My neighbor just put up a redneck shed 10 feet from my property.

[friesianrider]

Alright, this is a totally self-serving rant, but I've got to get this off my chest.

Gawd. I live in a semi-rural area, but our road is one that has pretty upscale, new homes on it - except for one, my neighbor's. All the homes on the road except for this farmhouse are nice well kept brick Colonials with nice landscaping and the homeowners all take pride in their homes - even if it is just keeping them well kept. The land that makes up my road was once a 150 acre farm, so my neighbor's home is the original farmhouse, and it is FUGLY. That alone wouldn't be bad, but the fact that this total jackass has made it into an unkept dump is what's intolerable (never mows his grass, has trash and truck parts laying all around the place, has weeds growing everywhere, etc).

Now, I already have some issues with thie neighbor because during the election I put out our Kerry sign in the yard. The very next day, this neighbor puts about 67 Bush signs in his yard, starting 6 inches off my property line....but whatever. He's a gun-nut survivalist redneck, so it was to be expected.

So I'm off to volunteer at our local animal shelter yesterday and see him and his buddies all crowded about 10 feet from the property line seperating my property from his (I have 12 acres, he has 2). I didn't think anything of it. I come home today from dropping my SO off at the airport, and see this HIDEOUS, metal shed-type thing comprised of approximately 4 different colors sitting feet from my property, and right in the front yard (although I have 12 acres, the front yard is pretty narrow, so this thing literally looks like it's sitting in my front yard). It's made of beat-up metal patched up with wood, and each side is a different color. I think he's going to use it as a shed for his lawn mower and such (which he doesn't seem to ever use). Judging by the two other sheds erected on his property, this one will become beat to hell too and overgrown with weeds around it. What's funny is that because of the way the property lines are drawn, the shed ends up being about 50-60 feet from my house but is probably 300 feet from HIS house. I'm wondering if he did this specifically to piss me off, LOL ;)

Anyway, it IS on his property and there's really nothing I can do, but has anyone else ever had a neighbor erect something really hideous and ruin the otherwise pleasant esthetics of your place? It sucks!

[BeTheChange]

1. Start growing a hedgeline...

then you dont have to maintain a fence and its a natural divider from your site as well as to identify your property. Or even a line of cypresses.

[friesianrider]

6. That's what I'm thinking...

I do sort of feel bad, because other than the Kerry/* yard sign incident (which he really never said anything to me about) the guy is relatively nice. I don't want to be obnoxious about my clear disapproval of the way his property looks, but well, I don't like the way his property looks and don't want to look at it!!

Guess we're making a trip to the landscaping nursery tomorrow *sigh*

[barb162]

20. a lot of evergreens grow really slowly so research your plant

choices carefully or start with larger plants.

I think I may have to be doing this soon with my idiot neighbors; fencing is so expensive and fast growing shrubs seem to be the choice

[Blue Belle]

25. Off topic.

Are those your horses in your signature line photos? They're beautiful. What breed are they? I'm a bit of a horse nut. :)

[friesianrider]

34. Yep...

They are all Friesian geldings :) Very special boys, IMHO!

[Blue Belle]

85. They're gorgeous...

I miss having horses. Maybe someday, I'll have some again. I'd like to raise my kids to ride. :)

[friesianrider]

87. Thanks so much :)

My Mom had me riding before I could walk really...as soon as I could hold myself up as a child, I was in the saddle! :) I think riding is great for kids - teaches them balance and control, not to mention how to work around and be kind to animals :)

[arwalden]

36. Leyland Cypress Grows Very Quickly

?click

[friesianrider]

86. Hmm...they may work!

Is that you in the pic?

[arwalden]

88. Nope... Just A Random Pic I Found Using Google Pictures...

... and the search words "Leyland Cypress"

http://images.google.com/images?q=leyland+cypress

[friesianrider]

90. Well they look pretty nice...

And if they grow fast, all the better! Thanks for the link and info! :hi:

[thinkingwoman]

2. 2 words

privacy.fence.

Whoever said good fences make good neighbors wasn't kidding!

[XemaSab]

4. Frost

Frost was a sick bastard.

[thinkingwoman]

17. LOL

was it him? oh brother.

[barb162]

19. fencing that much property would be astronomical $$$$$

[thinkingwoman]

32. I wouldn't fence the entire property

I'd just fence the border near the offensive neighbor

[DrGonzoLives]

37. That would be a bit overt

Just fence in one section of back yard, say you're getting a dog, or whatever.

[BikeWriter]

3. Uh, you could hire a good arson comparitively cheap.

[Blue Belle]

23. Two Words: Bottle Rocket

Give some bottle rockets to the neighborhood kids and get a couple of them (with particularly good aim) to shoot them "accidentally" at your neighbors hooch shed. My guess is that it would go up in flames pretty quickly. It is close to 4th of July and all... "accidents" are known to happen then.
:evilgrin:

Aside from that, make an anonymous call to the city/county planners to see if he had a permit. These people live for tacking down permit violators.

[BikeWriter]

26. Yep, they were trying to charge a friend $60 a day for not having one.

[proud2BlibKansan]

39. If he is a gun nut

maybe there is a bunch of ammo in that shed. So arson may not be the best solution.

[madeline_con]

45. So, if he doesn't own any firearms...

which is his right, it's o.k to set fire to his property?

[NoPasaran]

81. A bunch of small arms ammunition going off in a fire

Isn't really all that dangerous. On the other hand, if that's where he has his meth lab, Katie bar the door!

[fishnfla]

5. 2 words : emminent domain

Yay SCOTUS:party:

[Outrider]

13. Better

Look up yours states laws on incorporating a village, and then if possible incorporate your neighborhood and pass an ordinance on yard decorations, yard maintenance and the general upkeep of the property. Then when it is time to enforce the new ordinance be sure to call the state cops to inform the moran of the new rules he must follow.

[Historic NY]

7. Do you have a town building/code/zoning inspector?

If you do make a complaint. Perhaps he didn't get a building permit. Your zoning laws may also have restriction on how close it placed too.

[Rabrrrrrr]

9. That was my first thought - see if he had a building permit!

His assayer might also want to know about the extra building on his property.

[friesianrider]

10. Worth checking into...

When we built a barn for our horses, the zoning guy was a total jackass. I don't think where we live, because there's so much open space, they really care what people do. But I definitely WILL ask anyway - it is awfully close to our property.

[July]

24. Sometimes there is a requirement that structures be a certain no. of feet

away from a property line. It's worth checking out.

[shanti]

74. sounds like he knew exactly what he was doing

so do whatever you need to do and don't worry about appearances.

[queeg]

16. Just remember in Wichita

The local inspector was the BTK killer....hehe

[Tsiyu]

8. We had a beautiful home set back on 17 acres

No neighbors in sight- just three-board black fence and pasture and trees and our horses. The people who bought the five acres next to us decided to put their home - a gigunda blue and white Victorian - RIGHT next to our fenceline. I was so pissed, but then later she and I got to know each other and I found out her husband was real abusive and she was afraid to be back in the woods where no one could see.

It is a long story, but I learned to appreciate her friendship and our kids had two houses to go to in the event of trouble.

You would HATE the look of my "camp!" But I've learned something in the years. It's nice to take pride in your property, but it's also nice to only pay $65 a year in property taxes, and to own your land and home free and clear.

I did a bunch of improvements to the last place I bought- gutters, landscaping, blah, blah, and my taxes went up almost 40% in one year.

Not making excuses for the ugly building the neighbor put up, but just saying don't judge everyone who doesn't live in a "nice, Brick colonial."

My suggestion? Lots of evergreens that will grow real tall. :) Sorry your view changed for the worst ...

[friesianrider]

12. I know...

You place sounds very nice - what kind of horses do you have?

I am trying not to be judgmental about the house - not everyone can afford a lot of improvements to make it a show place. But some of my neighbors with smaller homes don't go nuts with making their place nice with expensive landscaping and improvements every other week, but they still make sure that the place has its grass mowed most days and they don't have trash/used car parts laying all around their yard with weeds growing around them. That's really what I'm upset about. *sigh*

Our place is still heaven though...and for the price we paid for it, it was a steal! Where we moved from the same type of property w/ the land would have run close to $1 million, and we surely didn't pay ANYWHERE near that! Just to finally have a place for the horses is wonderful :)

[Tsiyu]

14. Oh, the 17 acres was years ago when kids were little

I traded my equity in 37 acres for my four acres with trailer. I own it and I keep it shabby because A) I can't really see any neighbors and if I keep it too nice, the land around me will sell and I will see neighbors ( I love my neighbors- all good people on my road who would do anything to help one another- but I like seeing the woods when i am puttering outside - when the real estate folks come to show the land around me, I just grin...) and B) to keep taxes down.

We've got some unfinished three-board, wood and posts laying around with weeds poking out ( I hate grass except for horses, so I am slowly converting what i can to perennial flowers and herbs) a junk car ( to be removed soon), concrete foundation waiting to have a house built on it..... I HATE trash laying around, but the dogs and kids don't , so that is a struggle. I keep the trash picked up but there is always something else to do...But I am in such a different mindset today than I was years ago. That fancy house is SO not important as it was before. I appreciate neat properties but I don't obsess, if that makes sense.

My horses are: a bay Arab mare and a sorrel half Arab/half quarter horse mare. They have three pens right now that i rotate them through and I miss my old pasture! But I have an awesome neighbor who delivers hay to my place...

[burrowowl]

11. I was canvassing for NMPIRG in ABQ

and I stopped at a place, clean and not fancy house.
The woman, who was 4th generation to live in the house got a notice from the nearby newly built fancy too much money housr wahatever conventions (her property was not included) wanted her to build a 'southwestern fence', we wandered what a southwestern fence was, plus she had put up green christmas lights, they wanted electric luminarios, which they put up for weeks, luminarios, usually candles are only for Christmas Eve to lead the Christ Child, then they bitched about a house (more 4th, 5th generations people) were noise was coming from! Well the noise was from lambs rescued from a bad freeze further north!
Then these same: I bought an expensive big house from a developer, got my rights and neighborhood conventions (save oil here use a clothsline, hell no not here, richest farmland, hell I'll grow water sucking bermurda in my yard and say everyone has to do it) and then I'll sell and use the money to go waste and devastate another place.

I hope you are growing, as they called it in WWII, your Liberty Garden.
Of course, this fellow may be "white trash", but if he was there before you, bitch at the developer that sold you the house.

[Tsiyu]

18. There are more and more of these battles

Folks will come up to this mountain from their fancy, shmancy, everyone-has-the-same-driveway/house/mailbox- subdivisions to "get back to the land and nature" and then they want to complain about farm smells, load the placed with chemical bug spray, bitch about the houses that were here before they were born, the houses inhabited by good (even though POOR - that dirty old word) people.

I understand that some folks want zoning. That's why they have cities with high taxes and bureaucratic, anal-retentive zoning.

But some of us don't BELIEVE in strict zoning for ourselves - we don't care what the neighbor has on his property (speaking of private homesteaders, not corporations) and that's why WE live were there is more freedom. If you move to one of those areas, you can't complain.

Where the 17 acres were we had restrictive covenants, but only about hawgs, chicken farms and such. No square footage requirements or whatever. The deal is, research the zoning laws BEFORE you move. The taxes and property costs are low for a reason.

[skygazer]

27. You said exactly what I was going to say

I grew up in Vermont. Amazing the number of people who came to Vermont from Long Island or Connecticut for a vacation and fell in love with the place. It's quaint beauty, the small villages, the rural life.

So they buy a house and move up there. And the first thing they want to do is pave the road because their SUV is getting dusty. And they want to install streetlights because it's rather dark. And they put frigging motion detector spotlights all around their place, and petition the town to stop blowing the fire whistle at noon like they've done for the last hundred years because they find it "disturbing", etc. etc.

In short, they immediately try to turn it into Long Island or Connecticut.

[Tsiyu]

30. Yes, it is so annoying and sad

When they don't 'get' country life.

You can still see the stars here because many of us don't have our places lit up like airline runways.....Those 'weeds' you can't stand? They are medicine to some folks....Those green fields you love to build your place next to? They fertilize them with chicken shit several times a year and it stinks so GET OVER IT....That old couple hauling a load of hay to their goats? They've been doing that for years down this same stretch of road and it's not their fault you didn't plan well and you're late, so get off their ass and drive like it's your own mama and daddy or i will kick your ass...

Okay, I've ranted enough..... :rant:

[skygazer]

31. Not nearly enough

When I was a kid, there were more cows than people in Vermont. Family farms were a way of life. All gone now, for the most part. The people who have been there for generations are poor people, most don't have a college education and the only work available for them is low paying service work at the ski areas and tourist destination that are owned by out of state conglomerates. I know people who deliberately fail to paint their houses or landscape their yards because it drives up their taxes. They're struggling to hold onto land that has been in their families for generations and little by little it's being sold off to people who can afford to build housing tracts and butt ugly homes. People who complain about the truck parts and grown up weeds in the yard of the home next door. Truck parts that may come in handy when the piece of crap vehicle the neighbors drive breaks down, or that might be sold for ten dollars that will help keep them going a little longer. When you're poor, you don't throw anything away because you can't afford to buy something new and you always hope that you can get some sort of use out of it.

[Tsiyu]

33. True, and that is the bane of it

but our landfills don't fill up as fast...We try to re-use and recycle as much as we can and that means you have to have a place for junk. Job situations have kept me from getting my barn built so I have to improvise.

Still, I think it's good to try to keep order out of everything, but one person's "order" is often another's eyesore.

Personally, I couldn't live in one of those subdivisions where they tell you what kind of mailbox and Christmas decorations you must have. I would just go nuts. But some people need that kind of obsessive order and neatness. To each his or her own, just buy property where you will fit in best!

[friesianrider]

38. That's not the case with me.

I didn't come from a "fancy, shmancy, everyone-has-the-same-driveway/house/mailbox- subdivision." Even if I did, that doesn't mean that someone has the right to make my property value go down because THEIR property looks like shit. Time and time again the courts have ruled to this fact. Similarly, a court ruled not that long ago that people complaining about the smell of a pig farm were infringing on their quality of life - and they won in court.

This man is NOT poor, but even if he was I don't think it's fair to say that just because I would like my neighbors to at least semi-maintain their property means that I am somehow a snob who wants to turn the country into a country club.

Similarly, I don't want bureaucratic, anal-retentice zoning. All I ask is that he doesn't leave RUSTED, used and abused car parts (and abandoned cars) laying around his property which hasn't been mowed in 6 weeks. And it'd also be nice if he didn't erect a 16 foot high multi-colored rusted shed 10 feet from my property. I don't think these are outrageous requests at all.

He doesn't live on a 67 acre farm where what he does is more "his own" business. He lives on 2 acres on a residential street where all the houses are less than 300 feet apart. If he wants to maintain a certifiable dump, then maybe he should consider relocating, or deal with me complaining about it.

[Tsiyu]

40. I wasn't talking about you specifically there, please understand

I was talking about the folks that the other poster mentioned who want to change everything about someplace when they move there. I don't recall you indicating that that was your desire. Perhaps i should have indicated that but I figured you would know I wasn't discussing YOUR particular case.

My pet peeve is that people do often move next to a chicken farm, say, and then they complain about the farmer. That is wrong and it pisses me off and your post simply brought those sorts of situations out in the open.

As I said before, grow some hedges, and I am sorry the view changed. But I still stand by what I said in the above post, even if it was not meant toward you...Hope you understand that...

I don't judge people based on their fine properties or their lack thereof. I simply find it ludicrous when people move to the country but want city rules. Those people are stupid.

And it is just as frustrating when a retired couple has their property values go UP because of fancy shmancy types. Is it fair when they can't afford THEIR taxes and have to sell beloved land because the new neighbors think it's Hollywoood? No, not to me.

There are two sides to everything.

[friesianrider]

73. I understand...I apologize...

I just got a little upset because I don't want anyone to think I begrudge this man because he doesnt live in one of the "new houses" or doesn't spend money on his home like most of the people on my street do. I'm the most understanding andleast snobbish person you'd ever meet (cause I've been pretty damn poor at times in my life!)

Sorry if I sounded snooty - I just don't want anyone to think my upset at this shed is because I want to keep the area like Beverly Hills or anything. I'd be happy is he just cleaned up some of the abandones cars/car parts and mowed his lawn once in awhile, LOL! :)

[Tsiyu]

78. It's ALL good, fellow horse lover!

your Friesans are spectacular, BTW. They remind me a bit of the black Percherons we raised for a while.

Do Friesans have Percheron in them atall?

And I KNOW you are a good person cuz I have read quite a few of your posts. I was just venting on the other side but not against you. I DO understand your disgust with the ugly shed, and I promise if anyone lived close enough to see my place I would be a more fastidious neighbor!

[AngryAmish]

15. To quote the poet McTeagle

"Can I have 50 pounds to mend the shed?"

[caty]

21. The neighbor who lives

directly behind us put up a privacy fence. But he did not finish the side that divided our yard from his. He stopped it at a shed with a big ugly blotch on it. I planted mock orange blossoms there. They grow fast, tall, and full. Covered up the ugly blotch.:grr:

[Blue Diadem]

22. Fence row of trees/evergreens..should do the trick, just make sure to give

them the necessary room for adult growth.

I had a similar situation with one of my neighbors except it was an old fence row of unkept trees, crab apples, evergreen and box elder trees, 9 trees and 18 forsythias in less than 100ft of space. My neighbor's home is a beautiful home and the prior owners always promised they'd take down the trees..but they never did. The trees were filled with poison ivy/oak and overgrown forsythia. They grew so far over into our property that they covered sections of our roof. We did cut them back to the property line, but still dealt with bees/crabapple mess annually.

Some trees were struck by lightening, split and were never taken down and it became a real danger. The weekend the prior owner told me they'd be removed, she signed to have her house put up for sale..never telling the new owners that the trees were on their property. The new owners are wonderful, moving in, immediately discussing the situation with us and within a few months removed all the trees, the bushes and the mouse and carpenter ant infested wood piles that we never knew existed in that mess. This is the first year I've not had the side of my house covered with box elder bugs. :bounce:

My surprise came when I found out that towns people thought the mess was ours. We get compliments that our home and yard looks so pretty since we removed the trees. Their mouths fall open when I tell them that the trees/mess had belonged to the house next door.

Good luck..hope things work out.

[shanti]

77. sounds like my house

my backyard neighbor has a huge sugar pine in the furthest corner of his yard, which just happens to bend over the fence into my nextdoor neighbor's yard and mine. we get ALL the pine needles, and it drives me crazy! if there was ever a windstorm, the tree would go our way, onto our houses, not the pine tree owner's yard. i'm tempted to ask him to cut the sucker down, but he doesn't keep up his yard at all, so apparently he doesn't care:-(

[blindpig]

28. So, who was there first?

If this person was there first I don't think you have much call for complaint. Sorry that this guy is an asshole but a lot of country folk value utility over someone else's esthetic's.

Perhaps this fellow resents the gentrification of his neighborhood(I would) and is showing his ass.

You knew that "Fugly" farmhouse was there when you moved there, it has precedent in my book. TFS.

[friesianrider]

35. I don't see how that matters much...

But we were here first. The farmhouse was always ugly, but back then we didn't have a honkin' redneck shed 10 feet from our property line right in our front yard. I don't care if he has a shed, even an ugly shed, but why if you have over 2 acres does it have to go 10 feet from my property? Some minor consideration to your neighbor should be of value to ANYONE, whether we're talking country or city living.

I don't understand how or why anyone would "resent" a neighborhood being kept nice. And if they do, then that's their problem - and they should keep it their problem and not make it mine. JMHO.

[Gormy Cuss]

48. Sorry about the redneck shed

I agree with those who counsel to plant a privacy hedge. If the neighbor isn't breaking the law you have little recourse other than shielding the view. It may be Mr. 67-Bush-Signs is trying to get your goat. He certainly didn't consider neighborliness when siting it. I have had the good luck to have good neighbors on all three sides, but one just sold and I have no idea whether we'll get along with the new owners. I'm hoping they aren't planning an expansion of the current ranch to a McMansion with plenty of floor to ceiling windows bathing my property in light all evening. That happened down the street. Zoning won't allow me to put up a fence tall enough to block off such a house so I'd plant the fastest growing shade trees I could find.

Interestingly, the closest jerk neighbor to us was the only one with multiple Bush signs on the lawn. I wonder if that means something...

[ElsewheresDaughter]

29. building codes in my neck of the woods are 15 feet from property lines

check with your town

[TeddyBear77]

41. It sucks, but

it is his property, and I'm glad that you're respecting his right to put the shed there. I have one of those "redneck sheds" on my property as well, and my neighbor has never given me crap about it. I also live in a semi-rural area.

[TK421]

42. Neighborhood kids bored? Slip them a ten and ask if they wouldn't

mind vandalizing the ugly thing.

[DarkAngel]

43. I hope this post is a joke

Destruction of private property is wrong.

Respect people's freedom.

[TK421]

47. Yes, it was a joke...respect other peoples freedom to make a joke

[Radical Activist]

57. property is not freedom.

[DarkAngel]

59. No, it's not

But you need to respect HIS freedom to do what he wants with HIS property.

[TK421]

61. And remember....FREEDOM ISN'T FREE

:rofl: ( as quoted by some freeptard on the Mike Malloy show a while back )

[Radical Activist]

63. Yeah, freedom costs $3.95 a minute on this 900 number I called.

[TK421]

67. Dude, that sucks! I feel your pain, though. I guess the first three

minutes weren't free, huh?:( At least thats what those bastards claim

[madeline_con]

46. Are you serious?

I'm amazed at the calls to vandalize and set ablaze this guy's stuff from DUers!

What happened to the rights of the poor, and all that?

[TK421]

49. Ummm...last time,now.... it was a J-O-K-E

While we're on the subject of rights, I suppose the person who has to look at this piece of crap has no rights (referring to the poster) The neighbor sounds incredibly ignorant, but never mind that....just as long as he has the freedom to turn the surrounding property into the opening scene of "Sanford and Son"

[DarkAngel]

51. It's HIS property

He should be allowed to do naked aerobics on his front lawn if he wants.

[TK421]

52. If you're so concerned about his well being, by all means...build him

a couple more of these things. As far as the naked aerobics, well...never mind.

[DarkAngel]

53. I'm not super concerned with his well-being

I'm concerned with protecting his property rights. I'm sick and tired of neighbors and local boards trying to restrict property rights through endless regulations and codes.

[TK421]

54. OK, then...you're MILDLY concerned.

gotcha

[madeline_con]

64. a joke...

my bad.

Like I said, all the neighbors knew the guy lived there when they bought or built their houses. It seems like a buy and run the riff raff out later situation.

[friesianrider]

70. Oh pssh. It was a joke, people!

And believe me, if I could find a kid to do it, I would (yes, another joke). Laugh, dammit!!

[madeline_con]

44. Call Code Enforcement....

they should make him clean up his mess. Or offer to help. BTW, what's a 'redneck shed'? One that doesn't look like a little playhouse with flower boxes?

"... my neighbor's home is the original farmhouse..."

He was there first. Didn't you see his house when you bought yours?

"... but our road is one that has pretty upscale ..."

Just another word for elitist, IMO.

[Tsiyu]

50. I think folks were only joking

and this dude isn't poor, just not real motivated. He should keep his property halfway decent if the houses are close together, but i agree no one should advocate destroying his stuff.

Anyhoo, he's a * voter, so i don't feel sorry for the idjut, but I don't think anyone meant their suggestions should be followed. This is the lounge and they were just having some fun.

[madeline_con]

66. That's 2...

posts I got telling me it was a joke.

Next time, I'll read all 697,000 posts before responding. ;)

[friesianrider]

71. Um, no.

"BTW, what's a 'redneck shed'? One that doesn't look like a little playhouse with flower boxes?"

I hope that wasn't meant to sound as rude as it did. No, I do not need it to look like a playhouse. I don't care WHAT it looks like, but I'd prefer I didn't have to look at it 10 feet from my property. The damn thing is closer to my house than it is to his.


"He was there first. Didn't you see his house when you bought yours?"

Excuse me, but *I* was here first, NOT him. Why not ask before making a comment like that? Of course the HOUSE was there when I bought mine, but it was well taken care of and looked just fine to me.


"Just another word for elitist, IMO."

Oh, puhlease. Because the houses on my road are relatively upscale and kept nicely? I'm so sorry the homes I live in/around are relatively nice. I guess because of that, I must be elitist? :eyes:

[TK421]

82. Why you...you...you liberal elitist, you!!!! LIBERAL ELITIST!!!

OH-MY-GOD........My frigging head is going to explode:nuke:

[spinbaby]

55. Sounds like the guy across the street

We call him Clueless Redneck. He saves trash in case he might need it someday. Right now he's got, among other objects, a bass boat, a dump truck, a backhoe, a trailer, and at least three riding mowers. He tore a porch off his house about five years back and put on an addition. The porch is still lying in the yard.

Favorite story about Clueless Redneck:

He tends to dump odd objects like concrete blocks and bits of machinery in his yard. He also doesn't mow very often. A couple of summers ago, he let his lawn get even higher than usual because neither of his riding mowers was working. Finally, he went out and bought himself a brand new riding mower. He started mowing at dusk with the lights on.

We hear "RrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrCLUNK! "

Took a while longer for his lawn to get mowed. Nowadays he has three riding mowers, none of which work, and a new wife who cares what the place looks like and mows with the hand mower.

[friesianrider]

72. Do we live on the same street? ;)

Sounds like this guy to a T! Glad someone feels my pain, LOL :hi:

[SoCalDem]

56. Our tree had limbs extending into our neighbor's yard

He asked if he could cut them.. we said yes.. he asked if he could borrow our chainsaw..we said yes.. He used it, returned it, and then we looked in the ayrd. He had tossed the frigging limbs over the fence into our back yard..

The kicker.. the next time my husband used the chain saqw. it wouldn;t work..:grr:

assholes:grr:

[jobycom]

58. Just feel lucky you don't live next to my father

He's in south Mississippi. He has four acres, roughly thirty-five junk cars and trucks, weeds and small scrub brush growing everywhere, and random junk items ranging from tires, gravelies, buckets from front-end loaders, a blade from a grader, multiple industrial size AC units, random piles of brick and steel girders, six sheds (maybe seven--not sure if one is still standing) built of mismatched pieces of tin, wood, and/or sheet metal. He has two RVs that he swears would run if he just did one or two minor things to them.

Of these four acres, which had a lawn that looked like a golf course on the side of a slope when we moved in twenty-five years ago, there is no longer any room to turn a car around in the path between the junk that flanks what serves as a driveway. You have to back up thirty yards between the junk to get out of his drive.

I doubt his neighbors love him much. I do, cause he's my dad.

But he voted for Kerry. So he's got one up on your neighbor.

[friesianrider]

76. LOL...

Well at least your Dad voted for Kerry. Okay, I admit it. I think I would be more forgiving of my neighbor if he didn't put the Bush signs up! :)

[Catchawave]

60. Trees and bushes are your friends now....

...start planting!

[CanuckAmok]

62. I forget who, but one DUer put a up a site dedicated to...

...neighbours who do just that. His neighbour made a combination mailbox/Madonna Shrine out of discarded bricks and mortar, and begain raising chickens and pigs in the backyard, for food.

I wish I could remember who it was... the site was funny as hell!

[TK421]

65. Something tells me the pigs and chickens are on their way, too

Oh, and sheep...can't forget the sheep

[lateo]

68. Bamboo works well.

Grow bamboo to create a natural, and beautiful, fence.

[Lorien]

69. My neighbor cut down 80 year old ornamental trees that blocked

both my view and his of a two story bright yellow concrete block apartment complex. I didn't even know those apartments were there when I bought this place, but the apartment owners cut down eight 100 year old live oaks which revealed the rooftops, then my neighbor cut down the ornamentals, which revealed everything else. Now I get treated to an ugly fat naked man peering into my studio every night, and security lights that beam into my windows. I HATE it1!! So yeah, I feel your pain.

[friesianrider]

75. I HATE lights at night...

I love to look out at the stars, and back where we used to live they build $1 Million homes right behind our old house, so we could never see the stars anymore because these people always had 97 different motion and security lights protecting their property. It drove me nuts!

Oh well. At least if I plant some trees/shrubs/*es, I'll be doing the environment some good :)

[LibDemAlways]

79. I'm glad you started this thread. I have a rant, too.

Since June 1st I have been looking at a goddamn fleet of limosines across the street from my house. The moron around the corner owns a limo service and has apparently gotten too cheap to store the monstrosities (up to 29 feet) when they are not in service, so he moved them into this quiet residential community. Now its a steady stream of limos and their drivers. These guys pull up, get changed into their "limo driver get-up" out in the street, and off they go - taking the cars out and bringing them back at all hours.

This is an unincorporated area, far removed from the county government which administers it. I complained to the highway patrol about parking violations and was told the situation is a "low priority." My local advisory council has passed the buck to the county which passed the buck back to the highway patrol. I've called the Code Enforcement people numerous times, but no one returns my calls.

I love that the limo owners are flaunting zoning laws and parking restrictions and getting away with it because nobody gives a good goddamn except me.

So I know how aggravating a neighbor who thinks rules don't apply to him can be. You have my sympathy.

[samplegirl]

80. Yes but just the opposite

My last neighbor was and obbesive compulsive which can be just as
annoying. He put up a 5ft. chain link fence right down the front
yard to the backyard.
After he called a tree surgeon out to cut down a beautiful old
oak tree down on my property while I was'nt home. He did'nt want
any leaves on his property.
Needless to say...a year later I sold the house and moved.
Now my current next door neighbor is selling...and guess what?
Im getting another obbesive compulsive...everyone is warning me.
I like things neat and tidy dont get me wrong I'm cleaner than
most people...but you havent lived until you get one of these crepes
next to you.

[WhollyHeretic]

83. I'm a very relaxed person

and I've had to deal with some horrible neighbors in the past but I would have totally lost my shit if someone had cut down a tree in my yard. :grr:

[samplegirl]

84. hope my new neighbor is not as bad

as everyone is telling me! I always seem to get a jerk next to me.

[friesianrider]

89. Me too...

We've had to cut down two or three small trees because they weren't properly "trimmed" by the previous owners, which left the branches growing twisted and wrong, and the trees were getting diseased. I literally said a prayer to the nature Gods to forgive me from cutting down a tree LOL. I hate to sound like an environmentalist Nazi or something, but ever since I read that a fully grown tree takes X amount of CO2 out of the air from cars, I hate to cut them down! Plus, they provide shade and homes for birds and other creatures.

Anyway, I would have flipped if someone cut down a tree in MY yard. I'd have planted another right in it's place - and sent him the bill for it.