When I got married, I was happy for a lot of reasons. One of which, was that I would have a life-long roommate with whom I not only get along – but love dearly.
I had some bad roommates in college. One was mean and bossy, three left me stuck with bills, another stole my VCR and sleeping bag only to act surprised when they were in her possession, and one encouraged her dog to perform lewd acts that I won’t describe here.
With Lee, all that disappeared. We are a team, a really good team. But now, we must band together to fight a new foe. Neighbors.

I guess, in college, I didn’t notice neighbors as much. I didn’t own property, and I was too busy dealing with roommates to care what was going on beyond my walls.
Now, we have neighbor issues. One set of neighbors likes to get drunk and yell or sing. They are not good vocalists. One night, their dog must’ve been missing, and they drunkenly screamed for the dog for HOURS. They found it. Now that dog, or one of their other dogs, yips all night. Things really got out of hand for the Fourth of July, when they started shooting off fireworks. Last year, our yard was littered with debris from exploded bottle rockets. Millie’s yard has also mysteriously been littered with water balloon remnants. When questioned, the neighbor children denied any wrongdoing. Likely story.
Now, we have a new issue with the neighbors behind our house. We have a privacy fence, and our trash cans sit beside it on an alley. The other day, our neighbors dumped wheelbarrows full of leaves beside our trash cans. These leaves were not bagged. They were just dumped. On top of rusted metal that does not belong to us. Underneath huge limbs that also do not belong to us.
The city has informed us they will not pick up the leaves. Not only must they be bagged first, there will likely be an additional charge to pick up the extra stuff. That fee is charged to us. Even more infuriating, these same neighbors have a sign next to their own trash cans. “No dumping by order of SPD.”
So, Lee and I are going to talk to these neighbors. I never like confronting people about stuff, but I hope they will take it well and clean up their mess. It just reminds me of having roommates, and having to sit down and discuss an infraction. But at least they’re not in my house, just my neighborhood. I never thought subdivisions with covenants were cool, but I’m starting to wish for a homeowner’s association. Or an isolated farm.