The Case of the Beeping Neighbor Lady

There is a house right next door to us that is positioned on its lot in such a way that its inhabitants can bring us much grief. You see, our house is a mere four feet from their backyard. More specifically, my bedroom window is only a dog-run away from whatever is happening next door.

In our six years here, there have been some trying times due to this unfortunate arrangement. If there are nice quiet neighbors living there then all is good, but if the home is inhabited by people who like to smoke pot in their backyard with their 5 charming friends and loudly role play comedy routines at 2:00 in the morning...well, you get the idea.

Several months ago, we noticed that the house was for sale and we fervently began praying for neighbors who don't have excessively noisy dogs, don't throw drug fueled gatherings, don't blast music late at night and don't mind a 14 year old next door banging away on a drum set for about an hour a day. (Yes, I do see the element of hypocrisy in that last sentence.)

I'm very pleased to report that all of our pleas were answered. A nice woman moved in a few weeks back whose dog barks about as often as our dogs do, who does watch TV late into the night, but not at unnerving volumes, and who says she loves music, so Tobias's drum pounding doesn't bother her a bit!

There is one little bit of mystery, though. Almost every night since about the time she moved in, I've heard a strange beeping sound. It is a medium pitched beep that lasts about half a second and repeats every 7 or 8 seconds. It goes off at all hours of the night. My hearing is a bit better than Jeff's (fewer concerts attended, perhaps?) so he didn't discern it for a while.

"Right there! Did you hear that? Oh, wait, wait.............there! Did you hear it that time?" I'd ask, laying next to him in bed.

He would patiently assure me in a muffled mouth-in-the-pillow voice that no, he had not heard it and promptly fall asleep.

I knew I wasn't going crazy, but I was happy that he knew I wasn't nuts when he finally did say to me one evening, "Hey! I hear your beeping sound!"

I've been tempted to yell out, "Popcorn's ready!" and listen for a microwave door to slam shut and the beeping to cease. But somehow, I don't think anyone eats popcorn every night.

Seriously, I have no idea what it is and although she's a nice woman, I'm not about to ask. Nancy Drew could probably tactfully figure it out somehow, but her I am not.