Didn't get to blog yesterday or do much of anything on the net for that matter. DSL was down. I called and got a recording that they were experiencing trouble in South Jersey (me), parts of Maryland and Pennsylvania. "We are working diligently to rectify the problem as quickly as possible." More than 12 hours later it finally connected.

Had an interesting afternoon yesterday. My friend Marge came over to give Marna her birthday presents. We were chatting away in the den and heard Brody and his friends playing their daily basketball game in the driveway. Brody came in and said, " Aunt Marge, some girl threw a skateboard and it hit your car and dented it." Brody has been known to kid around with stuff like this, so neither Marge nor I took him seriously at first. He realized we weren't buying it and finally said, "I am not kidding, come out and look."

We go out back and there are 3 middle school age girls standing there. I have never seen any of them before.
Sure enough, on the hood of Marge's Expedition are two huge dents from the wheels of the skateboard and a huge scrape from the grip tape on the deck of the board in between. Marge was much more calm than I would ever expect her to be and much more calm than I know I would have been had it been my car. I turned to the girls and asked which one threw it. The girl admitted it, I got her name and address, and then told her to leave as we do not tolerate behavior like that. It seems as though she was aiming for the head of one of Brody's friends and he ducked! I hate to think what would have happened to John had she made her target!!

As the girl is walking out of our yard, one of the other girls starts yelling at me, "Who the f*** do you think you are? You can't f***ing talk to my sister like that you motherf***er!" I can't even describe the rage I felt when that girl spewed those words in my direction. I did stay calm and said to her, "I'll tell you who I am. I am the owner of this property, the property you are trespassing upon and I suggest you leave this minute and if I ever see you or your sister here again, I will immediately call the police."
I expected another foul-mouthed response, but she mumbled under her breath and she and her friend walked to the street.

The boys came over and patted me on the back thrilled that I had 'handled' her. They said she is bad news and at the moment is suspended from school. It seems the girls were walking by and saw the boys in the backyard and decided to invite themselves back there. Of course my obvious question to the boys was why didn't you tell me or tell them to leave? Being adolescent boys, I think they enjoyed the idea of girls watching them play.....even though they don't like these girls.

We checked out Marge's car again and realized it was going to be a costly repair. We decided to call the police to get a report. The police came and said Marge had two choices.....go talk to the parents of the girl and try to work it out that way, or file charges against her and take it court to get the money. Marge decided she would talk to the parents first. I told the officer that she would only be doing that if he accompanied her. He said he would.

Marge came back and told us that another officer showed up. She went to the door of the house with an officer on either side of her. The mother was terribly upset at the throwing of the skateboard and the foul-mouthed back talk. Marge said the mother seemed distraught that her daughters are out of control. I found out from one of Brody's friends that the foul-mouthed sister broke a window of a neighbor .....with her fist!!!....and had the police called on her then, as well. Marge told her that she would like to keep the police out of it, if possible. The mother agreed and said I am going to have to pay for it either way so I would just like to keep it between us (she and Marge). Marge thinks the mother is sincere, but told the mother if it didn't work out this way, she would take it to court. The mother gave Marge her name and phone number and told Marge to call her when she got an estimate. I hope it does work out with no problems.

I am astounded at the behavior of these kids. What is up with kids these days?? I find it very scary that some kids think nothing of behaving in this manner.