The odd neighbor.

Our neighbor across the street and slightly to the right is a single, middle aged man who works nights. We don't see much of him. I don't even know his name. He only comes outside to check the mail or to take out the trash, and he grumbles and curses to himself (loudly) each time. And he drives too fast.

Once, or maybe twice each summer, he does his yard work with a weed whacker. That is to say - the ONLY yard work he does is with a weed whacker, and he only does it once. He takes out the weed whacker at eight o'clock in the morning and spends a few hours whacking away at his entire yard until it's been satisfactorily whacked, and that's it. He whacks the weeds that grow where a lawn should be. He whacks the hedge in front of his house. He whacks trees, shrubs, bushes. His house looks naked now, with all the overgrowth whacked away.

Sometimes it's better just to nod and smile and occasionally wave, than to actually know your neighbors.