Tales from the 'Hood: WTF?

So you all know my Yemenese neighbors - the ones with the 11 children who can't figure out where to park their cars? Thankfully there have been no car related incidents since that one night. Now we have a different issue. Food. Or garbage. Or garbage that is food.

My back gate doesn't close all the way. No matter what I do it just doesn't close. It needs to be fixed. That however falls in the category of "landscape" which I don't do.

The dog however, can fit through the gap in the fence and get out. I need to fatten her up.

A few weeks ago she'd been out in the yard for a long time so I got up and looked out - of course it's night and the light bulb on the outside light is burned out (I know just replace it....well it's always night when I realize it doesn't work and I can't see to replace it!!!!!) so I use the flashlight that I keep conveniently on my desk for this purpose. I scan the yard with the light. No dog. I figure that she has gotten out. So I get my shoes and traipse out to find her.

I find her in the Yemenese neighbors yard happily munching on what looks to be leftovers of some type in an aluminum baking pan (like you'd cook a large turkey in) that was sitting on the ground next to the trash can. I grabbed her collar and hauled her back into our yard, cursing the neighbors because I knew that when whatever she ate didn't agree with her, I'd be the one cleaning up the mess. To add icing to the cake I stepped in dog poop on my way back into the house.

At the time I'd assumed that whatever was in the pan was there because it was close to their trash can and it was likely going to be disposed of on the next trash day. Luckily for me Daisy digested whatever she ate just fine and didn't make a larger than normal mess in the basement.

A few weeks have gone by, Daisy has gone out and come back and not attempted to go over there again. In fact several times I think she has "gotten lost" in the back yard as I would shine the light and she'd be standing in the middle of the yard looking confused and then come right to the door to be let in. I figured that she could no longer find the fence to locate the gate to get out. Good deal.

Well, tonight she escaped. I got my shoes and my flashlight and went after her. Again I find her in the neighbors from Yemen's yard. Again eating out of a large aluminum baking pan (like you'd cook turkey in) right on the ground, right by the trash can, oh and trash day was yesterday no more trash pick-up till Tuesday. I took a pretty good look at the contents this time. The pan was full. I mean full. Not scraps left after cooking. Full, like ready to be served. It had piles of what looked like pulled chicken or maybe pulled pork (oh wait, they are Muslim, no pork). Whatever it was Daisy was eating like a Gillian's Island castaway. I grabbed her collar and hauled her home.

So WTF? Why in the world do these people with 11 children leave a huge pan of meat out in the yard? If they must throw away that much meat, why do they just put it on the ground? Why not in a handy dandy trash bag (They shop at Costco, I have seen them come home with their haul....Costco sells trash bags)? Or in the giant "take to the curb" trash can that was sitting right by it. And why can't they wait until closer to trash day to put it out? It's Saturday trash will be picked up again Tuesday - that's 3 days. If they must simply leave the meat on the ground (maybe it's a Muslim thing?), why can't they at least put it on the deck (which is what the rest of the neighborhood does with our trash cans) so animals can't get to it. Ok that just keeps big animals out....raccoons and squirrels are a different story. If my ancient, blind, can't-find-her-own-food-dish-some-days dog can locate it and get to it through the tiny little opening in the gate, what other pests is this inviting? WHY? WHY? WHY?

I guess it makes my overgrown weeds in the backyard look good.