Entepreneurial Spirit / Shaking Down the Neighbors

Hello from hot, hazy and humid New Jersey. It is 8:30 in the morning and the temperature is already 90 degrees and climbing. The temperature is expected to rise to 101, with a heat index of 105-110. There is no way I am going out of the house in this kind of heat.

Anyway, picking up the story where I left off yesterday. As I was sitting over at Mary's house (our neighbor that lives 3 houses down from me) she was telling me that the kids had stopped over her house sometime last week. Liam, who was out riding his bike, had an empty milk gallon with him. Unbeknownst to me, he was making a collection. He told Buddy (Mary's dh) that he was making a collection and needed 35 cents. The conversation goes something like this:

Liam - "I am making collection. I need 35 cents."
Buddy - "What do you want the money for?"
Liam - "For food."
Mary - "Don't you have food at your house?"
Liam - "No."
Buddy - "Ok. I'll get the 35 cents."
Liam screams to Kaylie: "Kaylie, I got one!"
Buddy - Thinking to himself: "Yeah, you got a live one!"
Buddy to Liam - "Ohhh, and Liam, please make sure that you don't go ANYWHERE NEAR my car when riding your bike, ok. "
Liam - "Ok."

Buddy and Mary have 4 grown children of their own and lots of grandkids, so they know how kids can be. But man, was I mortified.

As a rule, the kids can only ride their bike on the sidewalk. They are only allowed to ride 3 houses up and 3 houses down from us. These are the neighbors that I know.

Just last Week, our neighbor 2 houses down from me came to ask for my help. Apparently, while Liam is out riding his bike, he stops by her driveway and walks into her garage. He doesn't take anything, but he is very curious so he looks. She tells me that the garage is usually open so he walks in there all the time. She also has 2 young drivers who zoom in and out of the house, so she is afraid that they won't see Liam speeding by on his bike and hurt him one of these days. So, she doesn't want Liam riding his bike by her house. So, from now on, I will have to try to keep him from going down that way.

There is never a dull moment with Liam, that is for sure.

I have to go now. My computer is seriously out of memory and I have out of memory messages flashing. I have to seriously delete stuff to make room.

Have a great day and try to keep cool and or warm whichever the case may be.

Entepreneurial Spirit / Shaking Down the Neighbors