An eye in the sky

We've got some new entertainment in our little cul-de-sac. As most of you know, we just moved into a new house in a new neighborhood. We've met quite a number of the neighbors on our street, and they're great. It's quite a diverse group. There's a wide range of careers, backgrounds, and ethnicities represented. And quite a lot of kids and pets. Our little cul-de-sac seems to have evolved into the perfect snapshot of America.

Now enter the freaks. And apparantly they are taking the picture.

The week after we moved in, a young couple moved into the house across the cul-de-sac from us. It was the final house in the area and we were all waiting to meet them as well.

Except they never came out.

Unless it was when they bolted out the door when their next door neighbor started up his lawnmower. They ran right up to him to show him exactly where the property line was so he didn't accidentally mow their lawn. (When we heard this, several of us offered to let him mow our lawns instead...)

Or unless it was when they were getting into their car, backing out of their driveway, and then barrelling down the road at 55mph to the stopsign. And then off to who knows where.

That last one pissed me off since I happened to be standing by my mailbox taking out the trash for one occurance. She didn't miss me by more than the width of her sideview mirror. So the next time I saw them, I confronted them. I told them they can't be driving like that, there's 20-25 kids that live around here, and 4 of them are mine. They tried to defend themselves by first apologizing, and then saying the kids were unsupervised, wandering freely. I quickly shot back, first of all, mine aren't, and that doesn't excuse you driving like you do. They then tried to say "and there are lots of dogs roaming around too." I once again said "Mine's not. Stay on task here. Speed limit is 15, not 55. Don't do it again." And I walked away.

What the hell? What did this young guy and his fiance expect when moving into a cul-de-sac with big homes? Parents seek out cul-de-sacs with big homes when they need the space for children and pets and want to let their kids play outside without the fear of speeding cars.

Anyway, I did my good deed for the day.

But then it gets stranger. These same neighbors installed a pair of video cameras on the front of their house, and apparantly one in the back. These aren't the standard still cameras that point at your front door watching for any activity. They are clearly high end motion-sensitive. If you walk down the road in front of their driveway or house, the cameras follow you.

That's just weird. And against the homeowner's policy. One of our other neighbors was so bothered by this she confronted them. They told her that they get "expensive packages" delivered from UPS and while they didn't think anyone was going to mess with them, they just wanted protection.

Sorry, not buying it. If they wanted to watch their front door, then point the camera at your porch, not the street. They don't need to be watching people walk up and down the road. Especially children. Who knows what kind of pervs they are?

Furthermore, their driveway - and hence their cameras - point at our house. Specifically they point towards our Master Bedroom and Bathroom windows. Who knows if they are watching us? (If they are, K said she wants a copy of the tape for our collection, but that's another story.)

OK, she didn't say that. And she'll probably kick my ass now.

But the bottom line is that it's weird. And it needs to go away. There are already 6 homeowners that have called to complain. And we've sent in a certified letter.

However, until it happens K and I were talking about a way to have fun with this. To make it known the neighbors aren't happy with them and their spying. So we decided that each night for a week we are going to do something different for their viewing entertainment.

Night #1: All of the neighbors are going to line up in front of their driveway and do dances like the Macarena and the electric slide for an hour.

Night #2: All the neighbors are going to walk the streets like zombies with their arms outstretched.

Night #3: We are going to all stare back. We are going to bring out every telescope and binocular and camcorder we can find, line them up in front of their house, and aim them back at them.

Night #4: We are all going to wear pantyhose on our head and pretend we're sneaking around to steal something.

Night #5: We are all going to ride bicycles up and down the road.

Night #6: We are going to wear women's clothes

and Night #7: We are going to dress in military camoflauge, set up a giant bunker, arm ourselves with Nerf guns, and lay seige to their property.

How long do you think it will take before they get the point? :)