"...Oh the noise, noise, noise, noise! If there's one thing I hate...oh the noise, noise, noise, noise!" The Grinch

Yes, I have a non-ivf related rant today. I am on the final day of bed rest - and I took thalia's advice (thankyou) and got up so I would no longer die of boredom or starvation. I was running out of things to do- and Hubs didn't really pick up the cooking bug like I had hoped. So today I am milling about gently and restoring order to my life.

My rant would be about my neighbors who are generally friendly but incredibly noisy. The problem I have is they seem to be completely unaware about their noise level. Now I freely admit that I am a bit thin skinned on this issue because they have been erecting a brick patio structure with a sandstone facing for the past 8 months and I have had to endure weeks of stone cutting, construction and cement mixing. The stone cutting got to be a bit of an issue because his guys dry cut the stones and the wind was blowing towards out house so the house became engulfed in a thick cloud of sandstone silica-- imagine a house on fire and the smoke the wafts from it-- now make it a lighter duller shade of brown and you have what a few weeks were like here. I talked to him about it- he said his guys were suppose to be wet cutting it but apparently when he leaves the premises they revert back to their old ways.

They have taken a break from the stone cutting lately- last week they jack hammered out the cement he poured earlier in the year- changed his mind and wants to put some plants in his vast cement empire of a front yard. Still, I am trying to be a good sport about this all- I mean I have to live next to him and he is eventually going to finish the project right?

Yeah, he has now installed the kitchen area of his patio, the fish pond and water fall and now a TV. Yup. You heard me correctly the man has placed a TV in his front yard patio area. Now here's the good part- last night they were watching it until 11:30 pm. They have proably been there til the wee hours of the morning had I not decided to wander on over in my frighteningly fashionable pink hawaiin print pjs. I mean what option did they leave me? I could hear it clear as a bell from my livingroom- so you can imagine how clear it was in my bedroom which is one room closer to his place. It wasn't actually him- it was his son and friends watching MTV or something with a heavy beat that gathers speed and races past the ear plugs I purchased for just this reason. So I called, no answer. I called again, no answer. I had no option but to stroll on over and suggest the volume be reduced to something I don't hear in my house with all the doors and windows shut tightly and the fan blowing.

I got no apology for distrubing my sleep, I got no "we'll establish a curfew" - I got a oh, are the boys still watching TV. Hey, glad that it doesn't disturb your peace since your bedroom is located in the back of your house and up a flight a stairs...So I go home rather pissed and what do you know... I wake up the same way. Is it possible they are so clueless they don't realize that a TV outside in your front yard is like a boom box in your front yard and it is considered noise pollution? No one else has a TV in their front yard. In fact only a few folks on our block have cable- the rest of us prefer to live with rental videos and itunes downloads. We don't want to hear the commericals and have the TV keep us company- we are fine being on our own.

So is this hormones or me- and is there some new fad I am unaware of to put TVs in your front yard- or even your back yard for that matter and torment your neighbors with your viewing choices?