Continuing driveway saga and more...

 The irritation continues and gets worse.  A couple weeks ago, the neighbor's only vehicle got stolen right off the street in front of Marcy's house.  At 7:30 that morning, I hear a raucous BANG-BANG-BANG on my front door.  I was still sleeping, or more or less dozing in my chair in my easy-going wake-up process... and came popping out of the chair, looking out the door and there was Terrance.  I cracked the storm door, in my jammies mind you, and said "what's up"?  He said, "Sorry for getting you up (at least he could tell!) but our vehicle is missing and I'm wondering if you saw anything overnight?"  I glanced over where it's usually parked (facing the wrong direction) and said, "No, I saw it there when I went to bed."  I wish I'd thought to say, "Did you check to see if it got towed for facing the wrong way?"

Anyway, he was wondering if I had cameras that might have caught the perpetrators, and I said I do have cameras but they face my door. A day or so later, they were out front and I asked if they'd heard anything about their vehicle and they said they found someone a few doors down that had a camera that caught someone pulling up in a light colored sedan and a few minutes later, both vehicles driving off.  Of course, no clarity on the license plate.  

Within several days, they show up with another vehicle I suppose they bought to replace the suburban - a chevy equinox, I believe.  It's kind of loud, like the muffler is going out, so I hear it every time they start the car.  And they went back to parking on the lawn and coming through my driveway.  Last Sunday, he knocked on my door and I came out.  "What's up?" He says, "I just want you to know I'm going to be parking in the yard again.  I'm afraid to leave it on the street since it was stolen out there."  I told him it didn't seem likely it would happen again since I've been here for 38 years and never heard of ANY of my neighbors ever having a vehicle stolen... unless of course he thought it may be someone he knew messing with him.  He told me they moved here from Spencer, Iowa and really don't know anyone...

I said, "Well, you DO know it's illegal to park on the yard, don't you?"  He shrugged and said, "The cops told me they really can't do anything about it."  I said, "Well, whatever, just don't use my driveway."  He said, "How am I supposed to get there?"  I said, "Over the curb, of course."  "I'm not gonna do that."  I said, "Dude, it's MY driveway, stay off it!  You don't have the right to damage MY driveway!"  Of course, he launched into that spiel about just driving over it for one second and how can that do damage.  I said, "OMG, didn't you read my email?"  He acknowledged he'd read it - I explained all of that in there - what a dunce!  "I said, "Oh, are you offering to help pay for the damage when it's time to fix it again?"  His moronic response was, "Are you going to help pay for the damage to my car from going over the curb?"  I said, "It's MY FUCKING DRIVEWAY and you do NOT have the right to use it!"  To which he shrugged his shoulders and said, "Well, I'm gonna."  And he walked away.

I'm surprised I didn't just explode and make a terrible mess all over my porch!  My BP was probably off the charts.  What a entitled fucking prick.  I came in and called the cops to see what I can do.  They suggested I call the mayor's hotline and report the parking on the yard, which will start a process of stopping the behavior.  I did that the next morning - they said first, they send them a notice to stop.  Then they ticket them.  After that, they tow them and will continue to do that until it stops.  And you can believe me that I will be calling every single time I see them on the lawn when it gets to that point!

And as if all of that isn't bad enough, it seems they have had more people move in with them.  Now there's some guy who comes and goes who has a pit bull that gets tied up in the back yard.  He drives a big old suburban like vehicle.  And there's a mini van, both of which are packed in the "driveway of death".  And now there's someone who drives a Jeep renegade staying there as well.  I have no idea how many people are living over there now, but I would say more than 4 adults and I have no idea how many kids...

Tomorrow, I'm going to call a fence company and see what it would take to have a gate put across my driveway.  Yes, it will be a HUGE pain in MY ass to have to open, exit, park, close and lock it and leave, and do the same thing in reverse when I come home.  But it will be so worth it to win this battle!  Today is Easter Sunday and he has come and gone at least a dozen times - I'm sure he's really fucking up that lawn royally as it's been raining all day.  I haven't been hearing back from the property manager and I'm pretty frustrated with him not helping.  With a little luck, maybe he's trying to evict them...

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And now it's Monday and I woke to the news that the Pope passed away overnight.  This is quite a shock after he was well enough to offer a blessing on Easter Sunday and make an appearance in the Pope-mobile.  Then he dies overnight, as if he was holding out for Easter.  I think this is evidence that we do have a hand in when we transition.  I think Mark's mom did the same thing - she was in the hospital, and it really didn't seem like it was that dire.  She had ALS and had fallen, but I honestly think she saw that fall as the beginning of the end and took it as an opportunity to "get out" before it got worse.  It was Dec. 19th, and we had the holiday party at our business that night and we went - I felt I should be there as one of the owners, and Mark said he would go as well since his mom had Bernie there with her.  We saw her the next day (which was Mark's birthday), but she had fallen unconscious... I don't remember what their explanation was, but I remember wondering if she would be going home...  We went back the next day and things were the same.  We spent some time there and stepped out for some lunch, but when we got back, she had passed.  I think she had held out to get past Mark's birthday (imagine having that memory every birthday for the rest of your life...) and waited until we weren't there.  

Anyway, I find it fascinating that he made it through what he perceived as the most significant religious day, then let go to join Jesus within hours.  WOW.  I am so happy for him to have made the transition, but terribly sad for the world losing such a good man.  He made the world a better place, defying the religious right who condemn people for being WHO they are.  It seemed like we were moving in the direction of tolerance, and then Trump and his cronies have pushed and pushed to exclude everyone who isn't what THEY perceive as "normal". I imagine the Pope had a lot of frustration at the backsliding of our country.  We can only hope they choose another progressive Pope!

I guess I didn't get back to this one or get it published last time, so I'll do it now so that I can start a new one...