Damn kids! Get off my lawn!!
I was sitting on a stool in the kitchen earlier, waiting for the phone to ring because I'd sent an email to the guy at Kaplan U. saying I was quitting before I started, in favor of community college. So I hear these voices behind me, coming in through the screen door on the slider out onto the deck. I don't think anything of it, the neighbors have kids, and they've been cooped up indoors during the monsoon we've had this past week.

But Dan looks out, and says ok, don't panic. And I notice that these aren't the shrieks of 4 and 6 year olds, these are the calm voices of maybe 12 year olds. I look. They're two girls, maybe 12 years old, definitely not the neighbors' little ones, on our side of the drainage pond. One is twirling a branch of something.

You would think that 12 years old is old enough to know not to go walking down onto someone else's property, right? But this always happens to us. Just because it looks nice, because we keep it up by mowing it, they think it's a freaking park for them to stroll in? Our freaking *well* is right there! Then they always go all the way to the pond, and that's where we have the fire pit set up...

I hate that our privacy is continually violated like this! And Dan thinks it's fine, they're just kids.. But I've caught a mother just coming back from bringing her children from a stroll down to our pond one day. Oh hai! Don't mind me, I just live here.

I need to figure out a way to discourage these hooligans! Without planting bushes or something that Dan will have to mow around, without putting up "PRIVATE PROPERTY VIOLATORS WILL BE SHOT" signs.. And really, we only own half of the pond and up to half of the ditch that leads to it..

I don't know. Technically, the Town is supposed to take care of the ditch and pond and up to 10' around them because they're for runoff from the road. And most people on our road, they just leave their ponds and ditches for the Town to deal with whenever they feel like dealing with. But not us. We've taken care of ours since the beginning. Does that mean everyone else gets to come on down and hang out? I say fuck no!

We do have a group for our neighborhood on Facebook. I suppose I could mention something there. Even if the perps aren't in the group, I know there's at least one mom that is, and she may mention it to other moms on the road when she's up at the bus stop, who may mention to other moms..

I just don't understand why these people feel like they have the freedom to come on down. You know? And how infuriating it is, when Dan is ok with it. Because in any other situation, especially social programs, where someone else might benefit from his property, he gets *all* up in arms about. It's just stupefying. I guess it's probably just as funny to him, because I can get behind social programs like universal health care, but not letting neighborhood kids into my yard. *lol*