Da Hood...

For any of you who might have thought otherwise (*ahem*...Chris), let me lay your fears to rest. We haven't become all uppity and sophisticated since our move up here to the "burbs" last year. In fact, in the last few weeks, I have come to realize how far from sophisticated our little burb haven actually is.

Oh, and let me warn you ahead of time, this could be pretty long.

Let me take you back... I think I've posted before about our "neighbors" across the street. The cars parked in the road and blocking our driveway, the bus parked there during lunch, the loud thumping music coming from their cars as they would sit in their driveway during my kids' nap time.

Well, about two months ago, we got the first inkling of hope that we might finally be rid of these oh-so neighborly people. It came in the form of a "For Sale" sign on the front lawn. Not even a FSBO sign, but one with an actual realty company listed on it. I thought about calling to see what they were asking, just out of curiosity, but never got around to it.

It was a nice few weeks. They took the time to trim up the hedges in the yard and weed the flowerbeds. They had moving sales three weekends in a row, selling off a lot of the stuff in their house, and then they packed the rest in a Uhaul. They kept Sasha, their miserable little dog, inside most of the time instead of on her garage-attached lead, so she wasn't constantly barking like she has been off and on over the past year. Then, after the third moving sale, they packed up what was left in a Uhaul truck, and drove away, seemingly never to be seen again.

Right.

I didn't notice at first that the "For Sale" sign disappeared the same day they did. Two weeks went by and the grass began to look like a jungle. That's when I noticed the sign was gone. And the windows were always open, both upstairs and down. And there was a note attached to the door, but I never went up to read it. And every few days or so, one of the previous owners would drive up, go inside for a few minutes, and then drive away.

About three weeks ago, I was sitting in my breakfast area when an older teenage boy with curly blonde hair came strolling up through my backyard. He was cutting through from the street behind us. I stepped outside and asked him not to do it again. He apologized and said he wouldn't. I didn't watch to see where he went. I figured that was the end of it. Yeah. No such luck.

Two weeks ago, we had a bad storm. Lightening, thunder, monsoon-like rain... I mentioned to David that the house across the street must be getting soaked with rain because the windows were still open. We even stood and watched the curtains blowing in the wind for a few minutes.

The next day, I was sitting in my living room and saw the very same teenage boy, and a friend, walk from my side yard through my backyard to the street behind us. I was instantly furious. The gall! So I watched, and sure enough, a few minutes later, they came back through. So I stepped outside and tried to address them. The other kid stopped and looked apologetic, but Blondie kept walking and ignored me. So I asked him again not to walk through my property. His response? "This isn't your property, Ma'am". He didn't even look at me when he said it, and sure as hell didn't stop walking. Technically, he was walking the line between my house and our neighbor's house, but WTH!! I knew damn well that they wouldn't want them trespassing either. So I told them so, and told them that if they did it again I was going to call the police.

That night I had to run by Ingles for something, and when I walked outside, they were hanging out in the driveway with a few other people. It was too dark to tell if they were kids or adults. When I got back from Ingles, they had migrated to their neighbor's driveway (the house we affectionately call the "party house"), but they made me nervous the way they were just clustered around. We've had a rash of eggings and other vandelism in the neighborhood, and I wouldn't be surprised if this group had something to do with it.

At this point, I was still chalking all of this up to teenage angst and thought that maybe they were taking advantage of the house being empty to party there. Even though I know there isn't any electricity or air on over there. People would still come and go, even the parents, and most of the time it was quiet, so I ignored it.

Fast forward to yesterday. Rhya went out to meet Mia and Noah's bus, and came home with a load of dirt on what's been going on over there. The father has moved out and gone to Florida or something. The mother, who used to be a bus driver for the county, doesn't stay there full time anymore. The boys do (apparently they're in their early 20's). She comes and picks them up in the morning and takes them somewhere... then returns them in the afternoon/evening. There is no electricity, no gas, no AC, and probably no water on over there. No one knows for sure if the house has been forclosed on or not, but if not, then that must be the only bill they're paying. They have no furniture. The stuff they packed in the Uhaul was sold. There is talk of alcohol, drugs, and other crap going on over there. The blonde has been seen staggering all over the yard drunk and one of my neighbors went over and looked in the window after the storm only to find that there were a bunch of people in there passed out.

And all of this is going on right across the street from my house. Where my kids stay by themselves for three hours every day after school. Great.

My neighbors have called the cops only to be told that there is nothing they can do. There has to be imminent danger for them to be able to respond. So they decided to take matters into their own hands today. After the bus dropped the kids off this afternoon, they sent the kids home with grandma and went into the house to lock all the doors and windows. They were able to get everything locked but the front door. It's been damaged, so the lock no longer works. Peachy.

I got home this evening, and there was a guy with a name tag on standing in their driveway, and another neighbor of mine was talking with him. David had just gotten home, too, so while I got the kids settled in with dinner, he went out to talk to them. Apparently, one of the sons is on probation, and that was his probation officer. He has violated his probation by not telling them he is no longer living there, if they no longer own the house.

But here is the kicker... when the police came by the other day (and now I know there were 6, not 4, officers) they were searching the house. They have been investigating a METH LAB there!!! The neighbor said she didn't see anything when she walked through the house, but the probation officer said that was because the realtor had moved/removed a lot of the evidence because they didn't want it lying around while they were showing the house. I only hope they got the police department's permission before doing that. If these people have been cooking meth across the street from us, I want them going DOWN! And I don't want any technicalities getting in the way!

I cannot believe that this has been going on right across the street and we never knew about it! And I confronted this lowlife scum in my yard twice!! WTH is wrong with people!!

I haven't seen anyone at the house since they locked up the place, and it would have been too blasted hot for anyone to stay there last night with the windows closed. So hopefully the fact that someone has gone through the house and that the probation officer paid a visit will scare them off completely.

So Chris, don't be too jealous of this big house and "uppity" neighborhood we live in... you're probably way better off there in your own hood. Cripes!