Good Fences Make Good Neighbors

We had a guy come out and quote us a price on finishing off the fence around the backyard. For some time we have been wanting to do it but either haven’t had the time or the money to get it done. Three years ago we had a length of fence installed along the lot line to our north, and it is the best thing we ever did. The one thing the guy who was measuring etc., told us was that we should wait until the ground dried up, and not just at the surface but to a depth of 3-4 feet. See the pictures here of what the neighbor’s yard looks like after a good rain. If we put a fence up along the back lot line, the excess moisture in the ground will weaken the concrete footings and will cause it to simply crumble in a couple of years. If we wait until that happens (the ground drying up) I think we probably won’t get it put up until, roughly, mid-June.

And speaking of the neighbors, let me just say that we hate ours!

The people behind us will leave their grass go for weeks, and then when the guy decides to do it, he’ll cut half of it and then quit and go inside. It’ll then sit for a week until the feeling moves him to finish. Case in point... the guy didn’t rake his leaves last year. Correction, he raked them into a pile and left them. The result was that by the first snow, the leaves were spread back over his yard (and mine). So this spring, about three weeks ago, he begins raking. Again he rakes about 1/3 of the yard and stops. But he leaves a garbage can sitting outside, next to the pile he has raked. Nice. Again, during a good breeze, they get blown all over my back yard. Luckily I hadn’t raked yet. So hopefully the fence will do a little bit to help curb that as well as block our view of the swamp behind us. I mean, I built up our backyard seven years ago, and it took probably $300-$400 for dirt and sod, but it was a minimal investment, and a couple of days worth of work. So I ask myself why can’t this guy do the same thing?

Now, on to our neighbors to the north. First, we can’t have our windows on the north of the house in the family room because the neighbors constantly park their cars RIGHT in front of them. Here is the view we had yesterday:


Why do they do this you might ask? Well it is because they can’t fit anything in their garage. They have a 2 and a half car garage that is just piled full of crap. Apparently they treat it more as a storage locker than a garage. So as a result, their cars are parked outside. And since they are, when they want to sit outside, or want their rugrats to play outside, they back the cars down their driveway and park them right outside our windows so they can play, or sit, at the top of the driveway, which they wouldn’t need to do if they would simply 1) organize their crap, and 2) throw some stuff away.

Note the red car that hasn't moved since at least October. If they could put it in the garage, they could move the other car up rather than parking it right in front of our window. Next time they are out with the garage door open, I’ll snap a picture from upstairs to post so everyone can see what slobs they are.

Now toss on top of that the fact that they don’t do any upkeep to their house of the yard, and you can see our frustration. We basically feel like they are bringing down our property value. And it isn’t as if they don’t have time. Only the husband works, so there is someone always home. I work 10-12 hour days and I still come home and will do my upkeep outside (cutting the grass, cleaning out the gutters, cleaning up the yard, etc.) plus we make sure the girls clean up their toys and put them away wen they are done rather than leaving toys scattered all over the place for weeks. This is a pretty good story, and Kris and her friend Laura can atest to this... Last year they apparently replaced their bathtub. So where do you think the old tub went? Well is sat upside down in the front yard for two weeks. TWO WEEKS! It was like living next door to Fred Sanford!

I could rant forever, but I think you get the picture. Stay tuned for progress on the fence.