Sic Semper Tyrannis

Love Your Neighbor As Yourself

It's a good thing I hate myself.

I can have animosity towards my literal neighbor with no moral difficulties.

I live in the city, a few football fields' length from an interstate with people all around me. Which is why I'm curious as to how I wound up with the neighbor that needs a rooster in the backyard.

That's right. My neighbor, in the middle of Oklahoma City, has a rooster. How do I know this? Well, it's really quite simple. I hear it crowing every morning- unfortunately, while I'm still in bed.

This is not my first incident with my neighbors and animals. Oh, no. Last year, they kept a family of rabbits in their backyard. Theoretically, they kept a family of rabbits in their backyard. Practically, they had rabbits that roamed the neighborhood. That didn't really bother me so much as the uncle or Dad, (I can't tell who is who, it's a big Hispanic family that I've never oficially met or talked to, apart from the kids, who are all best buddies and constantly outside.)

One day I saw one of the adults in my backyard gathering handful clumps of grass. I was nonplussed for a moment, then realized that he was stealing my grass to feed the rabbits, since his backyard is mostly dirt. While I was perplexed by the idea of an adult jumping a fence to steal grass, I was really more concerned with why you would acquire rabbits if you can't afford to feed them or provide for them using your OWN means.

But things have a way of working themselves out around me with little intervention on my part and sure enough, one day a dead rabbit appeared in my backyard, surely the work of the neighbor's German shepherd two doors down, which can also jump the fence.

I don't imagine I'll be hearing the rooster for much longer either, due to death-by-dog or the BB gun I have fantasized about purchasing for the last few mornings...

posted by Mike @ 11:22 AM