but this morning my upset ended.
My neighbors once again interfered with my rights and my animals. Various ill-meaning neighbors have tried to kill my dogs twice, my horses once, and one tried to steal Algiers. Others have been seen trying to hit Algiers with a branch over the fence, and one person I invited over to meet my horses slapped the just-weaned baby in the face when she'd been here for all of a week, deliberately hitting her in the eyes. It was over a week before I could halter her again, and she is permanently head shy as a result.
Supposedly well meaning neighbors have tried to interfere with my horses and now have interefered with my cat's long-term well being by kidnapping her and then dumping her.
I have a right to not have neighbors trespassing on my property whenever they feel like it, changing things to the way they prefer, harassing me, harassing my animals. So I'm partly angry over the lack of respect for *my* space. I don't really want to hear about how "we're all one." I have *never* had my personal space and privacy respected. I have been physically beaten, verbally abused, molested, had my personal property taken from me and given away by my parents and immediate family. I have been stalked and sexually harassed by strangers.
I have a right to peace in my own home, as do my animals. I resent the forced intrusion by assholes who quite frankly shit all over everything, whether it's destroying my garden (yes, that's been done too) mowing grass that I was using for privacy, dropping cigarette butts while they case my place trying to figure out what I did with Algiers' body (none of your mother-fucking business asshole trespasser and nothing illegal so you're not going to get me in trouble over it so you can steal my home).
I have nice neighbors, too. They wave as the dogs and I walk by. I work with 2 of them, one at the hospital, one at the call center. They don't see a need to trespass, they come over only when invited, they don't hurt my animals and they don't force themselves into my life and shit all over it.
There is a difference, and I have a right to say NO to the assholes, and right to have that respected.
Bella didn't cause this "lesson." The neighbors who kidnapped and then dumped her did. I can't provide a "lesson in responsibility" to her kidnappers because they have moved away.
Everything changed for me this morning, because I can't fix Bella. I saw her sitting on the deck while returning from the dog walk. So after I put the dogs in, I picked up my carrier and headed back to the neighbors. The instant, and I mean the very instant she saw me returning, she took off and disappeared into the woods. She couldn't see the carrier at that point either, since there is chest-high brush alongside the road there. She saw me and ran for it. She doesn't want to be cared for by me, so she has essentially absolved me of responsibility for her.
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