Our neighbor behind us has been leaving out food for stray cats ever since she moved in. We really didn’t care that all the cats in the neighborhood were getting all-you-can eat buffets until a skunk started frequenting the joint. Now more than a few kinds of critters have been spotted chowing down that free buffet, especially at night.
So we brought up the issue with the landlord and the neighbor, hoping that she can at least stop putting food out during the night so that we don’t have to run into one of those “wild” animals accidentally. And of course the buffet service continued 24×7.
Fast forward a few months to a few days ago. We heard some rumblings at our kitchen door. At first we thought they were squirrels. On went the kitchen light, and we saw a skunk strolling by the door, heading towards the 24-hour buffet. Left behind was its wonderful perfume that all animals enjoy so much. We thought a smelly car interior was bad (which thankfully is now gone), now the entire freaking house smelled like rotten eggs. Added to that was the hot, humid Californian summer, which meant we couldn’t just close the doors… Good thing that smell was all gone within a couple of days though.
This incident alone probably isn’t a big deal. But also consider that our neighbor has been lovingly utilizing the public servants by calling the San Jose Police Department for every incident that she can report on — this neighborhood has never seen police so frequently until she moved in. And adding fuel to the fire, she’s been trespassing other neighbors’ properties in order to track down other stray cats in an attempt to “rescue” them, and in the process, pissing off a lot of people in the neighborhood. What’s more, she told one of the neighbors to “get back to wherever they came from because America is only for the White people.” Once she even told Grace, “I don’t know what your people do in your country. But in America, animals have rights.” Um, hadn’t she noticed that we also have two freaking cats?
Anyway, basically the entire neighborhood is having an uprising against her, protesting to our landlord and begging her to take action. And as Californian housing law would have it, it’s extremely difficult to kick out tenants. But my hearty email did her in (using the “parenting” perspective that she knows so well… the angle was — wild animals have serious public health consequences, especially when a two-year-old is in the vicinity; by ignoring our repeated requests, she’s putting my child in danger — animals might have rights, but my son comes first and foremost).
So the entire neighborhood can rejoice once she’s kicked out in 90 days. She still threatens to come back and feed the critters if she has to. But we’ll let the cops deal with her when she trespasses (ironically, her son is also a cop).
Unfortunately now she’s one bitter bitch old lady. Every chance she gets, she’ll pounce on us by hiding behind the screen doors and try to engage us in a war of words. Though we find the act spooky and unsettling (almost to the point of stalking), mostly we just ignore her and walk on by. I also bought a bottle of animal repellent that should also help to keep animals from coming (though I think I bought the wrong type… we will see how effective this is).
So this is how our summer is going to end. Good times.
