Having moved to the more rural area of our state from one of the largest cities in the nation, I was ready for a nice quiet neighborhood where the upstairs neighbors didn’t require the baby to wear army boots and the parents weren’t in competition with their boom boxes for attention.

I stayed in a one room cabin with my then 4 year old son for about 6 months on my uncles property until I could afford to get into a place of my own. Quiet and serene it was an idyllic life for a time. At long last my son and I found a single wide trailer in a trailer park and moved in. Mistake number one.

The neighbors were of a different religion than we were and their call to prayer was a frequent event throughout the day. Add to that the wailing and raised voices and we soon realized we had to move or endure. We moved, as did several of our other neighbors.

Our next “quiet” neighborhood wasn’t too bad but after remarrying and having another baby our house seemed to shrink so we again moved. This time to a much larger house in a seemingly quiet neighborhood.

Next to a Jehovas Witness hall it seemed serene and peaceful. They appeared to have services a few times a week and once we got them to stop speeding around the corner of our home and slow down (so they wouldn’t hit the numerous neighborhood children playing in the yard they frequently veered into) things settled down, for a time.

The house next door was vacant and the yard unkempt. With weeds taller than my 5 feet 2 inch frame it was very frustrating to those in my family with severe allergies. My oldest son once jokingly tried to rent the neighboring house out at our yard sale. Turns out the people knew the owners and within a week it was mowed and cleaned up. Score a large series of points for my older son!

On the flip side of this clean up, within a week of the clean up a young man (recently out of high school) moved in and loved to party all night long. There went the neighborhood. Loud parties soon resounded throughout the neighborhood and all of the neighbors complained. Frequent visits from our local friendly police officers became the norm to the neighbors house.

For a time things settled down, til winter set in then spring and then the neighbors (suddenly there were about 10 in this one bedroom house) started throwing the garbage out of the kitchen window, got a puppy that was frequently heard whining and began again throwing wild drinking parties. After 3 of the rest of the neighborhood calling in our dear friendly police officer, they were given a free trip to the local gray bar hotel. Complete with free meals and a bed were told. Reason? Underage drinking, drugs being bought and sold and apparently another scheme we never quite fully understood but didn’t even try to object to as they were gone. At long last peace reigned supreme next door.

About 6 months later a young woman was seen cleaning the place up next door. A large dumpster was brought in and she donned gloves and mask and began the clean up process. After about 2 months of clean up she and her daughter (age 6) moved in. Thus began this poor one bedroom neighboring houses demise again.

This young woman loved to party (and criticized anyone else even seen in a grocery store buying any type of alcohol). She threw some wild drinking parties all the while proclaiming a devout religious stance against such goings on. Though she was separated from her spouse she frequently had him over but when he wasn’t over, there was a series of 5 other men that frequented her abode.

With a very confused 6 year old neighbor girl I had to put a stop to the childs playing with my children. She simply knew way too much about sex and felt my children should know too. Speaking with the mom was to no avail and I finally had to say my daughter couldn’t play with her. Calls to our local child welfare department were met with no assistance. They simply were swamped with calls regarding abuse and didn’t have time for such assistance. We spoke with her local church in lieu of welfare after that. The men are much less frequent visitor now though on occasion I still see a new one over there now and again.

As if that wasn’t enough, they decided to get a small rat like dog that bit not only my daughter, but 2 other neighborhood children. The dog barks frequently and chases into our yard if the children are outside. Gathering 2 other moms we went for a chat and informed the lady if she didn’t keep control of her dog we would be calling dog bites into the city and the police department.

The dog was soon on a chain and all seemed well. Til she got 7 chickens (we live in a small rural town and there are some regulations against this per yard size, fencing and no roosters at all allowed). The rooster decided that crowing at 3 am was a great sport, and about every 15 minutes thereafter until about midnight. Being a farm girl at heart I didn’t mind this as much as my city bred husband.

After numerous complaints to the city it quieted down. For a bout a week. With a deep freeze over our community the chickens quieted down til it started to warm up. Enter the sled dog. Every time the neighbor went to work (she worked on an ambulance so would be called out at odd hours) the sled dog would begin to howl in objection to being left alone. The neighbors 4 houses away from mine complained about that one. The dog is now nowhere to be seen most days and the few days she does have the dog out I notice that she remains nearby.

We love it when she works nights, our neighborhood is quiet during the day and we really appreciate that. Once she caught the sled dog trying to terrorize the chickens he disappeared completely. Too bad he didn’t let them out and dine on a grand dinner. It could’ve really improved the neighborhood and no one would’ve had to call and turn her in again. I wonder how long it will take the city to get rid of the rooster. Perhaps we could just have a neighborhood bar b que.