lousy neighbors

I'll go ahead and let you know this up front. This isn't really a cycling related post but it could be entertaining just the same. Something that Melinda and I have been plagued with over the past few years, lousy neighbors. I won't goes as far to say we have bad neighbors as they could be a lot worse and they're not bad enough to make me want to move yet, Melinda is another story. None of our neighbors really keep their yards as tidy as we would like but I would be a little bit picky if I started harassing them about it. Setting a 20 year old blue toilet out on the street right next to my driveway 2 weeks prior to refuse pickup does kind of irritate me. Not long after we moved into our house Melinda and I decided to plant a row of Evergreen trees along our backyard to serve multiple purposes. One to keep the dogs in our yard till a fence was built, two for a nicer look and three, to block all the junk (broken down jet ski, swing w/no seat, moldy angel statues, etc.) our neighbors have piled up in what used to be a garden or so they say. As time went on and the trees grew we could no longer see the trash from our deck. Fast forward a couple of years. This spring we built a retaining wall and planted a few new plants. One plant in particular sets really close to the boundary line. According to my neighbor a few leaves might cross it but I'm not 100% sure. We also bought the ECO trailer which limited our driveway space some and so I expanded the driveway just a hair bit more which got the attention of the neighbors. In a round about way he stated that we were getting very close to the line, he never said we crossed it but I could tell he was concerned. I could understand if we were interfering with his property or causing him trouble in some sort of fashion but we are not. Our driveway does not cross the line nor does it touch the line. The only thing we have done to his yard is make it look better with the addition of plants along our side of the property line. I don't understand why some folks are funny about this but they are.
We started noticing when they would mow, instead of blowing the grass back into their yard they blew it into our flower beds, driveway and all over my truck. Now I'm the one who started getting irritated. I never said a word, I patiently waited hoping they just didn't realize what they were doing and maybe it would stop. It didn't, after a month I decided to take defensive measures, Melinda and I picked up 3 more bushes to plant along side the driveway in between us and the neighbor acting as a barrier from the grass clippings. As soon as they saw our intentions I got a knock on the back door. The dreaded neighbor wanted to talk. I would love to say I popped him in the nose or overturned the rotting jet ski in his driveway but I didn't. We had a very civilized discussion on the boundary lines which I'm not sure I agree with but didn't argue. He expressed his concern about the plants being over the line in a few years as the branches grew. Yes that might happen but they would look nice and not cause a problem, no I didn't say that but I wanted to. I did let him know why I decided to plant them. Actually his wife is the one blowing the grass in the drive not him and he told me that she was the one who was upset about our plants. I'm convinced now that she blew the grass on purpose but I was told that he would ask her to stop if I didn't plant the new shrubs. We agreed that as long as I didn't try to make my side of the boundary more appealing there would be no problem. Who knew that making your yard a nicer greener place would piss someone off? I guess jealousy has pushed them to the point of hatred. When your flower beds consist of nothing but crushed brick and other random items (no plants), our yard might piss you off. Their yard has yet to be mowed since the talk so I'm curious if "the wife" as he called her will stop with the grass. If it continues I guess I'll call the surveyors and see if his declarations of the boundary are correct.
Sorry for the rant but I needed to tell someone.

Now go ride your bike while you can still see the trails, the leaves getting ready to fall.

stay cool