Breathe, Breathe, Breathe

Well, first I want to say since sending the letter to D&D, it has been radio silence. I can't begin to describe how nice it is to not hear from them.

Shawn Northcutt . . . I don't even know what to say. His lack of response is shocking. He finally responded to an email Robert sent. He then sent a separate email to me that I forwarded to the committee. The email he sent to me was blah, blah, blah, it's not my fault, blah, blah, blah, it is really your fault, blah, blah blah, I am a victim, blah, blah, blah it's not my fault. I so desperately want to respond, but I keep reminding myself that none of it will do any good.

Robert responded to the email I forwarded. While I was meeting with the committee this afternoon, Shawn sent an email to Robert suggesting he no longer work on the Book. I could hear the hallelujah chorus playing in the background. Robert asked me to respond. I sat staring at the screen thinking of all the responses I wanted to make. Instead I just said, the committee appreciates and accepts your proposal. Please send a bill after all photos have been delivered.

I received a phone call today from one of the inductees. He said Shawn was supposed to be at his house at 10am to take his photo. At 11am they got a phone call saying he had a flat tire, was waiting for help and would be on his way. At 2pm when I got the call, Shawn had neither made contact again nor shown up. sigh.

Now, as far as the yearbook pictures go, I'm still waiting on those. He is supposed to be at the high school on Friday to shoot the last 30 kids or so that haven't been photographed. He is supposed to submit the disk of senior photos to the plant by Friday, December 7th. Shall we take wagers on whether or not that happens?

The meeting with the boys lasted about 3 hours. We got through a ton of stuff. My brain hurts right now, but all I can think is, Wow I may actually get this sucker done.

Today at school, I worked with the editors on the people pages. In ten years at HP I have gotten a call every year from the plant that some portion of the people pages are wrong. All those head shots and we have to have the right number of pages and boxes for all the little heads. Toooooo many numbers. Aaauuugggghhhhh

Did I mention that Sabrina and Buddy are now sleeping in kennels at night? They are really funny. I put Buddy in his, and then Sabrina tries to hide under the bed. So I turn the light out and act like I'm going to leave her under the bed. Within thirty seconds she comes hopping up on the bed, silly girl. Then she goes into her kennel.

You know it is going to be good . . .

when it requires a mid-day entry.

I got home last night to find a note under the mat. It wasn't a horrifying note, but it was a note none the less. I'll try to remember to scan and post the note tonight. At any rate, it was a note that pushed me over the edge. I didn't sleep well. I feel like I am living under a reign of terror. These people are harassing me, and there is nothing I can do about it.

Soooo, I'm whining away, when one of my students reminds me her dad is a lawyer. She calls him and tells him the scoop. He says that I can file a complaint with the City of Dallas. I should write them a letter telling them I will file a complaint if they harass me any more. I like that a lot. So, then I go to Officer Sherrill (We just got a police liaison in the building which has proved to be useful!)

Officer Sherrill tells me the same thing!! Happy happy, joy, joy. Below is the letter I have written. Feel free to comment as necessary.

November 13, 2007
Mr and Mrs Rosen,

It is unfortunate that the situation has come to this. You have made your desires clear and there is no need for any further communication between us on this issue.

The section of the City of Dallas ordinance regarding animal noise makes no reference to hour of the day.

Noise made by any animal is considered unreasonable if it continues for more than 15 minutes or exceeds the sound pressure level allowed in a residential district. A person who is disturbed by an animal who unreasonably barks, howls, crows, or makes other unreasonable noise may file a disturbance complaint with Dallas Animal Services, who will mail a notice to the owner.

This is also according to the letter that was sent to me by the City of Dallas in response to your complaint. The City of Dallas code enforcement representative informed me that you also received a copy of the letter and are therefore aware of the parameters to lodge a complaint. With that in mind, please do not communicate with me in any way regarding the dogs. If you wish to make a complaint, please do so to the City of Dallas at (214) 670-4439.

If you choose to communicate with me regarding the dogs, I will immediately contact the City of Dallas Police Department to file harassment charges.

Well, what do you think? To the point, polite, specific?

I am so annoyed

Today was a hell of a day. I worked madly on my English I calendar most of the day. I rushed home 8th to feed the dogs and give them a quick hello. Rushed back to school. Mark came by to work with the girls. Linda came by to work with me on the flipchart for Wednesday. Chuck and Shelly worked on the projection computer so that when Linda and I do the virtual classroom that works. In the meantime the computers started to not save work because the server is full . . . so again the yearbook bought a 40,000 server that still isn't connected. I'm ready to kill someone.

Then rushed over to Cisco Grill to meet Fred and Jack (two other teachers) before we went to the UP Library for the book club. 6:30 heading to the library and I see Dave (next door neighbor from HELL) calling. I don't answer but call Emily and leave a message.

I listen to Dave's message which for the first time doesn't contain his usual over the top niceness and is a little snotty. "I don't know if you are home or not, but your dogs are barking and you really need to let them in."

Emily calls me back a view minutes later and tells me that she and Gene were out front yacking it up. She said that she thinks that they are the reason the dogs were barking and to not worry about it. Emily would have told me if they were being horrible.

I am sooooooo pissed. Thank heavens MaryBeth was home and able to talk to me off the cliff. I am already so stressed out and so freaking busy I don't have time for these nut jobs.

I need to remember that this is their deal not mine. The dogs aren't bad, the neighbors are crazy. This is their deal. I can't buy in to the insanity.

More with Dave and Darlene

Friday afternoon I come rushing home to feed the dogs etc before heading back to school to work the football game. I was on the phone to MaryBeth and ready to jam gears when I see Dave behind my car. I admit it, I thought for a moment, I know how to end this conflict; just a tap on the gas and no more Dave. But I didn't. So he comes around to the driver's side, I roll the window down and he begins his awe shucks routine.

"Gee yesterday morning your dogs they woke us up when they barked really early, was that a mistake?"

I have two answers I desperately want to give to this. 1) That is the stupidest question I have been asked in a very long time and 2) mistake? hell no, that took 4 months of training and several thousand dollars to get her to bark just that way facing just the right direction to get maximum volume and annoyance out of her. How'd we do?

Instead I just looked at him and said, "Thank you." It startled him a little but then he went on to try to say more. So I said, "Thank you." again and then told him I had to go. I rolled up the window and drove out of the driveway. The look on his face was priceless. He was totally flummoxed. I still laugh thinking about it.

I have just decided there is no point in entertaining any type of conversation about the dogs. Yes, I know that dogs barking at the crack of dawn is annoying. I agree. That is why I hop to when I hear them. They are actually getting better too I might add. They have gone out multiple mornings in the last couple of weeks without making any noise at all. It is not like there is any confusion about what they want to have happen. I know they want my dogs to never make any noise, I get that. It isn't like they hear anything I say on the matter because they are the king and queen of crazy town.

Dave strikes again

Ironically, several people have asked about good ole' Dave. He actually had been quiet for the last two weeks, but sadly it isn't because he finally accepted that dogs bark, or because he realized the whole neighborhood knows what an ass he is.

Sabrina starts harassing me at 2am to go out. I refuse, but finally crack at about 5am. (mainly because I have to potty too). Of course as I take care of business, her dumb butt runs outside and barks. I hop up, run out, yell Sabrina NO. (For effect, don't you know)

Alas, not enough. I get them back inside, go back to bed, and 18 minutes later (I would say 20 but I don't want to be accused of exaggerating) Dave calls. Wakes me up. (I now consider us to be even) I don't answer (I really want to answer, but I figure that there is nothing to be gained by speaking to him at this hour of the morning. Now that I think about, I'm curious about what he thinks is to be gained by talking at 5:30 in the morning). He CALLS A SECOND TIME. What a total Jackass.

His message is that I told them I would let the dogs out until 7am (no, what I said was that I wouldn't leave for school until 7am - if he's going to give me shit no matter what, I might as well start leaving earlier.

He then said we were going to have to talk about this. Hmm, no, no we don't. Sigh.

Time Flies

It is amazing that I think I am keeping up with the blog, and then I realize it has been four days since I last posted.

Let's see . . .

Monday morning I got a call from Dave, very politely, letting me know that the dogs had barked that morning and that they had barked the evening before after 10:30. I'd like to once more point out that when they bark literally that is what they do. Bark. Like once or twice. Not incessant. At any rate, I didn't get the call. He tried to be tricky and call from the home number, but I didn't recognize it, so I didn't answer.

Later, he called that night to very politely let me know that he had a very early flight, so he would be going to bed early, would I keep the dogs in. Sure, no problem. I didn't let them out after 8. Now, I did get to clean up a gawd awful mess, courtesy of Buddy, in the dining room.

I was up really late Sunday and Monday working on spreads for The Book. I met with the boys at 11am Tuesday. I think they were pleased with what they saw. They had a lot of stuff they wanted modified, so I told them I would make the changes and submit to them as pdfs.

My 1pm yesterday my head felt like it was in a vice. By 2pm when my friend Roseanne strolled by my room, I had the lights out in the office and my head hanging over the trashcan. She said she would watch my class the last part of the period, so I headed home. I took a bath (always a requirement) and went to bed. I woke up at about 7 . . .nearly had a heart attack thinking I was going to be late for work. I woke up enough once I was moving to think, it could still be night which thank heavens it was.

I have another headache today. Started about an hour ago. I hate this. I had a message from my friend Cindy that she was reading about sleep apnea and having slept with me more than once, she feels that I might be a candidate for it. Headaches are also caused by sleep apnea. I think I'm going to make an appt to see my doctor about my sinus issues and then talk about the sleep thing.

At any rate, I may be loosing another night of work if I go home and go to bed again. sigh.

Buddy inspects

This morning I'm trying to get dressed. I've given both dogs rawhides, so they are being good because they are very busy working on those. Cat follows me into the bathroom, Buddy follows soon after. He sees Cat. Cat goes low and still. Buddy approaches slowly, and then starts poking Cat with his snout as if to test whether Cat was real. Either that or whether Cat wanted to play which he did not. Wish I'd had video!

(Small moment to comment I had to pause in my writing for a moment to run grab Sabrina who had gone outside (don't know why) and barked at 6:45. I'll confess, she actually barked several times. oops) I'd feel worse if a. she did it all the time and b. I thought it would bother any of the non crazy neighbors.

Oh, and I woke up with a headache. That sucks.

Downside of 8 hours of video

Yesterday I tried to download (actually I'm converting to mpeg) (like over 24 hours) and somehow it got stopped aauuuggghh. Started trying again last night at about 9 and we're at 24%. This could take a while.

My neighbors the nut cases.

On the plus side, lots of stuff to write about with the crazies next door.

It began innocently enough, Sabrina went to the bathroom last night a little after 10. The dog behind us is still up, so she gave him a shout out. I went out and made her come in. I made the deadly mistake of going to the bathroom. Sabrina, that wicked creature, went back out for one more shout out. I got her in and we all went to bed.

I have the mother of all front motion detector lights. I roll over at about 10:45 and see the motion detector light go out, then I see it go on again. (Mind you the dogs are making no noises.) I get up to check it out and Cat is at the front door. I'm trying to figure out if there is anther cat he is eyeballing. Nope, it is my neighbor, Darline, you know, of Dave and Darlene fame.

She asks me if I knew that the dogs had marked earlier. Yes, I knew, and I brought them inside as soon as I heard them bark.

Hard to remember the order of the rest of it. But let's see . . .

She told me that is was incredibly rude to let my dogs out after 9pm. (I told her NO it wasn't)

She told me that they had an agreement with the former neighbors and they wouldn't let their dogs out after 9pm or before 9pm and not before 10 on weekends. (Seriously?????)

She told me that dogs can hold it for 8-9 hours, and I should read up on it. (I did tell her that it was fine if she practiced animal cruelty, but I was unwilling.)

She told me again that she could not believe I would let my dogs bark so late. At this point I pointed out that two nights ago I was awoken at about 10:30 by her dogs. She said that was not ok. I told her that no it was ok, that's what dogs do, they bark, they get let in, we go back to sleep.

I went through the process of why Sabrina was left outside the 24 hours I went to San Diego before she was being taken to be boarded. That if they had called at any point on Sunday I could have done something, but that at 3am Monday I couldn't do anything, or at 4am Monday.

She told me that my dogs barked all the time. I told her that was interesting since I had started videotaping the dogs recently and there really wasn't any barking. She practically interrupts me to tell me that they have video too. "Really?" I ask. "I would love to see it because I don't know when it is happening. " No answer to that.

She told me that my dogs barked all day Monday and Tuesday. ( I was so shocked, I just looked at her and said, "You are a liar." The terminex people came on Monday and they were locked in the house until 3pm when Emily came by and let them out. I didn't even mention the part about my being home all day on Tuesday and the dogs being inside with me.)

I told her that really all bets were off when they called the city of Dallas because my only obligation at this point was to keep the dogs from barking for 15 continuous minutes. I will give her credit for admitting that they did do it.

She told me that was because when I was talking to Dave I acted like I really wasn't going to do anything. I told her that was because what I heard from him was the same thing I was hearing from her and that was that their expectation was that my dogs would never bark, and I didn't really see that as a possibility. Nooo, that's not what they are saying. Really, what are y'all saying then? Because I'm trying and I'm not getting very far. That's because I'm not doing anything she says. No, I am doing things. I have tried multiple things. She says they really appreciate that I am trying to do things, but that I have to do something about my dogs.

Again I pointed out that they very obviously don't appreciate anything that I have tried to do (She told me that I hadn't done anything.) Later she made a comment about appreciating what I have done, then she later said that I wasn't doing anything again. SHE IS PSYCHOTIC.

I pointed out that I had been Johnny on the spot every time they called about the dogs. They called, I was getting someone to help me get the dogs in.

What else was said. . .

At one point as she was moving towards her home (thank you FINALLY) she said that she really didn't want to have bad relations with her neighbor etc. Whatever.

Of course, then I had trouble sleeping which is even more annoying. That is another point. Until recently, I have really been a 9pm to bed girl. So, the dogs really aren't out late. They go to bed when I do.

At any rate, ended the conversation, go back to bed, and remember that the re-take photographers were supposed to be at school bright and early and I was supposed to be meeting them. So, once again I fed the dogs Benadryl. That is the last time I am doing that. It was just awkward on the heels of the conversation where I tell her that I am trying to get the dogs in by 9 and not out before 7.

I hope I remember it all because this is gonna have to be like my little diary. I have a feeling there will be more. Although right now all I can say is that right now, I am not willing to have any more conversations about the dogs with either one of the wackadoodles next door. There is no point because they are crazy and they are liars.

Reason Prevails, kind of

Alright, so I was talking to Fran this morning, and she convinced me that I shouldn't send the finely crafted 2am letter. She doesn't think dipshit and the dingdong will grasp the point of the letter anyway. Bummer.

In the meantime, I set up a video camera on my dogs. Should be interesting to see what they are like when I am not home.

In the meantime, I'm at school with the ads managers as they work to finish up their ads. They all very sweetly volunteered to "ring and run" the neighbors house and make prank calls. Oh how I yearn to take them up on it. No, I won't. Give me some credit.

Ok, back to work as I daydream about ways to torture my neighbors.

My letter to D and D

I am still so pissed about the stupid noise complaint that I can't sleep. I woke up about an hour ago (that would be about midnight) and realized I was writing a letter over and over in my head to Dave and Darlene (henceforth to be referred to as the dipshit and the dingdong or d and d.) At any rate I decided maybe if I got up and actually wrote the letter I'd be able to go back to sleep. I'll let you know.

Dear Dave and Darlene,

I was disappointed to receive a letter from the City of Dallas regarding a noise complaint. I was disappointed for two reasons. Dave very clearly said to me that one, he wanted to work through this as good neighbors should, and two, he would not make a call to the City of Dallas. It turns out Dave was disingenuous at best.

However, I was not surprised. It was also clear to me during our meeting on the porch, Wednesday, September 12^th that a reasonable solution would not be possible since what you really want is for my dogs to never make any noise. As I have already mentioned, I found this to be particularly ironic and hypocritical since, if your dogs are outside, they are barking.

In fact, another irony occurred as I contacted the City of Dallas to get more information. I heard loud incessant barking. No, not my dogs, yours.

In addition, as I reflect on what I have tried to do and the efforts I have made to be a good neighbor during this time of conflict, I realize that you are not going to appreciate any actions on my part since your expectation is that my dogs should not ever make any noise.

Dave came and spoke to me on the day I hired a service to clean my house. The dogs were kept outside so that the service would be able to clean, however the service was asked to let the dogs in as soon as they completed the cleaning. You contacted the City of Dallas at 7:55 am Wednesday, September 19^th. That is the time the cleaning service arrived the following week and was looking for the key to my house.

I suspect that should my dogs bark because my home is being broken into, you are much more likely to contact the City of Dallas to file a noise complaint than to contact the City of Dallas Police Department to report a burglary.

As I study the section of the ordinance that mentions animal noise I see that the hour of the noise is not mentioned.

Animal Noise
Noise made by any animal is considered unreasonable if it continues for more than 15 minutes or exceeds the sound pressure level allowed in a residential district. A person who is disturbed by an animal who unreasonably barks, howls, crows, or makes other unreasonable noise may file a disturbance complaint with Dallas Animal Services, who will mail a notice to the owner.

This being the case, I see no reason for me to try to keep my dogs in the house until a certain hour or past a certain hour as I have been doing. It is all considered the same by the City of Dallas, and all efforts I thus made are to no avail as seen by the complaint.

I do not know what you hoped to gain by this action. It is not in good faith nor is it in a neighborly and cooperative manner. It is aggressive, antagonistic and spiteful.

Signed, moi