Things are looking up!

Neighbors... I am not a fan of them. When we lived in town, they drove me nuts. On the left of us...we had the “old couple.” And when there is an older couple living next to you, you wind up with either the grand parent type or the cranky, crabby, old people. There is no in between... Unfortunately, we were “blessed” with the latter. It was miserable... and I am convinced that this old lady was the meanest, nastiest... old rag of a lady that has ever walked this earth. Well not really, but she did irk me. There was a time that she started chewing me out for something and I just laid into her verbally... I had had enough. When I got inside the house, I was immediately reminded by Jake, who was 5 at the time, that “Dad, we are supposed to love our neighbors.” The only response I could give was, “I know bud... but some neighbors are just hard to love.”

On the right, we had the truck driver and his father, the ex-convict. The dad had spent the last few years in prison for attempted murder on his ex-wife... or something to that extent. It was all hear say, but for some reason, I never got around to asking him what really happened. Maybe it was the Axe he had propped up outside his front door. (Okay, he didn't really have an axe outside his front door... so I don't know if he was really an axe murderer... but he did beat his dog.) Such a sad deal... He would beat his dog within an inch of his life... and so, it was no wonder that the dog was mean. To top it all off, the dog was a German Shepard... and although, when I was young, “Smokey” the fire chief’s dog was the most docile and friendly German Shepard you could ever meet, generally speaking, German Shepard’s do not need much encouragement when it comes to bringing out their mean streaks. It was no surprise when Jake was in the front lawn using his bubble mower at age 4 and this dog tore after him like he was going to rip him to pieces. I truly believe that the Lord sent his angels to protect Jake because the way that dog stopped in his tracks less than a foot away from him was strange. I had never seen something like this before in my life. There was much unspoken joy in our household when they moved out and Cal and Tiffany moved in. They were a breath of fresh air. Genuine, nice people. However, when we moved and the people that bought our house cut down the tree line that separated the two properties, the quarreling immediately began.

You can’t pick your neighbors... you just find yourself stuck with whomever happens to live next to you. It’s unfortunate. One of the main reasons we love living in the country is because your closest neighbors are a mile or so away... it has been peaceful. That said, we have new neighbors down the road and unlike when we were in town... we are excited to see them. Like Cal and Tiffany, they are a welcome sight. Very classy couple... when you see them, they emit an elegance that is unmatched. Also, I believe they have youngsters as well so Jake and MacKenzie are exited to go see what they are like. For the first time in a long time, we are excited that we have neighbors. I am sure that they will come see us every now and then... as a matter of fact, one of them stopped by to see us yesterday.


Meet our new neighbors: