 2 days upon his return from Washington. What do you think?

Guess it's time for an invisible dog fence.......

sweater hell

I am in sweater hell!! I had been knitting socks like a crazy woman, and have more than I can wear or give away, so I thought I would try a sweater. I used to knit sweaters in college but usually did the sweaters on round needles, so no seaming.

sooooo.....

My vintage cardigan is giving me fits. I had finished all the pieces, and tried to do the neckline, but kept getting these crazy bunches in the front. I tried 3 times to make them go away, no luck. so I ripped, and I ripped. picked up the stitches again and tried one more time. It looked like the flash dance sweatshirt. NO good. So I ripped again. This time I went half way down the front, and will try and reknit the front pieces and back again. If it doesn't work this time, it's totally being ripped out turning into a pullover. The yarn was expensive, and will not be wasted.

Sweater #2 is a raglan sweater made out of cotton yarn. My sister had made this great looking sweater and my daughter loved it. She said she would make it for my daughter if I bought the yarn ($100 later) and if I seamed it when it was done. So this afternoon, I spent the entire afternoon and evening sewing the GD thing together, only to find out it is way to big for my daughter, and even too big for me.

SOB, I think I'll stick to socks.

veggies or flowers?

The dirty hands of a gardener, but the sweet, delicious results of the dirty hands!

The question now is:  flowers or veggies?  I have more flowers but after reading Norma's blog, I am seriously wanting to increase my veggie beds.

The raspberry's are coming on strong right now, and the black caps will be ripe any day.  My beets are looking good, but I don't know how big to let them get before I pick them.  I can see the tops and they look to be about 2 inches across.  Big enough, or wait??

Lillies are blooming.

The window box behind the garage.

And look at this Canna Tropicanna!  Isn't she a beauty??

Julie's Birthday

My friend Julie had a birthday and wanted a tattoo.  Somehow, I got talked into taking the day off and going to the tattoo parlor with her to get one too.  We had an appointment at 1, and took my 2 daughters with us.  I was SCARED!!  At first it was just us waiting, as there was another guy finishing up.  Then a young man came in wanting his eyebrow pierced.  Then another young lady came in wanting her belly button pierced.  Then another scary looking woman came in wanting her tongue pierced AGAIN, because she had swallowed the piercing when eating spaghetti.  She had some pretty nasty looking tattoo's and I was worried she had gotten then at this shop.  We were looking at books of pictures of tattoo's and they did not look very feminine or like ANYTHING I would want.  I'm starting to feel like I might vomit.  Then a young man comes in wanting his nipples pierced.  My friend Julie, says to the gal working behind the counter, I want all these people to go first and get out of here before I get my tattoo. That was a great idea, because those folks were making me very nervous.  Finally, It was her turn.  And this is the tattoo she got on her foot.  It hurt like crazy.

Now it's my turn, and here is my lady bug tattoo.  It hurt like CRAZY!!  Luckily, it only took 5 minutes.
Tattoo's, I have learned, are quite controversial.  My mother was not pleased.  I'm 47 years old!! It doesn't show!!  It's not a skull and crossbones, or a devil, or a naked women masturbating (they had those in the books).  I like my lady bug.  I was out weeding today, and one landed on my arm.  See...... they like me.