Recently, we were woken up at 2am. That's AM. A dog was barking. He never took a breath - just barked endlessly, for about an hour and a half. We thought maybe somebody's dog had gotten loose. The next night - guess what - it happened again. Luckily, only for about 1/2 hour. The next night - guess again - more barking in the middle of the night. No idea where it was coming from. Then, the following evening, we were eating dinner. Barking. The same bark. We got up and took a walk to see where it was coming from. A neighbor down the road. They were not home. They left the dog outside, and it barked that evening for almost 3 hours. I left a note in their mailbox.
The following afternoon, they came to my house to accost me about the note. Furious. How DARE I. Declaring that it wasn't Their Dog. No apology. Just accusing me of being a terrible person for leaving a note.
This afternoon, I come home from an errand. I get out of the car. Blasting music. I know exactly where it is coming from, as I've heard it many times. I walked about the 1/4 mile to their house. The teenage girl, sitting outside, stereo by her side. Blasting it. She didn't hear me approach until I was right in front of her. I said, Do you have any idea how loud that is? She said, Oh it's not at all loud. I said, either you turn it down, or I'll go call the police. She turned it up louder, I kid you not.
What is with people? I have 4 dogs. I would never in a million years put them in a situation where they bark for more than 5 minutes. I would never plunk my stereo down outside and crank it as loud as I felt like.
If somebody arrived at my house to tell me about something I was doing that disturbed them, I would apologize! Nope, nobody apologizes. They think I'm the crazy person for being bothered by their outrageous noise. We're not talking about music in the far distance, or a dog making an occasional bark. We're talking about as loud as you can, for as long as you can, with absolutely no thought whatsoever for your neighbor.
My neighbor that built their house as close as they possibly could to ours, left their dog out every single morning FOR A YEAR at 6am, and the dog barked for 5-10 minutes. Right outside my bedroom window. When I FINALLY said something, she went ballistic. Told me to get off her property or she would have me arrested for trespassing. And then she told all the neighbors what a total bitch I am.
From now on, I'm just going to call the police.
Except, the police do not respond to barking dog complaints. And they only respond to blasting stero complaints at certain hours. So I have no recourse at all. I'm just supposed to sit inside my house with all the doors and windows shut, and turn up the TV or fans, to drown out their noise.
That just isn't right.
So, what is a neighbor to do?
As I walked out our driveway to the road, all was quiet as the evening came on. I got out to the road, and was all alone - except for one lone coyote. He ran into the brush before I had a chance to snap a picture, rats!
The desert southwest is magnificent in it's beauty. However, lately, I am homesick for home. Changing leaves, and rain, and walks in the woods. My boys are too. I think - one day - we may head home again. 