Wysteria Lane, only weirder....

Awhile back, I wrote about how my street has just as much drama as that gorgeous Wysteria Lane on one of my favorite shows, Desperate Housewives. If you follow that link, you'll read about how we've had crime, death, and intrigue all around us.

And, then for awhile it got really quiet and boring. Or, so we thought. Why, we haven't had an accidental death or a severed body part around us in YEARS! The most excitement we've had has been more in the way of a good old-fashioned and bitter divorce battle across the street. I swear, I almost felt like I was living in Pleasantville or something!

But, just beneath the surface, if you look closely enough, there are mysteries still unfolding all around us here. And, slowly, the clues to those mysteries are trickling in like drops of rain in a gauge. Eventually, the rain gauge will fill enough for me to see the reality of what is going on. Quite frankly, I am little scared of that day, given what we've already seen on this street. Or maybe I've just watched one too many Scooby Doo's with the kids...

My next door neighbors are not the friendly sort. They moved in to the one-story house next door without much of a hello. They are a younger couple with no children. They run a moving company, supposedly, located near a wealthier business district in our town.

When they first moved in, we saw signs of this company, by way of large moving vehicles parked in front of our house or our mailbox late in the evening. Workers could be found around 5 p.m. stretched out along the curb and side of our yard after their big day, drinking beers and kicking back. I suppose they were waiting for their bosses to come and pay them. We grew increasingly irritated because the moving trucks were there the whole weekend and many times the visibility coming from our driveway was next to nothing. Having two small children who like to play and ride bikes, this was scary and an accident waiting to happen.

Then, last year, we had a strange knock at the door. When I answered, it was a rather business like woman who promptly flashed me an IRS badge and asked me if I knew the names of the people who lived next door. Embarrassingly enough, I couldn't remember their names. They'd never spoken a word to me and rarely even wave when we're coming and going at the same time. They almost act cautious or fearful of us, which has always bothered me a little. So, I sort of chuckled and said, as strange as it sounded I did not know their names, but perhaps she should try the family across the street who I'd seen chatting with the wife a few weeks prior.

Since that time, my radar has been in tune to our neighbors. At one point, we were certain that multiple families were living in the house with them. There were often 4-5 cars in their driveway and lots of people coming and going at all hours of the day and night.

Then, one day, we noticed the carpets were being replaced. This is a little odd given that this house is under five years old.

Months later, I noticed they had a mobile pet groomer at their house on a weekly basis. Around the same time, we'd realized that they had small dogs living outside all the time, but also others in the house. Then, one day, the wife was "letting the dogs out" (read letting the dogs go and poop in the FRONT yard by our SHARED mailbox...grumble...) and I was taken about by the sheer number of dogs she had at her side. Upon a quick visual count, I saw seven little "Toto from Kansas"-like dogs. Only, this did not include the two dogs I knew they had in the backyard as well. Well, NO WONDER they needed their carpets replaced!

And, then, there's the strange goings-on of the past few months. After things got quiet there for awhile, and we assumed "The Others" had moved out, we started noticing strange cars parked at their house. Basically, there were never the same cars there for more than a few days at a time.

Most recently, that has shifted to ALL of the same type of car parked there in large numbers for several days, and then unexpectedly there will be another batch of cars to replace them. One week it is SUVs. The next week, it is a batch of sporty cars. Occasionally, it is a random mix.

Well, two days ago, I walk out to find seven Dodge Ram 3500 pickup trucks parked in their driveway and along our street. Seven. Brand. New. Enormous. Trucks. Huh? What is going on? There are no stickers on the trucks, yet they all look new. The only thing that separates them is their color.

Today, while my daughter was napping and I was recovering from a killer training session at the gym, I heard loud revving of engines. Assuming someone was having a pool put in or some construction done on their house, I decided to play the nosy neighbor and meander out to get the mail so I could see what all the commotion was about. The neighbor couple was backing all the trucks into the street and leaving them ALL running. They'd get out of one truck, go to another and back it out, leaving it running and then go to the next one. Then, the wife then started frantically sweeping out their always barren garage of all dust from the ground.

You tell me, should we be concerned? What the HELL is going on there? It is starting to really consume my thoughts entirely too much!

The other night, someone in my bunco group commented that their street was a regular Wysteria Lane with all of its catfights and scandals. I laughed aloud and told them to enjoy that, because if they lived on Wysteria, well we lived in Twin Peaks. I got a good laugh from all those there who did not live on our street. The neighbor who does live here only nodded in complete agreement.

Yep, we're way WEIRDER than Wysteria...and I'm not sure what to think of that!