For the most part, in my 23 years in my home, my neighbors have been great. The one to the east of us has been here almost as long; the four closest to us on the street as well. We've all talked and no one is planning on going anywhere in the future. Our most yuppie, non-childed neighbors have just added on a beautiful addition because they want to stay. It's not like we all party or anything. We're just kind to one another, and if anyone needed anything, we'd be there for each other. It's a good situation. My neighbor to the west, well, you know the story. Still, I've never been rude to him, and now he waves at us, smiles, etc. Of course, he's very happy the trees are gone, but I did that for me, not him. With the 50 mph winds that have kicked branches and trees down around here. . .I'm so glad I did that.
I have two neighbors in the back, though, that are trying my patience. One on the left has her sprinkler adjusted so it pounds the fence and rots it out quicker than normal. She doesn't want her spa house to get wet. She lost a couple of moon flower vines and lamented to me that she missed them. I imagine it was because they got too wet. Anyone have any experience in successfully getting neighbors to share cost for a shared fence section?
Neighbor to the right moved in, gutted the house and has a screaming toddler. She is cute, but obviously rules the roost. I went over one day and asked him to check his sprinkler system because our yard was being flooded all the time. He never did, because the problem went on for a month or more. . . .until he sheepishly said he got a $4oo.oo water bill. See, he wasn't going to do anything til it became a problem for HIM.
Now, he's installed a bug zapper. I can't believe people still use those things. Isn't it common knowledge that they are more harmful than helpful? I just don't want to say anything. Maybe there's something we do that annoys him as well. Maybe my dog bugs him or something. She is very quiet out there, rarely barks, but maybe there is something. I sat out at 4:30 this morning--it's a ritual for me to sit out in the a.m. and the zapping noise was very annoying. I imagine I'll get used to it. The purple florescent light is unnerving, too.
Come to think of it, he used to have a house light that shone in our faces for a bit, but I know my testy neighbor didn't like that either. That's probably why it went away. This zapper will affect his outdoor experience, too. Testy neighbor spends time in his yard and pool. Zapper neighbor never goes outside.
Hmmmm. I'm not planning on saying anything to zapper neighbor, but. . . .
having a testy neighbor may turn out to be a blessing after all! ;-)
6 comments:
Karen- Help me out here. I've had a zapper around my pool for years. What did I miss about them. Enlighten me! Am I offending?
Geez, sorry, Don. Maybe I'm ultra sensitive about the noise from those things, but they also harm beneficial insects:
http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/hortnews/1996/6-14-1996/bugzapper.html
Yeah... I have to say that in my experience, it seems like not saying anything is generally the only thing that doesn't actually make things worse. Unless maybe you're in a condo. That was great.. if someone did something unreasonable you could call down to the desk and they'd look into it without identifying you so it wouldn't get personal.
I’m not a fan of the bug zappers. In these parts you’d have one zapping all the time. I have also heard that it kills the good bugs. Our moto in Oklahoma is Welcome to Oklahoma and yes those are bugs on the windshield, don’t drive into the smoke, and feel free to pee on a tree because we have only a few public rest stops on the pike with toilets and you drove past it already.
I’d also stain the back of the fence in their yard a real ugly color and add a good coat of something that will help to keep it from rotting. As for the moon flower it’s a hard weed to kill, they like to be moist not soaking. And you replace them after the frost takes them out. I’ve had some that held on for a while but eventually died. They seed well so she just needs to save the seeds. I gave some to my neighbor after I caught her in my yard one night. She told me that she was sneaking over to take a look. I miss that good neighbor.
Yes, paul...I'm keeping mum and planning a large screen over on that area. It's ugly, and this morning, in the twilight, the purple light was disconcerting.
Milly, LOL! I like your solutions and comments!
We are blessed with great neighbors. Even so I think that it is difficult to speak to them about problems. The family behind us wanted to cut down the 19 trees on our border when I asked them to remove a large limb from my yard - fortunately they saw the light (and the $ signs) and just topped the trees :)
Post a Comment