Friday, January 27, 2006

Stalkers among us

Let me paint the picture. We bought this house at the end of June, 2005. We looked at the house on June 4 and closed on the 30th. It was quite the whirlwind. At the closing and several times prior to that, it was abundantly clear that the wife in this family did not wish to sell her home. She had remodeled parts of it and it was finally the way she wished to have it. It made me sad to see her so despondent on a day that my husband and I were elated, but as the husband so logically pointed out, not really our problem is it?

Well, after they supposedly "moved to Houston" we saw their car at our next door neighbor's house repeatedly. Mmmmmkay. And yet no one says a word. We saw our neighbors on many occasions and they never uttered a word. Ok whatever. At some point the supposed visits stopped. Then the hurricane came and of course the entire neighborhood scattered. During this time, I know of only two men one street over that stayed behind (that were not emergency services personnel) and from what I understand, these two men took it upon themselves to patrol our little hood with guns just in case the looting happened to get a little too close to home. Have no clue who those two dudes were, but thanks.

Anyways, I have a point. All these things are linked. I get a call a few weeks back. It is clearly a cell number, but not one I recognized. I chose to answer. It is Shannon, the woman we bought the house from. I was a little surprised to hear from her. She explained that she got our number from the next door neighbor (the same one she visited repeatedly after supposedly moving to Houston) because somehow due to some goofup in the postal system, a piece of our mail ended up getting forwarded to them. She told me that it just looked like an advertisement from Verizon so I thanked her for calling and if she did not mind, to please just trash the mail. We continued the conversation and she asked how we made out for the hurricane (a question I have answered about 500 million times so I have the answer down pat - or so one would think). I told her about the roof, the fence and the siding in the front. Then she tells me "Oh, that's odd because I heard from someone and I can't recall right now who that you had water damage inside one room." Actually yes, we did but the damage was so minute and miniscule that I forgot all about it. HOWEVER, why did she know about this and if she did know what damage we had, why fucking ask? To which, I repled, "Yes, as a matter of fact, we did have that damage and it was very minor." That sorta rang a bell in my head like "Why exactly are you keeping tabs on us?" but I tried to let it go. Then red flag #2 went off when she proceeded to tell me how she came to town before the Parish was even open and came to our neighborhood. She goes "Yeah, I walked through everyone's backyards and took a look around." Um, I'm sorry - what??? I just said "Oh yeah?" and let it go. Seriously, I was kinda horrified. One, this is no longer your property. And two, what if the dudes from one street over had come upon you and shot your ass thinking you are looting? I mean, lady, let it go. This is not your house anymore. This is not your street anymore. You bought a house in Houston. Go decorate it, for Christ's sake. It might sound like I am making a mountain out of a molehill (as I do have the tendency to do that) but seriously all these things added up are odd.

Let's fast forward to today. The last 1/3 of my fence in the backyard is being fixed. Can we get a hallelujah on that one? Anyways, it's all torn apart and the Gager has to once again go outside to do his business while on a leash with me standing 3 feet from him. Therefore it takes forever and he turns his back to me. It's kicks really. But I digress. So I am back there today strolling around until His Highness decides to let loose with number 1 or number 2. I hear this noise coming from the side of the house. So me and Gage walk over to the side of the yard and I see people on the other side of the fence like in between my house and the neighbor's house. I look through the slats in the fence (that side has been completed) and who do I see? Yep, the stalkers again. WHAT THE FUCK? So, I implore Gage to please do whatever bodily function needed to be done so we could hightail it to the front yard PRON-FUCKING-TO. Amazingly the stars aligned and he did. I walk up here and sure enough they are now standing in front of my neighbors' house having a little pow wow with said neighbors. Um, OK? So they are back again - no biggie, right? OK, maybe so, but they are currently wandering around my and the other next door neighbors back yards (since the God Damned FENCE is still not done) like this is still their property. I am a nice girl. I can even be downright kind sometimes. Shut up. But this is just bugging me. I almost feel like I should pee all along the border of our property to mark my turf. Am I being unreasonable? Scratch that. Only comment if you are on my side and feel like I am totally justified in my wanting to go out and tape the deed to the house on the front door.

Elizabeth at 6:49 PM

7comments

7 Comments

at 8:23 PM Kami said...: What the fuck? Like Michelle, I drive past my old house in Austin, only to get to my friend's house, but to stalk your ass is totally uncalled for. I can't believe she CALLED YOU! OMG!!! She is probably reading this! STALKER: Back the fuck off!!!
at 10:20 PM Melanie said...: That is just weird. Definately need to go pee to mark territory. And of course we will need a pic of that. Just kidding.

You did change the locks right???

That is one crazy bitch.
at 10:12 AM Unknown said...: Yeah, you did change the locks, didn't you? We never have in the past, but it didn't seem to be a concern...you, my friend, have a concern. She might be coming in to check how the water damage affected her decorating or some shit like that.
at 10:13 AM Tina M said...: Pee and be free!! She kinda scares me. They could still be friends with the neighbors but do ya think her husband knows what she's been up to??
at 11:57 AM Tammy said...: Drop trou, sister. Drop trou.

Tape the deed to your front door.

I understand the nostalgia (did I spell that right) with your house that you loved, but DAMN. That woman is nuts.
at 1:18 AM Anonymous said...: Mark your territory...with everything you've got. Put up a cute little sign with your last name on the door. (unless you don't want other said strangers to know that info) Maybe that will give her a hint.

Definitely weird that these people are still around after they sold you that house. We just bought our house around the same time you did last year (May 2005) and I would think it very weird if I saw the former owners next door all the time or even calling me. Sounds like this woman has a very unhealthy attachment to your house. (how did she know about the minor water damage? do you think she went in your house when she said she just walked through the backyard when you were gone during the hurriance? ) The only contact we have had with the former owner of our house is through our real-estate agent and the former owner lives in our same town.

I have driven by old houses that we used to live in before but only to show someone where we used to live or something like that. Very disturbing. I hope she goes away and leaves you alone but keep us posted anyway.
at 5:28 PM Nap Queen said...: She needs to back OFF! In my dream world, I would just calmly tell her to stop coming around or the cops will be called. That is so fucking freaky that she knew about the water damage? I hope your windows stay locked...