Crazy Neighbor Lady Chronicles; Volume 4

Remember the Crazy Lady next door?

Well, ladies and gentlemen...she strikes again.

I was babysitting the other night when Mattie (who is the normal and fun lady next door) texted me.

"There is another note taped 2 her tree. I'm afraid 2 look"

Of course I urged her to look at it, and later on I get another message:

"It was about the tree."

Huh?

I was thinking dog poop...cars...perhaps a request to remove the squirrel that continually pelts the cars...a hate letter about Mattie or me...

My response was

"Sounds about right."

So I called her a bit later and she told me it wasn't written on normal paper. We spent some time upon returning from work the next day trying to figure out exactly WHAT it was and finally decided it was a towel like you would wash your car with.

(We couldn't just go up and touch it. She was home and the blinds were open. Cra-zy doesn't need any encouragement to come out and start a conversation with us.)

Later that night, under cover of darkness and noting that her blinds were closed I touched it and confirmed that our conclusion was indeed correct.

So the question is...

does it make her MORE crazy or less that she had the forethought to write it on something like that just in case it rained?

You want to see the note you say?

All right then.



Note the size of that tree, ok?

Now here's the note:

"Unless you have an order to cut down this tree, please just trim off the dead parts. I changed my mind as it does provide some shade & helps keep heat out.
Do you have an ordet order to cut down the tree (bush should be) at side of house. I hope so.
Any question, knock on 725 door. Thanks"

Uh...last time I checked the yard crew/association doesn't communicate via notes. Nor take orders from residents to cut down trees if they're not damaging anything or in danger of falling on our roof.

And it's been there...at this point...for a full WEEK. It's HUGE. I've had 3 people come to my house in the last week whose first words were "What is THAT?"

It's in front of MY parking space.

Can I leave a note asking for no more crazy please?

Oh well. Gives me something to blog about.

Thursday's Ten

This is my first ever Thursday's Ten that YOU get to link up to!

I'm going to try to make a button for this little meme soon...but I'm pretty positive that one of my readers would be much more suited to this task, so if you have any suggestions about templates/websites to use for it PLEASE let me know!

Today's theme is a pretty easy one, I think.

Fall

10 things you love (or hate) about this season!
(if you're in another season, you can write about that...or you can choose not to follow the theme at all! Just please participate with your own list of ten things!)

Things About Fall in Tennessee

1. Lots of orange...not only in the trees but on the TN Vols fans!
2. Titans stadium is packed for every game, and early services at area churches see a big boost since people want to be there (or at home) for kickoff!
3. Squirrels throw acorns at you
(or at least the one that lives in the tree between my neighbor Mattie and myself does...)
4. It finally gets to be nearly perfect weather. Humidity is down, but there's still a nice warmth in the air
5. I finally get to pull out all my fun fall clothing!
6. AND I have an excuse to buy a couple of new items in the "new fall colors"
(which have been nearly the same for years, but who cares?)
7. Pumpkin spice lattes are back!
8. Less sun = more hiking with the boyfriend
(right honey?!)
9. Regular TV comes back, thank goodness
10. Soups are back in season. I LOVE me some good soup!

Also, school starts again, and while that means no traffic, it also means no teenyboppers at Target on my lunch break...which is rather nice!

So...that's it! Please sign Mcklinky and join in!!!

The Crazy Lady Chronicles: Volumes 1, 2 and 3.

I live in a pretty great neighborhood. I own a townhome in a quiet little subdivision. When I moved in, I was among the first of my generation to buy in the neighborhood, so it was just me and a bunch of little old ladies/gentlemen (and a few baby boomers scattered in). Over the last 5 years, more of that has shifted and while people my age are still scarce, it isn't all elderly people either. I have a few friends in the neighborhood (I've blogged about Erin). On one side of me is Mattie, who is wonderful and fun. On the other side is the woman I've dubbed "Crazy Neighbor Lady", known to her friends as Jean.

My first inkling that something was a little off with her happened in conversations we would have as she was sweeping off the sidewalk in front of her condo and I would be walking in. However, the first "INCIDENT" happened about a year and a half ago.

Volume 1:

I live 4 minutes from the airport and friends of mine often park in my other designated space (I own 2) when flying out so as not to pay astronomical parking fees. Crazy Neighbor Lady had been in her home about 2-3 months when a friend parked in my space for a week and a half while she was in Arizona. About day 8 this note appeared on my front door:
Just in case you can't read it, with original spelling and punctuation:
Laural (I believe your Name is):
Do you know who the car belongs to next to us. Ist does not bother me but has been there for awhile. & it occured to me it could be a stolen car. If you are a ware of the one, it belongs to, all is fine. Call me at xxx-xxxx if you do not know owner.
Thanks.
Jean M
xxx Kent

Because we all know that car thieves park their bounty in random neighborhoods.

Volume 2:

I don't have any photographic evidence to back this one up, this is simply a conversation we had. This is the main reason that when I see her out and about I ALWAYS pick up my cell phone and pretend to have a conversation. I am not the sort of person to do that regularly, so that's a huge deal.

(I'm unpacking the car from a shopping trip)
CNL: Lorie/Lorah! Lorie!
(she always starts conversations like this. As evidenced above, she has no idea what my name is.)
LorA: hi...
CNL: Hi Lorie. I just wanted to mention that the other day when I was peeking over the fence into your backyard...
(WHOA. Who *does* that? Who ADMITS they do that? And who blatantly TELLS the person they're spying on that they do that?)
The rest of the conversation was something about me not locking my gate one day and she was concerned....um, yeah. I'm sure she was just pissed I hadn't also left the back door unlocked so she could get in.

Volume 3:

I was talking to Barb, another friend in the neighborhood the other day and she asked me if I had seen THE NOTE. I said no, and she informed me that I needed to take a little hike down to the end of the sidewalk in front of CNL's house. There I found a teensy tiny piece of poo and this note, in a sandwich bag under a rock. I went back and took a picture for you all later (no poo, it was gone) and I even got brave enough to bring the note in and scan it. lol. I'm pretty sure it's easily read.



Ok, yes. Poo should not be on the sidewalk. But her complaint about it being in the grass is moot since she happens to live right next to the common area they are supposed to poop in. And it's not like we're talking about a huge specimen here, it was literally smaller than my pinky finger. In the time it took her to write the note, seal it in a plastic bag, and find a rock to weigh it down...she could have just scooted it off the sidewalk.

Sigh.

Please tell me I'm not the only one with a crazy neighbor?

I'm sure there will be more volumes to tell in the Crazy Neighbor Lady Chronicles. Stay tuned.