Garage Sale!!

As if we are trying to will our house to sell, we partook in the neighborhood-wide garage sale. As I wrote about in my B-day post I have been flying since the 17th, ended up making it home today without getting a call, and am headed back to Cleveland to fly tomorrow for one day.

I am glad I was able to be home to help today. We had Jen Harris, a fellow preggo due within a few days of Lindsey, come over with her goods and they set up shop. It was a fun day with Jen. The sale was moderately productive. There were at least 40 houses participating. The big draw was big ticket items. Jen had a couple which sold.

Early afternoon, storms blew in so we pulled all the stuff in the garage and closed up shop. HERE IS WHERE THE MEAT AND POTATOES OF THE POST STARTS!!! We hear the ice cream truck coming down our street and decide to treat lakyn to her first push-up pop. So Lindsey, Lakyn, Jen, and our neighbors Mike and Maria, and I stop the truck. We look over the selection and are making purchases when all of a sudden I hear a man scream, "Turn that F&#$%@ S*%@ OFF!" I looked in the direction of where I thought it was coming from and I see 4 houses down (behind the ice cream truck) one of the newer neighbors on his porch. Since moving in I have heard several heated discussions (trying to be politically correct) yelling with his wife/kids before, so I didn't think much of it. Then he screams it a couple of more times while coming off his front porch, bare foot, speed walking like a mad-man right towards us. As he gets closer, in his thick Albanian accent, he resumes his verbal assault. I politely ask him to tone it down and not use that language in front of us. He then jumps into the open door of the ice cream truck and starts shouting/verbally assaulting the ice cream lady (whom has her two young boys with her.) We all start telling the ice cream lady to drive away. I again tell him to knock it off and pointed out all the kids. He starts heading back to his house, shouting that he works the late shift and all the "blankety blank" noise has to stop. Then he turn around and says my kid isn't old enough to understand and that some day she will learn all the blankety-blank anyway.. Then he shouts one last obscenity at ME!!!! before speed walking like a nut-ball/crazy person back home.

I totally understand how hard it is to sleep during the day, and am sympathetic to his sleep needs. However, with that said there is a right and wrong way to deal with too much noise. The first problem I see as his unreasonable request. The ice cream truck comes around playing its tune just loud enough to get kids to run outside. I didn't find her music any louder than any other. Sure, she let the music run while she helped us, but the tact he used will never gain traction or sympathy with anyone else to get her to turn it down while she sits in one place. I think he may have a problem with "neighborhood noise" and may never be satisfied... that problem will never be worked out as he doesn't seem like a "reasonable" person.

After this all went down, all persons whom witnessed this, including another neighbor two doors down whom's little girl was outside playing while this guy went crazy, thought this was unacceptable. The police were called and blew it all off. Unfortunately, this is starting to seem like the new norm. You see I have been tender-footing around the issue in previous posts that we had "new neighbors" I even started a post that I did not finish about my new neighbor that bought the foreclosure right next door to our house. They, and the folks four houses down, are related. I hope and pray that we reach common ground before there becomes a neighborly feud between ethnicity. Quite frankly I don't even think that is true, just because they happen to be Albanians, but I think they just might be a large family with little respect for neighbors.

To be continued.... (actually I hope not!)