Posted by: Pamela Location: Minneapolis
b4 we moved fr. Mad. we had an awesome neighbor- I hink you know him. A former EMT, now blind, he & his guide dog were awesome neighbors! He always helped carry stuff up the stairs for everyone, & often was called when there was needs in the building. 1 former resident called him to help another neighbor when neighbor 2 was having a heart attack, & waited w/ him til paramedx arrived. Another time a neighbor called him when she suffered massive back spasms frm a car accident to help her down the stairs to get a cab to the hosp. B4 we left, we saw he came home frm the UW where hes a grad student, & his leg was broke! he slipped on ice, broke his knee! He refused all offers for help, or tried to pay for dinners my daughter & I cooked for him, etc. Gave so much, never asked for anything, most independent blind person I ever seen. cute guide dog too, Ger. Shep lovable as day is long. nvr barked, always wagged tail, loved his owner!

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Posted by: Anne Location: Madison
In my parents neighborhood (where I grew up) it was mostly older people and young families. There was one family in particular that had a son around my age who was a constant pain in rear. He would ride his bike through our ditch and through our lawn constantly. He even chased me down on his bike once. When he got his license, he would rev his engine late at night and squeal his tires through the neighborhood. He was rude and inconsiderate to everyone in the neighborhood. It was no surprise to us that he was the one responsible for the standoff with police a few weeks ago (the story was posted in this site-Standoff in Hales Corners). Needless to say, he was NOT a good neighbor!

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Posted by: Kelli Location: Waunakee
Although I live in a mostly nice, friendly neighborhood, I do have 2 short stories to share. The first one happened shortly after I moved into my house, newly divorced, and I had my 2 sons living with me ages 16, and 9. They would often go out into our large back yard and play catch together. My neighbor stormed into our yard one day yelling at my sons that he'd found four tennis balls in his yard, and that if they wanted to play catch and couldn't catch the (bleeping)balls...that they should go to a park! I wanted to tell him that if he wanted to yell at nice brothers for playing catch, that maybe HE should go to the park. My second story was similar to yours Sarah. The neighbor behind my house has two dogs that are left outside and bark constantly. It took my calling the police several times to get it taken care of. As a dog owner myself, I understand that dogs bark - but would never leave my dog unsupervised to harass the neighbors.

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Posted by: Pat Location: Arena, WI
Do you remember Choco-diles? They were chocolate coated twinkies. I loved them!!!!! They disappeared from the market.

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Posted by: A frustrated neighbor Location: Madison
Beat this one-our next door neighbor is a frequent drunk driver and has run into his own home on multiple occasions. After hearing a loud crash I ran outside to find that he had crashed into our fence and knocked the whole thing over! Worse-he blamed the whole thing on his dog (who was in the car) saying that it was his dog that was driving.

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Posted by: Alan Location: Blue Mounds
When we were first married we lived in a small apartment in Dodgeville. The only space between our building and the elderly neighbor woman's house was her narrow driveway - about 15'. Our bedroom window was immediately across from the back corner of her house. From that corner hung a double bulb light fixture that she regularly forgot to turn of when arriving home. It contained two 200-watt CLEAR bulbs! Our bedroom came with thin blinds that just barely cut down the light. Repeated pleas to turn off the light resulted in her leaving it on all night every night. After 4 months I'd had enough! One night I snuck out, masking-taped a circle around each bulb's side that faced our apartment. I then uncrewed them and spray-painted that part of the bulbs with 2 layers of black paint. Once they were dry I removed the tape and put them back up. They still lit her driveway and back steps, and the light cut off at the foundation of our building. It was a good compromise and she was none the wiser.

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Posted by: Cindy Location: Blue Mounds
We have a great neighborhood in Blue Mounds. We are all pretty sociable and friendly and tend to help each other out with things. We DID have some neighbors when we first moved into our new house that left their six year old daughter home alone alot, smoked and threw cig buts and empty cans all over their yard. No wonder we planted a line of 6 foot tall Bridal wreath between them and us. Thankfully they lost their house to foreclosure and someone moved in who redid the inside of the house (cig burns in the carpeting and linoleum etc) and did a lot of landscaping etc. THEY were great neighbors and the people there now are awesome too. Other than that we have always been fortunate enough to have helpful, friendly neighbors.

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Posted by: Caissa Location: Milwaukee
I really can't complain about my neighborhood. Sure, I'm more often than not woken up by one of our neighbors' yapping little dog, and both adjacent neighbors seem to think that it's okay to stare at my mom when she's outside, but it's overall a nice one. I've lived around here for almost nine years, so most of us are still friends. I always look forward to coming back home from college because, even though it's not the nicest place, it gives me comfort.

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Posted by: great neighbors Location: fort atkinson
When we moved in January 2004, the only neighbors were the ones across the street in retirement condos. We had corn fields and deer behind us, well now that is all housing and more housing. We really have lucked out, the lot directly behind us was bought by an elderly couple whom never built, and the side lot is till vacant with no building. The neighbors we do have are like grandparents to my girls. We watch for them to come home so they can go get their hugs. I can actually let my girls ride their bikes up and down our sidewalks and not have to worry about dogs or strange people. We do have some back neighbors who's dogs bark a lot, but usually they are still and quite after 9pm. We love our neighbor hood.

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Posted by: Anon Location: West Dane
We have a 6 ft privacy fence on one side for a good reason. The house next door, and the one next to them look like junk yards. We take pride in keeping our yard the "best in town" and wish everyone did. We did lose a great neighbor but we don't miss their 2 dogs that barked all hours of the day and night. Our neigborhood is mostly quiet except for the teens who race down our street. I "cased" the area before closing on my house and it was a quiet day. If I'd have known how loud the next door neighbors were, I'd have looked elsewhere. But then I wouldn't have met my husband who lived a few blocks away.

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Posted by: Sara Location: Madison
When I was growing up our next door neighbors had a penchant for doing major auto repair in their front yard. No big deal, right? Well, it wasn't a big deal until they used a chain tossed over a tree branch as a crude pulley system to get the engine out of the car and then left the engine hanging from the tree for months. That was a little weird and slightly dangerous, especially since there were so many kids in my 'hood. When those people left a new family came in and the mother of that family began feuding with the neighbor lady across the street. They had a full-on fight right in front of our house, which even as kid I thought was totally absurd. Needless to say, we moved shortly after all that nonsense! Sometimes I wonder what happened to those people though...

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Posted by: A good neighbor Location: western Dane County
Our first neighbors on one side never really 'fit in'. We were cordial to each other, but never friends. They were much older than everyone else and their kids (2 adults and 1 13-year-old) were consistently in trouble with the law. We tolerated them until they lost the house a couple of years later. (That's what happens when you spend mortgage money on booze, cigarettes, and other bad influences.) The other people who moved in there are terrific, and we get along great. In fact, we get along well with all of our neighbors. We all go over to each others' houses and share food and backyard firepits. Having put up with that other family as long as we did, we really appreciate how the neighborhood has changed for the better.

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