Nettlesome Neighbor

What do you do with a neighbor who just doesn't get it? Okay, most of you who read this have been to our house. We don't live in the greatest neighborhood but it could be worse right? Right. Well, I've lived in this house for 5 years, Ben for a little over 2 years and we've always gotten along well with anyone in the neighborhood we've come in contact with. We've never really made buddies with anyone, but hey, we don't cause trouble, we keep our place neat, and that's pretty much all we expect from our neighbors. Apparently, we're expecting tooooooooooo much!

The lady who lives in the house to the south of us seems to have some difficulty meeting our two requirements of not causing trouble and keeping her place neat. First of all, up until last week she had not mowed her yard once this year. Johnson grass in her back yard taller than me, (Not saying much, I know.), trash piled up beside her house that's been there since who knows when, various rubbish strewn about. (This past winter she finally got rid of the couch that was in her front yard.) This, while not devastating, is very aggravating. Especially when hubby works so hard to keep our yard looking nice.

She recently added to our frustration with her when we started noticing cockroaches in our shed that borders her yard. I'm sure they were having a hay day in that trash and tall grass. And, they started making their way into our house. WE ARE NOT DIRTY PEOPLE! Our house might be messy from time to time, it's definitely cluttered, but there is NO reason for us to have cockroaches in our house. Luckily, we haven't seen any lately. But again, very aggravating.

Now, here's the kicker. She has this dog. About the same size as our dogs. The dog is allowed to run loose where ever it wants. It doesn't cause any trouble UNLESS neighbor lady or her grown son are outdoors at the same time we are. If the dog sees us outside while one of them are out doors it will charge, barking and snarling. It's never bitten either of us, but it would have several times if one of us hadn't been paying attention. We've spoken with her about it and asked her to keep him restrained. Well, she kept him on a chain for a while, but he kept getting loose. She finally bought a chain link kennel to keep him in. Well, that lasted for about a day because he barked and barked.

Last night hubby was outside, spraying the yard for bugs when her son comes out to get in his car to go to work. The dog comes tearing across our yard going straight for hubby's leg. I was scared to death. I froze and didn't say anything in time, luckily hubby saw the dog just in time and sprayed it in the face with the hose and it backed off. Hubby got her son's attention, he got out of his car with this nasty attitude and asked "WHAT?!?" Hubby politely asked that he restrain his dog. I lost it! I don't know if it was pregnancy hormones, having the ever living snot scared out of me, or just total frustration with the whole never changing situation. I started yelling at her that she needed to do something about her dog. This is getting ridiculous. We've asked you and asked you to do something. If that dog bites one of us she's going to have trouble. Blah, blah, blah, blah.

Well, she's got this real meek personality. She just kept saying "I know. I'm sorry. I know. I'm sorry." I finally got control of myself and said, "He's your responsibility, you need to do something." She hangs her head, says "Come on Bear." (The dog's name is Bear.) She and the dog go back in the house.

I feel like a total turd for loosing my temper. I was raised to be respectful of my elders so I'm feeling like a real turd for talking to this woman, close to my parents age, the way I did. Well she comes back out wanting to talk to me. She says that she didn't keep him penned up in his kennel because she was afraid he was keeping us up at night. Great, she's worried about our sleep but not the safety of our flesh! I told her that I'd rather him bark than bite. She agrees to keep him in his kennel.

Well, it's 4:30 pm. Where's the dog? Asleep in her front yard!!!!! Arghh! Logically, there should be some sort of law enforcement we could contact and have this taken care of. Well, though I haven't tried I'm doubtful that anything would be done even if we did contact someone. I've contacted the county before regarding my neighbor on the other side (who is gone) and her unkempt yard that had TARANTULAS crawling out of it and into my yard. The response I got was that there is only one environmental officer for the county and his time is consumed with illegal dumping. The sheriff's department couldn't help me. So, I call my county commissioner. After MONTHS of hounding the man something finally got done. I don't think he'd be pleased to hear from me again. And, regarding the dog, a good friend of mine who also lives in the county, outside the city limits, just like us, has had trouble with dogs attacking her horses. What she was told is that until the dog actually bites SOMEONE, there's nothing they can do about it.

So, I'm stuck between a crappy neighbor and a less than desirable situation with my county law enforcement. The question I have is. . . NOW WHAT?