what was the line about good neighbors and good fences?

Although my neighbors' houses are mostly similar to mine - circa 1920s bungalows - a few horrid McMansions were built before the neighborhood went Conservation District. The only one on my block is about three doors down.

The current owners are the type who, although obviously moneyed, can never bother to repair anything themselves. Neither can they be bothered to walk their dog.  This has resulted in the dog occasionally running amok, as their back yard's wooden gate is hanging from its hinges and doesn't close. 

Although the dog hasn't attacked any of my porch cats - or me - he chases off the cats, eats any cat food on the porch, and breaks a flower pot now and again. After several months of this, the dog finally pissed me off enough for me to complain as person. Yesterday evening he destroyed my screen door while attempting to antagonize my indoor cats.

Unfortunately, the only person at home was the daughter. A typical sorority-pledging, too much makeup, clueless type. She claimed to have no knowledge of the broken gate.

But when we took a walk outdoors to inspect, things took a turn for the worse, as I stupidly offered to repair the gate. (This would take me all of 10 minutes.) The silly bitch took mysterious offense to this suggestion, and the conversation quickly became nonsensical.

Reasons for the gate not being repaired included:

• My father has been out of work for three years.
• We can't afford to repair it. (So why not let me fix it, I wondered.)
• The gardeners (notice the plural?) keep leaving it open. Kind of kills that "can't afford repairs" excuse, don't it?
• She didn't like my attitude.

I didn't attempt to prolong this conversation. It was sort of like watering a dead plant, and had it continued, it would have become even more uncivil.

The kicker was that, after calling the city and explaining my problem, they said that it would take "up to 40 days" for animal control to come out and check and see if the dog was out. But they could send out Code Compliance to write up a violation notice for the unrepaired gate in just a day or two.

I spotted the Code Compliance van at the house this morning while going to work. I couldn't help thinking that I should have just repaired the fucking gate a few months ago, when nobody was looking.

Note: the reason I am not posting anything about my doctor visits any more is that

a) I think it's an especially boring topic,

b) I'd rather not discuss it, and

c) I should be feeling better sooner than later anyway.

I thought tonight's class was a bit more crowded than usual...

(USA Today) -- Hong Kong Airlines is asking its flight crews to learn a form of kung fu, something the carrier hopes will help its staff deal with drunk and unruly passengers, AFP reports.

AFP writes "Hong Kong Airlines said all staff had been invited to undergo training in wing chun -- a form of kung fu used in close-range combat -- but it was only compulsory for cabin crew, the Sunday Morning Post (of Hong Kong) reported."

You can read the rest of the story here - or just enjoy this photo instead.

for the time being, it's Nat Geo reruns

During the last few days, I've gone from the occasional viewing of the various news media (TV, online newspapers) to practically none. The ongoing discussions and criticisms of the bin Laden "Got Him" saga are getting very, very old. 

I mean, geez.  If you were going to take someone out, you couldn't have done it much better. No civilian casualties. I'm glad the White House took the high road and decided not to release any photos of a dead bin Laden.  Most would probably assume they were Photoshopped, anyway.

While I found the burial at sea story a bit doubtful, I'm going to let it slide.

proof I am incredibly thoughtful when buying birthday presents

Snagged this for Rachel. She likes it.

sleeping sickness

As Estranged Husband was the sole owner of anything resembling a set of Proper Bedding - and he took them last year, which was fine with me as I wasn't enamored of them - I began shopping around for something of my own.

When living in a partially renovated house, it's recommended you have one room with pleasing surroundings. This keeps you from spazzing about half-finished painting and similar jobs.

After some surfing, I spotted this set by Natori.  The main attractions to me were the colours - I really like these shades of teal and brown - and the oriental look to it:

But to even buy part of the collection would cost me over a thousand dollars, and I was afraid I'd come home one day and wonder what the hell I could have been thinking when I made this buying decision. So I began looking again.

Since discovering the joys of linen sheets - cotton/linen blends are almost as nice - I have been planning to buy my own when I could afford it. So this set of Belgian linen from Restoration Hardware caught my eye:

While not Irish linen - the only proper linen - it looked like a reasonable compromise.

But the night was young and I wasn't sleepy, so I decided to see if Crate and Barrel did a cheaper version of linen sheets. They did, but their version of linen sheets only came in a nearly-black colour, which didn't appeal. However, one duvet set shown with the sheets was kind of attractive to me, albeit in a trendy way:

So...what did I buy?

None of these.  Instead, I went to the nearby Tuesday Morning outlet and snagged a multi-coloured quilt and matching shams. The quilt had red tones to match the carpet in my bedroom, and gold to match the curtains I'm already planning to replace. And since the whole set was only $50, I won't be upset if Richard the cat sticks his claws into it. In the meantime, one of these might show up at clearance prices.