Today I had a neighbor stare at my ass. Cosette is my witness, she saw him do it. I had decided to procrastinate on studying for a test, and what better way to procrastinate than to do yardwork. The area I live in is fraught with sweet gum trees and balls. LG calls these "fight balls" because they are full of spikes and hurt when you step on them barefoot. Trust me on this one.
Since the snow melted, all the fight balls from my roof had fallen onto my front porch and walkway, which, combined with the leaves I didn't rake up last fall, were driving me crazy. I prepared to fight the fight balls themselves with a rake and bags, and darn it if I didn't put up a good fight.
I tied Cosette to a tree so that I wouldn't have to keep a close eye on her whereabouts. I've kept her loose in the yard before, and she knows where to go and where not to go, but her limits are tested if another human/dog walks by on the sidewalk. She just can't help herself. Hence, leash to a tree.
I was busy raking up the fight balls and wet leaves when I straightened up to stretch my back. That's when I realized my 80+ year old stroke victim neighbor was standing at the corner of my yard with his itty bitty dog. Cosette was watching them intently, as they had not yet crossed the grass. I smiled and waved, and he just looked back down at his dog and muttered something. I shrugged and went back to work. I kept glancing up, though, and noticing him just...standing there and staring at me. Occasionally he'd make a comment to his dog, and his dog would just look up at him solemnly. I decided that they must be discussing the size of my ass; otherwise, if he was critiquing my leaf and fight ball raking techniques, I might have thrown the rake at him.
He eventually wandered back inside his house, without a word to me. What a strange afternoon.
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