Acts of War

Since the house next door was sold last May I’ve been a little annoyed. For almost the first year of our time on The Hill we were all alone, and I LOVED it. It was quiet and serene up here all alone. OK, every so often we’d have a car drive up the driveway to check out the house that was for sale (we share a driveway), but that was much better than what I would have to put up with once the house finally sold.

It was promising when the house first sold, they had the place virtually gutted to have it repainted, new floors and bathrooms were installed. Surely these people were going to be good neighbors who take care of their property.

NOPE!

Since they moved in this past June they have committed multiple acts of neighborly war. First they never repaired the damage their moving truck did when it ran off the driveway onto our lawn. They are notorious for not mowing their lawn for weeks on end only to cover our driveway with large amounts of grass clippings when they finally do mow. We got so fed up with that one that we finally just started cleaning up after them…They STILL didn’t take the hint. They’ve let the landscaping overtake the front of the house, making it an unsightly mess. The screen on their front door is always left hanging open. Their house is the first thing you see when you drive up our driveway, which is why it bothers me so much. I hate looking at their mess as I arrive at my beautiful home. It’s also a little embarrassing when we have guests.

They’ve also opened our mail and packaged when they were delivered to their house by mistake, then they take a few days to walk them the maybe 50 yards to our door.

The are constantly putting their trashcan out early and leaving out for days after trash day. Oh, and they put it so its hard to see if anyone is coming down the road. I’ve almost been hit more than once because I didn’t see a car coming thanks to their trashcan.

They have a dog and the dog is what finally pushed me over the edge with these people.

We very rarely see the dog outside since they only let him out a couple times a day to do his business. This past fall I found dog shit in my yard and had to go over there and explain that would not be tolerated and if I found dog shit on my lawn again I was going to take issue with it. I was very nice about it, somehow I managed to hold back my rage that they would so rudely allow their dog to crap where my kids play.

Like I said, they let the dog out to do his business. They let him out, they don’t take him out. Well, the other morning they let him out at about six. It was cold out, I guess he didn’t want to be out there, so he barked. And barked. And barked. And barked. This went on for nearly twenty minutes. First the barking woke me up, then it woke Logan, and finally Cameron was up too. Waking up someone’s kids because you don’t properly take care of your pet is a neighborly act of war and is cause for some kind of retaliation. Because they were to lazy to take their dog for a walk I had a miserable morning with two miserable kids who were forced to be awake before 7am.

I’m thinking it’s time for Bill to take up the model rockets again…AT NIGHT!

Of all the people who could have moved into the house next door, why did it have to be these people? Is it too much to ask to have nice, considerate people who take some pride in owning their home as neighbors? With what it takes to buy a home in this economy, I would think that one would take some pride in what they were able to purchase and take care of their investment. I guess that’s just me though.

Do you have neighbors who drive you crazy? How do you deal with their acts of war?