neighbor chronicles

Happy Sunday my BBs - I have a feeling my neighbors are going to be entertaining me for a loooong time so I thought I would go ahead and introduce you to my new section:  The Neighbor Chronicles

To begin, let me tell you a little bit about my neighbors to the right of us:

• There is a mom and a dad
• There is a little boy, Kevin
• There is a little baby
• There is grandmaw and granddad
• They appear to be Asian
• Grandparents do not speak english
• Parents and kids do

First encounter:

Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?

Grandmaw and Granddad like to go for walks.  They are cute like that.  So right after we moved in I was in the front yard watering and I decided to say hello as they went with their grandson, Kevin, for a walk.  Yeah... Grandmaw was trying to have a conversation with me but the only hitch in that giddy up was I could not understand her.  This is how I met Kevin.  He is 5 (if I remember correctly) and he explained that his grandparents could not speak English.  So, knowing that a 5 year old would tell me whatever I wanted to know, I decided to start asking questions.  Up to this point, the only people we had seen at that house were Kevin and the grandparents so I was not sure if he had actual parents or not.  Turns out he does.  They speak English, they moved in the same weekend as we did, and the grandparents do not live there (could have fooled us).  Anyways, I then convinced Kevin to pick all the flowers out of my yard (aka weeds) and throw them away.  He thought it was a game and loved it.  Free lawn service, can't beat that.

Second encounter:

Do they change clothes?

Odd title, yes.  The answer, no.  Grandmaw and Granddad wear the same outfit every.single.day.  How do we know this you may wonder? Because apparently the cool thing to do in the Wang household (yes, that is their last name, I am not trying to be tacky), is to get plastic lawn chairs, place them randomly in the driveway and sit with the baby.  Not my cup of tea considering we all have pretty big back yards with actual porches but whatever.  No judgement.  However, I do just Grandmaw's pjs and Granddad's khaki shorts and wife beater.  Every day.

Third encounter: 

Don't you have a yard of your own?

I came home from work one afternoon and Grandmaw and Granddad are standing in our yard, pointing up at our trees, and discussing something in Mandarin.  I park my car, kind of walk into my driveway, smile and kind of wave, and they just keep on keeping on in my yard.  It would help if I knew what they were saying.  Honestly, no clue.  This past week while Bret was out of town, Kevin was dribbling his basketball up and down my driveway.  Strange. Did it bother me? Not really... but still a little strange. Even more so because I know for a fact that he has 2 plastic basketball goals at his own house.  A) I see them everyday and B) they are occasionally not propped up on the side of the house but are instead laying in my yard.

Fourth encounter:

Are we on the same trash pickup schedule?

This encounter kind of goes hand-in-hand with "Don't you have a yard of your own?" in that A) apparently the Wang's believe large item trash day (boxes, limbs, old lamps, carpet) is every day of the week as opposed to the assigned day which is Thursday and B) their large items some how manage to be mainly in front of OUR house.  How does that happen? And why?  So yes, I move it over when they are not home.  How do I handle this though? If the problem continues is it poor taste to leave a note on their car or something with the trash pickup schedule? I don't believe our HOA comes around enough to actually notice.  I really don't want to be those neighbors but honestly, I think I am living next to those neighbors. (that sentence makes sense in my head)

Fifth encounter: 

What are you going to do? Make rabbit stew?!

No lie.  This disturbs me. Granddad was chasing one of our neighborhood rabbits through my yard the other day.  Was he trying to catch it to eat poor Bill? I don't know... But my other neighbors to the left of me are very much concerned about the rabbits safety (we get notes left on our front door telling us to watch out for the babies when we are mowing...) so I know if she sees Granddad chasing peter cotton tail around in my yard (of course MY yard) she might freak out.  I'm just saying.  My yard might become the new OK Coral.  Sheesh.

So yes, that is all I have for now.  For some reason though, I think my neighbors are going to be providing me with all sorts of entertainment for years to come!  Don't get me wrong, they are super nice, just interesting to observe.  All I know is if I wake up with no trees and a batch of rabbit stew on my porch with it's carcase laying on my curb for bulk trash pick-up day, I am getting a translator.  Just saying.

Oh yes, and I will be on the look out for picture opportunities so you guys can truly appreciate the wife beaters and basketball games.  It will only add to the stories I am sure.

to be continued...