My Neighborhood

Another sign that it's summer is that you can hear the ice cream truck music throughout the neighborhood all day long. We all moved here in February...It's just a simple everyday burrow, errrr...I mean home, in a simple everyday neighborhood....well, maybe not. Now that it's summer and school is out, we've discovered we live really close to the ice cream truck "corral". Have you ever heard those wonderful songs they play? You know, it sounds like LOUD, BROKEN music boxes that are gonna die at any second. They play such classics as "Red Wing", "The Entertainer", "Old McDonald", "The Farmer In The Dell", "Pop Goes The Weasel", and of course my favoritest of all "Camptown Races". It seems like everytime Mike and I close our eyes, we get to hear the dueling music boxes flowing up through our open windows. That noise is more obnoxious than me. Mom's lucky, she isn't usually home during all of this.

Aren't there laws regarding noise pollution? Gosh, I don't "Yip" and "Chitter" anymore....I "Do Dah, Do Dah". Whenever I hear those songs, I know it's time to run to the window and watch all the kids interrupt their game of kickball to go to the truck and get their Eskimo Pies and Popsicles. I must admit, I'm jealous of them cause I'd like to try some of that stuff too. Mom says it isn't good for me and it'll spoil my dinner. Doesn't that sound just like something a Mom would say? Bet her mom and her mom's mom and her mom's mom's mom said that too. Wonder who was the first mom to say that. Apparently it caught on. You know, that song the ice cream man plays always puts me in a good mood but I can tell it gets on Mikes nerves. Kinda got that impression when he said he wished he had a grenade launcher. But a lot of times Mike works all night and he needs his sleep. Guess "Camptown Races" isn't a very good sleeping song and I don't think he likes the theme from "The Entertainer" any better... cuz I heard him mumble something about a nuclear detonator. Ya know...I wish there was a "corn on the cob" truck that came around. Then I'd be able to run out to the truck along with the other kids. I love that stuff. And....I wonder....would they let me play kickball with them????

We all thought it was NORMAL when we moved here, but one thing I have discovered is...we don't have to pay for entertainment around here. I mean, of course we all love to watch movies and such, but it is the extracurricular things that go on that are most entertaining.

Well, let me give you an idea....

During the day I love to go sit on the balcony with Mike and just watch what goes on around us. First of all there is the natural beauty that comes with living in Seattle. We can see Mt. Rainier from where we sit when we look to the south, and of course we can see the Cascades to the east. I just love to lay on my back in Mike's lap and watch those big fluffs of white float though the bright blue sky. There are a lot of trees around and they are just filled with birds. Sometimes I get scared though, if the big ones fly too close.

The funniest character in our neighborhood is the man across the street. He has this car that he just loves. He is always outside fiddling with it. It can be sooooo funny. It's a little older style Toyota and it's painted flat black. I think there is more paint on the car than there is metal. I mean he is out there EVERY day spraying more flat black paint from a can. Oh, yeah...then there are the stripes and flames that he can't seem to make up his mind on. I can't help but giggle and chitter when I go out on the balcony and look over there. One morning we saw that he had painted white flames right behind the front tires. During the day the the flames seemed to grow...and grow and grow. Before the day was over they took up the whole sides of this little car. The next day he must have gotten a new stock of flat black spray paint because the flames were gone. Then there were the racing stripes on the hood and down the back of the car. Again they were white. It started out with one wide stripe, then it turned into two thin stripes, then just one thin stripe. Now there is NO white stripe on the hood of this car. The only thing we have seen him put on his car that has stayed is the white shag carpeting on the dashboard. I haven't seen any big red fuzzy dice hanging from the mirror but we are expecting that anyday. Now for the "icing" on this black and white "cake"....he NEVER drives this car...he never even starts it up. It just sits there. And when he isn't actually doing something to the car, he is out there asking everyone who goes by to check it out.

Ahhhh, such is life in this silly Seattle neighborhood.