crazy

I am feeling totally off and weirded out because an insane neighbor from the street behind us came over and literally started screaming at me on my front porch. Never mind that I was holding Mia and my friend was just leaving and trapped by her on the porch. First she sped around the corner, parked her car and walked down our driveway to the back yard like she owned the place before stomping up to my front door. She ranted and raved about our dog barking and how we have to train her or have her debarked because she sounds like she's from the pit of hell. I am actually laughing a bit now as I put that last bit in writing, which is a welcome relief.

Yes, my dog barks but she is outside for very short periods of the day and if she gets too hyped up we bring her in. She is a beagle and she sniffs and bays. Really though, she sleeps the vast majority of the day and is in bed for the night by 8pm. This neighborhood is full of dogs, many of whom bark much more frequently. I have had my own issues with the constantly yapping little dogs that live 5 feet from the head of our bed but I had a respectful conversation with our neighbor and we worked some things out. I would have been happy to have a civil conversation with the woman but when I asked her to calm down and talk she yelled "NO!"

I am actually quite accommodating and often do more than I should to make other people happy. If she had given me half a chance I would have probably committed to doing more than was reasonable to make her life easier. Instead, she threw out a bunch of lies about how we leave dee dee outside when we leave (never, ever!) and the like and when I calmly tried to explain reality to her she just yelled that I was lying. What. The. Fuck. Seriously, we have good relationships with everyone on our street and the neighbors who were out across the street, with their little kids and Henry who heard all of this, said they almost called the police.

I did call the police, after the fact. I just wanted to see what I should do to document the incident incase it escalates. His first question was "did you close the door?" No, I tried to engage her for far too long. He recommended just closing the door and said "that's the beauty of living in the United States, you don't have to deal with crazy people at your door." Hmmm. I hadn't thought of it like that but, okay. I looked into the animal control (her threat) rules, which I already knew from my own previous research, and there is no way in hell we are in violation. The nut also kept yelling about how she had come to talk to me a year ago, when really, she and her (stinking) drunk boyfriend came over and walked into our back gate (6+ foot fence) and started slurring about all of the dog barking. At the time our next door neighbor's dog did bark a lot when left home alone and we thought they were just mixed up and crazy.

Now I think she is just crazy and crazy and I am a little nervous she is going to do something scary. Someone who goes up to a stranger's house and just yells for 10 minutes straight without even an interest in a discussion is unstable and not someone I ever want to see again. Unfortunately, I can see her house from here. The thing that really pisses me off is how crappy I now feel and that Henry keeps asking me "why that lady came over and yelled at you."