Here Come The Black Folks…There Goes The Neighborhood!

Memorial Day weeked was beautiful. My husband's friend since childhood "Poochy" came up to visit. The weather was perfect all weekend long. I hung out around the house while they went fishing. However, they didn't bring home any fish for dinner.

What they did bring home was fireworks. So we set them off Saturday and Sunday evening on our property. I think they were bootleg, but no one bothered us. Probably because they had already bothered us...

We had a great time riding the quad, the dirt bike, eating, drinking and setting off fireworks. Mark gave me a new pet, a bunny we named Niger. He is so soft and cuddly. We need to get him a proper home and train him to poop in a pan.

We also hung out by the fire. Mark is a pyromaniac, and Poochy was happy to help him I do have to admit it keeps you warm during the cool summer evenings.

So we’v e been in Vermont for a full month now and we’ve had the pleasure of being visited by the police twice. The first time was the weekend we moved in. our new neighbors called the police reporting “suspicious” activity at our brand new home. They knew the previous owners and saw someone (code for Black folks) with a Uhaul trailer and thought the previous residents were being robbed. I wasn’t home, but my husband was-waiting for the cable company. Apparently the police were lurking on the property and my husband heard the radio and went looking for the source of the voice. The police had surrounded the property. When my husband explained that we were the new owners, the policeman sat down on the front stoop and hung out with my husband for awhile.

The second time, I heard a knock on the door while I was having coffee one morning during the Memorial Day weekend. My husband and his friend had left to go discover the area (they ended up in New Hampshire). I was mad at my husband and thought he was being cute by knocking on the door, interrupting me. Boy was I surprised when I opened the door and saw a short white male state trooper. He said the neighbors had called the police since someone was riding a quad (four wheel all terrain vehicle) on the public roads. He knew it was us because he follwed the tire tracks (code for we are the only Blacks in the immediate area). He warned me it was a whopping $150 ticket. He didn’t realize that in CT, I paid three times that for deliquent parking tickets. He warned us to stay off the public roads, then questioned where we were from and if this was our vacation home. I advised him our home was in VT now. Then I immediately called my husband who thought it was hilarious.

The next day, while he was out riding the (registered, street legal) dirt bike through town, the same state trooper introduced himself to my husband and reiterated the warning about the quad. I wonder how he realized it was the same guy…

I guess our neighbors know we’re here. We should go formally introduce ourselves!