News, Views, and Shmooze....

Silent Nights

No jacuzzi party last night, or the night before, or the one before that. Maybe our neighbor has gone away for a few days.

Oh, and the neighborhood dog  that has been yanking out the flowers along our walkway, rootball and all, almost every day for the past two weeks is AWOL, too. I can't understand how a person would allow his pet to ruin damage someone's property. Or maybe the pet owner is the yanker. Either way, I'm bothered.

But not today. And I hope, not tomorrow.

Good Filters Make Good Neighbors

We have a new neighbor. He lives next door, but we haven't met him yet and know little about him, though we did learn from the person who fixed up the house and sold it that the buyer is young and from Chicago.

We haven't really seen our neighbor. His lawn is hedged on all sides by a wall of ficus trees, and his back yard is secluded by towering trees that hide the new pool and jacuzzi. My husband and I did catch a glimpse of him through the ficus trees this past Saturday morning as we left our house. We were on our way to shul, we were running late, and it wasn't the right moment to walk around the hedge and introduce ourselves...and mention the filter and the jacuzzi.

The pool filter--at least, we think it's the filter--is noisy and runs most of the time. If I open a window, the drone is mildly annoying. I like opening windows, airing out rooms, inhaling fresh air. I don't know if there's a solution to the noise. I had mentioned it to the seller and he promised he'd check into it. I guess he didn't get around to it. (He did, however, move the ficus trees that abut my driveway a foot back when I expressed my concern that the trees, which have a notoriously shallow root system, would cause my driveway to buckle. That was neighborly, I have to admit.) I suppose over time I'll become accustomed to the noise from the filter, which you can't hear when the jacuzzi is being used.

True, the jacuzzi motor doesn't run most of the time, but when it does, the noise is louder and jarring. And the motor runs at inconvenient times, like 2 in the morning, when I'm trying to sleep.

While we haven't met or next-door-neighbor or seen him, we hear him and his guests (some male, some female) often. Mostly late at night, when they're in the pool or jacuzzi. (Last week, they were in the jacuzzi even when it was raining.) They sound like nice people, and they're certainly having a good time, judging from the bellowing laughter and the cheery back-and-forth yelling. Saturday night they were discussing Alec Baldwin's appearance on "Saturday Night Live." Well, it was 2:48 a.m., so technically, that was Sunday morning.

I'm pleased for our neighbor that he's formed a circle of friends so soon after his move from Chicago. I'd hate for him to be lonely. And I do want to be a good neighbor, not one of those judgmental types who thinks people should be sleeping at 3 in the morning. And no, I'm not hurt that our neighbor hasn't invited us to share in the fun.

So I'm not sure what to do. Say something and create an uncomfortable situation? Keep quiet and deal with the disruption of sleep?