Neighborhood Discoveries!

This evening we went for a walk around the neighborhood and then down to the new ball fields just down the street. On our way back we noticed this strange sign nailed to a tree (a few houses down from ours). I wonder what the story is?

Then directly across the street from this sign, Jane11 discovered a strange thorny wild(?) citrus tree growing in the woods. It had small fuzzyish fruit which we took samples of. Upon cutting them open we discovered that they were VERY sour and had an amazing number of seeds inside! Any ideas of what these might be? They don't appear to be anything on this list...

Oh, and P.S. we have a new neighbor behind us -- he moved into the "Fence Neighbor's" old house after they moved. We haven't met him yet, but it appears it's a single younger guy with no roommates or family. He seems pretty quiet and keeps to himself... Woohooo!!! :)

Happy Thanksgiving... (July, 08)

Last Sabbath morning I noticed a U-Haul truck in the "fence neighbors'" driveway just before we left for church. It didn't seem like a very big truck so I didn't think that they could actually be moving... And then this weekend while I was out wandering around the yard, I noticed a FOR SALE sign in their front yard! Wooohoooo!!! This officially ends the infamous property line dispute of '07!

Here's a little recap:

• (1.) Destruction of Property!!!
• (2.) I Reclaim This Land In The Name Of...
• (3.) Let's Make A Deal
• (4.) The Downside of Neighbors
• (5.) Map of Destruction
• (6.) The Fence Saga Continues...
  

The Dead Oak Tree

Over the past week or two we've noticed that "the fence neighbors" down below had been parking their cars directly beneath our old dead oak tree. They have a 2 car garage and a driveway, but they seemed to prefer parking in the cul de sac, right under the large branches of our old dead oak tree. So I'm assuming that they were hoping to cash in and make us pay if a branch (or the tree) were to fall on their car(s). I think they're still upset about our fence..

So, Sunday morning we decided it was time to trim the branches back. We threw a rope over one of the lowest branches and used our rock climbing rope and harnesses to pull Er!c up the tree. Before we could trim any branches, our other neighbor (the good one) came down and asked if we wanted him to cut the tree down for us.

We figured it would probably be a good idea to go ahead and cut it down. So after tying a good sturdy rope around the tree Er!c came back down and pulled on the rope while the neighbor cut the tree. It came crashing down right on one of our biggest Dogwood trees, breaking it off at the stump. . :(

But at least it didn't land on the neighbor's car.

That evening we decided to have a campfire supper around our little burn pile. We roasted vegetables in aluminum foil and then had hot dogs, followed by smores... it was a very enjoyable evening sitting around the fire with good company (with Jane11's parents and brother, Todd).

Mailbox Bashing

Early this morning around 2:00 a group of kids in 2 vehicles drove down our street and knocked off 11 mailboxes, including ours. The next-door neighbor heard the commotion at the other end of the street and came outside just in time to see them stop in front of our house and whack our mailbox.

They then stopped at his mailbox and started beating it. He grabbed a hammer nearby and ran over to their Jeep and smashed their back window before they sped off.

Another neighbor down the street called the police but they arrived about 20 minutes too late.

We were sound asleep through the whole thing....

The Fence Saga Continues...

Sunday morning we decided to finish putting up our fence only to discover that someone (presumably the neighbors) had pulled up our 3 fence posts and had thrown them back into our yard. Aww no they di-'int! These posts had been clearly on our property, so we started driving the posts back into the holes. Yes... I'm somewhat ashamed to admit that "push" has finally come to "shove".

Here's the history:

• (1.) Destruction of Property!!!
• (2.) I Reclaim This Land In The Name Of...
• (3.) Let's Make A Deal
• (4.) The Downside of Neighbors
• (5.) Map of Destruction
  

Todd came over to help us with our fence project - blitzkrieg style! We were determined to get the fence up today. So we took turns driving the fence posts in with the sledgehammer until we ran out of available poles, and then we dismantled the remaining dog-run fence sections and took turns digging up the posts.

Once we had all the poles up between our yard and the neighbors, we started putting up the chain-link fencing. At one point the neighbors (who were busy moving in today) came home and questioned the property boundaries in regards to our fence posts, and tried yet again to convince us that we were not allowed to put the fence up period. Our fence is within a 6-8 inch margin of error on our side of the plum line (running between surveyor markers), so we are safely on our own property.

After lunch we continued driving the remaining fence posts along the rest of our lower property line, and Jane11 & Er!c finished up the chain-link fencing after Todd left to watch a race on TV. Thanks very very much Todd for all your hard work today! It would have taken so much longer without your help!!! :)

As we were cleaning up the mess we'd made in our yard, the neighbors pulled up again and Mr. Neighbor immediately came over to our fence and started complaining about the irregular heights of the fence posts. Er!c told him that this was the first day and that we weren't finished with the fence yet. When asked about the fence posts the neighbor said that the developer had pulled them up... Oh really!?

Mr. Neighbor then noticed the "Private Property - Keep Out" sign on one of our trees and ordered us to take it down! "Take that sign down! Take it down right now!" Er!c let him know that this IS our property and that we'd appreciate it if he didn't tell us what we're allowed to do on our property.

We sort of feel bad posting a Keep Out sign (obviously directed at them), but we can't really trust them anymore. They don't seem to respect our yard or our wishes for a fence. They have each lied to us on multiple occasions and have destroyed & tampered with our property again and again.

Update: We took down the sign Tuesday evening.

Then, because we were worried that they might try and tare down our fence again, Er!c let them know that if they do tamper with our fence again we WILL call the police. Mr. Neighbor then said that we still were not allowed to have a fence and that we should call his developer and find out for ourselves.

So we decided that we would call the developer and let him know what's been going on, and get a 3rd party involved. We found his number and gave him a call. He picked up and Er!c told him the whole story -- about how the neighbors had destroyed about 300 sq feet of our woods and then wouldn't agree to put up a fence (after agreeing to put up a fence), and how they had removed our fence posts, and told us that the developer wouldn't allow us to put up our own fence, etc...

The developer said, "They pulled up your fence posts?! They can't do that! That's YOUR property! You can obviously do whatever you want on your own property." He then said that he'd give them a call tomorrow and let them know that they can put a privacy fence up along our property line (if they want). Woohoo!!! So at least we now have their developer on our side too!

So hopefully this will be the end of our fence troubles with those neighbors. It's a shame that things went the way they did... Perhaps someday soon (when this whole fence issue dies down) we can work on being good neighbors again.

*sigh*

Who Needs Trees Anyway?

Monday morning our next-door neighbor (who cut down all his big trees) finished things off by cutting down the remaining smaller trees in his front yard... so now the only thing standing upright in his front yard is the plane Jane 20 ft tall flag pole which stands out even more now. Their yard now looks uglier than I ever thought it could. It is slowly becoming more and more "rednecky".

So this evening we swung by Lowes and came home with 3 fruit trees (Apple, Pear, & Plum) to plant along the property line in the lower yard -- mainly to make a point about planting trees, and to help establish our property boundaries, and to provide some sort of visual barrier between us and them.
...And also because trees are good for the environment!
[The Top 35 Eco Blogs]

We are also going to plant a line of thicker barrier trees (possibly Leeland Cypress) along the property line between our two houses (in the upper yard) so we won't have to look into their cluttered carport and see their ugly yard & house whenever we're on the back deck or in the backyard. We'll try to get that all done sometime this week (or next).

Here's a cute cartoon about global warming.

Map of Destruction

In a previous post titled 'The Downside of Neighbors' I lamented the loss of trees in our neighbor's yard as well as the loss of our own privacy barrier in our own yard. Some of you have asked us why we are making such a 'big deal' about this while others have voiced confusion as to where in our yard these things are taking place. To give you a clearer picture I've included a detailed map.

Follow the complete history of this ongoing saga below:

• (1.) Destruction of Property!!!
• (2.) I Reclaim This Land In The Name Of...
• (3.) Let's Make A Deal
• (4.) The Downside of Neighbors

As an unspoken reply to our metal fence posts, the neighbors have dug up the original little 10 inch trees and have replaced them with much taller 4 foot trees. I'm assuming the new trees are meant to be some kind of good-will gesture toward us, but I can't help but also wonder if they are trying to hide the chain link fence and the brush pile just inside our property. The new trees are about 5 or 6 feet apart, so there are still some pretty big gaps between them -- this angle makes it look like it's a thick hedge... It's not. However, you can see that their trees are safely on their side of the line. . :)

The Downside of Neighbors

This week has been an eventful one for us neighbor-wise.

Monday we came home to find that 4 of the big, beautiful trees in the neighbor's front yard were no longer standing upright. Our neighbor had told us that he was planning on cutting down all his big trees to protect his house (an ugly house at that), so it wasn't a complete surprise to us when we came home Monday...

However, when we got home on Tuesday all the other big trees were down in the back yard too! These were not sickly or dead trees either! They were beautiful, healthy ones. I counted 100 rings on one of the medium sized trees.

So we've been mourning the loss of these beautiful trees (the only redeeming factor of their yard), as well as the drop in our property value from the whole proximity factor. *sniff, sniff*

As a memorial to the fallen trees we are going to plant a wall of trees along our property line between our yard and theirs.

***

Also this week I confronted the new neighbors on the other side of us about our fence. Remember them? Well, looooooong story short: It's been 7+ weeks since they had agreed to put up a fence around the part of our yard that they intentionally bulldozed. They've done nothing except plant some very small Emerald Green Thujas, even though they had originally agreed to put up a 6ft tall fence. They gave me every excuse in the book why they didn't or couldn't put up a fence, and numerous reasons why they decided to clear out our woods in the first place... They even tried to convince me that I can't install a fence even if it's on my property... HA! :)

So after a lengthy heated argument about boundaries and property rights, we started driving metal fence posts into the ground (on our side of the property line) and will eventually finish it up with a nice roll of chain-link fencing from the original dog & goat pen.

Stick around to see how this one turns out... :)

UPDATE: We put up a fence!

• Read our comments below to see why this is such a "big deal" to us.

Let's Make A Deal

Previously... (1) Destruction of Property!!! & (2) I Reclaim This Land...

Last evening the neighbors were at their house, and so we decided to go down and talk to them about the fence.

We told them that the longer we had thought about planting trees the more we just didn't feel like that was going to work out for us. "We think that a fence would actually be best. That way, each of us would have better privacy, we could each decorate our own sides of the fence, and your children wouldn't get in our poison ivy".

They thought about it briefly and then the wife said, "...But we have rules about putting up fences in this neighborhood".

I said, "But we are not a part of your home-owner's association. Their rules don't apply to us and our property. We're putting up a fence".

We told them that we expected them to at least pay for the section of fence that they destroyed, but that they could pick out whatever fence they wanted. They agreed to that arrangement without too much resistance. I think they realized that they didn't have much choice.

I'm guessing that the fence they choose (or are allowed to use) will probably be quite pricey, possibly $100+ per 8ft of fence... The fence we've been looking at is only $32 per 8 feet. Maybe our cheap little fence will make the developer want to plant more trees and bushes on the other side of our fence to hide it! :) Perhaps one day it will look like a forest again...

I Reclaim This Land In The Name Of...

Our continuing saga... (read previous post)

This evening we made a quick trip to Lowes and bought some small "one-by's" (to cut into wooden stakes) and 250 feet of fluorescent pink string. We also bought 4 Variegated Chinese Privet plants that were on sale - 50% off. Woohoo! We plan to plant those in front of the fence after it gets put up.

We then came home and Er!c cut the boards into a bundle of wooden stakes. Armed with hammers, stakes, string and spraypaint, we walked down to OUR 15' x 25' corner of the yard and started running the plumb line from one surveyor's marker to the next, keeping it as straight as possible through the bushes. Then we pounded the stakes into the ground about every 5 feet and spraypainted them hot pink!

We were hoping the neighbors would show up again so that we could tell them about our plans for the fence, but they never showed up... I hope they don't go ahead and buy all the plants & trees before we tell them that we are putting in a fence... At least we now have our boundaries well-defined, so hopefully if they do plant trees they will plant them on their side of the line.

Anyway, here are some more photos of the destruction...

Looking down at the yard, standing on the dumpster


Looking straight into OUR yard from the cul de sac


With the shovel as reference you can see how far into our yard they went


This is the view from their livingroom window


Behind their house looking into our yard


He came right up to our chain link fence (15 ft inside our yard)


More like what it use to look like --- What it looks like now...............

I suppose it could be worse. This family had their home completely demolished and cleared away without any notice.

Destruction of Property!!!

UPDATED [8/6/07]

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:

1. 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...
   
2. 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!
   
3. 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).

So we've decided that putting up a definite barrier between us is the best solution to this problem. They can plant whatever plants they want on their side of the fence, and we can grow whatever "weeds" we want on our side of the fence! Good fences make good neighbors, right...? . :)

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. . :)

The New Neighborhood

This is the cul de sac at the end of our yard


This is a view through our back fence


A pond for the new neighborhood


Looking over the dam


Looking back at the cul de sac and our house through the trees