Well, we've been in our house for just over 4 years now (Doug has at least) and we finally have a crazy neighbor story. It may not be as classic and Denny and Melissa's neighbor who asked for money for sod they laid in the overlap between their yards, but it's worth a post. So we have these neighbors a few doors down from us that are an older couple. By older, I mean their kids are in college, so I have to assume they're well on their way to their 50s. I am not sure what the wife does, but the husband teaches at CIU. They are from Wisconsin and don't have cable. How do I know that? Well, the husband has come over on one or two occasions on Sunday afternoons or Monday nights asking if he can watch the Green Bay game with Doug. Not being a fan of Green Bay, Doug is usually not watching the game. Also, if you know Doug well enough, you can imagine where watching TV with a 50 year old neighbor stranger ranks on his list.
So this brings us to last Saturday. Doug had just finished running his Saturday morning 5 miler and was back in the house. We were getting ready to go out for the afternoon and were both showering and getting ready. The door bell rings. We don't answer it b/c we never do. It's like the phone; if we don't recognize the number, we're not answering. However, Doug realizes whoever is at the door probably assumes we're home since Doug left the garage door open after running. We still don't answer. Doug peers out through the window and recognizes our visitor as the guy down the street. We then assume that this guy wants to watch the visual epistle otherwise known as the draft. We continue getting ready and the doorbell rings yet again. We still haven't shut the garage door, but we still don't go answer it. UGH! What does this guy want from us.
So we head out on our afternoon of errands and forget about the incident until the next day. The doorbell rings again on Sunday afternoon, but this time our garage door is shut and does not give our presence away. Fast forward to Tuesday. I pull in the driveway after work to see Doug in the driveway attempting to wash his car (possibly to get it ready to sell????). The Packer fan is in our driveway making small talk with Doug. Again, if you know Doug, this falls further down his list of favorite things to do. I get out the car and the guy introduces himself to me, although we have met many times. (he does this everytime we meet, starting with the sentence, "I don't think I have met you.) It turns out that he and his wife would like to have us over for dinner sometime. Not too bad, but I didn't feel all giddy inside at the prospect of dinner with them. My first thought actually was that he wants us to join Amway or Quixtar. So we told him that weekends were better and he said he'd give us a call.
So last night (WEdnesday, the day after driveway encounter) the guy leaves Doug a message to call him. Doug doesn't get home from bowling until after 9pm so we weren't going to call that late. Then, our phone rings at 9:30 PM! Time Warner Digital Phone Caller ID flashes across our American Idol results and tells us it is HIM! So I force Doug to answer. Now, the guy wants to take Doug to breakfast. Doug explains having to arrive at work in Camden (30 minutes away) at 730 am everyday puts a damper on morning breakfasts. So he says, how about a Saturday and then how about THIS saturday. Doug is luckily going to be in ATL on Saturday and must decline.
Am I wrong to be weirded out by these people? Do they want to be friends? Is it really wrong that I have no desire to be friends with these people? Someone make me feel better about not wanting to hang out!
And post your fun neighbor stories too! (Sorry I already alluded to yours Melissa)
7 comments:
Oh my gosh, that is VERY strange! It would be one thing if they were your age and had just moved in. But since you're not much older than their own children and they have lived down the street from you for some time, I wonder what has brought them to all of a sudden want to be BFF's. I would be very weirded out and keep making excuses until they quit asking. What kind of guy asks another guy he doesn't know out to breakfast... strange. Keep your garage door shut and your front lights off and don't answer the phone if they call!!
Yeah, my neighbor story is funny. Our next door neighbor decides he's going to sod his yard and puts sod on a small strip of our property, without saying a word to us about it. He then proceeds to come over and asks us to pay for the sod he put on our yard. Say what?!? Since we had just moved in and didn't want to ruffle any feathers (and we're just big wimps), we gave him some money. I still can't get over that. But at least he doesn't want to hang out with us!
I have quite a few about a previous neighbor. Our first encounter with this guy, a total "dude" if you know what I mean, was when we were looking at the house that we eventually bought. Being the guy that he is, he came out of his house to share a little bit about the neighborhood. Behind the houses were two homes that had two or three apartments that were rented out. He told us that there was an interacial couple living there. Unfortunately, the Dude was not so PC and said something about a black guy and white woman that lived together. "It don't pay any attention to them," he says. Yeah, Dude, I'm sure it doesn't bother you.
Anyway, he was a character. I'll have to think of others.
Didn't you say he is a prof at CIU? That tells me a lot. OK my funny neighbor story was about a year ago. The next door neighbors are in their late 70's or 80's and were the first on the block back in the day. I walked over to let the wife know that I would be leaving the country for two weeks and gave her a key to the house just in case, but at the same time told her that a friend was on the alarm call list. In the mean time, she proceeds to tell me about how she has called our neighbors out when they don't maintain their lawns. In fact, she proceeded to tell me that my lawn guy had been blowing leaves and such into her side of the flower beds. And, he didn't have the right to do that. So to prevent that, she put some mulch down to signal her side of the flower bed.
There is a church down on Devine street whose members pursued us years ago and your story is ringing a memory bell inside me.
The strangest thing is that you guys have been there for so long and they are just now approaching you. They are definatly coming on too strong! Don't let them know you have a blog!!
Ahh our old neighbor! Good memories! I mow the lawn because I enjoy it and it's relaxing for me. Everytime I did he would come out and ask me why my husband wasn't doing that and that Curtis should be mowing instead. That never stopped the whole 3 years we were there! He would also occasionally make comments about the yard needing to be mowed or making sure we were taking care of the space in the median outside our house. They also had a little brat dog that roamed wherever it wanted to but there are too many stories there!
Wilson says..."Note to self: erase all plans in calendar to meet Doug alone for dinner/breakfast!!!"
Congratulations on the A+ on your blood type test...you always were a good student!
As for a neighbor story: Years ago when I lived in Spring Valley, there was an elderly man who lived two doors down from me...and he had Tourette's. I might walk outside on a beautiful sunny day, only to overhear a tirade of profanities from down the street.
I have to say it was a bit of an education. Who knew there were so many 4-letter words?
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