seems to come in annual cycles

I was browsing online, and searched myself. This blog showed up, so i clicked the link. Luck be a lady, and I was linked to a posting from 21APR07. yep, 2 years ago. the posting was related to a the new picked fence we had to put up, and also mentioned some odd behaviours by our neighbors. hmmmm. seems to be a trend. for those of you who have read this via email, i apologize. for others, here is the most recent activity. we have taken photos, and i will try to post them by the end of the weekend.


Omg. What a joke.
On or about 1 APR we thought we saw CPT Rich, in uniform, draw his weapon on the neighbor's dog. So I called the station (since he drove away too quickly for me to ask him in person), to inquire if he had to file a report, or if the dog was aggressing him, or what. My main concerns were that 1) if he did draw his weapon, I wanted to know if the dog had become aggressive, since he comes to our house on occasion; 2) if he did, and the dog wasn't aggressive, I think that it is wrong, especially if kids see a cop pointing a weapon at a dog unnecessarily; 3) if he didn't draw, then sorry for the call, no harm no foul, I am just a concerned citizen.
WELL....it was the next week that the State showed up (last wed) on a surprise visit, saying that someone had called to report that they thought Tracey had too many kids. Hmmmmmmm.....
Then on thurs, Sharon (the wife) was in her back yard, counting kids' heads as they played. Hmmmmmmmm
Then yesterday, as I am leaving, T sent me a text saying that Sharon had pulled up the borders in the flower gardens and tossed them onto our plants. T was outside in the yard the whole time, and Sharon didn't say anything about it.
So I stopped at the police station on my way home to discuss the issue, and see what they had to say about how it should be handled. We see it as retaliation for having called about the gun (or no gun). The Deputy Chief told me that I should try to talk to CPT Rich in person, either at home or at the station while he is on duty. Our schedules match for the next week, so I didn't want to wait that long to see him when I wasn't working.
SO....when I first got home, they weren't. After a while, I notice that they had come home, so I went over and rang their doorbell. While waiting for them to answer, I respectfully stepped off of their stoop and onto their paved sidewalk.
She came to the door and stood half in, half out. She said something like, "I am not surprised to see you here. What can I do for you?"
I replied, calmly, "I want to talk to you about the flower beds that you disrupted."
"The borders are on our property, and I am tired of them creeping further in, so I decided to pull them up." (Mind you, inanimate objects can't creep. They were simply leaning from the snow, and hadn't been pushed back in yet).
I said to her, "why, as an adult, didn't you just ask us to please move them. We would have gladly done so. In fact, we had talked about it this weekend, but it was too cold to work outside."
Then she said, "I am sure that you would have gotten to it. I'll bet."
It was at this point that things took a turn for the worse.....
HE came flying down the stairs (they have a house like ours in Essex) and rushed right to me, his gut touching mine. He pointed his finger in my face and told me, "you need to turn yourself around and get off of my property right now, or you will be seriously sorry!"
Wow.
So, calmly, and in a non-threatening tone, I said, "sir, I won't turn around, but I will get off of your property."
"Why won't you turn around?!" he queried.
"Sir, I won't turn around because I don't trust you", came my peaceful reply as I backed down his walkway.
Still with his finger at my chest and nearly frothing at the mouth, he said, "well, now you have a reason not to trust me! Where do you get off calling my boss and telling lies about me!?"
Still backing....."Sir, I didn't lie. I called to question what I saw and to voice concerns about..."
"YOU LIED."
"Sir, I didn't lie. I reported what I thought I saw. If it isn't what was happening, then I am sorry. I meant no harm, I was just concerned."
"YOU LIED. Do you have any idea what this means!? You have just made a mistake that could prove to be a very expensive lesson for you. Very expensive."
(Mind you, we still hadn't worked out the garden issue, which is why I went there in the first place, at the suggestion of this guys BOSS....) Meanwhile, T had come out onto our stoop when she heard him start to shout. As he was backing me down the walk, she called Hartford PD and requested a cruiser.
I said to CPT Rich, "I understand that you are upset, but I don't think that I did anything wrong by calling in a concern."
"YOU DID, and you LIED. What would happen if I called your boss and told them that you were a RAVING LUNATIC??"
"Well", said I, "I would probably get called into their office for a discussion, plead my case that I am not a lunatic, and move on with my day. I am sorry for the misunderstanding, and I meant no harm to you by it."
"I better not see you or any of your family set foot on my property for ANY reason, EVER again, or you will be very sorry."
Trying desperately to hold my tongue, I simply said, "we have four neighbors that surround us, and I wonder why you are the only ones that we have troubles with. I just don't understand."
Sharon chimed in with, "Yea, I WONDER why that is."
I said, "me, too. It doesn't make sense. We will take care of the flowers."
"The boundary is 6 inches out from the fence posts", Sharon informed me.
Starting to lose it, I said, "from which edge? They aren't in a line, and some of them are leaning over a bit, so I just want to be...."
"Come on, Sharon, let's go inside. Let's go, now!", CPT Rich ordered.
She looked down at my feet, which for most of this had been firmly planted in the cul de sac, off of their pavement by about a foot, and said, "I guess you are far enough off. But watch yourself!"
Wtf? Yep.
So by now T had ALMOST gotten through to the cops (good thing no one was in dire need of a cop!!), and they said that they would send a cruiser.
Ten mins later (this is when I sent you the text) one showed up. He is ALSO CPT RICH, so right away I know that we are screwed.
He listened, offered some sympathetic nods, and said that we did the right thing buy involving the Deputy Chief, and that any officer there would have also suggested that I go in person to try to work this out. We showed him the 'damage', and he said that he would now go next door to hear their side of the story, and further suggested that I talk to the D/C tomorrow as well.
About 20 mins later he came back over, and said that the Rich's were "very calm and cooperative" about the matter, and promised to leave us alone and not stir things up. I had offered that if Cpt Rich (the neighbor) wanted to have a powwow about my phone call, that I was perfectly willing to do it in a civilized manner, but that I didn't need his belly against mine with his finger in my face to do it. The responding CPT Rich said that my neighbor "wasn't ready to discuss" it with me yet, and that it would be some time, if ever. I told him that I understand and have no trouble with that, I just want the animocity toward my wife and the flowers to stop, that it was becoming increasingly uncomfortable to be outside in our own yard.
The neighbors' comments were mostly along the lines of 'agree to disagree' and that some neighbors just can't get along. We don’t know what it is that we DID in the first place.
I told the responding CPT that I felt 'funny' reporting this, but that I don't want it to culminate with a horrific event one day, and then have someone say, "well, we don't have any reports that this sort of thing has been happening for years". Now it has been reported, and a trail exists.
My biggest problem with this is the impact that it has on Tracey. She toiled long and hard on those gardens, and invested a lot of money into making them pretty. She loves them. She gets very excited with they start to grow and blossom. Now we have to tear them all up. It isn't as if we planted them at night and the neighbors got angry. THAT I could understand. But they have been there for going on the FIFTH spring! And they watched us plant, and commented on the beauty of the flowers, etc.
Now this.