Around Here

For a long time, I've been wanting to write about the neighborhood we live in, and have always held off.  Right now though, I'm feeling completely and unfoundedly (is that a word?) annoyed at the people next door.
We live in a fairly nice neighborhood, in a small city, with yards, etc.  Like anywhere, there are pros and cons to where we live.  One being the parking, we have a shared driveway with our neighbors, that gets a little dicey when there is snow (another being the snow in general!).  Most homes on our block and surrounding blocks are duplexes, and many are rentals.  This means many times that there is no one overseeing the property, shoveling of snow, etc.  
The people who moved in next door are renters, upstairs and down.  I think I get overly annoyed with this house in particular, because I see it every time I look out my kitchen window, as this is where our kitchen sink is located.
The people who moved in upstairs this past summer, attached a hoist to the side of the porch to lift furniture up.  Fine.  Smart idea.  However, this took at least three people to discuss all hours of the day and night.  Eh, mostly the night.  Like after dark and after we put the kids down.  And loudly.  They upgraded the hoist at least three times, (which I could write the details of, since they had to tell everyone who came over about it, loudly, mostly after nightfall, outside our kitchen window which was open because it was summer).  So the hoist is apparently now a permanent fixture.  It is bright orange, and large.  And for some unknown reason, unrelated to the hoist, there is also a neon green rope hanging from the tree that overhangs our property.  It once had a tarp attached, but that has been removed, or perhaps flew away one day during a storm after whipping around for several hours.  But the rope remains.
Back to the hoist.  They moved in the first week of September, and were still hoisting things up at the beginning of October.  This meant that the lawn was littered with random bits of furniture and tarps for four weeks until enough neighbors complained that the remaining items were trucked away.  The hoist has also been used for groceries, take-out orders, and garbage.
Today, it is 10 degrees, i

hoist and part of green rope 

t snowed last night, and they are hoisting.  I think this annoys me so much because it has been 40-50 degrees all week, and they choose the coldest day to hoist.  As they are hoisting, the tenants downstairs, proceed to shovel, with the shovel they took out of the back of Chris's truck and never returned.  It is very identifiable, as it is a large yellow snow shovel that is for big areas and has a distinct handle.  It is also one of three and now there are two left.  They used it to push snow off of the steps, which is not what it is intended for.
Anyway, I wanted to open the kitchen window and yell, "that's not how you use the snow shovel that doesn't belong to you.  And why are you hoisting in an Arctic Vortex?" but I didn't and won't.

I know we're not the easiest neighbors.  Chris has trucks and plows (and snow shovels).  Our kids scream and cry.  I've been know to scream and cry.  We have miscellaneous items strewn around our backyard for no apparent reason, other than Chris or his guys leave them there (trust me, I have tantrums about them).  But I wish the hoist would go.  And the neon green rope.