Mystery solved!

Or

"Dad, can I borrow your moose caller?"

Not our home

Remember that we live in a town house that shares walls on either side with the neighbors. It's a very lovely home and I'm very happy with it...except for the sharing walls part.

Our neighbors to the south are two very young boys. They look so young that I almost wonder if they're emancipated minors. I do know they're video game addicts, playing from about 7pm to

8am DAILY. I finally had a talk with them (after one particularly bad middle-of-the-night involving blaring music that ear-plugs just wouldn't mute...), gently asking them to wear head phones if they play video games or listen to music after 10pm. It worked! It's been quiet since

then and I feel like, instead of banging on the wall like I wanted to at 4 in the morning, I taught them how to be good neighbors. Which they have been since.

The neighbors to the north, however, are a different story. They're probably late 20's and have a toddler. I can hear the little girl yelling, "MOM!" from her bedroom after nap time every day. But I think it's cute. I can also hear her little play screams and occasional chatter (if we're in

adjoining rooms) and enjoy that.

One thing that has us stumped, however, is the incessant duck calls we hear coming from their apartment. Yes, I said Duck Calls. Seriously, we hear it for over an hour each day. It would be hilarious if it weren't so constant. Our thoughts travel along lines such as, "That baby must really think that's funny. But don't the adults get bored? Don't their lips get tired?! Can't they find some other way to entertain their daughter? Is she autistic? Is that the only thing that soothes her???"

Then tonight I walked along our shared porch and "happened" to see through a gap in their window blinds. On the TV was a paused video entitled something like "Fowl life..." with a guy in hunting gear demonstrating a duck call. The video was on pause but I could still hear the duck call. So my neighbor must be practicing his duck calls! I've seen him once or twice with hunting waders so he must be teaching himself different duck calls.

It's nice to have the mystery solved. But it's still annoying. Which brings me to my next question: Dad, can I borrow your moose caller? To quote Kasey: "How you yike DAT?!"

And that's all the news from Newlywedsville. We're doing extremely well and are very happy. We're both very thankful to have jobs that keep us busy, even if we only get two weekends a month off together. And we finally got our snow. Two weeks too late to have my first truly white Christmas, but whatever.