On Sabbath afternoon I (Er!c) discovered that our new neighbor in the corner subdivision was in the process of clearing out a 15' x 25' section of our property!!!I immediately stopped him and said, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? YOU ARE DESTROYING OUR PROPERTY!!!"
He said, "Oh sorry, I was just clearing out these trees to make it look nicer"
I said, "But it's OUR property! You can't do that!!! Don't you know where the property markers are?" I then proceeded to show him where the markers were as I snapped some pictures with my digital camera. There were even 4 or 5 trees that were clearly marked with orange plastic ribbons.
"Oh I'm very sorry. I just started and kept going a little further" he said in his Ukrainian accent.I told him that we actually WANTED those shrubs and bushes there to provide a privacy barrier so that we wouldn't have to look at their house. Now there is a gapping hole exposing us to them and visa versa... GRRRRRrRrrrrrr!!!!!
He finally said, "I can plant some trees here, maybe 15 or 20..." pointing at the property line. I agreed and said that would be a good idea. "Something that grows full and bushy would be best!" I said. He said that they would try to have them planted within a week. We'll see how that goes.- - -
Today (Sunday), Jane11 came back from the ASI convention, and so we went down to talk to the neighbors again. Both he and his wife were there this time.She said that they had "decided" to clear out the woods because she was afraid of the poison ivy. "But that's our property!" said Jane11.
The neighbor's wife even had the nerve to ask us what we were going to do about our brush pile which they can now see from their house now that our woods are gone...
...I think the brush pile will stay right where it is! . ;)
- - -
UPDATE, Monday-
Jane11 and I have decided that putting up a fence will probably be our best option here, because:
- If they planted trees that were too short, we wouldn't be happy. It might take years for the little trees to get big enough to become a decent barrier again. They destroyed our "fence" in one day, they should at least replace it quickly...
- If they planted trees that were actually tall enough but were either on or over the property line, we wouldn't be happy, especially if the trees were on our side of the line. Why should our yard get smaller so theirs can feel slightly bigger? Why should they benefit from our loss? -- especially when they took it from us without asking!
- If all trees and shrubs were planted on their side, we still wouldn't be happy, because they would have gotten exactly what they wanted -- a cleared out forest with pretty trees and flowers all around... I'm guessing that buying trees and scrubs for their yard was in their original budget anyway so they're not really loosing anything. WE ARE! We have a hole in our woods and would have to look at the backside of their plants, knowing that they got the better end of the deal... Not to mention that their 4 kids would probably want to play "in the woods" behind their house (on our property).
I'm going to give them the opportunity to pick out and install whatever fence they want (and install it right down the middle of the property line). If they decline to buy and put up the fence then I am more than happy to pick out the cheapest, not-so-pretty barrier fence I can find. Their front living room window overlooks our property line where the fence WILL be, so I'm sure they'll probably want something that at least looks nice. . :)
