Seriously?

I named this blog because in reality, living here isn't always easy. I try to keep a positive outlook, but sometimes it's just frustrating.

Last night the guy across the street (who is apparently pretty notorious around town) and another lady got into a scream fest about whether he drives drunk and also about him throwing beer cans in her yard. I'm not sure who she is, she may live on the street behind ours. But she you know, had a point. So then the lady next door to him mentioned here started screaming at her too, telling her she wasn't anybody and it ended with the drunk guy saying he'd kill her. I wanted to call the cops but the original lady disappeared.

Then today some homeless guy knocked on our door, almost letting our dog out of our fenced yard. He kept asking to buy a bike, and eventually Mike sold him one that worked. He kept leaving to go get money and coming up short, and acting like HE was all put out because Mike wanted $60 for the bike. Like, the hell? You came up to US and begged for a bike. He then said he should get a break on the price because "he could've just stolen one from us but didn't." Thanks? For not being a total jerk? Yeah. He is friends with the people across the street (see vignette above).

This is all in the same week that there was a street fight nearby that ended in the arson of a triple-decker. Insane.

I'm glad that we have some good neighbors who have been here awhile and who are nice and don't cause trouble. It's disheartening when troublemakers move in, but that's to be expected in lower middle class neighborhoods with drug/alcohol issues. It seemed like for awhile that Gloucester could be headed in a positive direction, but the economy seems to have stalled that out. Still, this is where I live now, and that's not changing anytime soon.

Anyway, we'll most likely install a moveable gate across the end of the driveway to keep people from entering our driveway/carport at night (stuff's been stolen before), and also so Nathan can play in the driveway without fear of him running into the street.

What Would You Do?

Two nights ago, the first night in oh, months that Nathan slept through the night, we were all woken up at 4:30 AM by a cat screaming.

I panicked thinking it was our cat, but quickly realized that Steven was, as always, sleeping obnoxiously close to my face. I love the cat, and he always sleeps next to me, which is really sweet. Except that after I gave birth, he started sleeping in really irritating positions. Up against my nose. Above my head, like a cat chapeau. Or my favorite - just far enough away so that when I closed my eyes, he inexplicably REACHED OUT TO CLAW MY LOWER LIP.



He looks cute, but oh, how looks are deceiving.

Anyway, it was coming from the alley, I think. The street that runs alongside our house is a court, really, but it's so narrow I refer to it as an alley.. There are four houses on one side, opposite us, right up on the street with no yard, and our property runs along 3/4 of the other side with one house behind us. Our bedroom window and Nathan's window overlook it, and our back deck is close to it as well. So we hear everything.

I got up and looked, but couldn't see a damn thing outside, it being dark and all. The cat was obviously in pain - it sounded like a cat fight, but with one cat. I felt like I should go out and find it, but then I realized... no. The dick part of me said not my cat, not my problem. The people in the house behind us have 5-6 cats they let roam the neighborhood. They're nice enough people, and they've said the cats were all strays, but really it's their job to wake up at 5AM to fetch their sick cats. Undoubtedly they could hear the cat too. I wouldn't expect anyone else to deal with the chickens if there was a middle of the night attack.

In all honesty, though, the biggest part of me not doing anything was the fact that rabies has been an issue here (a rabid animal was once removed from our yard, even). Maybe when I had nothing to lose I would've tried to track the animal down and bring it to a vet or something... but I have a baby and a husband and animals of my own.

So am I an asshole for going back to sleep? I feel like it. I like animals. I love them, I really do. Would you have gone out there and tried to find it?