BEN'S WAR!!!

It all began the weekend of July 4th...the new neighbors moved in across the street, and everything was fine and dandy. Until of course, a few weeks went by, and we began to notice that these new neighbors were using our front yard as a permanent parking spot for one of their 4 cars. While I found this to be slightly rude and obnoxious, Ben found it enraging. And so the war began...

Ben's first tactical step (Phase 1) was to combine forces with our side neighbor, and block their car in with our trash cans on trash day. In which case, the new neighbors moved our trash cans into the middle of the street in retaliation. Needless to say, Ben was even further enraged, but we couldn't possibly just go and talk to the new neighbors about the situation. So we moved into what Ben called "Phase 2."

"Phase 2" consisted of parking my car in front of our house, so that they could no longer park there. Of course, we could not park Ben's car out there, because it might get scratched being parked on the street. But apparently my non-air conditioned '92 Cavalier is street worthy. So sadly it went to the street, and the new neighbors began parking in front of our "2 doors down" neighbor's house. So we felt it was safe to move my car back into it's spot in the garage. Surely, they had gotten the message.

Then the "2 doors down" neighbor retaliated by parking their car in front of the new neighbor's house. Meaning the new neighbors returned to parking their car in front of our home. Ben was furious!!! I told Ben he should go and talk to these neighbors, and politely explain that we did not want them to park in front of our house. (But Ben is a man, so we could not do that.) So Ben spent the next few weeks bitching everyday after work about the "disrespectful" new neighbors, and how ignorant they were to not notice that everyone was pissed off about the parking situation. He did this until he finally decided to repark my car out front, because "if anyone is going to park in front of our house it is gonna be us." Which was "Phase 3!!!"

So my car went back in front of our house in a more permanent state. Several times I have left to go the store or run errands, and when I returned they were back in front of our house. When this happens Ben glares through the front door peep hole to see when they leave again, so that he can quickly park my car outside before they return. This also means that when I do have to leave the house, I must return home in a different route than usual, so that I can glide back into the spot in front of our house more easily. (I love that I have become involved in this little charades.) In fact, one time I returned home when the new neighbors were outside. They stood on the end of their driveway staring at me like I was the scum of the earth as I parked my car in front of my own house. I thought they were waiting for me to get out of the car, so they could confront me, and that I was going to be drawn into Ben's War even further. But all they did was stand there giving me the stink eye.

In the meantime, the new neighbors have parked their cars in front of several other people's houses, and now the entire neighborhood is parking in the street instead of in their own driveway or garages to keep the new neighbors from using their homes for personal parking spots. All the while Ben is steaming about these "idiot" neighbors, and every night I get to listen to an ear full of cuss words. (I desperately try to cover my belly, so Jovi doesn't hear this awful language, ha ha.)

While I find this entire thing ridiculous...I do not understand how these new neighbors have not noticed how much this irritates the entire neighborhood. How do they not see that people have started parking in the streets to protect their homes from falling victim to the car junk yard these people have created? How do they not notice that people have started going out of their way to park their cars in front of THE NEW NEIGHBOR'S house to prove a point? In the past month or so the new neighbors have probably had 12 different neighborhood cars parked in front of their home. Could the neighborhood make their point any clearer? Which is why Ben keeps getting angrier and angrier. And that led to "Phase 4"....

As I mentioned before, these new neighbors have 4 cars. What I did not mention was that 2 of these cars do not even run. One of them is on cinder blocks with a tarp over it in the driveway, and the other is taken apart in the middle of the street in front of their house. And the two running cars are parked somewhere along the street where ever they can squeeze them in front of another neighbor's house. And any neighbor that dares to leave for work or an errand comes home to one of these cars being parked in front of their home. Well, it came to Ben's attention that our HOA has a rule that no one can have non-running cars parked in the driveway or on the street. They must be parked in the garage, and these people have rows of shelves in their garage. And I mean rows, it looks like a damn grocery store in there. So Ben initiated "Phase 4" by emailing the HOA and reporting the situation. The HOA responded, and said they would take photographs and review ASAP.

That leads to today...Isaac was barking like crazy, so I went to see what all the commotion was about. The new neighbors had a U-Haul out front, and were loading up their stuffed garage. Of course, I called Ben to report the newest info, and he is ecstatic. Hopefully, this means they will be moving their non-running cars into the garage, the streets will become clear again, and Ben's War will finally come to an end. Not to mention our innocent little Jovi will not have to endure any more of her father's cussing rants. :)