lawns, neighbours, and dogs
Mood:  irritated
Topic: stop and think
I can't understand my neighbours' thought processes. Well, really my parents' neighbours. You see, I live with my parents due to lack of job/money. They are friendly with their next-door neighbours.
Understandable.
I'm civil to them, but I wouldn't go so far as to say we're friends. The father of that family (I'll call him Manny here - not his real name) cuts our yard as a favour to my dad, who's chronically ill. I was willing to do it, but for some reason, I guess that just wasn't acceptable. Whatever.
That's not the issue with which I have a problem.
The problem is Manny takes it upon himself to water the lawn as well. That is not necessary as I water the lawn. The difference is that I actually point the water at the grass instead of the driveway. Also, I water at night when the ground is cooler and better able to absorb moisture. He knows I water at night! I've told him this before!
And yet, a little earlier today, right after he finished mowing the lawn, he turned on the sprinklers. But he set it in a position that got half the driveway wet.
I had been waiting for him to finish mowing so I could take my dogs outside. Imagine how I felt to see the water spraying in the air. Utterly ridiculous.
What's worse is that just three days ago, the local newspaper (Valley Morning Star) ran a story about the drought we are still experiencing. Granted, it was more about the heavier workload for WaterWorks due to an increase in water line breaks, but the drought was mentioned as one of the causes.
Besides all that, it rained just three days ago, a good couple of hours of decent rainfall. So why would he feel the need to take it upon himself to turn on the sprinklers here?
The front lawn is fine; I watered it in sections less than a week ago. Same as the back yard.
It just doesn't make any sense to me!
Another thing about that family I don't understand is why their children continue to taunt my dogs when we go outside. My dogs bark at eveybody, even more when someone starts jumping around and calling to them. Since I always have them on leashes when we go out, I pull them back and try to calm them down, but when those kids get my babies worked up, they keep at it until their mother reprimands them. I can't be heard over the barking of three loud little dogs, partially because of a perpetually sore throat brought about by my parents nearly constantly exposing me to tomatoes (I'm terribly allergic), but she can, and she frequently tells her children to "Leave the dogs alone!"
But they still do it.
I just don't get it.