Despite the rancor

[elfs]

I gardened a lot today, finishing up the whole of the back yard, which involved a lot of mowing and just as much weed whacking. It was, on the whole, an excellent 4th of July. I've cooked every meal, cleaned up my messes, took care of my family and my household and in general, as they say in CoveySpeak, "connected with the mission" of being a devoted father and husband, a serious caretaker of my patch of land, and (hopefully) a generous and thoughtful friend and lover besides.

At least, that's what the plan says I'm supposed to become. Eventually.

Omaha spent most of the day tuning her bicycle. By evening, we went out to the Fireworks show down in Des Moines, which we appreciate because it's homey and you have a great view of both the Tacoma and Vashon Inlet shows, which are both huge and wonderful. Kouryou-chan loved every second of it. We invited j5nn5r and shastaw along (along with her two delightful kids) and a good time was had by all.

Trying to get home was a chore. Our delightful new neighbors had decided to block off our driveway so that they could shoot fireworks. I shouldn't have to ask permission to get to my own freakin' driveway. Grr.... It was too bad they were near the end of their stash, too, because it's a $1000 fine (or 30 days in jail) if they get caught.

Comments

[elfs.livejournal.com]

[The neighbors assume] when things go wrong, you don't try to communicate with your neighbor civilly. You yell at them.

More to the point, they establish a record of complaint. It doesn't matter that they're new to the neighborhood; this is how they've always dealt with neighbors in the past and they've never really had "good" (i.e. passive and servile) neighbors. So the way to gain the upper ground is to start off with a history of complaint against the neighbors; that way, when the neigbors lodge a formal complaint, it'll look like retribution.