My inconsiderate neighbors.(Long Winded and ranty)

[brewha]

gah! i hate posting from this phone! ill check in to read over the weekend, but this will be the last post til mon.

[Ibanez]

@brewha

I figured there’d be at least one person flaming me for being the old “get off my lawn” guy.

Still early, they’re bound to show up eventually.

[Chefguy]

@brewha

There isn’t enough rage for a pit thread, but I don’t have anyone else to complain to. There’s my wife, but she’s more annoyed than I - so she complains to me, and I force you guys to listen to my ramblings. Mostly, things are good. I’ve got a new job that pays well and my wife is able to do her previous office job from home. The bad is that we’ve moved a good 400 miles to be in this situation and are in a neighbor hood unfamiliar to both of us. I’m really trying to make the best of it by keeping optimistic, but it’s difficult with the neighbors that we have.

The quick background is that I had been unemployed for almost two years. The first year was by choice, the second year was by virtue of no one wanted to hire an engineer that has a one year + gap in employment. So, I broadened my search area and landed the job that required our move. We went from a large 4 bedroom 3 bath ranch house with a 2.5car garage on a ½ acre of land to a tiny duplex with a shared wall and small yard. This is only temporary until our house sells, but until then, we gotta put up with minor inconveniences.

First, there’s the yard. There are families with kids on both sides of us so our yards are all adjoined. I thought that would be a plus since we have young kids. But, not so much. The kids use all the backyards as one big backyard. So, at anytime, I can look out of my back patio and see kids sitting or standing in my yard. On the surface, it’s really not that big of deal. It’s not something I’m accustomed to since I’ve never had neighbors so close, but I would have liked to have been shown a little consideration. If you want to use my yard, fine – but ask. The any of the kids’ parents had just asked if I minded them in my yard, I would have told them “of course not!” and all would have been well. But, they just assumed that my yard was their yard and they have no problems scattering toys and shoes in my yard. Those things get picked up at the end of the day, but it’s just annoying.

But, then I saw two of them eating popsicles. Somehow, I had a feeling that they would not see the need to properly dispose of the popsicle sticks when they were done. Sure enough, the first one to finish set his stick down in my yard. So, what to do? Should I ask him to pick it up assuming he’d leave it there? Or wait and see if he grabs it when he leaves. Well, just as I’m wondering, the other kid puts his popsicle stick vertically in the ground and steps on it to force it into the dirt. Obviously, he intended on leaving it there, so I had to go out and ask him to pick it up. Both boys seemed started and embarrassed that I had caught them, and the quickly grabbed their litter and scooted off my yard – at least for a few hours.

Then, there’s the basketball hoop. It sits in the driveway next door which is pretty much right outside our bedroom window. Kids are out there shooting hoops til past 10PM. It’s loud. It makes it hard to sleep. And I can’t wear earplugs because I don’t want my infant son to wake up crying and me not know. I really don’t want to be the new guy in the neighborhood complaining about everything, but it’s just inconsiderate.

Then, there’s the mirror on my car. It was parked on the street and I woke up one morning to find that the driver’s side mirror had been struck and broken. I don’t know what pisses me off more. Either someone intentionally vandalized my car or someone hit my mirror with their mirror as they drove by and couldn’t be bothered to leave a note. The road I live on is a loop. There’s no reason to drive on it unless you are going to one of the houses on the road. So, if it was a hit and run, it was one of my neighbors or neighbor’s friends. The replacement part was only $43 delivered, so it’s not like it’s going to break me. But, it was a dick move by whoever did it.

But, the inconsideration is what I’m pissed about. It’s that I drug my family 400 miles across state lines for employment, and my neighbors are making my wife regret moving here. And, since we moved here for me to get employed, it’s ultimately my fault. She’d never say that, but I can tell she wishes we would have never had to move. Once our house sells we can get something bigger with more room between us and our neighbors. I just need that to happen soon since all of this has just been the first month.

I’m not looking for advice or sympathy. I don’t know what I hope to accomplish by posting this. I just know I feel better have had a chance to bitch to the interwebs.

Yeah, but do you have four barking dogs next door to you that bark at every single thing that moves? I get quadraphonic sound because they’re in three different yards. Honest to god, I’m ready to kill somebody.

[lindsaybluth]

Chefguy, have you tried this Bark Deterrent? Some have great results, others don’t. It’s worked for a few friends. Sounds like hell and entirely worth the $40 just to see if it works.

[Cat_Whisperer]

I’m about the most territorial person around when it comes to my yard, and I think you might have to just adjust your expectations for the next five months. I personally would never move into that situation because I know I’d want to sit on my back porch with a shotgun; if all the neighbours are used to letting their kids roam free on all the back yards, and the people who used to live there were okay with it, I can see where the kids would be used to doing as they’re doing.

Adjust your expectations or have a polite conversation with your neighbours about your expectations, I guess.

Oh yeah, the basketball playing - the sign is a good idea. No one needs to play basketball after 10 pm.

[Azeotrope]

Actually even fences don’t always do the trick. 2 or 3 years ago I caught two neighborhood kids (the house next to mine is a double block and they lived on the far side of it) who opened my gate, walked right into the yard, and tried to take my lawn mower, in broad daylight, having to go right past me to do so :mad:

They were maybe 8 and 10, and the lawn mower is a gas-powered push mower that needs some sweet talk and vigorous yanking to start. Thankfully it was also fastned by a chain and padlock to an eyebolt screwed into the framework of the porch.

[Chefguy]

@lindsaybluth

Chefguy, have you tried this Bark Deterrent? Some have great results, others don’t. It’s worked for a few friends. Sounds like hell and entirely worth the $40 just to see if it works.

A new wrinkle! Their unemployed pregnant daughter and her equally work-challenged SIL have moved in today, and guess what: YES! They have a dog. I can hear it yelping over there right now. So there are three dogs over there that bark, and they have about 50 square feet to defecate in. Time to call animal control.

[Peremensoe]

Sounds to me like the sensible approach for such a design would be for everyone to take turns mowing the whole lawn.

[Larry_Mudd]

@spark240

Sounds to me like the sensible approach for such a design would be for everyone to take turns mowing the whole lawn.

If the duplex is split down the middle, I’d prefer it be “You mow your half and I’ll mow my half.” Taking turns would be impractical and leave lots of room for conflict:

“It’s been three weeks since the lawn was mowed, and I believe it’s your turn.” “It takes about 90 days before it gets hard to push the mower through it - there’s lots of time, still.”

“You know, you really have to pull the weeds up before you mow - they just take over if you don’t.” “The lawn gets just as short when you mow the weeds, too.”

I’d rather split it down the middle - that way, if someone isn’t keeping up with their responsibility, it’s clear at a glance.

[Anaamika]

I lived in a place that had a communal yard, and yes, everyone felt free to run all over the place. It really, really sucks.

[Chicken_Fingers]

The fact that your neighbors pick up their kids’ stuff from your yard at the end of each day is a good sign that they’re reasonable people. You could ask your neighbors with the basketball hoop if they’d mind getting the kids to stop playing after 10 pm. As for the backyards, unless you put up some physical boundaries, it’s a losing battle keeping kids out, if it bothers you. At least you can let the kids know your yard rules. If your yard rules are strict and you nicely enforce them, kids will be more likely to avoid playing in your yard. I know this from sad experience in my nightmare neighborhood.