Watching The Neighbors

There are two apple trees in the yard behind the main part of my property. (I have a lot and a half, which my house sits on.) One of the trees is completely dead and the other is half dead. It is my belief that the Virginia Creeper vines are what killed the tree, but I'm not sure. But, that really is beside the point. Anyway, these trees have been at one stage of dying off for quite a few years. They are on the other side of the fence and don't really bother me...they are of no hazard to me or my yard. Actually, I like having them there because they provide a place for birds to sit and they get an awful lot of activity from woodpeckers. A couple of days ago, I heard a chainsaw...

When I'm in the computer room, it is difficult for me to figure out what direction a noise is coming from. (It doesn't help that I have hearing loss and don't wear my hearing aids at home, usually. 😆) Once I got to the kitchen, I looked out and saw that the dead apple tree was being trimmed/taken down. As I watched, it occurred to me that the person doing the cutting probably wasn't very qualified for the job. He was a young guy, no older than early thirties. He was wearing shorts, but had 'chaps' on, covering the front part of his legs. He was wearing sneakers. He had no gloves on or goggles...nothing safety-related, unless the chaps were. He had an extension ladder to climb up into the tree, but had problems with it. At one point, he took the two pieces of the ladder apart, but the remaining section wasn't long enough for him to get to where he needed to be. Then he tried to put the pieces back together, but I really don't think he knew how to do it...it didn't go together properly, but he still was determined to use it to climb on. He continued to try and place the ladder so that it wouldn't shift once he was on it...but he wasn't having much luck. When I saw him go up the ladder while holding onto a chainsaw, I had to leave and go into the other room. I got far too nervous seeing what was happening...and I thought he probably was going to get hurt very badly. By the time I ventured back into the kitchen, the guy was done with what he was doing. I'm not sure if he was okay. However, only the limbs of the tree are gone and the trunk remains. Is he done? Did he HAVE to stop because something went wrong? Will the other tree be trimmed? It all is a mystery. But I'm not too sure he won't be back:  the ladder is still propped on the tree trunk.

Another eventful day in my life. 😁

Day Four--Sour

Wow, what a topic.  I could go the food way and talk about sour foods, but I think I'll go in another direction.

When we first moved into this house, we had only been in this town for a couple of years.  We really didn't know anyone and with a toddler in the house, we didn't get to go to many places to meet people.  It didn't help much that we moved in on the first of March:  definitely NOT meet-the-new-neighbors weather here.  So, we didn't have much contact at all with any of our neighbors until the later part of the spring/early summer when we would be outside with The Oldest.  And that led me to know two of the sourest-looking people I have ever met in my entire life.

The M's lived almost directly across the street from us.  At the time, their youngest was a junior or senior in high school.  Mr and Mrs M were the grouchiest, crotchety-est people I had ever seen.  We would acknowledge each other and nod whenever we happened to catch each other's eye, but that was it.  As the summer wore on, and windows were being opened, I would hear the two of them screaming at each other whenever I was outside.  I never was too sure that I wanted to know these people any better than I did at the time because, frankly, they scared the crap out of me!

Gradually, we got to be very close to the M's.  They turned out to be two of the nicest people I have ever met--despite their 'sour' demeanors.  After several years, their son and his wife--K's and my age--had a daughter about the same time we had The Youngest, and the two girls became very good friends.  Mr & Mrs M came very close to being surrogate grandparents to The Youngest.  Sadly, both of them passed on several years ago and I still miss them.

Oh, and the reason they would scream at each other all of the time?  They both were a bit hard of hearing.  :D

(This is the best example of a 'sour' old man I could ever possibly find--too bad Jeff Dunham hasn't made a 'Mrs Walter' puppet yet.)

Was It Something I Said?

Our town is run by a city commission.  The commissioners are voted in to 3-year terms and can only serve 6 years in a row.  The commissioners, in turn, vote in a mayor, who can only serve one year at a time.  This works as well--or as poorly, take your pick--as any of the types of governing bodies we have here in the US.

One of our neighbors was a commissioner/mayor several years ago.  For the most part, our commissioners aren't voted in as party members, but it isn't hard to deduce which side of the fence they are on.  The Neighbor and I are polar opposites in almost everyone of our beliefs.  However, I don't know how HE knows this fact.

K is opposed to having signs, posters, decals, bumper stickers on ANYTHING we own.  I'm surprised he 'allows' me to have a Red Wings Skin-It on my cell phone.  ;)  While I DO have a few smaller Red Wing  Skin-Its on the Envoy, K would be just as happy if it was devoid of any personality whatsoever.  (Of course, I would have the entire Envoy covered, but that is another topic.)  We never have political signs in our yard.  We don't have bumper stickers of any kind.  We don't go to political rallies and never endorse, in any way, political candidates.  Yet, our neighbor knows that K is closer to his political views than I am.  And the only way he knows/thinks this about K is that K is a union member.  Frankly, even *I* am not sure how far left OR right K leans.  Politics is not something we discuss often.

As I said, our neighbor has some experience in the political arena.  He wants more.  A few years ago--after his time on the city commission--he tried to get elected to the State House.  I'm not sure he even got out of the primaries.  A few weeks ago, he came by the house with a petition so that he could become a candidate for the commission once again.  Nothing unusual about that, except for HOW he presents these petitions.  And this is the story:

The doorbell rang in the early evening.  This in itself is a very unusual occurrence, but seeing The Neighbor at the door was even more so.  We are neighbors and friendly, but we aren't what you would consider 'friends' with him and his wife.  I opened the door and he asked if K was home.  When K came to the kitchen, The Neighbor told him that he was going to run for City Commission again and asked if K would sign his petition so that he could get on the ballot.  K agreed and The Neighbor left.  Without asking me if *I* wanted to sign the petition.  This is the second time he has done the exact same thing, so I'm assuming he knows that I don't particularly like his politics.  But I don't understand HOW he knows this.  I find this very perplexing.

After The Neighbor left, I asked K if he thought there was any chance of the man getting on the commission again.  K said he didn't know, only that he would NEVER vote him.  I really had to chuckle over that one.  ;)

Say It Isn't So

Today I looked out the window and in the front yard of 'the crazy sheep lady's' house was a "FOR SALE by owner" sign.  OMG!  How will I ever know it is spring without the sheep doing their annual migration to the front yard after the snow goes?

(I can't believe I actually found a site that sells the sheep--and had a pic!  This is EXACTLY what the they look like.  I'm really thinking that I like these.)

Anyway, I can't believe the woman is selling the house already.  She is a retiree and hasn't lived here for more than 5 years.  She spent a lot of time and money upgrading the house--it was built as a Habitat for Humanity home--and it seems unusual to do so and then sell this soon after.  K suggested it might be a medical issue with her and that might be true.  However, she still looks as fit as ever, but you never know.  So, it looks as if we will be having new neighbors in the near future--and all I can hope for is that they fit in with the quietness of our street.