QUIET

I live in a moderate sized suburban city near the old downtown area. Which is basically the several original city blocks with some of the fist building still preserved and filled with restaurants and boutiques. The real business of the city goes on in the business parks scattered around the neighborhoods which grew around downtown.

It is quiet here. We have the train going by, the occasional siren, dogs barking. We can hear the loudspeaker in the high school football stadium if the wind is blowing the right direction. Sometimes when driving around there is a young man with one of those booming sound systems in his car. On Friday nights in the summer there is a free concert in the park, but they have to shut the speakers down by 8pm.

So this morning when I stopped in to the ATM outside the bank and hear a car horn honk I was so startled I jumped. Not a sound I am accustomed to hearing! No one honks in Pleasanton!

It appears the person in the fourth car back from the line at the light was not happy with the speed with which the first person at the intersection had moved when the light changed.

He must be from out of town, I thought.

It reminded me of when my sister came back from a trip to Boston. She and her husband rented a car and were mystifyed by all the horn honking going on. They couldn't figure out if there was some sort of signal you were supposed to give when entering an intersection by honking. When they asked about it, the question was answered with with blank stares.

I have noticed all the honking when I am in Philly, too. So maybe it is an East Coast thing. We are not much into honking in California, at least not in the 'burbs.

How about where you live?

OUR LITTLE CRIMINAL

We have a court date set for July 21. I am collecting statements from witnesses and researching cases to see what sort of a defense I can mount for my client. Her name is Brunhilda, Hilda for short. She has been a member of our family for 13 years which makes her 91 years old in her kind of years - that would be dog years.

She has now been complained against 3 times for barking by the neighbor who lives in the house behind us. He has never come over to speak with us or left a note. We don't know his name or what he looks like. The first complaint came when we were out of town and we just thought it was a mistake, wrong house. Hilda was inside, asleep.

There is a house two doors down with 3 chihuahuas and those dogs bark a lot. I had just gone over to talk to the owners and other neighbors have called the police to complain about them. Then, in rapid fire, we got two more complaints about our dog barking. That even though she was inside our house with windows closed, she was disturbing this neighbor. The officer who came to the house was very apologetic, he said that the neighbor insisted that he write a citation for a misdemeanor (with a fine of $100.00) which is his right after 3 incidents.

The officer said we should dispute the citation and we would probably have the fine waived. He did not hear the dog barking and will be at the "hearing" and testify to that effect. In the meantime, we have made some changes with Hilda. I read that some older dogs do start going through separation anxiety and that she very well may have been barking when we have been out of the house. She doesn't see and hear as well as she used to and can contribute to her anxiety when she is alone.

We have started putting her back into her crate in the front room of the house when we leave. After a few times she calmed down and settled in without barking. I have also been taking her on more walks and out and about with me when I can so she has more stimulation.

If the neighbor had just talked to us or left a note I would have take this all more seriously from the very beginning. It is hard to know what to think when you have not witnessed the behaviour someone is complaining about, so we just thought it was a mistake or retribution for the complaint against his neighbor.

We have always been very careful of Hilda's behaviour when she is outside, who knew that if someones hearing was good enough and their tolerance low enough, that you had to be careful of the dog's behaviour inside, too? The ordinance doesn't indicate how loud the barking has to be, just that it is disturbing "any reasonable person's peace and quiet." Nice and vague. Let's hope the Judge is an animal lover!

MISCONDUCT IN THE SUBURBS

We have a town newspaper which is distributed each week at no charge. One of the features is a "police blotter" which I scan through pretty quickly. It runs a week or two behind and if anything really interesting has happened, I have usually heard about it already.

It reports the usual accidents, shoplifting's and prank phone calls. Last week there was a new category Massage Misconduct. So that is what they are calling the "happy ending" these days.

I live in a suburban city with a quaint little downtown, good schools, some really expensive country clubs and homes, expansive sports parks and lots of churches. Within walking distance of our little downtown house there are at least 4 massage parlours. I am counting the ones with neon signs advertising that they are open at all hours of the night and day.

Tom used to have his office in a building with one of them. He said there really wasn't a steady stream of clientele from what he observed. Over time he came to believe that the reason the proprietors of the business were driving extremely expensive cars had less to do with massages and tips and more to do with, perhaps, money laundering.

That particular estabishment was asked to move from the premises when a children's art school moved in and the owner of the building had a guilty conscience about the kids potentially running into the clients in the hall. The ladies left and moved to another location down the street - the one which was cited for massage misconduct.