Babies, Funerals and Bitchy Neighbours

We headed down to Calgary on Friday night since I had a baby shower and Steve a funeral. Neither event is something the average person looks forward to, although I must say, the shower was really well planned. My good friend’s sister is ultra-creative, and had so many nice little touches that it really was an enjoyable event. Sadly I didn’t get to see the twin boys we were celebrating as they were born prematurly and are still in the hospital. However, Mom and boys are doing well and I’ll see them soon enough!
At 6 o’clock Sunday morning I took Vegas for a stroll down the path behind my parent’s house. The path follows a ravine that he enjoys running around in and sniffing everything in sight, as dogs are known to do. We were out walking for about 15 minutes when I returned to the house. The very bitchy neighbour that lives diagonally across the path from the back of parents house suddenly appeared on her balcony and yelled down at me that this was not an off-leash area. I knew that, I chose to disregard it at 6 in the morning when everyone was still cozy in their beds and completely unaware that I was so carelessly breaking the rules.
Her tone of voice pissed me off, but rather than get defensive and bitchy back, I thought I’d be nice and attempt to start a conversation. She is my parents neighbour after all (although, she’s been making life a living hell for all her neighbours, she’s just a bitch by design). I started to say that Vegas is scared of people and that if I came across anyone, he returns to me immediately to be put on his leash. He feels safer that way. She forcefully interrupted me to tell me, again, that it wasn’t an off leash area. Fuck being nice, I responded with “oh he’s fine” and continued walking.
She slammed her patio door, at which point Vegas started to bark at her house. I had to smile, although I could have killed him. A dog barking at 6 in the morning isn’t going to make anyone very happy.
I don’t mean to suggest that I don’t think the rules apply to me. Dogs should be on a leash if they are in an area frequented by people, especially children. I have no illusions, I don’t think I have some ultra special dog that doesn’t have to abide by the rules. But let’s be reasonable. It’s 6 o’clock in the morning, there isn’t a soul in sight, the path is flanked by unfinished houses with no occupants on one side, and a ravine on the other. The only creature you come across is a porcupine or a jack rabbit at that time of day. Honestly, its rare you come across a person on that end of the ravine at any time of day. Is it really worth coming out on your balcony at 6 in the morning, in your nightie no less, to bitch at your neighbours?
This is the woman that has called the police and told them a neighbour had a pot operation in their home (they don’t, and they didn’t appreciate the police showing up on their doorsteps questioning them very much). She’s phoned animal control on my parents numerous times because my parents let their dog run free in the ravine. Animal control doesn’t even bother to come out to the house anymore, they just call and say there was a complaint. They don’t even suggest that my parents need to do something about it. And so on and so forth, you get the idea. She’s made a hobby of bitching, I think her and her husband (who also goes out of his way to make life miserable for the neighbours) need to move out of the city since they tend to have a problem with people in general.