Carolyn Hax: New neighbors with two kids and a dog are 24/7 noise
Dear Carolyn: Self-admitted crabby old broad here. My newish next-door neighbors are 24/7 noise. While the apartment is a studio, I can hear at least two adults and two children — one infant, one toddler.
The kids are up at all hours — either screaming in delight and running around or wailing in misery. The adults yell all the time.
Movies, TV and music all play at incredible volume, and now a dog was added to the mix. It howls and cries whenever they leave it alone.
I don't want to be That Person, but I'm tired of asking them, at 1 a.m., to turn down the TV, music, etc.
Do I report them to the condo board? They are tenants. I'm hesitant, as I worry this studio may be the only space they can afford, but also frustrated by the noise.
— Crabby Old Broad
Crabby Old Broad: I do feel for you, because noise invades your home and peace of mind.
But there is no way two adults, an infant, a toddler and a dog in a studio apartment will ever be quiet. No way. So I think your hope they will ever be quiet is compounding your torment.
It will never be quiet.
Your options now are whatever's left after you accept that. Move? Complain to (or join) the condo board? Invest in soundproofing and noise remediation? Ride it out? (Since the chances they're in this for the long haul seem slim.)
If you stay, then you will probably want to use various options in combination — saving the condo-board complaints for the egregious things they can control, like music and adult-yelling volume at 1 a.m.
To report a noisy baby at 1 a.m. is just … crabby.
Also — do you like dogs? Maybe there's an opportunity for grace here. A crying dog is miserable, and you're miserable from the dog's crying, so maybe you two can quietly upgrade each other's lives when your neighbors go out.
None of these options are great, even stacked, but all of them seem better to me than the suspense of waiting in vain for the racket to stop.
Re: Noise: Yes, you can get a white-noise generator. But you shouldn't have to. If they're creating the problem, then they should be creating the solution. If you have the option to report it to the condo association or manager, then report it. If it continues to be a problem, then continue to report it. You may be labeled 'that' neighbor, but again, that's their problem.
— 'That Neighbor'
'That Neighbor': Great for your sense of righteousness, I'm sure.
But for practical purposes, you've ordered a round of headaches for the table. The neighbors can turn their TV down, but they can't 'make' kids not be kids or dogs not be dogs. So you're mostly cranking their stress levels as they deal with a baby and toddler, broke, hoping the condo board doesn't evict them.
The board, meanwhile, can somewhat enforce certain rules — TV volume after 10 p.m., say — but it can't make babies not cry, either. So you've just handed it a chronic complainer in 5E.
For the owner, you've helped perpetuate the idea that living spaces obey the laws of 'should.' People who expect to govern others' voices, footfalls and lifestyles aren't super candidates for high-density housing.
Another reader's thought:
· I live in Times Square. No white noise machine has ever helped. What does work: a noisy, rotating standing fan, next to the head of your bed. The white noise of the whirring blades blocks out all but the most determined bass-thumping partyers.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
32 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Ground squirrels are taking over a North Dakota city and officials are not amused
MINOT, N.D. (AP) — The Richardson's ground squirrel weighs less than a pound, is about a foot long and is native to the northern Plains. The little creature also is a ferocious tunneler, and it's exasperating the people of Minot, North Dakota, where it's burrowing everywhere from vacant lots to the middle of town, and growing more plentiful over the past two decades. Now North Dakota's fourth-largest city is fighting back, but even the pest control guy leading the charge acknowledges that it will be difficult to turn the tide against the rodent. An uphill battle Joshua Herman said fighting the squirrels is akin to 'one guy standing against a massive storm.' 'If I'm trapping but my neighbor isn't, well then, we're really not going to get anywhere with it, long-term,' Herman said. Ground squirrels have been an issue in Minot, a city of nearly 50,000 people, for at least 20 years, but the problem has dramatically worsened in the last few years, said Minot Street Department Superintendent Kevin Braaten. It's unclear how many of the squirrels live in Minot but it likely nears or even exceeds the city's population. 'Gosh, there's got to be tens of thousands of them in the area,' Herman said. Officials in the city, a green spot along the winding Souris River surrounded by farmland and grassy prairie, know they can't get rid of the squirrels, but hope to simply get the rodent numbers down. 'I don't see the population ever going to zero,' Braaten said. 'I mean, it's almost impossible by the numbers that we have.' Put another way, Minot won't be able to rid itself of the squirrels because the animals have lived on the prairie for centuries. Outside of town, predators like coyotes, badgers, owls and even snakes love to dine on the squirrels. But in residential neighborhoods and even downtown, where few of their predators live, the rodents can roam pretty freely. Greg Gullickson, an outreach biologist with the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, adds that the squirrels now have fewer grassland areas available to them and like the mowed spots they find in town. No land is safe Female squirrels typically give birth to litters of about six babies a year, so it's easy to see how their numbers can quickly soar. Herman said he kills 3,500 to 5,000 of them a year, primarily by putting snares and carbon monoxide into the holes, and using an air rifle. 'I've had calls downtown, calls in the mall, along the highways, here at the airport — really every part of the city I've done trapping for ground squirrels here in Minot,' Herman said as he checked his traps along an apartment building and shoveled dirt over holes. Herman says they damage driveways, sidewalks and lawns; create tripping hazards with their holes and can harbor disease from fleas. Along an apartment building, the squirrels had dug under a concrete slab and against the foundation. Nearby in a vacant lot, the rodents popped in and out of holes. Ground squirrels near Pashone Grandson's ground-level apartment dig holes near her door and eat her plants. One squirrel even got around her baby gate at the door and into her daughter's clothes in her bedroom. 'It was a little scary. You don't know what disease they carry. They're dirty. I have a young daughter ... I didn't know if it was going to bite her,' Grandson said. North of town, Minot Air Force Base, which houses bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles, has fought the ground squirrels for years. Earlier this month, the base said it had trapped more than 800 'dak-rats,' a base name for the rodents. Base officials declined to comment on the squirrels. Jared Edwards, facilities director for Minot Public Schools, which has three schools on the base, said residential areas of the base and runways are overrun by ground squirrels. He called it 'a continuous battle for them for the last 75 years since the base has been there." 'I'm not going to exaggerate: They're by the millions out there,' Edwards said. In town, three school properties have large populations of ground squirrels, he said. Last year, the school system began using snares, and for years before that had used poison. 'It's something you have to keep up with. It is Mother Nature," Edwards said, adding that they've probably been in the area since homesteaders came through. A cute nuisance Still, not everyone sees the squirrels as a pest. Some find the critters cute and fuzzy. Herman said people have sabotaged, stolen or thrown out his traps. They occasionally confront him when he shoots at ground squirrels with an air rifle, scolding him for hurting the wildlife, he said. 'They get that cute association, and they are, you know, adorable, but they're a vermin and a pest and dangerous when they are allowed to proliferate,' Herman said. Solve the daily Crossword
Associated Press
35 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Ground squirrels are taking over a North Dakota city and officials are not amused
MINOT, N.D. (AP) — The Richardson's ground squirrel weighs less than a pound, is about a foot long and is native to the northern Plains. The little creature also is a ferocious tunneler, and it's exasperating the people of Minot, North Dakota, where it's burrowing everywhere from vacant lots to the middle of town, and growing more plentiful over the past two decades. Now North Dakota's fourth-largest city is fighting back, but even the pest control guy leading the charge acknowledges that it will be difficult to turn the tide against the rodent. An uphill battle Joshua Herman said fighting the squirrels is akin to 'one guy standing against a massive storm.' 'If I'm trapping but my neighbor isn't, well then, we're really not going to get anywhere with it, long-term,' Herman said. Ground squirrels have been an issue in Minot, a city of nearly 50,000 people, for at least 20 years, but the problem has dramatically worsened in the last few years, said Minot Street Department Superintendent Kevin Braaten. It's unclear how many of the squirrels live in Minot but it likely nears or even exceeds the city's population. 'Gosh, there's got to be tens of thousands of them in the area,' Herman said. Officials in the city, a green spot along the winding Souris River surrounded by farmland and grassy prairie, know they can't get rid of the squirrels, but hope to simply get the rodent numbers down. 'I don't see the population ever going to zero,' Braaten said. 'I mean, it's almost impossible by the numbers that we have.' Put another way, Minot won't be able to rid itself of the squirrels because the animals have lived on the prairie for centuries. Outside of town, predators like coyotes, badgers, owls and even snakes love to dine on the squirrels. But in residential neighborhoods and even downtown, where few of their predators live, the rodents can roam pretty freely. Greg Gullickson, an outreach biologist with the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, adds that the squirrels now have fewer grassland areas available to them and like the mowed spots they find in town. No land is safe Female squirrels typically give birth to litters of about six babies a year, so it's easy to see how their numbers can quickly soar. Herman said he kills 3,500 to 5,000 of them a year, primarily by putting snares and carbon monoxide into the holes, and using an air rifle. 'I've had calls downtown, calls in the mall, along the highways, here at the airport — really every part of the city I've done trapping for ground squirrels here in Minot,' Herman said as he checked his traps along an apartment building and shoveled dirt over holes. Herman says they damage driveways, sidewalks and lawns; create tripping hazards with their holes and can harbor disease from fleas. Along an apartment building, the squirrels had dug under a concrete slab and against the foundation. Nearby in a vacant lot, the rodents popped in and out of holes. Ground squirrels near Pashone Grandson's ground-level apartment dig holes near her door and eat her plants. One squirrel even got around her baby gate at the door and into her daughter's clothes in her bedroom. 'It was a little scary. You don't know what disease they carry. They're dirty. I have a young daughter ... I didn't know if it was going to bite her,' Grandson said. North of town, Minot Air Force Base, which houses bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles, has fought the ground squirrels for years. Earlier this month, the base said it had trapped more than 800 'dak-rats,' a base name for the rodents. Base officials declined to comment on the squirrels. Jared Edwards, facilities director for Minot Public Schools, which has three schools on the base, said residential areas of the base and runways are overrun by ground squirrels. He called it 'a continuous battle for them for the last 75 years since the base has been there.' 'I'm not going to exaggerate: They're by the millions out there,' Edwards said. In town, three school properties have large populations of ground squirrels, he said. Last year, the school system began using snares, and for years before that had used poison. 'It's something you have to keep up with. It is Mother Nature,' Edwards said, adding that they've probably been in the area since homesteaders came through. A cute nuisance Still, not everyone sees the squirrels as a pest. Some find the critters cute and fuzzy. Herman said people have sabotaged, stolen or thrown out his traps. They occasionally confront him when he shoots at ground squirrels with an air rifle, scolding him for hurting the wildlife, he said. 'They get that cute association, and they are, you know, adorable, but they're a vermin and a pest and dangerous when they are allowed to proliferate,' Herman said.
Yahoo
39 minutes ago
- Yahoo
West Virginia Lottery results: See winning numbers for Powerball, Lotto America on July 16, 2025
Are you looking to win big? The West Virginia Lottery offers a variety of games if you think it's your lucky day. Lottery players in West Virginia can choose from popular national games like the Powerball and Mega Millions, which are available in the vast majority of states. Other games include Lotto America, Daily 3, Daily 4 and Cash 25. Big lottery wins around the U.S. include a lucky lottery ticketholder in California who won a $1.27 billion Mega Millions jackpot in December 2024. See more big winners here. And if you do end up cashing a jackpot, here's what experts say to do first. Here's a look at Wednesday, July 16, 2025 results for each game: Winning Powerball numbers from July 16 drawing 04-21-43-48-49, Powerball: 22, Power Play: 2 Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here. Winning Lotto America numbers from July 16 drawing 05-35-37-46-50, Star Ball: 09, ASB: 02 Check Lotto America payouts and previous drawings here. Winning Daily 3 numbers from July 16 drawing 7-2-9 Check Daily 3 payouts and previous drawings here. Winning Daily 4 numbers from July 16 drawing 1-6-8-4 Check Daily 4 payouts and previous drawings here. Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results When are the West Virginia Lottery drawings held? Powerball: 11 p.m. ET on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. Mega Millions: 10:59 p.m. ET Tuesday and Friday. Lotto America: 10:15 p.m. ET on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. Daily 3, 4: 6:59 p.m. ET Monday through Saturday. Cash 25: 6:59 p.m. ET Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Winning lottery numbers are sponsored by Jackpocket, the official digital lottery courier of the USA TODAY Network. Where can you buy lottery tickets? Tickets can be purchased in person at gas stations, convenience stores and grocery stores. Some airport terminals may also sell lottery tickets. You can also order tickets online through Jackpocket, the official digital lottery courier of the USA TODAY Network, in these U.S. states and territories: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Washington D.C., and West Virginia. The Jackpocket app allows you to pick your lottery game and numbers, place your order, see your ticket and collect your winnings all using your phone or home computer. Jackpocket is the official digital lottery courier of the USA TODAY Network. Gannett may earn revenue for audience referrals to Jackpocket services. GAMBLING PROBLEM? CALL 1-800-GAMBLER, Call 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY). 18+ (19+ in NE, 21+ in AZ). Physically present where Jackpocket operates. Jackpocket is not affiliated with any State Lottery. Eligibility Restrictions apply. Void where prohibited. Terms: This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a USA Today editor. You can send feedback using this form. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: West Virginia Lottery results, winning numbers: Powerball, Lotto America, more
