Neighborhood happenings

First thing I want to mention - the start date of my giveaway will be October 6, 2008. I hope all of you who come by here will be excited about what I'm giving away. As I mentioned before, it's nothing huge, but it should be fun! Look to the right - see that pretty slideshow? ------------------------>
I made all of those. For real. You like?

Second thing - I think I need to re-title my Pos-T-Vac post. I'm getting a bazillion hits from that & I'm not sure if I want horny old guys dropping by & reading how humorous I find their issue.

So, our neighborhood is quiet, almost always. The kids around here are good kids and it is very rare to see cops for any other reason than their regular patrols. This is one of the things I love about where we live.

From my living room window I can see the backyards of at least 10 houses. Not that I'm always watching, but I can see if I want to - aside from the yards with the 6 foot wood fences.

On the east side, there are 5 houses & in the middle one resides a high school kid. For the last 3 years (almost, about) he and several of his friends have been playing football in those 2 middle yards - his back yard & his neighbor's. They don't play every week or even every month, but they play quite a few times a year. In that time, nothing eventful has happened, they play, have fun & go home.

Til Sunday afternoon. I did not see it happen, but I heard (& it's not as big a deal as the suspense might be telling you). Someone threw a pass and another kid went to catch it crashing hard into my closest neighbor's fence. The house on the corner with a 6 foot wooden fence. The fence broke. Not broke down, but it cracked along the lower brace (or whatever you call it) and across a couple of the slats.

The boys didn't go knock on the door or anything. They pretty much just all exclaimed a collective "whoooooa!" and went right on playing. If anything, I don't think they realized they busted it up a little. I didn't notice, but I wasn't paying all that much attention, I just went to see what the ruckus was.

After about a half hour, I'm at my computer (which sits in the corner with a clear view of all that's going on) and I see the neighbors with the broken fence talking to the kids. It seems harmless & they seem to be working something out. I hear one of the boys mention something about fixing the fence and calling his dad. I stop paying attention & a little while later, I see a cop come along.

After a few minutes of chatting with the boys & the cop, the lady across the street seems to be getting heated. I can only observe her movements, but she's more animated for sure - shaking her head no & throwing her hands in the air, that kind of thing. I actually hear one of the boys say "..you were just being nice about it over there...why all of a sudden..." and he points to where they chatted before the cop got there. (the boys were facing our house & the woman was facing the boys - it's easier to hear what's carried in the voices facing towards our house)

You know I'm nosy into this now & I can only hear little bits & pieces. At one point the lady exclaims "..but this is my backyard! Can't you go play somewhere else..." Huh? It wasn't her backyard they were playing in - it was her neighbor's & one of the high school boy's yards - & in 3 years, this is the first of any kind of incident.

I think one of their parents showed up, but I was kinda pissed at this point. At the neighbor, not the kids. I believe he agreed (this parent) to get the boys what they needed to fix the fence.

Needless to say, the boys spent the rest of the day working on that fence & worked well into dark. Like I said, these are good boys.

I know for a fact that I wouldn't have called the police. I would have gone over & talked to them to see their reaction first & from what I saw, these boys were willing to make amends before the cop got there. I think these people called the police before they even talked to the boys. If they called after, that makes them even dumber because I heard the one boy talk about fixing the fence & calling his dad.

These boys don't cause trouble, I've never seen anyone go out & yell at them or ask them not to play there, I've never heard anything more than them playing football & having a good, harmless time.

My question to you is - would you have called the police or would you have gone out to talk to them to see what they were willing to do? Keep in mind, our neighborhood is hella quiet. The most noise comes from kids playing & the steel mill behind our house. The kids around here are good & there have been no incidents that I'm aware of concerning any of them. I hear about stuff like that because I have an 8th grader in a very small town with a school that houses the elementary, the middle school & the high school in one building.

I guess this was the talk in the school on Monday because Kyle came home & told me all about it.