Two days before Thanksgiving, I noticed that something was wrong: my youngest son wasn’t his usual energetic self. He was crawling across the floor to the breakfast table and muttering incomplete sentences that I couldn’t make sense of. I touched him and he was burning up.

I took him to the doctor and they said he had a fever of 106.5F, which is very bad — and could get worse.

My husband asked around while I was with the kid at the hospital, and it turns out that the neighbor’s kid had had a fever of about 105F recently, but the neighbor let him play with my son despite being dangerously ill, because it was “just a little fever”.

Our family was supposed to visit us for Thanksgiving, but I called them to cancel since I didn’t want my nieces and nephews to get sick.

One of my brothers actually mocked me for “being a wimp” and “letting a little fever cancel Thanksgiving”.

So, here we are on Thanksgiving Day, smuggling a turkey, some cranberry sauce, and a pumpkin pie smoothie into the hospital to feed my smallest a Thanksgiving meal. Because some morons didn’t take disease prevention seriously.

I used to live in an area with extremely limited parking — one garage spot each — but the area to pull in was a square missing one side, basically, so no one could be behind their spots or everyone else was trapped in.

One day, I got home after a long day, and for the second time in a row, someone was parked outside a spot, making it impossible for anyone to get in or out of their garages. I called and got it towed, as the rules were clear and there was a sign up saying [Tow Truck Company] had the rights to the area.

There was a very angry note left outside the garage a few days later. Apparently, a guy had his friend over, let the friend park in his garage stall, and parked behind them. Because the resident paid for the garage stall, he believed it was an improper tow because he lived there! The letter demanded to know who was responsible for the “illegal tow” since he paid for his spot!

I didn’t engage with it at all, but you pay for the spot in the garage, buddy, not the right to block the rest of us from ours!

The blueberries in my garden are early this year, so today I went out to pick them. The woman across the street decided to come out and lecture me.

Woman: “I don’t like how that netting looks!”

Me: “If I don’t put up the nets, then the birds eat all of the berries.”

Woman: “Oh! You must be one of those crazy environmentalists! They’re so stupid!”

I ignored her. She kept lecturing. When I was done, an hour later, I walked away from her without saying anything.

Woman: “Hey, aren’t you going to give me any? You gave [Neighbor] some yesterday.”

Me: “[Neighbor] asked nicely and didn’t lecture me for an hour about being stupid. Besides, how could you want something that is a product of techniques you despise?”

She gave me a disgusted look and stomped back into her house.

I live on the same property as my landlord; he rents out his old house and lives in his much nicer one. Both are situated on a farm, and he has a small herd of gorgeous Belted Galloway cows.

One afternoon, I am just finishing up work when he calls me to say that a calf has escaped, and he is closing the gates while he looks for them. Since his farm is just off of a busy road, I offer to head out and check around the neighborhood. The edge of the cow pasture is right next to the backyard of a row of houses on the next street over, so that’s where I head first.

Granted, driving slowly down a no-outlet road while gawking at everyone’s backyard can seem suspicious, but I figure if anyone approaches me about it I’ll happily explain the situation, and they can also keep an eye out for this poor calf. I go down the road and scan the left row of houses, and then I turn around and am about to scan the right side when a resident comes out of their house and flags me down.

Resident: “What are you doing?”

His tone isn’t friendly at all. He sounds grumpy and irritated as if he is seconds away from calling the police on me for… driving slowly.

Me: “Oh, one of my landlord’s cows escaped. I was just checking here while he’s checking the other side of the property. Have you seen—”

Resident: “He was already down here three times, and he sent his drone over my house. The cow. Isn’t. Here.”

I am hardly confrontational, so I just reply:

Me: “Oh, okay. I didn’t know he had already looked here. Thanks!”

He is already walking back to his house the second I open my mouth — presumably to complain to whoever will listen about how annoying it is that someone would so thoroughly look for a lost animal.

I drive around a few more places before heading back to my landlord’s house to see if he has any updates. I tell him I went down the road next door and tell him about my encounter with the grumpy guy.

Landlord: “Oh, that guy. He’s so miserable! He saw my drone flying over and called me to complain about it, even after I told him why I was using it.”

Me: “Sheesh. He just made me feel like I was doing something wrong. I’ve been on that road lots of times, and everyone seems so friendly, except for him.”

Landlord: “He’s the worst. Every time I talk to him, he’s either complaining about me or complaining to me. I can barely stand it.”

Me: “Oh, do you have to deal with him a lot?”

Landlord: “At least once a year during the holidays. He’s my cousin.”

We did find the calf, almost six hours later!

I own a detached single-family home with about half an acre of land between my house and my neighbor’s house. I have been catching, fixing, and sometimes adopting out, sometimes releasing the stray cats in the area. At the time of this story, there are four feral cats who have decided I am okay to be around but they are NOT friendly. I actually converted an old shed to give them shelter when they want it.

My neighbor has a dog — a Yorkie — who knows no commands and is never on a leash. I have tried several times to get my neighbor to get control of her, but he doesn’t see the problem with her chasing the cats across my yard because she’s “just having fun.” On numerous occasions, I have removed the dog from the cat shed because she is small enough to follow them in through the cat door.

I am on my porch reading a book when my neighbor comes over, his dog under his arm.

Neighbor: “I will f****** sue the f****** s*** out of you!”

Me: “Can I help you?”

Neighbor: “Your f****** cats made my dog sick! We had to go to the emergency vet! She was vomiting and s***ting everywhere!”

Me: “I didn’t feed her.”

Neighbor: “Dogs can’t eat cat food, you f****** idiot!”

Me: “Take responsibility for your dog, [Neighbor].”

Neighbor: “I am not playing. Put those cats down or I will.”

Me: “Hey, just so you know, you are on camera.”

I point to the flood light with the camera attached just over our heads.

Me: “If I see your dog roaming my property again, I’m calling the dog warden.”

Neighbor: “You can get f***ed.”

He flips off the camera and starts to walk away.

Neighbor: “I hope your cats all get rabies and die!”

A few days later, I heard the dog barking its head off outside. I went out and saw that [Neighbor] had installed a dog run on the opposite side of his house and put the dog outside without food, water, or shelter. I called the dog warden to ask what the regulations were and, sure enough, he was in violation. Coupled with all the video of the dog on my property and the owner threatening the cats, the dog was seized and [Neighbor] was fined. I added extra cameras to my property just in case he decided to retaliate. So far, nothing, but he seems just deranged enough to do something, so I’m still waiting.

Related:
Some People Don’t Deserve Dogs