I don't understand the honking.  I really don't.  It might be fine if they lived out in the middle of nowhere.  It might be fine if they only did it every once in a while.  But they honk "goodbye" or something every morning.  They are apparently on their summer schedule now; I didn't hear anything until 8:00 today.  Usually it's before 7:00.  It wakes me up.  I think it's rude.
    But I'm not writing because it's rude.  I'm writing because they're crazy.  I say this because both Mr. and Mrs. honk when they leave at separate times.  Usually Mrs. leaves later to take the kids to school.  WHO ON EARTH IS SHE HONKING AT?  THERE IS NO ONE ELSE LEFT IN THE HOUSE!  I don't know where she comes from, but we don't do that here.  We live here specifically for the quiet, treed street.  I find it so incredibly odd that I have made up my own back story for the behavior (since we don't really know them because they are too crazy for my blood):  
    She is a mail-order bride.  He is a frighteningly domineering husband who insists that she follow all of his rules.  One of his rules is the 'Goodbye Honk' rule.  She is so afraid of him that she honks every time she leaves the house, regardless of whether he is home to hear, lest a spying neighbor tattle on her and cause her to be beaten with reeds.  Also, she is not allowed to let the dog in if she does not have permission.  This is why the first two summers we lived here the dog barked at us for hours on end if we even ventured outside to our backyard... so much that we actually just stopped going outside.  But that is a whole different story.  Back to the honking:  there is a complicated messaging system involved.  Sometimes it is just two beeps.  Other occasions warrant the whole "Shave and a Haircut" routine.  They are attempting to alert each other to where the pollen is located so they can make their secret crazy-people honey and get rich.  Then they will move to some fancy neighborhood where they will buy a more expensive dog to bark more aristocratically at their new wealthy neighbors and honk the horns of more expensive cars-- or else the Mr. will have to have his butler beat the Mrs. with reeds.  So she'd better still behave.  No amount of money will change that.
    Now that you know all of that, you can understand why I have never knocked on their door and politely pointed out that most of us in the neighborhood possess our own alarm clocks and prefer not to be woken up by their car horns.  I can't be responsible for some poor woman's whoopin'.  I don't want that on my conscience.  Who would?  Maybe I'll post a "No Honking" sign in my yard like the ones they have in New York City.


CL