Tree Work

I have some tree work needed.  There is a large dead beech tree, a small dead tree, a stump of a small tree that blew over weeks ago, a "cluster of volunteers" near the front door, a burning bush shrub that has gotten  smothered by "volunteers", a non-fruiting wild cherry tree right against the fence, and surface tree roots from a neighbor's silver maple (which should have never been planted between our houses) which are reaching my house foundation.

The last few years have been hard on trees here (and elsewhere too).  Some of the work I could do myself with a working chain saw.  But I can't keep a gas one working, and for some reason, I can't get the chain on the electric one properly tightened and that makes it dangerous.  

So since the large dead beech needed professional removal anyway, I called 3 contractors for quotes.  All 3 have done some work here before.  Two visited.  

One gave the best price and has equipment that will best control the 2 tree-falls (I have 2 small ornamental trees that are nearby), but won't grind out the neighbor's tree roots on my property closer than 10' to the property line, but will use their cherry-picker machine to get up high enough to remove the branches overhanging my house.  They say that while it is legal for me to remove the roots right to the property line, they get too much trouble from neighbors and they avoid it.

The other offerred a bid $300 more and agrees to grind out the neighbor's tree roots right to the property line but can't cut down over-hanging limbs because they are "climbers" (no cherry-picker equipment) and can't climb the neighbor's tree.

Both agree to grind out all the stumps of the felled trees and "volunteer" patches and remove all debris.  Both offer good prices, $1800 and $2100.  I expected it to be $2500-3000, so no complaints there about either bid.  It is the slight differences in the work they can do that is making me hesitate to choose.  I'll be thinking about that this weekend.

It really comes down to that neighbor's tree roots.  I don't have the best relationship with that neighbor.  They are the ones who:

1.  Tried to burn down my fence.  Ok, they weren't actually trying, but when they first moved in 2 years ago, they piled dead tree branches next to my wood fence and under low-hanging dry trees and started burning them without even a hose that could reach the spot.  I had to demand they put it out.  When the woman there ignored me at first, I said I would call the Fire Department.  I offerred to put it out with my garden hose.  She and a daughter hauled pails of water from a wading pool to quench the flames.  I stayed there (hose-ready) for a while.

2.  A month later, a guy there (I think it is a divorce when the ex visited every couple weeks to help) was thrashing around 10' inside my yard with a gas-power metal-bladed trimmer to cut away grass next to a tree of mine.  I ran out to tell him to stop.  He wouldn't turn off the gas-trimmer so I had to raise my voice to be heard.  Finally he turned it off and then complained I was yelling at him.  

He said he didn't know where the property line was.  So I pointed out that the backyard fence offerred a clear line through the front yard, but mostly I just pointed out where it was.  I was initially angry, but I calm down pretty fast.  He stopped.  Maybe I should plant a row of shrubs.  

BTW, the ornamental tree the guy was attacking for the tallish grass growing close to it with the gas whacker died the next Summer.  I can't say he caused it, but I can't say he didn't either.  There were shallow cuts in the bark.

So I don't have the best relationship with them.  I haven't done anything to bother them, but some people just count up disagreements without considering who is actually to blame.  And if they needed some help, I would gladly give it.

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Which returns us to the neighbor's tree.  Some limbs are over-hanging my house.  The roots are threatening my foundation and are above lawn level.  I checked my County regulations and I have a clear right to remove both limbs and roots.  Mowing the grass over them is like driving over railroad ties.

But I think they are going to go ape-shit when I do either.  I suppose I should print out the County regulation on that to hand to them when they object.

Ahh, the joys of neighbors...

Strange Neighbors

You may be getting tired of this, but there is always something new.

Mototorcycle Guy is driving back and forth up and down the street less frequently lately.  I don't know why, but maybe it finally became boring.  Or he can drive further away legally.  Or someone complained.  Or he he has a new hobby.  Or is getting older.  Or my brain is tuning it out.

My eastern side neighbors are taking up the noise slack from Motorcycle Man, though.   The lady there has taken up leaf-blowing.  Gas, not electric, of course.  She spent 3 hours blowing all the leaves into a pile in the back up the yard a week ago.  And did the same yesterday into a 2nd pile.  Why 2 separate piles?  I have no idea.  

I want to tell them that just mowing the leaves into the lawn if good for the lawn and a whole lot easier, but I hesitate becaue we didn't start out well.  They tried to burn my fence and then intruded on my property with a gas-powered metal-bladed whacker around a tree.  And I had to yell because the guy wouldn't turn his noisy whacker off.  And then complained I was yelling...

And I see a pile of brush along with the leaves.  I hope she doesn't plan to burn them.  It isn't utterly dry like it was last year, but it is routinely windy.  If she starts to burn it all, this time I will just call the Fire Department.  They will explain things with more authority than *I* have...

And they recently added some solar panels.  The Flip-Renovater added them on the south roof before they moved in, but I'm pretty sure there weren't any on the NORTH side of the roof until recently (it's not a noisy job, so I might have missed it happening).  I did see some ladders up to the roof last month, but didn't pay much attention.

Why would they do that?  There is little sunshine on the north roof here.  Maybe they don't know how solar panels work and that indirect ambient light is what powers them.

The neighbors 2 yards east had a nice hedge but cut it down 2 years ago.  Not down to the ground, 2 feet high.  The shrubs are completely dead, but they leave them in place.  Well, maybe the stumps serve as a property line indicator.  After all THEIR west neighbor is MY east neighbor who doesn't seem to quite understand property lines...  But a long row of dead shrub stumps?  That's odd.

I was surprised to look out the window (petting Ayla who loves windowsills) and see a guy walking the roof ridgeline of my helpful neighbors.  It's not something you see every day.  Then I noticed other people walking around all wearing identical tee-shirts, so it was some business.  So there was some project going on.  The van parked in front had a simple name that said nothing about the purpose.

I hope whatever they were doing doing out well.  I like that couple.  I'll have to wait for a chance meeting to ask about it.  But at least they tend to do sensible things.

The west-side neighbors continue to leave a fallen-down willow tree on their front lawn after 3 years.  They have a mowing service that carefully mows around the tree.  I almost never see them outside.  Five or so years ago, I saw them all in the far back yard digging.  I think they were burying one of their dogs.  I din't go looking over the fence of course, that would have been intrusive.

I live in a neighborhood where you can't just go knock on a door and ask "what just happened" or "why did you do that"?  People just aren't that interested in their neighbors.  Neither am I personally, but I enjoy seeing the odd things they do.  

I myself, am perfect in all regards, of course...  LOL!

Complaints Update

Well, the neighbors 2 houses away resolved my remnant tree trunk curiosity; they cut those down last.  But 5 DAYS of chainsaw noise - wow!  I can't tell if their yard is much brighter (probably is but surrounded by a fence).  The backyard between us sure is brighter; I wonder if they are happy about it.  

I can even tell some difference in my backyard in early morning.  There are patches of sunlight where I haven't seem it for years.  Unfortunately, not in my garden area.  The rising sun quickly goes behind trees of my southern neighbor.

Speaking of the "neighbors between us" who surrounded most of their tree trunks with kitchen plastic wrap, I remain baffled.  Internet searching finds nothing about it, so it is probably some hare-brained idea (given their apparent inexperience at yardwork). There ARE plastic tree-guards you wrap around trunks of young trees in Winter to prevent bark-scorching, but that is entirely different heavier-duty stuff and the there are holes in it to allow air circulation to the bark.  

I'll have to post a question on a gardening site I visit occasionally.  Actually, I hope what they are doing kills those trees.  THAT would open up some light to my garden!  I don't mind that they are "junk trees"; to some extent, "trees are trees" in the same way that green weeds in a lawn are at least green.  And they produce oxygen just like weeds in the lawn do.  But I sure wouldn't mind if they rotted and died from the plastic wrap, LOL!

So the chainsaw music from the neighbor 2 houses away ended Friday.  Another neighbor started their own cutting project Saturday.  Tis the time of year, I guess.

I might be doing the same soon myself.  I have a Beech tree that died last year.  I gave it this one to see if it send out any new shoots.  It didn't.  I have a small specimen tree that also died last year.  It sent out a few shoots in Spring, but they withered, so it's dead.  

And a huge Sweetgum tree in the westside neighbor's backyard lost the top 1/3 some years ago and another 1/3 fell into my backyard last year (which makes it my problem).  Fortunately, it missed the 2 Sourwood and 2 Korean Dogwood saplings I planted 2 years ago.  I'm depending on them to grow fast and tall enough to shade out the wild blackberries that sprung up when I cleared the backyard of my own junk trees.  So I need a professional service to clear those out.

Motorcycle Man continues to just ride back and forth along my dead end street.  He goes back and forth every 20-30 minutes most of the day.  I originally thought he was doing motorcycle repairs in his garage, but I finally realized it was the same 3 motorcycles all the time.

It isn't like the motorcycles are the huge types that gangs ride, but the sound still penetrates the house and it's the repetitiveness that is most annoying.  I don't know anything about the rider.  He wears a visored helmet.  But he is too large to be a teen hiding his riding from the law.  I'm guessing an adult  either living in his parents basement or married with an unhappy home life.  

One of these days, I'll take a stroll down the road and see if I can figure out what house he is in.  It's not that he is doing anything illegal, but it sure is annoying.  Sort of like someone putting a church bell on their roof and having it ring ever half-hour 8 am to 10 pm.

I've probably been complaining too much lately.  I'll try to get back to more positive stuff soon.

More Odd Neighbor Stuff

 I don't want to harp on the neighbors too much.  But I don't like mine a whole lot.  I think they are kind of weird.  The neighbors to the east are odd.  They don't have much sense of property lines.  And forgive me, it it hard to discuss concerns well.  They don't speak American well.  Damn that seems bad to say, but you have to be able to talk to resolve problems.

I can manage that slightly, but they seem kind of new to yardwork safety.  They  decided to burn fallen tree branches once, right next to my wood fence and below small trees.  And had no water supply near.  Then the guy decided to use a metal blade trimmer to remove grass around a tree in my yard.  It died the next year.  When I told him to stop, he seemed to think he was helping me.  

Now they have their tree trunks wrapped in clear plastic, taped all around 5' up.  None of my business, I suppose, but I'm curious and can't ask why.  

The neighbors one further had all their trees cut down, but only 8' high.  They left the trunks.  I can't imagine a reason.  That's the east...

My neighbors on the west side have a tree across their front lawn that has sat there for 4 years.  They have a mowing company that does their lawn, but they ignore the fallen tree.

The people to the south have poison ivy beds that creep into my yard.  I spray them, but they come back.

I have some neighbor down the street a few houses who just drives a motorcycle back on forth along the the street.  I thought maybe he had a repair business on the side, but it is always the same 3 motorcycles.

I feel trapped.  I love the city water and sewage, the buried electrical and good internet cable, the dead end street and the grandfathered no Homeowners Association.  And I feel like I have too much to move; woodworking equipment is delicate in some ways.

But if I don't move soon, I never will...

Odd Neighbors

I've mentioned my odd neighbors across the street before.  The lived there a couple of years several years ago, and  moved back last year.  It is a rental place.  I think the guy is the son of the McMansion guy next door to that house.

They yell a lot late at night and usually outside and I mean 3 am.  The one child I see always seems unhappy.  

Now there is something new going on.  They change the color of the light bulb at the side door every few days.  Sometimes it is red, sometimes blue, sometimes purple.  Well, fine, you display and decorate as you like.  None of my business, I suppose.  But I tend to try to understand patterns and this one is "interesting".  

When the guy changes it to red, the woman comes out and screams "not again"!  Talk about a mystery...  Drugs?  Prostitution?  Poker game night?  Who knows...

I worry about my immediate next-door neighbors sometimes too.  They are the ones who decided to burn brush near my wood fence underneath small dry trees last year during a drought until I demanded they stop.  Their only fire control was a small bucket and a kiddy pool.  Well, their 2 young kids were suddenly outside screaming at midnight.  Midnight?

I went outside and saw the woman standing on the porch and asked if everything was OK.  In a monotone, she said "yes".  I asked again and mentioned that neighbors can help if there is a problem and she called the kids inside and closed the door.  

The lady across the street in the McMansion was out walking her dog and I asked if she had heard the screaming.  She didn't answer directly, but said the kids play in their yard sometimes and seem OK.

How do you know what to do in a situation like that?  Maybe they just let their kids stay up late in these odd pandemic days.  Maybe they are having problems but feel safe in the neighbor's yard around the friendly lady and the friendly dog.  Maybe there is nothing wrong and I am becoming a busybody.

Or maybe I will see police cars at the house some day and know I should have called some authority. 

Not Painting The Fence

And FINALLY, I get around to explaining why I don't want the neighbor to paint my fence on hos side...

I have a personal image of my property.  Let's start by imagining I only lived inside my house.  I don't see the outside of it.  But my neighbors do.  They may or may not like the color of my house, but they agree it is mine and all the sides of my house match in color.  As it occurs, my house siding is dark green and fits into the landscape.  There is no Homeowner Association here to complain, but it is not like I painted it hot pink and added lime green shutters.

So the neighbor can't decide he thinks the side of my house that he sees should be painted beige and could just go ahead and do that while I was on vacation.  I care about my house looking rather consistent in color all the way around.  OK so far?

Now, I think of my fence in the same way.  The entire fence is on my property and and I want it to look the same all the way around.  It, in its own way, partly defining my choice of how my property is viewed by outsides just as my house is.

Having the neighbors view my fence in a consistent color makes a difference to me.  One side being one bold different color from the others just destroys my vision of my yard. 

I understand that my neighbor has a view of his internal yard.  But he should have thought to ask who owned the fences around him before he just had people paint them.  I am probably the only person who knows that all the fences around this new neighbor's property are owned by others.  The only fence he owns is those small parts from the sides of his house connecting to the sides.

And I may be the only person who cares.  But I do care.  I specifically like the look of greyish aged pressure-treated wood.  And I don't want people looking at my property from the outside seeing it of different colors.

I hope that all made sense...

Yesterday, Neighbor and Project

The neighbor just amazes me more and more.  If there is anything he can do wrong, he does.

Yesterday, I looked out over the fence and saw the neighbor's contractors had made "volcano mulch mounds" around several trees.  You don't DO that.  It smothers the roots, invites fungal diseases around the covered tree trunk and invited voles to gnaw the bark away.

If I even meet this guy (he has to move in eventually, there is way too much work being done for a flip or a rental) I will try to help him.  Don't laugh, but I am a real boy scout and helpful type.

But the contractors were ordered to do the weirdest thing so far.

Most house on the street have "swales" at the front of the street.  Those are designed to catch rain from the street and direct them sideways in storm drains.  Those are all just slight depressions in the front lawns.  For some reason, the neighbor's property had to have an actual concrete depression.  I remember the builder being upset by having to install that at his own expense.  Maybe because it was between 2 storm drains.

The new neighbor had his contractor fill it up with rocks!  Rocks like the size of a child's fist.  I didn't say a word.  I'll do almost anything to not provoke this nut into painting my fence and make me take him to small claims court.

You know what happens when you fill a low space with rocks?  Dirt blows in, leaves fall in, mowed grass falls in.  Eventually, it fills up with soil.  And when a space designed for rainwater drainage fills up, water collects.  And around here standing water means places for mosquitos to breed!

And I have to laugh.  They had 3x as much rock delivered as they needed.   Evidently, the owner or the contractor failed geometry in high school.  And do you know how hard it is to shovel irregular rocks?  It is like digging into broken bricks,  A shovel cannot get a good scoopful of irreular rocks...
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But while those poor suckers were trying to spread the irregular rocks, I was working on the compost bin.  The last part (I thought) was adding 1/2" wire mesh to the top to keep varmints out.  I measured it perfectly!  It fit precisely on the top.  I found zinc screws ans washers that would hold the mesh down tightly.

Oops, on only the front and back...  Well, the stuff is so stiff, I wasn't worried about the unsupported sides.  Until I pushed only a little and it bent down several inches.  ARGGGHHH!

OK, I can fix that.  1"x3" pressure-treated wood strips will be attached under the sides and I can screw washer over that to hold the sides in place too.  And THAT will complete the project.

I wanna see a varmint try to get into THIS compost bin.  I don't care how clever some varmints are, they can't.  When I put the latch on the front of the tops, I'm not sure some PEOPLE could get into it, LOL!

An addition...  My beloved 60" Samsung plasma HDTV died last week and I might have mentioned that.  The repairman was scheduled to arrive here today between 10 AM and 2 PM.  But that was last week.  So I called them at 9:30 AM to confirm the arrival and also ask if the schedule was more firm.  It is and they say he should be here before noon and will call 30 minutes before.

I've been watching a cheap 24" TV (Sumsungm LED from Walmart and not bad for $138) for a week and it is driving me mad*.  Political news shows are just fine that way, because I only listen to them really.  But the best shows the past few days have been about outer space  and I guarantee the universe does not look as impressive on a 24" TV as on a 60" HDTV! 

Nor do baseball playoff games!  My hometown Washington Nationals have played 3 games and I can't even see where the baseball is.  It is hard enough to see the players.  With luck (assuming the 60" TV CAN be fixed), I might see them "win or go home" later today.

* I must remember/mention that the first TV I ever saw had a 10" screen and when we got a 16" TV in the 60s it seemed amazing.  We never actually knew what Lucy Ricardo looked like before that.  And, BTW, that is why animated shows like the Flintstones were popular.  The characters were drawn LARGE!

TV producers caught on to that and that's why sitcoms and dramas had lots of close-ups back then.  

Historian Mark...  

Well, the TV repairman came.  He found a crack in the screen.  He showed it to me on a handheld device.    I felt there with a fingetip and could detect it. a slight crack.  He said the screen uses a gas sealed front panel.

He mentioned that this one was about the finest plasma HDTV Samsung ever built.  I could shrug that off as a repair pitch, but Consumer Reports said so at the time and that's why I bought it. then.  So he was correct.

It is going to cost $1,000 overall, but you can't get that plasma HDTV at any price now.

And let me say that $1,000 is a large amount.  I could do other things with that money.  But I have that TV on most of the day and love the detail.  Ayla follows golf balls across the screen.  Iza watches lions.  Marley pays no attention.  

The rrepairman asured me of a few things.  Wiping the screen occassionally had caused no damage to it.  I did not cause the failure.

Sometimes things just break...

So a mew front panel is coming.  If from California, several days.  if from New York, 1 day,  He doesn't get to decide that  But he will be the one to replace it.  

If I got scammed, they did a good job.  I suspect not.  Hopefully, in a couple days, I will have a rather  excellent Plasma HDTV good for 5 years.



There are times when you can't tell if you are being played for a sucker   

A Less Than Great Week

My normal routines have gone entirely out of whack this past week or so.  Too many annoyances...

Let me say clearly,that my troubles are minor compared with many peoples'.  But they are MY troubles and on my mind constantly. 

1.  I just can't seem to get in tough with the owner of the neighboring property.  The contractors won't tell me (don't want to get in trouble).  The County tax records still list the previous owner and I know ownership passed to a bank and then the property was sold.

I need to talk to the actual owner or whoever is managing the contractors renovating the property.  I can't find the person, though the contractor boss says 'he".  I am worried every day they will start painting or tearing down MY fence when I'm not looking.

WHY I care if they paint it is a whole separate post and I will try to get to that soon.  Meanwhile, it is my fence on my property and I claim the right to decide how it looks.

2.  My beloved 60" plasma HDTV died Wednesday.  It just went *blink* and then nothing.  It is only 3 1/2 years old.  The soonest appointment for a repair I could get is next Wednesday.  Actually, I called Samsung for trouble-shooting advice hoping for some rebooting advice.  I didn't know that repairs on those things were even possible. 

The Sumsung service desk says it sounds like a power supply problem.  I have my doubts, since there is a little red power "on" indicator and it is lit.  But maybe there is a circuit past that which can be replaced. 

Anyway, the idea of having no TV at all for week was just too much, so I went to Walmart and bought a 24" model for $138.  Plus, I wanted tit as a test o know if it was the TV or just some cable or the cable box etc.

Right out of the box, the new little TV came right on.  It's the 60" that is having the problem.  Plus I can show that to the repair person.  Having a small TV isn't bad.  Since I have MSNBC on most of the day, I listen to TV more than I watch it.  Who needs to watch talking heads?

But The Washington Nationals baseball team are in the playoffs, and watching THAT on a small TV is annoying.  But I'm old enough to remember our first family 12" B&W TV and then years later thinking a color 20" TV was just "amazing".  So I pulled the TV stand closer to the chair and got used to it.  4 days of "tiny" TV isn't the worst thing.  Some people drink water from polluted creeks...

But I'll still be happy to see the big screen again.

3.  I mentioned a couple weeks ago getting the metal spout of a gas can stuck in the car's fuel inlet.  The dealership did the job removing it just fine.  How they did it is not something I expect to have to know for future situations, but they did suggest I have the timing belt and all drive belts replaced.  Not from wear, but due to age.  They wanted $1000 for that.  My automatic response was no because there was no actual problem.  It wasn't like they said "we looked at your timing belt and it is worn out".

But now everytime I start the car I worry.  Some problems you can see developing.  The engine is hart to start, the engine runs rough while driving, there are noises, the brakes squeal, etc.    But when a timing belt breaks, everything just STOPS all at once and nothing first. 

It's like falling off a cliff.  The falling isn't the problem.  The problem is the sudden "THUD".  A broken timing belt is a "THUD".  That happened on a previous car, and lucky that I was directly in front of a good local repair shop.  They just pushed it into the shop and replaced the timing belt in an hour!  I doubt I would be so lucky again.

I think I may pay for the whole belt assembly.  I've been lucky.  No sense pushing my luck.  The Toyota Highlander is 12 years old.  It only has about 28,000 miles on it.  But it has mostly been stop-and-go traffic commuting and local errands, and that is really hard on an engine.  I want to keep the current car running until there is a good SUV hybrid or fuel cell model available.  I like SUVs for the height and cargo capacity.  And since I don't drive much, gas mileage isn't a concern.

4.  I'm listing information about Iza to bring to the vet.  My thanks to everyone who mentioned things to ask about.  I want to talk to the vet about a plan of exams rather that just bring Iza to the vet and say "do stuff"  I want the vet to think about it, advise me of what tests he indends to perform, and them look them up before I agree. 

But I'll do anything within reason to make her life (and mine) better.  My regular vet of 30 years gets the first chance to identify her problems.  I trust him a lot because of years of good attntion but also because HE was the one who found Ayla had almost a whole ovary after the breeder's vet did 2 failed spay operations.  But he might not be so skilled/equipped at detailed tests.   I know of a certified feline specialist (an annoying hour drive away because of few bridges across a river but closest - 40 road miles, 10 as the crows fly) and will go there if my regular vet can't find the problems. 

But to be clear, the feline specialist vet wanted $1700 for exploratory surgery and my vet did it for $400.

More New Neighbor, Part 2

I have to laugh.  When the contractors arrived at 8 am, I went over and greeted them a "good morning" and asked if the owner was around.  They said "no" but would arrive in about 20 minutes.    So I waited, and when a guy in a pickup truck arrived in 20 minutes, I went over to introduce myself.

He wasn't the owner.  The workers considered him the "owner" perhgaps because he is their boss. He wasn't actually the owner, LOL! The workers are not native-english speakers (just a fact), so I can understand that "boss" and owner" may seem very similar.

But I talked to him (the boss) and we discussed the fence, the trees shading my garden,  and where the property line actually was.  He agreed that they would not paint my fence, and that he would give the card I had made with the my name, address, phone number and email to the actual owner (but he feared giving me the same information would get him in trouble).  I understand contractors can be cautious about that.

The main thing is that he seemed to understand the fence was not their's to paint and he would have the actual owner contact me by email or phone.  Hopefully, that will start a discussion.  I understand the new owner wants a particular look on the inside of his yard.  But I equally want an exterior view of the outside of mine.  A besides, it IS my fence. 

But until I get some assurance from the actual owner that he won't just tell his contractor to paint the fence anyway, I won't be sure.

It will be interesting to see what happens next.  I want the new owner to contact me be email so that it is all on the record.  If he calls on the telephone, I will insist on a followup email about what we discuss.

More New Neighbor

I stepped out on the deck this morning, and noticed the contractors were spray-painting the inside surfaces of all the fences around the yard.  Fortunately, they started on the far side from me.

The new owner doesn't actually own any of those fences.  They were all built by neighbors.  The only fence the new owner owns is the small amount from the side of the house to the other fences.

I might be the only person who knows that.  AFAIK, I am the only person residing here who knows who built the fences.  All the neighbors are newer than me.  So maybe they don't care.  But I do.

I deliberately set my fence 1' inside the property line.   I did that partially because my Dad said it would give me the right to repair the outside of my fence if I had a difficult neighbor.  But it also occurred to me that the neighbors could mess with my fence claiming a shared ownership.

Which means they couldn't damage it with trellises, hooks for planting vines that would dig into it, huge hooks from the fence to a tree for hammocks (one tried), or paint it.  That 1' beyond the fence is still MINE, for access for repairs and not damaging the fence.

So I walked into the neighbor yard and asked the contractor if he intended to paint the MY fence.  He said that was his instructions.  I  asked for the telephone number of the owner. He claimed not to have it or be able to get it.  I advised him that the fence between the properties was ENTIRELY on my property and they were not allowed to paint, replace boards, or do anything connecting to my fence.

He repeated that he had instructions.  I declared I would have the police here promptly if they touched my fence in any way.  That stopped him.  I told him to have the owner visit or contact me to discuss the matter.

I have a few ideas and facts respecting property here and in general.

1.  There is no neighborhood association here.  That is a MAJOR reason I stay.  I want the freedom to do as I please.

2.  I have lived here 30 years and neighbors come and go every 5 years or so.  I pay little attention to them so long as they don't throw loud late-night parties or get into screaming domestic violence fights at 3 am.  Both have happened with some neighbors frequently.

3.  You can't touch my property.  Including the fence,

4.  My view of my property from the outside (street and from the neighbors' views) are mine to control.  I control what people view from the street about my house.  I equally control how they see the OUTSIDE of my fence (and mentioning again the fence is all set in 1' from the property line, so the fence is ALL MINE)!

That also means the neighbors have to see my fence (on my property) as I choose to present it. They don't get to paint it to suit them.

5.  I like natural wood and earthen tones.   I can enforce that on my OWN fence.

Can't wait to see what happens tomorrow.

I've tried to identify the new owner, to nor success.  The County tax assessment site show the owner as the the guy who abandoned the house a year ago.  A bank owned it after him and it sold the property to an individual.  I can't identify the actual owner at this point.  County records seem to be almost a year out of date.

I might be open to some negotiations.  There are some junk trees that shade my garden that could be removed if the roots are grinded out and not allowed to grow back.  There is a specific mulberry tree (that they pruned heavily but will grow out more branches in respose) that I would like to see removed entirely (roots ground out for thorough killing) that shades another part of my yard.. 

If the new owner agrees to do that, I might allow the painting of the outside of my fence. 

 

Neighbors

This isn't about a HORRIBLE AWFUL neighbor who does completely TERRIBLE MEAN things.  This is about a long-time merely annoying neighbor who just finally got me all ticked-off today.

OK, lets say you have a drainage easement along a property line.  And that drainage easement is shared by a neighbor.  And you are mutually legally responsible for it (the storm drain itself is a county responsibility).  The responsibility means keeping it free flowing right into the storm drain (meaning around the storm drain and the grate on the top of the storm drain is OUR responsibility).

Let's say you have had that same neighbor for 28 years, they refuse to pay any attention to cleaning (because their yard is higher and the occasional flooding caused by the debris-covered storm drain never causes them any problem), and you have mentioned this very politely several times over the years.

Let us further suppose that you have cleaned the sides and grate numerous times.  And picture the sides and top as "beaver dam material" - interwoven sticks and small branches that fill in with leaf-packed mud like the squishy stuff at the bottom of a natural lake but also plastic bags, fast-food containers, and general trash).

And let us further suppose that you had spent over an hour 2 weeks ago wedging the sticks and branches loose with an iron bar (throwing most of them onto your own side of the property line) before ripping loose handfulls of leaf-packed mud and feeding them into the newly-rushing water escaping into the now partially opened storm drain to break apart in the flood-flow.  And you are doing all this bent over at the waist with pooled water 3/4 the way up your boots.

After doing all this work, you clean up your property side, but also pick up all the trash plastic bags etc on both sides and fill up your trash can.  You leave the 1/4 of the sticks that happened to land on their property while you were pulling them all loose so that they will notice it while mowing and see that you have cleaned the storm drain grate ONCE AGAIN!

I don't usually act passive/aggressive (and it wasn't intended to be the "aggressive" part).  But I almost never see those neighbors outside and I didn't want to go bang on their door with my muddy hands and temporary annoyance.  I figured they would see the branches, see the cleaned storm drain grate and just pick up their minor share of the sticks pleased that I had cleaned the storm drain again...

Nope!  Are you surprised?

And, then imagine that after all that neighborly work, you return home today from errands to discover they have picked up all the sticks and dropped them onto YOUR lawn...

Now THAT's "passive-aggressive"!

I suppose I have to go knock on their door some Saturday afternoon and discuss it.  Again.  Explain the work I did, that I picked up most of the debris and all the trash, scooped the leafy mud with my bare hands, and that I am tired of doing this myself all the time when we are both responsible for it, and that I expect them to clean the storm drain grate themselves sometimes.

Not to get too far afield, but I DON'T like having to tell people what they should be doing.  I avoided several management offers in my career for that reason.  So I really don't want to go knock on their door and surprise them with a complaint (they may be utterly clueless).

Several ideas come to mind...

1.  Knock, knock.  "Hey neighbor are we having a stick fight"?

2.  Knock, knock.  "Did you notice I cleaned the storm drain in June?  It's your turn every November". 

3.  Knock, knock.  "Thanks for the sticks.  Is that a cultural gift I should know something about"?

4.  Anything else.  But please don't suggest "I should have just picked up their sticks as well".  I won't go for that one.

I'm willing to have a minor fight about this if there is a positive outcome.  But they seem to have some problems.  They half-built a garage and then let it stay that way for many months.  They did some yardscaping another year and that stayed half-done for several years.  A psychologist friend of mine said those are signs of personal and/or family dysfunction. 
 

Awkward But Slightly Humorous

Some of you may recall that several years ago I had these really insane neighbors across the street.  A Mother and Son, and a Wife, with baby.  The couple were obsessive late-night screamers, always fighting.  The Mother was utterly inept at resolving the issues (why she lived with them, I do not know).  The baby was often the hostage. 

They would start their screaming episodes at about 2-3 am in the Summer and wake me up.  The guy would take the baby into the car, the woman would would go out yelling, he would take of in the car, and she would spend the next hour laying in the street screaming.  Or she would take the baby and sit out on the street screaming first.    We got tired of calling the police...

They even had their friends park their cars on my lawn when they threw parties.  

The woman would even stand in front of the car and scream until the guy PUSHED her with the car.  I always assumed that EVENTUALLY they would both be arrested and child-care would take control of the baby, but that never happened.  

I had some lapses when I went yelling at them to just STOP!   LEAVE!  Move OUT!  (it was a rental)

One of the happiest days of my life was when I saw them packing up and leaving.

But guess who lived in the McMansion next door to them?  The guy's dad.  Really! 

So guess who has moved in with Dad this year?  The Crazy Guy!  Its been a bit awkward.  I'm perfectly fine with the Dad and have been for years.  We used to help each other on minor projects.  But with Crazy Son (without Wife and Child there - I assume she escaped him) the past few months,  it hasn't been the same.  Crazy Son has always been out there on the front lawn anytime I could talk to the Dad.

So I drove out last night on an errand, and a dog ran in front of the car.  I wasn't moving forward, so waited to see where the dog went.  Couldn't see it anywhere around the car, so I couldn't move.  I saw The Crazy Guy in the street, so I called out all friendly (and pretending I didn't recognize him), "Hey there's a dog near the car and I don't want to move so I don't hurt it".  Can you see where it is?"  So he came forward, calling his dog.

And since I had my car door open, the dog came over and acted friendly, so I scritched its head and talked nice to it.  Told it that was a Good Dog!  Crazy Guy saw I was being nice to his loose dog, so he came and got it and had to thank me for being careful.

I mentioned that dogs are friendly and all that and I was being careful with it being around the car.

I could tell it was KILLING him to have to be polite to me because I was being considerate of his dog, LOL!  GOOD!  I enjoyed every second.  I pretended not to know who he was.  I have a long memory for Crazy People, but sometimes it is good not to officially recognize them when you don't HAVE to.  I'm not sure the Crazy Guy knows I know who he is (and I'll keep it that way if I can).

I'm completely willing to let the past be the past.  He isn't a screamer NOW, and that's all that matters to me.  But he sure had a tortured look as I was caring about his dog and I'm still enjoying THAT!  He knows who I am...

Yesterday Yardwork

OK, the first thing I decided to do was get rid of the dandelions.  I have one of those forked dandelion diggers, but the height was uncomfortable and it is too small to get at the roots accurately.  But I also have a 2' handled mattock! 

It sure works better than those dandelion forks!  I spent an hour chopping deep to cut the roots.  Most will die from lack of leaves.  Some will survive, but I will just go around the yard and chop them deep again.  They will die eventually.  It was actually easier than spraying with herbicides.  Those would kill all the lawn crocuses anyway.

I set up the 4 way hose controller too.  The green hose reaches to the lawn around the back of the house, the black one connects to some drip irrigation hoses in the flowerbeds, the red one goes along the fence to the back gardens, and the jet nozzle is great for cleaning stuff.

The apples are flowering.  They will produce many apples.  I wont get any.  The squirrels will take most of them green.  I think I may just remove them. But I could put some boards across the top and drape chicken wire over them.  That would keep the squirrels out and still let the bees in to pollinate the flowers (I think).

One of the 3 pressure-treated posts on the 20 year old garden trellis broke last winter.  It rotted finally at ground level.  It was set in cement, so it would take hours to dig up.  I pounded in a metal pipe instead.  I intend to make a left-rotated "T" shape |-- wood construction and drill a hole through it to set over the pipe.  Don't worry if it doesn't make sense.  It does and I'll show a picture later.   I plan to take all the posts out in the fall and use pipes to support the trellis instead.

You see a lot of vines growing in at the beds.  They come from the neighbors yard.  I will HAVE to use herbicides to kill the ones in my yard and spray through the fence to beat them back a bit.  I've tried digging them up but they seem to have deep roots and are extremely invasive.  My neighbor won't notice; he doesn't actually live there anymore.  He lives with his girlfriend elsewhere (a sad tale of infidelity, suicide and a broken home).

The next project is replacing the rotting wood sides of my hauling trailer...

And I want to raise a complaint.  I bought a new Canon camera in February.  The battery has never lasted more then 3 days (about 50 shots) before needing recharging.  I merely asked them for a replacement battery.  They refuse.  After some extremely unsuccessful and unfriendly emails with Canon, I promised them I would mention their unfriendly customer relations on my blog.  So I will do that.  Often.

DON'T BUY ANYTHING FROM CANON!  THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE SUCKS.

Good Things Happening, Part 2

THE CRAZY NEIGHBORS:  This time they have actually moved away!  Even the outside stuff is gone.  The BBQ grill, the tarp covering the front of the motorcycle shed that FIG used as a minor repair shop (I had no problem with that), and the kiddie pool in the back yard is gone.  There is NOTHING about them left behind this time.

They have actually left.

They brought out the worst in me, but also some best.

The worst is that I reacted to FIG and SNG  (Fat Idiot Guy and Stupid Nutso Girl).  I almost got in trouble with the police because I yelled at THEM to stop yelling outside at 3 am.  Well, maybe I deserved that.  To be fair, I'm not even sure the police knew I yelled at them, they just asked me some questions about the neighbors.  But I felt guilty.

 ---------------------

YOU KNOW YOU HAVE CRAZY NEIGHBORS WHEN:

1.  They scream obscenely at each other every Saturday night (in warm weather) at 3 am.
2.  One drives the only car away,
3.  With the infant in it,
4.  And with the only cell phone,
5.  And the other jumps in front of the car,
6.  Until pushed forward too much,
7.  And then lays down in the middle of the street screaming for an hour,
8.  Until she comes to your door begging you to call the police,
9.  And you do,
10.  And they come when the guy gets back and haul him off to jail for a few days,
11.  And they both HATE you for doing that,
12.  And she comes over the next day to beg for a cigarette,

13.  And FIG gives you the "evil eye" while you are just mowing the lawn,
14.  And you begin to wonder who owns that rental place so that you can complain,
15.  Or maybe even buy it to get rid of them because it wouldn't be THAT bad a deal,
16. And warm weather comes again and they start the screaming raging arguments again.

 ---------------------

And then they ACUALLY move away...  Hal A Luliah!

My Crazy Neighbors, Part 2

Oh this is even better than I hoped!  The trailer is back this morning and filled with even the recycling bins.  Who needs to take recycling bins when they leave?  They are free anywhere you move to.

Weirder yet, that may be the house heat pump in the trailer too.  Well, might as well steal everything when you are a deadbeat.  LOLOL!  I'm surprised not to see the refrigerator and stove, but then I wasn't watching all night.  Maybe they already moved those out.  Rich theft for evil renters.

This just gets worse and worse.

The high hilarity point was watching FIG and his Dad trying to haul the trailer of furniture out yesterday.  FIG put the hitch side right next to the mailbox.  DUH, ya cant attach it and get it out easily that waythat way...

FIG and Dad finally did get Dad's pickup to the trailer hitch.  That's where the fun began.  They could manage to pull the pickup forward without hitting the mailbox.  I was falling on the floor laughing.  It was SO obvious it would be easy to just back the trailer off the yard.

But I've offerred advice before and got a crashing F*** Y** reply, so I just treated it as a bad reality TV show (but one I watched). 

FIG and Dad manuvered the pickup and trailer in all the possible wrong ways to get it around the mailbox.    I coukd have moved the triler backwards and gotten around the mailbox in 2 minutes.  Their solution?  Beat the mailbox post out of the ground.


I'm sorry, you can't invent stuff like this.  At least, I couldn't.  I watched them struggle for at least 20 minutes, turning the pickup wheels the wrong way EVERY single time.  You had to see it to believe it.

They both seem to be rather mechanically competent otherwise.   Fig repaired "stuff", his Dad casually added flares to his concrete driveway and built a rather nice toolshed in the back yard.  But, oh don't I wish I had a good camcorder...  I'd have a million hits by now.  My guess is that they understand machines but failed 10th grade geometry.

I might live in the USA's weirdest neighborhood.  My next door neighbor guy had an affair with the wife the next house over.  His wife left him, her husband left her, and she killed herself in the house.  The guy abandoned the house, but comes by once a month to mow the lawn.  He busted the fence gate up one day and it remains broken a year later.  The cuckholder guy only comes to the house when his daughter has to stay with him for the weekend...   I hear her laughing with neighborhood friends, so THATS good.

I wonder what SHE thinks sometimes, though.

The neighbors on the other side were always quiet, but strange too.  The guy built a half a garage and then stopped for 10 years.  Then he finished it suddenly and they left.  The new neighbors are strange.  The woman has bright red hair and wears the same black dress every day when outside (well, maybe she has a closet full of them).  The guy only comes out once every few weeks to mow the lawn.  They have a dog that seems to get out once a week, so I can only imagine that they have a dirt basement and clean poop a lot.

I need to move!

My Crazy Neighbors

I know I wrote about thinking my crazy neighbors across the street were moving out last December (and it turned out to be only the Mother of the crazy guy), but I have real hope now!  I call the crazy guy FIG (Fat Idiot Guy).  He seems to be married or otherwise "attached to" SNG (Stupid Nutso Girl).  There are also1 or two other guys and/or gals living there at various times.  FIG is the son of the guy next door.

FIG and SNG have raging screaming relationship arguments outside late at night.  One time he pushed her off the street with his car when she tried to stop him from leaving.  Another time, she asked me to call the police because he had taken the only telephone.  She's not quite normal either; she drags furniture into the street when she is angry and throws clothes into the drainage easement.  Just last week, she dragged some piece of furniture to the Dad's yard (where he burns brush) and set it on fire.  The laughing was a bit scary.

They are the only problems though.  The few times I've talked to the others living there, it's fine, even if they seem to change every few months.

Last December, it was a pickup truck of furniture being removed.  And then the house was dark a week, so I really thought they had left.  But as I said above, it was just FIG's Mom fleeing the insanity.

But TODAY!!!  Ah, it is more serious moving.  And better yet, it involves FIG's stuff.  I have great hopes this time.

1.  The previous renter built a motorcycle shed at the end of the driveway.  It is about  6' wide and deep, but with a front overhang and no front.  A bit odd, but I guess it protected his motorcycle sufficiently for him.  Well, the first thing FIG did was attach a heavy tarp across the front.  It seems he did appliance repairs in there.  Today, he took it down!

2.  He loaded up his trailer a week ago.  Bedframe, mattress, easy chair, tire, tools, trashcans, and (of all things) a kiddie pool I've seen him lay in. 

3.  His Dad came over to help, and no one else did.

4.  Several different cars were there during the day and different people loaded boxes into different cars.  None of the cars seemed filled, so I don'r think it was a group effort to move everyone together to the same place.  Looks like Splitsville to me!

5.  Both FIG and SNG dragged some small pieces of furniture over to FIG's Dad's driveway.  Not enough to move in with, but maybe a few things he could use that they couldn't in some new place.

6.  In the past couple of months, I've seen some well-dressed middle-aged guy banging on the front door (and none of their friends use the front door).  I think he is the owner looking for rent money.

7.  If the stuff in Fig's trailer was going to the landfill (he did leave the furniture in the trailer out in the rain for a few days (see 2), he sure spent a lot of time dumping it.  I know where the landfill is and how long it would take to get there, unload, and return.  He took an extra hour, which suggests he was moving it to a new residence.  Maybe the stuff was all plastic.  I didn't go look.

8.  Even in the dark (as I type) cars are pulling up, loading only a few boxes, and driving away.  Maybe there were a lot more people living there than I realized.  Or maybe they are taking stuff away as fast as it is packed.

I normally do not concern myself overly with my neighbors.  Oh, I'm "the helpful guy next door" when anyone needs any help.  I bring over my extension ladder when someone needs to clean their gutters, I'll lend my lawnmower when someone's breaks, help with advice on planting flowers for novices, help kids get a ball out of the stormdrain, collect the newspapers when some is on vacation, etc.  But I'm not the "hey, c'mon over for a BBQ tomorrow" type.

So these odd folks across the street are the only people I have had the least bit of trouble with in the 25 years I've lived here.

But I REALLY hope this time they are moving away.

They're BAACCKKK!

My crazy neighbors didn't leave after all.  There was the guy, his wife, his mother and some unrelated guy,

But it seems the bedroom furniture I saw being moved out was only the Mother's.  She was the sane one...The IDIOTS are still there.  In spite of the house being dark for about a week...  Curiously, I haven't seen the wife carrying the baby since early December...  Something is still odd.  But it is January and they are still here,

Sad start to the New Year...

My Crazy Neighbors

I THINK they have moved out!!!  I happened to look out the window late Friday afternoon and saw THIS...

That is bedroom furniture packed up in the pickup truck.  I couldn't tell what was packed in the other vehicle, but it's full of some stuff.

I can't be sure yet if it is ALL of them moving.  There is FIG (Fat Idiot Guy), his wife SDA (Stupid Dumb Ass), his mother, and an apparently unrelated male.  So it might be only some of them.  But I seem to recall them moving in about this time of year (it's a rental), so it would make sense for them all to be leaving.  They don't seem like people who make their landlords happy.

I haven't seen a single car in the driveway since, so it looks promising...  On the other hand, a hauling trailer is still on the front lawn.  Since FIG built it himself (on top of a flat boat trailer) just this Summer, I don't think he would leave it behind.  But they didn't use it to haul any furniture, so maybe there is something wrong with it and he abandoned it.

I'll be watching for cleaning or maintenance trucks showing up soon!

Now, I've mentioned all the yelling screaming fights.  Outdoors.  Late at night.

But there were other odd things they did.

Let me count the OTHER ways...

FIG standing at the mailbox sorting through it.  Some he would just toss back in the mailbox (presumably not stuff for him).  But also tossed an occasional piece into the drainage easement.  I'm guessing it was misdelivered mail and he just wouldn't bother to deliver it next door.  I get those from time to time myself.  I deliver them to the correct address.

There is an advertising "newspaper" that lands on all our driveways each Friday.  I pick it up and it goes directly into the recycling bin.  FIG shoves them aside of the driveway until they collect for months.

Last Spring, they removed a window screen so that they could move some odd pieces of furniture through the far bedroom window.  That's fine.  But the removed window screen is STILL sitting against the front of the house 8 months later.

They mowed a strip of lawn one day.  The mower died.  It sat there for WEEKS!

Their back yard is covered with "pink stuff".  I think they are ripping out the insulation from somewhere in the house.  But I dare not go look at what it really is.

The Mom there is in denial.  In the last screaming fight late at night last week, she claimed it was about a cell phone.  Rather strange since the wife was screaming about an evident affair the husband was having.  I'll put it as delicately as I can.  She was screaming "Why are you F,ing her, Why are you F,ing her, Why are you F.ing" her over and over and over at the top of her lungs at 4 a.m.   I have no idea who "her" is or whether it is true. and I don't want to know.  SDA is as crazy as FIG as far as I can tell.

And THAT didn't seem to be about a cell phone...

Thats when I finally went out and screamed at them to just move away.  I felt bad about it afterwards, but there are limits.

I like my house and yard.  Living in one place for 25 years matters.  But I'm getting more concerned about the neighborhood.  The neighbor on one side started building a garage then stopped halfway for several years.  I've read that is a clear sign of marital problems, and they moved away suddenly this summer.

The male neighbor on the OTHER side of me had an affair with the lady next door to him.  When they were found out, the male neighbor wife left him and the lady next door to THEM killed herself.   Wow!  He seldom stays in the house.  The fence gate is BUSTED wide open!  I think he drove his motorcycle through it one angry morning.  There is a riding lawn mower that just stays outside in the rain in spite of there being a large storage shed in the back yard.

I told the policeman I talked to last week that I have never seen anything like this in the 25 years I lived here.  He said that neighborhoods sometimes fall apart...   

I got the impression that he expects to visit this neighborhood a lot more often than he has in the past.  Not a good sign...

But FIG and friends moved out, so that may be good.  You know what else they did?  They backed their cars onto my rain-soaked lawn and left gouges in it.  I had JUST gotten grass to grow near the street and they ruined it!

 ..........

But it gets better.  Some older guy came by their house tonite, turned off all the outside lights they left on, and left the place dark as a stygian pit!  I think it was the landlord.  This may be my best day in months...  I THINK they are really gone!

My Crazy Neighbors

There are apparently 2 couples and a Mother in the rental house across the street.  The problem is FIG (Fat Idiot Guy) and his wife SDA (Stupid Dumb Ass).   She screams at him outside and always late at night, that he is (let's just say "having an affair").  The language is much more graphic...  He uses the baby(?)  and his car as a weapon.  He tries to drive off and she stands in front of the car screaming.  She pounds on the hood of the car and he bumps the car forward a few feet at a time to push her away.  Eventually she gives up and screams at him until he peels out of sight through the neighborhood. 

I had to call the cops once because he took their phone and she said he beat her and took the baby and she asked for help calling the police.  But she seems as nuts as he is...

I hate the term "trailer trash", but boy do they fit the stereotype.

They are all entirely crazy. 

The older woman is FIG's mother and the guy next door seems to be her "ex".  They all have screaming ranting raging arguments at night, about once a week in good weather, less often in Fall/Winter.  Meaning that FIG screams raging at his mother, too.  I can't even tell you what he calls her sometimes.  Not the ex, he seems resigned to the situation and preturnaturally calm about it.

After the 5th or 6th MAJOR event, I finally went out and yelled at them that I wished they would move away.  I wasn't polite about it and used "bad words".  And I didn't feel pleased with myself afterwards.  And when the police showed up (as is becoming a routine), I yelled about the neighbors. 

I got "talked to" by the cops for "yelling"...  That's somewhere between irony and ludicrousness.

The Ex is no gem either.  He did some suspicious deal to get a designated wetland across the street rezoned for a house.  He even bragged to me about it once .  So I can't think much of him either.  I should investigate that deal one day.  Might be a local political scandal in there somewhere.

All that was a week ago.  And there were cop cars in front of their house again this past night.  I HOPE that FIG broke a no-visit zone, but thats just a guess.  There MIGHT be a crime ring there.  Couple months ago, the cops were there about some thefts involving FIGs car.  Sadly, they didn't haul his ass away.

I've lived here 25 years and never seen anything like this before.  I look out the window every day hoping to see a moving van appear.  But it never does show up.

I should move...

Crazy Neighbors

Well, I stayed up all night playing Risk and Hearts online, and I heard a familiar scream out the window.  The neighbors across the street were at it again.  Usually the Fat Idiot Guy (FIG) is ranting and screaming at the woman. 

Ofentimes, this results in him peeling the car backwards out of the driveway, then peeling rubber down the street out of the neigborhood.  She sometimes runs in front of the car.  He USED to STOP.

Its gotten worse lately and I have been very worried about her safety.  And recently, there has been a child involved in the fight.  FIG suddenly likes to take the infant with him in the car.  Driving away recklessly.

This morning, FIG took off again. with infant, and the woman stood there screaming.  I have intervened before with threats of "calling the cops".  I have spoken to the renters there (there are at least 2 couples, I think).  Its hard to tell. 

But this time I asked the woman (18? 21?) if she needed help.  She asked my to call the police.  I did.

They were there in 5 minutes.  Two County and two State cars.  I explained that I had called on her behalf, and backed off so they could talk to her.  One cop stayed aside , and I gave him a brief background on the problems of the past year.

He talked to the woman for about 20 minutes, giving her advice and explaining the limitations (FIG IS the child's father, so it isn't kidnapping).  I lent her my cordless phone to call friends for a safe haven.  I was amazed the phone worked outside like that, but it did. 

After overhearing that she needed to file legal papers at the County Courthouse10 miles away (and knowing she had no car), I offerred to drive her there if her friends/family couldn't.  I'll bring a book if asked to drive.  Paperwork takes time.

But I just couldn't continue to hear her screaming in mental agony every week.  Yes, maybe I should have acted more forcibly before.  But it is difficult to know the dynamics of bad relationships.  I have acted before in other places and been told  (rather forcibly) to "BUTT OUT".  But I guess I judged this one correctly.

I did not know before this that there was physical violence involved.  It was all yelling and screaming before.  But she had blood on her nose (interestingly, she was not aware of that).  That shows how bad things can get behind closed doors. 

I'm glad I called the police, I think she is going to get some legal help and it is now "on the record".

On the other hand, this FIG is a real looney tunes type.  If someone bangs on my door, I will answer through the computer room window.  That's safe.  If it's the woman, I will drive her to a safe house or legal place of her choice.  If its the FIG, well, I have a real Gladius propped by the front door and another at the top of the stairs for self-protection.  He IS the kind of person who would beat down a door and attack. 

Sorry to bother you all with this, but I have to write sometimes to get things straight and put disturbing events in print.  Some good news.  A car pulled into the driveway a few minutes ago.  It wasn't FIG.  It was her dad. (Well, I went out and asked)  He came by to help her pack some things and bring her home for some shelter for a while.  I offerred any help I could give.

*SIGH*

BTW, the cats didn't know the earthquake was coming, but they DID know the neighbor screams were going to start before I did.  They went all poofed and UTB about 3 seconds before I heard the first yells.  Good for them.


(Very Tired) Mark