Our peaceful little hamlet here is being invaded by summer people. We are the second house on Silver Lake Road, and back along the lake are at least a dozen houses on the water. Only a few of these places are lived in year round, so we've gotten used to a generally quiet and annoyance-free existence. But--since Memorial Day weekend, that has begun to change. By Friday afternoon, one car after another is heading past our house and into the woods, many of them speeding and kicking up dust with their boats and trailers. The elderly people who live right at the edge of the woods have put a "Slow Down" sign on their lawn the past two weekends. It is basically a one-lane road, so there's no place to go if speeders encounter someone coming the other way. I have already had to jump to the side and pull my dog with me to avoid a vehicle coming like a bat out of hell.
I've seen several dogs on the road without leashes--which makes walking ours a headache and gives me concern about our outside cats. Our dogs are always harnessed and on a long lead, but it takes all I have to hold them back if we encounter another dog. If the dog is loose, I don't know what to expect for myself or our dog.
The weekend newspaper, The Star Journal, and all of the shopping flyers come on Saturday, and there are usually a couple left in the box yet by Wednesday. Since the invasion of the Summer People, the papers have been disappearing rapidly, leaving us regulars to stake out the mailbox and grab one as soon as they're delivered, or go without.
What's the reason for this rude and thoughtless behavior? Do they have an undeserved sense of entitlement and no regard for their neighbors who live here all the time? It's just like the people who have taken firewood from our land at the Amberg Hilton or ridden 4-wheelers on our trails: if it's here, and nobody's looking, it's ours for the taking.
I'm not sure there's anything we can do to improve the situation here, except maybe discuss it with some of the other year-round inhabitants. And when I'm walking, I may just let the dogs poop on some Summer People's lawns.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I'm sorry to say you're experiencing the Northwoods in 'all its glory'. Just wait til they all invade Rhinelander for Hodag. They're not nicknamed terrorists (which isn't used so much anymore), FIBs, etc. for nothing. About the speeders... at our resort, my dad used to dig a speed rut instead of a bump. If you have a gravel road, you could really slow 'em down with that. Or, "Don't run over our new puppies-SLOW DOWN OR WE'LL SHOOT" kinds of signs seem to work here in MT. Whether you have puppies or not, they don't know. : )
Maybe you could get a pet wolverine and let it run loose when you see the dogs walking around.
Also, my "word verification" word is "balsach."
Post a Comment