Neighbors

We moved here about 7 years ago, and I still haven't really gotten to know some of the neighbors.  John had seen a show on TV about practicing pitching, and so the first time I talked to my one neighbor, she was insisting we had egged her car.  He had been pitching raw eggs at the pine tree near her driveway, and the eggs missed, landing on her drive.  She cleaned it up, so all we could do is go and apologize.  It was not a good start.  Then she told me to move the dwarf dogwoods planted in the 20 feet between our houses.  She did not like the wood piled up near my patio.  "Termites", she said.  The bushes had to be trimmed back.  One night she moved the wood.  One day she came to the back door and ranted and raved about something- I can't even recall what she did not like- it was always some issue.  Finally I wrote a letter  telling her to keep off my property or I would ask to get a lawyer involved.  I do not sit at the back patio.  I feed the birds there.  The space between her garage wall and my kitchen window is about the size of half a tennis court.  Her fenced in porch backs onto my backyard.  Her grown boys sometimes use it in the summer, and I can plan to hear them party long into the summer nights then.  Even though the windows at the back of my house are high up, the sounds travel into my bedroom.  My backyard would be perfect for birdwatching, except there are no windows.  The best place for me is at the large Kitchen window, where I have 3 tube feeders, a cloth thistle feeder, a birdbath, a suet feeder, and a cup filled with peanuts.  On a lovely sunny day such as today I might see grackle, sparrows, tufted titmouse, chickadee, cardinals, house finch, goldfinch, Carolina Wren, mourning dove, starling, Downy woodpecker, to name a few.  Robins and Blue Jay come by regularly, and some times Cooper's hawks or red-shouldered hawks stop by for a snack.
One day while watching birds I saw a house sparrow fly into the bushes to land, and it flew directly into a gaping cat's  mouth, who had been silently lying in wait.  The black cat slinked off without leaving even a feather behind.  The other cats that roam the neighborhood also stop at my feeder regularly and check it out, because there are grey squirrels and chipmunks that come to get treats off and on.  We had a white squirrel, named Bob by the kids, that also roamed around, not an albino, who was buried under Melissa's tree when he died last summer.  Apparently he/she was somewhat fertile, since we have another white squirrel in the trees this year.  There have been fights regarding naming this one, girl vs boy names.  The girls have one name, the boys another.  I would like to think there are 2 squirrels.  And why not?  One might just be hiding at any moment...
When the guy Moose came over with the gun and robbed Brian and his friend on my patio a few years ago, I immediately called the police.  Brian was mad at me.  He would "take care of it himself,"  he said.  I made sure everyone knew what was happening, and that the police would know where we lived.  I figure this was not coincidence. 
They knew what was going on.  Then when John was identified in the park robbery, they came right here.  The Pizza Hut robbery, too.  I wanted them to know I would be right there with the police whenever there was a child of mine in trouble.  I allowed them to search whenever they asked.  They found at least 4 bottles of liquor and cigarettes in the basement one time, and things I did not buy for the boys.  I guess we were not the best neighbors to have.  So I can understand why my neighbors don't feel like they really need to get to know me.