The Swamp

Maybe I should rename this AB's odd little neighborhood.

So yesterday I am cutting my lawn. A couple drives up to the stopsign by my house (see previous posts for further elucidation) in a F150. No biggie, until the woman in passenger side gets out and walks back down the street. I don't recognize these people I should also say. Anyway, she comes back in a couple o f minutes driving a different car. The guy driving the truck gets out, gets a car seat out of the back and then puts that in the other car. No big deal. Then they drive off in the second vehicle, leaving the F-150 in the road. I don't think much of it, figure that they ran out of gas or something and are coming right back. So I finish cutting the grass, probably 15-20 minutes go by. I walked up to the truck and looked in, nothing in there at all, just sitting there locked.

I get my stuff put up, go inside, finish a beer, talk to the woman, etc. Look back out. Still there. There is a gas station about 2 minutes away by car either direction, so that really can't be it at this point. This is where I point out that the car is literally stopped in the road just as if you pulled up to a stop sign and were waiting to turn. A few feet off the curb, clearly in the road and not parked. A couple of people have pulled up behind them, thinking they were waiting to turn only to realize there was no one in the car and that they needed to go around. The f150 does not have its hazard lights on. It is parked, with the doors locked, in the road.

I mean, I appreciate him coming to a full stop and all, but 40 minutes is long even for me.

The wife and I are getting ready to pick the kids up, but she has to finish some work. Emboldened by my talk to the non-emergency line at the police last week I go ahead and call it in. The lady on the phone thinks it's a bit odd, makes sure I am telling her it is in the road and not parked, and this is probably nothing for that job, but hey, it's weird to me and while it hasn't caused any real traffic problems yet, it could.

Fast forward an hour, we have picked up the kids and dinner and get back home. The truck is there, flanked by a squad car and a tow truck. Presumably the cop didn't turn on the flashers and come screaming into the neighborhood so I anticipate some kind of delay, so this truck probably sat there for 50-60 minutes at least before the cop arrived.

The guy who was driving the F 150 earlier (he was a big fat dude in a pink shirt, so easy to remember) is talking to the tow truck driver and there is paperwork being filled out. Within 10 minutes of us being home the truck is up on the tow and everyone is gone.

So, did I overreact? To me this couple had the opportunity to do three things:

1) Put the truck in neutral and roll it back down the incline it was on into a parked position along the curb. This happens fairly often in the neighborhood, and I wouldnt' think anything about it at least until this afternoon when I get home. A parked car isn't a big deal until it sits for a while. This is both the simplest option and the least suspicious.

2) Talked to me about what was going on. While I was cutting the grass, they - but especially the woman - kept looking over at me. Like she wanted to say something, but that might be me projecting. At his point I would have suggested doing #1. But they could have told me, hey the engine blew, or whatever that they didn't want to move it, at which point I would have suggested #3.

3)Turn the fucking hazard lights on.

So what say the swamp...is AB justified or is AB getting all get off my lawn (street) with it?

Completely justified. Keep up the good work. Make Ehmurica safe again.

duff wrote:Completely justified. Keep up the good work. Make Ehmurica safe again.

Agreed.

Snitches get stitches, yo.

One of the couple could've have just stayed with the truck.

The fact that they didn't bother to park it at the curb completely justifies you.

I would have called, but only because the truck was in the middle of the road. Since you said other cars waited behind it, that warrants a call.

P.D.X. wrote:One of the couple could've have just stayed with the truck.

Looking at AB probably scared them off.

It's just an asshole move to begin with. Fuck 'em.

Also, a move like that could set off a combat vet. You don't abandon a vehicle like that.

Yeah, abandoned vehicle in the middle of the road. You waited a perfectly normal amount of time. But sooner or later you have to call the cops if the car is in the middle of the road essentially.

Completely justified.

I do things like that all the time - and watch the neighbours' houses when they are out of town.

Neighbour across the road was robbed a couple of weeks ago at 2 in the afternoon. Who knows if another neighbour saw something weird and didn't call the police?

The way I look at it is that I know and kind of like most of the people who live around me. I know their kids, their dogs etc., and feel a responsibility to report weird things to protect them (and us).

More people should get involved.

"Oh look, the volunteer traffic cop is now also volunteer parking enforcement, what a fucking dick" is something they definitely didn't say when you called.

Pruitt wrote:Completely justified.

I do things like that all the time - and watch the neighbours' houses when they are out of town.

Neighbour across the road was robbed a couple of weeks ago at 2 in the afternoon. Who knows if another neighbour saw something weird and didn't call the police?

The way I look at it is that I know and kind of like most of the people who live around me. I know their kids, their dogs etc., and feel a responsibility to report weird things to protect them (and us).

More people should get involved.

Co-signed due to laziness.

mister d wrote:"Oh look, the volunteer traffic cop is now also volunteer parking enforcement, what a fucking dick" is something they definitely didn't say when you called.

You know they didn't ask for any information at all. I assume they had a phone number show up, but it is registered under my work's company name.

Just teasing, dude. Don't report me.

Even the teen knows the protocol. We'll see if she destroys the mailbox on the way out.

A_B wrote:

mister d wrote:"Oh look, the volunteer traffic cop is now also volunteer parking enforcement, what a fucking dick" is something they definitely didn't say when you called.

You know they didn't ask for any information at all. I assume they had a phone number show up, but it is registered under my work's company name.

My department doesn't have caller ID on our nonemergency lines. If you don't give us your information, we don't have it.

Also, this was a completely reasonable thing to report. It is their job to triage the calls; you're not going to delay response to something more critical with your suspicious vehicle complaint.

So fuck what I assume to be one person in my neighboorhood. There's little piles of dog shit accumulating around a lightpole next to where I park my car each night. All similar piles, and I assume dogs can be creatures of habit. Why can't you pick up your dogshit you fucking reject? I don't even begin to know about how to catch them.

Get some gloves, spell out "FUCK YOU" with the turds.

You could tape a note to the light post that says "Your dog does nice shits thank you for them". Most normal people would atleast think "ok, someone's noticed" and move on to another spot.

mister d wrote: ↑Fri Feb 16, 2018 8:40 am You could tape a note to the light post that says "Your dog does nice shits thank you for them". Most normal people would atleast think "ok, someone's noticed" and move on to another spot.

OOOOOH. I probably won't use "shit" but I like this route.

We lived in an apartment surrounded by mostly college students when we first moved to town that had a nice .5 mile loop where everyone would jog/walk their dog. When the snow melted in spring it was easy to see that many residents had not picked up during their walks. One day we came out to find all the dog shit had been spray painted orange and there were maybe 50 signs along the side of the road telling people to don't be lazy and pick up their shit. This continued all summer. The colors even changed to yellow and then red. We moved after a year or so and it was still being painted. I should really drive through that neighborhood and see if the shit painter is still on the job.

We can debate what time is appropriate to cut your grass. But we can all agree that 730 on a Saturday is too early, right?

Unless they’re using scissors, yes.

A_B wrote: ↑Sat Jul 07, 2018 7:47 am We can debate what time is appropriate to cut your grass. But we can all agree that 730 on a Saturday is too early, right?

100%.

Renos have been going on in my neighbourhood for a while. Sometimes roofers and others start at 6:30 or so in the morning.

Oh yes. Way too early. I'm trying to think of the exact times, but German villages had a specific timeframe of when one could cut grass so that you didn't affect quiet hours.

I’m pretty sure my town has an 8:00 AM rule.

mister d wrote: ↑Sat Jul 07, 2018 11:17 am I’m pretty sure my town has an 8:00 AM rule.

My town has an 8:00 am rule, too. Which is important, in a town where there currently is a remodel ongoing on almost every single block (no exaggeration), and less than half the people cut their own grass. (Damn right, I do!)

Oh man, chalk up another one in Las Vegas' favor. If you can't have grass in your yard, no way you're getting woken up early in the morning.

brian wrote: ↑Sat Jul 07, 2018 12:23 pm Oh man, chalk up another one in Las Vegas' favor. If you can't have grass in your yard, no way you're getting woken up early in the morning.

Xeriscape is life.

brian is going to have to bite his tongue the next time a neighbor gets a dumptruck full of front “lawn” delivered at 7am on a mild winter day.

And yeah, us East coast liberals have noise ordinances.

It woke up three of the four people in he house. Two of those got back to sleep. The other one needed an extra coffee.

rass wrote: ↑Sat Jul 07, 2018 4:29 pm brian is going to have to bite his tongue the next time a neighbor gets a dumptruck full of front “lawn” delivered at 7am on a mild winter day.

And yeah, us East coast liberals have noise ordinances.

Is that something I complained about? Because I can totally seen that (though I’ve had it done at my house too).

I’m up early, the yard’s pretty big, the sun’s been up for like 3 hours and it’s gonna be 97 degrees soon. Fuck you, I won’t mow when they tell me.

Ryan wrote: ↑Sat Jul 07, 2018 6:46 pm I’m up early, the yard’s pretty big, the sun’s been up for like 3 hours and it’s gonna be 97 degrees soon. Fuck you, I won’t mow when they tell me.

This is the correct answer. The only good time for mowing, or any other yard work, during the sweltering summers we get in St. Louis is around 7 or 8 a.m.

Ryan wrote: ↑Sat Jul 07, 2018 6:46 pm I’m up early, the yard’s pretty big, the sun’s been up for like 3 hours and it’s gonna be 97 degrees soon. Fuck you, I won’t mow when they tell me.

Mowing in the name of...

Toros on Parade

Ryan wrote: ↑Sat Jul 07, 2018 7:55 pmToros on Parade

Gold star