Neighborly Update

I suppose you are wondering what my wacky neighbors have been up to. Well, not a lot has changed.

Story #1: Earlier in August, they had a big ol' fight and the police came AGAIN since they had half of it on the freakin' sidewalk (ow, my freakin' ears). This time, the cops acually watched behind the house where David always sneaks out and gets away. They waited for him to get his "stuff" and escorted him off the property. He came back, but it took a while, and he was quieter than usual until this week (we're talking September 1 or so).

Story #2: There was a car jacking at the Safeway 1 block from my house on 7-28 and the security couldn't be bothered to call the police for help with the gunwaving idiot in their parking lot. He did threaten a woman with a gun and get her keys, but he couldn't get the car started and ran away. Talk about inept.

Story #3: While David was "away", we had a little confrontation with Alice. When Tino came home from work, he noticed the boys burning some stuff in their backyard. Since it posed no danger to our fence or house, Tino ignored it. When I came home, there was a pile of half burnt porn magazines and garbage dumped outside my backgate. I was really mad, and when I went in and talked to Tino, he related the other fire sighting. We decided that we'd risk a really awkward situation and go ring the bell next door. I asked for the oldest boy first, but Alice followed him to the door, so I had no choice but to rat on him. I was planning to ask him to clean up the mess, but no dice. We explained what we were upset about, and she apologized (!) and shut the door. We heard yelling and screaming (ala A Christmas Story and the "do you know what my son just said?" bit), and the mess disappeared.

Story #4: The house next door went up for sale this weekend (September 6). When we were going out to rent a movie on Saturday, David caught us and started talking. He claims to have put a mechanic's lein on the property for some work he did. This has been in dispute for a while, and those people have had all kinds of problems with David and between their (former) tenants and David. I suspect that all that mess has a lot to do with why the house is for sale. In any case, on Sunday morning, we heard David and the owner (the man from New Jersey) arguing. We saw a police car out front, and that officer was apparently baffled as to why he'd been called. When David talked to us the night before, he said that "he hoped he didn't have to hit the guy because he didn't want to go back to prison." As it turned out, David called the cops, probably so that he would be able to restrain himself. I have no idea what became of this argument. If David has a real lein, he'll get his money. Otherwise, he'll probably burn the house down or something (he threatened such a thing before).