Well after being woken this afternoon by the sound of a little girl playing on the deck, again., I went over and had a chat with my neighbor. I let her know that she has been coming in to the yard and playing and that it really needs to stop. Her answer was, "I know we catch her climbing the fence all the time". I then let her know that she has not climb the fence in a bit and she is know using the gate and leaving it wide open which means the dog gets out. Of course she quickly came back with "tie the gate shut or put a lock on it."

I was stupified by not just her responses but what appeared to be her lack of care. Instead of me having to lock my gate perhaps she should lock hers? Or better yet maybe someone should actually watch the child? Stupid me, I should have known locking my gate would fix this problem.

The sad thing is that other then this problem they are very good neighbors. We have not had any problems with them until recently. They have a daughter who is my sons age and they play together with the rest of the kids. Even this is not really that big a problem, chasing the dog down goes with the territory of owning a pet. My concern is the welfare of this little girl.

I was also out to the grocery store this afternoon and saw this little girl, perhaps 3 years old with a huge black right eye. She was sitting in the front part of the cart and the lady pushing it had another kid in the basket, maybe 5 years old, and 3 more in tow behind her. When I walked past the cart the girl with the bruises pointed to her left arm where she had more bruises very much like someone had grabbed her arm and then backhanded her across the eye.

The way some people treat or don't treat their kids is warped. You have to have a license to fish, to drive, to hunt and own a dog but anyone can have a kid no questions asked.