our new neighbors

Andrea and i were doing yard work a few Saturdays ago. you may remember Tropical Storm Gabrielle brewing in the Atlantic. i wanted to be prepared in case we got a lot of rain so i was on the roof cleaning out the gutters.

don't get me started on the gutters...they are worthless. the 1st time i cleaned them, we didn't have a hose. i pulled out all the big leaves and sticks, then Andrea handed me up a 2 gallon watering can, filled. my plan was to flush out the small stuff. we did this twice and the gutter, in addition to said small stuff, now held 4 gallons of water. thank goodness for the leaky seam, or that water could've been there forever!

during the gutter fiasco and subsequent yard duties, a moving truck pulled into the yard next door and several people started unloading. this is the house where Carlos and Sophie, the border collie we adopted over the fence, lived. we walked over to introduce ourselves, but they were pretty busy so we didn't hang around. over the course of the next week, i noticed a bunch of kids playing in the back yard. i love kids and ever since moving from Cary, where i was the adopted (creepy?) uncle, i've been jonesing.

these kids are great. 3 boys and a girl, ages 3 to 10. Zaria, the girl, is 3. she is adorable. the youngest male, DeShawn, is your typical 5 year old. at least, i think he's five. and he has braids! Markel (pronounced Mar-kell) reminds me of Chris Rock. he's funny. the oldest is Jeremy, aka, TJ. he's pretty quiet and introspective. at least, this is what i surmise after talking with them for a total of 1 hour.

when i hear them in the back playing, i go out with Krusty and they flock to the fence shouting "Krusty! Krusty!". it makes me feel good. they take turns throwing the ball for him and once they practiced throwing disc golf putters at my target over the fence. but what i really enjoy is talking to them, more importantly, listening to what they say. they are really funny.

Markel was asking me about Krusty...how long i've had him, where i got him, why i named him Krusty, etc. then out of the blue, he says "do you think it's wrong to kill nature?". i asked for clarification. "like spiders and stuff". i wanted to be a good example for him b/c kids are very impressionable and said "well, sometimes when bugs get in the house we squash them, but sometimes we catch them and let them go. i mean, i don't go around looking for bugs to kill or anything".

YEAH RIGHT! as the words were coming out of my mouth, i thought twice about saying it. i hope he doesn't see me out his window at night kicking the recycle bin scaring up roaches to squash. that's my nightly routine. i abhor roaches.

the conversation continued.

• markel - "do you think it's bad luck?"
• "to kill nature?"
• m - "yes"
• "i dunno. what do you think?"
• m - "i don't know either"

it was awesome.

Zaria is so tiny, she has to climb up the chain link fence to be able to throw the ball, but it goes right in Krusty's mouth every time. Andrea came home from work one day and stepped out back. Krust ran towards her to get some love and Zaria asked where he was going. "he loves his mama", i said. now, everytime she sees the dog, she asks "that dog loves his mama?". so cute! TJ was looking at me and said, "he loves is daddy, too". he's a good kid.

before i came out last night, a squirrel fell out of a tree and landed in the middle of our yard. they told me about it, complete with sound effects, and that got us talking about squirrels. in addition to roaches, i hate squirrels, too. maybe i'll explain why one day. suffice to say, i was upset the squirrel survived the fall, which they told me it did.

• TJ - "has Krusty ever killed anything?"
• "yep. two squirrels"
• t - "in this yard?"
• "no, no. it was in Atlanta a long time ago"
• t - "how did he do it?"
• "a squirrel got out in the middle of a big field and he saw it. he chased it down and shook it to death"
• t - "what about the other one"
• "we came over a hill and there were two. one got away and he got the other one. come to think of it, it wasn't dead after he attacked it so i had to kill it"
• t - "how did you do that?"
• (stomping the heel of my foot into the ground) "like that"
• t - "yeah, i guess that's how you'd do it"

it just goes to show that kids are kids, no matter what ethnicity, income bracket, nationality or anything else. they just want to be happy and have fun. maybe that's why i like spending time with kids b/c when i'm in that environment, it makes me appreciate the simple things, too.