I'm tired of the neighborhood police - neighbors sitting in their homes and complaining about every little thing happening outside their home. I have a neighbor with whom I've had a few negative conversations with over the last 10 years. They get irritated by something mundane, like me mowing the lawn while they're having lunch on their deck, approach me and tell me I shouldn't be doing it.
Their side yard borders my driveway. They have a line of small trees/wild brush on their property line. In the summer, it blooms and provides some privacy, but it gets very overgrown very quickly. They have NEVER cleaned it up in the last 10 years. So every summer, I trim back my side so I can run my mower past it and maintain a safe view so I can see the street when backing my car out of the driveway. I get tired of having to do it, so at times, I'll just cut the brush down and toss it back under the growth. They obviously don't give a shit about maintaining it...why should I be paying to get rid of the brush?
So yesterday, she comes over and starts bitching at me about throwing the brush back on the ground. She tells me that if I find it to be a nuisance, that's my deal, but I can't be putting it back on "HER PROPERTY" because it's on my side of the property line. She then reprimands me for cutting back "THE VILLAGE's" side (i.e. the brush facing the new sidewalks) and doing the same thing. Uh, the village isn't going to come around and maintain stuff on your yard. Hell, I'm the one shoveling the sidewalk a block past my house and on the side of your house every time it snows, just because you don't do it.
I countered her reprimand by saying that if she doesn't like it, she can pay to have someone clean it up, and that it becomes my responsibility when my kids want to go down the sidewalk and I don't want them poking their eyes out on the branches. She just reiterates that she has lupus and can't be picking up the brush, and that she has me on video and will call the police. I just laughed and said "go ahead."
I went out after lunch and picked up the branches that I tossed on the ground. Yes, I know I was being un-neighborly, but they've never been nice to my family.
I know the general rule - whatever is over your property line is yours to maintain, but to get so nitpicky over this stuff is insane. Her husband never does anything outside, and she gardens and tends to the landscaping. If you're not going to take care of your own overgrowth, or have someone do it for you, don't complain when I do it my way.
Topic: Bitch and whine about how COVID-19 is effing up your life (Read 10717 times)
