Good Neighbor Skills 101...Failed!!

[McGoo]

You acted as cool as you could have given the circumstances! Wow, that would have freaked me out!!!

 

[onthespot]

I would still file a police report. The police will check it out and if she is unfit to live alone they will contact the proper people/relatives/agencies and make sure she is supervised from here on out. You were TOO KIND of a neighbor this time. sometimes being the nicest doesn't do the most good. That lady needs help, not to feel "comfortable in her skin and have great self esteem" while she threatens people with a weapon. Get her the help she obviously needs, and get an official record of her behavior in case it becomes a pattern, or already is a pattern of which you may be unaware. Come on, be brave, pick up the phone, call the non-emergency number and make a concerned citizen's report. Now THAT would be doing the neighborly thing. Her family may not be aware of her actions at this time and need a heads up so they can make proper arrangements.

 

[Buster]

Nobody messes with me at my own house! You reacted better than I would have. I could go on but you get the picture. You were just fine. It is hard to deal with irrational people.

 

[tmk]

Hey calamityjen
I really got the first half of what you were saying.
Those were the exact things DH and I talked about and the decision of not calling a police was made based on my perspective of the incident. I feel if she intended to hurt or even just confront my son she could have done it. DH and I love and care about our 4 children very much and we made that decision, so pleeeease trust me on that.

You really lost me on the second half tho...

My writing is just soooo long and maybe easy to get off track?? English is not my 1st language so that was my best shot

I don't think we were talking about the same thing if you thought I was complaining about the way of life in the countryside not being what I think it should in my original post. But I do understand what you are saying about you shouldn't expect the "city comfort" when you move to the country.

And I agree!

Thanks for your time for reading and writing!
And oh yea, Good Luck with your neighbor from the city

 

[tmk]

Quote:
Yeah! That was it!! My first reaction was getting ready to say "what in the h***..." then I remembered I had my school age children in the house

 

[arlee453]

That sort of behavior makes me think this lady either has a serious mental illness all her life (if she was always like that) or some dementia type disorder like Alzheimers.

A lot of times people who live alone have serious issues with dementia, etc and if the have adult children, the kids are in denial about Mom OR they just don't see her enough to know how bad it is.

I think you did quite well under the circumstances - she obviously has a mental problem - whether dementia or just all her life. Your first priority is to protect YOUR family. And thankfully the neighbor was there to help out.

Let's see, you have a person raving about killing your dog, pushing their way inside your home and holding a potentially lethal instrument. If she had been a 20 yr old male instead of an old lady, you'd have called the police in an instant, right??

So, you did the right thing to close the door on her - she needs help - that was clearly irrational behavior on her part - CLEARLY.... as far as calling the police - I think that's just your call.

If you want to go one step further, instead of offering flowers, or instead of calling the police, call your local agency that deals with elderly - probably Social Services, or whatever the agency in your community that investigates child neglect if you can't find the right one - they should be able to tell you who to call. She needs some outside intervention, in my opinion. I'd tell them the story, and explain that you don't want to get her in trouble, you want to get her help before she harms herself or someone else, or someone's pet.

 

[tmk]

Quote:
Yes, I would have knocked her lights out too if I thought that was really going to happen.

Oh, thanks but don't worry.
I just wanted to post this so I can see other people's point of view.
And I am, thanks!

 

[tmk]

Hi, Cheep Mama

Thanks

Even though I didn't do anything to make things better, but am glad I didn't take a route to make things whole a lot worse...expecially for my kids who had to be there to see it all...

It's so easy to get the things escalated

 

[seminolewind]

I don't think you should be hard on yourself, a person came to your door, armed, and threatening to kill your dog.
I agree with calling the police, at least they can follow up on her and find out if she has family, and the family should know about this. Maybe you could at least see if you could contact her family.
Obviously the woman has needs.

 

[UP_Chicken_Lover]

I moved to the UP to get away from the crazy's and apparently they are everywhere and breeding. I bought a Fila Brasileiro and I leave it to Bo to sort out people coming on the property. We have lived in the boonies so long that it's "companies coming ma - get the gun"....
Someone at the door with sheers? No - that is just rude - I would have been less than cordial.