No way, man! Those Idahoans are way weirder than us. Are too. Are too! 
Sorry, Idahoans. I didn’t mean to malign your great state by implying that it was a magnet for nutcases. There are apparently plenty of crazy folks in my own area, so good news for the neighbors – they may not have to move so far to start their compound!
Also, if I implied that the house was some kind of mansion, I’ve given the wrong impression entirely. It’s the nicest house on my street, but that’s like saying that Ernie is the sexiest muppet. It used to be a double house and they bought both sides and connected them. Sort of. They cut one doorway through from one side to the other, so if you’re on one side of the second floor, you have to go all the way downstairs to pass through the doorway to the other side and then back upstairs if you want to go to the other side of the second floor. The reason I know what the house is like inside is that they suddenly went away for a few weeks and left a note with another neighbor asking her to feed the dawgs. She called me because she couldn’t find their kibble, and we hunted around the house a little bit trying to find some. The whole place is like some bizarro version of “The Price is Right” – when you open a door, there could be literally anything in there: five unplugged refrigerators, a bunch of artificial Christmas trees, a herd of upright vacuum cleaners-- anything but dogfood, which they’d somehow overlooked providing. I’ve seen them dragging all sorts of junk home on bulky trash pickup day, so I think that’s where they’ve gotten most of the stuff in their hoard.
Any road, I called the city today and they’re going to send someone out with a noise-o-meter to see if they’re exceeding the legal level. Apparently, it may be OK to rub a generator during the day, but probably isn’t allowed at night.
Yay!
Oops. Actually, you can rub a generator any time you want to. Running one, though, comes under a different set of laws.
And you live in San Jose? You must be either ready to take out your entire neighborhood or live down near the Gilroy border.
I’m glad you called the city, meowpossum. I hope you get air and sleep soon.
Let me tell you something Grandma, neighbors in San Jose can be awful. What sucks is that if people had any respect for each other, they wouldn’t be so bad.
Last year in our new neighborhood, our next door neighbor’s grandson play drums. At night. Late. This little fuck played so loud that my repeated knocking and yelling and doorbell ringing didn’t get anyone’s attention.
Recently, my brother’s truck was vandalized by a vindictive neighbor…he wrote(poorly), “SHUT YOUR DOG UP” on his door. However, it’s winter and our dogs haven’t been outside when we’re not at home since it got cold in October.
Exactly one week later, both our trucks were broken into. My guess is that the little fuck with the dry-erase marker was trying to burgle us when a dog barked and fucked him up leading him to orgasm such a scrawling message on his door.
I’ve had roofing sealant(y’know, basically liquid tar), squirted down the side of my old van by my neighbor who was repairing his roof. Not only did he not speak english, but he saw that he had done this and just shrugged. Shrug? you shrug? WTF< you wrecked my paintjob, idiot!
Gilroy is almost worse(I was raised there), and Gilroy in the country can be even worse with the meth-heads. Sometimes I think about finding a house in the country, but I’m not a country-boy, so there is my catch 22! 
Sam
Damn, Sam. That’s terrible. I will now be glad that my year of exile in San Jose was just dull, dull, dull. I had no idea Gilroy had a meth problem. I drive through it, rather than to it, if yaknowwhadImean.
A city boy who doesn’t like neighbors. You are fucked. I’d make a snide remark, but I’m the same way. I like being in the city, but come nine o’clock at night, everybody better just shut up! Take the noise to LoDo where it belongs.
Must be a Hollister exile…
Worse. I’m from Orange County, the birthpace of Richard M. Nixon. I moved away as soon as I could.
Holy crap, it may be the Ny-Quil talking, but I think “that’s like saying Ernie is the sexiest muppet” may be one of the funniest things I’ve read in ages. Also, the bizzaro Price is Right- I’m about howling over here!
I was just about to post the exact same thing! With that single sentence, meowpossum instantly became my favorite Doper.
Of course, the position has been vacant for some time, thanks to everyone else being such dicks. :: looks pointedly at everyone else ::
WTF? Your statement effectively says to create a complaint such that a warrant would be substantiated. While I won’t allege that these folks are dream neighbors, they seem to be nutbags-nothing offered by the OP suggests illegality, absent more intimate knowledge of local codes and ordinances regarding housekeeping, etc.
I agree on the Ernie comment; if nobody else called it out, I was going to. Pure gold.
Of course, I also spent a couple of minutes trying to think of a sexier Muppet, and the best I could do was to remind everybody that Sweetums and Big Bird are among the few with any body parts below the waist, so I’m not sure that’s much of an improvement.
Having been involved in procuring a backup genset for the Pullin household, I can tell you there may be ordnances governing the “hooking-up” of such things. (The city has a keen interest in gen owners NOT electrocuting their linemen… hence regs regarding lockout switches, etc.) Why not call your power company about this? They will be very up to date on such rules, and it might help to harass (I mean, encourage) your neighbors to shut down the Onan. Correctly wiring your house (to code) for a genset can cost in excess of 1500 bucks. Facing such a bill might convince tinfoil hats next door to just pay up to the power co. (remember, you can report whenever the genny is running).
Just an idea.
Yep. A lot of people will plug the generator into the house just so they don’t have to run extension cords anywhere. Someone touches your lines expecting them to be dead and they are LIVE will be in for a nasty shock (or their heirs will be). They warn about that all the time down here during hurry-cane season.