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Sunday, June 9, 2019

The People Across the Street – A Vignette and Sunday Pics



The people across the street are…loud. They have a few cats (I’ve counted three) and at least five dogs that bark a lot. They bark any time someone walks or rides by. They bark if we go sit on our front porch. They bark when their people come home, and when anyone comes to visit. Suffice it to say there’s a lot of barking going on.


Worse than the barking, however, is the dad, who thinks that yelling, “Shut the fuck up!” is going to make the dogs be quiet. It never does. Not once. But he keeps trying.

The mom I’ve seen a few times, and the kid--about to graduate and off to art school (yay for him!)—is the only one who has apologized to us about the dogs and their noise. I’m guessing it annoys him, too.


I have no idea what the parents do for work. The dad did once bring us mackerel, which was nice. My sister has brought them eggs.


They live in a trailer that has probably been there a while. They’ve begun to add on, as people do here in Maine, and there’s a fair amount of junk in the yard, thankfully most of it towards the back of the place. The front yard has a stone formation and what looks like sawdust surrounding it in some attempt at landscape design. I think. There is also a large camper that a couple lived in and maybe still do but I don’t hear them fighting and swearing at each other any more so I think they’re gone.


The dad keeps the place mowed, and there are lights in the ground along the walkway leading up to the front porch. The porch is fenced so the dogs can come out and see what’s going on. When we come back from our walks with our dogs the barking commences, soon to be followed by “Shut the fuck up!” Then the dogs are corralled and brought inside. As if they were the problem.


I wonder why the dad hasn’t figured out that yelling that way does nothing. Or that maybe building a fenced in area in the back would be a good idea. Good for the dogs, good for the neighbors across the street (us) and no doubt good for his own sanity.


I wonder what the mom thinks when she hears him.


And I wonder if maybe the kid was really apologizing for his dad, rather than for the dogs.

#

Went for a walk with Bruno who is now 7 months old and weighing in at around 55lbs. I'm kinda hoping he doesn't grow anymore. He's a good size, ie, I can pick him up if need be.  If he gets to be 70lb...well, that's gonna be tough.

We took the path behind the house to the sandpit and found these lovelies on our way



I don't know what they are but they're everywhere in the woods. 

This is the view from the ridge above


Walking further, there is the lupine field, which is just coming into full bloom. I love them.





 A rare white.

Amazingly, the lupines have even spread into the sandpit


Bruno loves going over to the sandpit. He can run free as fast as he can, race through the water, and sniff everything he likes.


I tried to catch him running but I only got his wake... 
And this is the way out 

There is a chain to prevent vehicles from coming in but people still come via 4-wheeler or with dirt bikes. Sometimes they shoot, which I wouldn't mind so much if they would just pick up all the crap they leave behind. But they don't.

Anyway. It was a good walk that would've been perfect if not for the black flies, which are quick and bite and leave big itchy red blotches. Little fuckers.

We hates them.

But we love our walks with Bruno!

ps 61K complete on my WIP The Train to Somewhere. Getting closer to the end...



34 comments:

  1. Love your pictures. I have lupine in my garden. I love the purple flowers.

    Awesome that you're getting closer to the end of your manuscript too.

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    1. I'm a slow writer. Lupines are awesome!

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  2. We hates the black flies too!! Annoying little buggers for sure!
    Bruno is adorable!!
    Good luck with the final bits to your MS!

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  3. Oh yeah, incessantly barking dogs are the WORST! I'm glad their kid is escaping to go to art school.

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    1. well, they must have done something right to raise a good kid.

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  4. No one wants to hear such language either. Are they big dogs or little dogs? Little dogs yipping are the worst. If they hate barking dogs, why do the have so many?
    You have a beautiful area for walking!

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    1. Yeah, we have a 7th grader in the house and I certainly don't like her hearing that. Plus it's stupid.

      It is a great place to walk. Just right to tire out a puppy :)

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  5. Are you familiar with the poem by Billy Collins called "Another Reason I Don't Keep a Gun in the House"? I believe it is relevant here, LOL --

    https://apoemaday.tumblr.com/post/149987091920/another-reason-i-dont-keep-a-gun-in-the-house

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  6. My roommate has a barky dog, and she yells at her to shut up. She's tried a few things. There's this birdhouse (bought on Amazon) that emits a high frequency when the dog barks. It seems to curtail the barking a bit quicker than yelling.

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    1. All yelling does is make the dogs wonder why he's yelling at them. They have no clue. Admittedly, barking is not the easiest thing to teach dogs not to do. It's in their nature to raise the alarm.

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  7. A lupine field? Colour me jealous. They are cherished and nurtured garden plants here, which may or may not survive.
    Love Bruno, a happy healthy dog carries joy with it.
    Sigh on the neigbours. Big sigh.

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    1. I do love the lupines. It's no surprise people like to paint them...and photograph them. And yes, Bruno is a joy :)

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  8. I'm lucky my nearest neighbours are a quarter mile away but you can still hear dogs barking!

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    1. It's a hard habit to break dogs of. I wouldn't mind some barking, but my god don't they recognize us yet?

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  9. Oh no. I wouldn't want a barking dog keeping me frustrated at all hours of the day and night. You have some nice photos.

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    1. Thankfully they do not bark at night.

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  10. Have had many barking dog experiences in my life. Ugh. I feel for you. I don't know what the real name of the plant in your first picture is, but we call them wild lilies of the valley. There are all over here, spread like crazy and when I find them in the garden I go after them, because they are "wildly" invasive. Lovely in the woods, but their tiny little root spread everywhere. BTW, the rose in your masthead is stunning!

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    1. That was was at Leu Gardens in orlando. And it is stunning. Thank you :)

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  11. I so hate noisy neighbours. Mine have a dog right across my balcony. I often send my cat to poop in their yard as revenge. I'd poop myself in their yard if only I wasn't this lazy...

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  12. I'm with Liza on the rose! The lupines are gorgeous, too. I'm sorry about your neighbors, though. We loved our last apartment back in the nineties if not for the toddler upstairs who never stopped thumping back and forth over our heads, hour upon hour. It was awful, and I'm reminded again just how lucky I am; our home is so peaceful. The only unwelcome noise I hear is a street sweeper passing as I type. :) I hope you get some peace!

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    1. Oh, it isn't quite that bad. I don't live on a busy street and no sidewalks so not too many passer byes. It's only when they dogs see activity, like a walker or biker or when someone comes home. And there's a lot of them! But they're quiet at night thankfully.

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  13. Those poor dogs. Not that I don't have sympathy for you having to put up with their incessant barking, but they probably just want some attention from their people. Maybe some nice walks... a few tosses of the ball or Frisbee every now and then. People who ignore their pets shouldn't have them.

    Your Bruno, on the other hand, is a mighty handsome fella.

    Congrats on the good progress on your manuscript!

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    1. I don't think the guy is mean to the dogs, he's just a yeller and a swearer! I did actually see two of their dogs getting a walk the other day so I think the dogs are just alarmists.

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  14. Bruno is very handsome. Our neighborhood has quite a few barking dogs, including my Franklin who does most of his barking while looking out the living room windows. If he barks for more than a minute and especially if Penelope joins him in barking, I go to the living room to see what's wrong. If the reason for the barking is a cat who has dared to stroll past our house, then we have a quiet talk about barking too much and the dogs join me in the back of the house. I've never heard anyone in my neighborhood yell like that. I feel for you. For me, the yelling would be worse than the barking. I bet the son is embarrassed by his dad. We're fortunate to have a fenced-in backyard with a very tall wood fence and very few spots where the dogs can see through areas between the boards. Black flies are nasty!

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. I agree. the yelling is worse than the barking. And black flies suck!

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  15. Ugh, black flies!
    A friend of mine who used to train dogs for the military told me that yelling at the dog gives the dog positive reinforcement for barking- we're all just barking loudly together, right?
    My little dog loves to bark at anyone coming down our driveway (we live down a gravel driveway) but I have tried the "silent" response to his barking, even not looking at him, and he has calmed down quite a bit. I used to try to "shush" him, but it didn't work well if I got above a whisper of volume. Literally, whispering worked better than speaking and, I admit, I had tried yelling (definitely didn't work).

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    1. I like that - we're all just barking together lol

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  16. Maine in the spring is like South Georgia in the spring--beautiful with flowers, but the camera doesn't catch the bugs that bite. Hope things settle down with your neighbor.

    www.thepulpitandthepen.com

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    1. I don't think he's going to change so it's a matter of acceptance *sigh*

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  17. beautiful views with colorful flowers and lake...
    Hope you settle with you "annoying" neighbor....

    Based on my own experienced, I missed with "noisy" neighbors if they gone....

    Have a wonderful day

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  18. Two of our neighbors (with adjacent back yards) have dogs that like to "fight" through the fence. It's all noise but they manage to sound like an actual dog fight. The first few times it happened, I thought some dog was getting ripped to shreds and went running outside. Now I'm almost used to it. Neither family seems to notice the noise.
    I love Maine. We used to vacation there in the summer when I was a kid and we lived in Mass.

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    1. I suspect they're rather used to the barking, but the dad doesn't like it when the dogs bark at us across the street. I get it, but the profanity isn't helping the dogs get it. But if barking dogs are the only issue, well, I can think of so much worse.

      Maine is lovely this time of year.

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