How have you been a less than good neighbor?

[Jean in Newcastle]

I'll go first.

 

Our dining room sliding glass door overlooks our neighbor's yard (we're higher than they are on the hill). One early morning I came out into the dining room in my under shirt and panties, and look over to see my neighbor's husband out having a smoke. We waved before I realized that I was less than dressed. :w00t: Not long after, they put up a tall juniper blocking where he was standing!

 

Our neighbors in a previous location had a small grape vine that hey were trying to grow on the chain link fence that separated our property. They were complaining that it kept getting cut. Dh got very embarrassed and confessed that he had been cutting it because he thought it was a weed.

 

Other neighbor's had a very barky dog. One night around midnight I had it and called them to tell them to shut their dog up. The man said, "Um, Jean. Our dog's right here next to us in bed." It was another neighbor's dog. I apologized profusely. :blushing: They still invited me to their bbq a week later.

[Saille]

LOL...well, having grown up in the burbs, I'm always kind of embarrassed when the kids leave toys around on the lawn. And I think I annoy the postal worker, b/c after three years of never making it through the winter without my mailbox getting bashed by the plow, I'm somewhat slow to replace it.

 

I called in a noise complaint on my neighbor's dogs once, but I think I showed an enormous amount of restraint in waiting as long as I did...and I did it at 6 a.m. on the 4th of July, b/c they were barking right outside our (open) bedroom window. I felt somewhat better when the cops came and had to walk around to the back b/c the dogs were too loud for her to hear them knocking. But I've never called in a complaint before, and I felt like it was sort of a fail b/c I'd have liked to resolve it some other way.

[Carol in Cal.]

I live in a lovely old neighborhood. When I moved there, as a single woman, I was kind of an anomaly. The neighbors stole my grapes two years in a row because they assumed I didn't want them. When I put the word out that this hurt my feelings, they never did it again. I don't think I was a bad neighbor in that case, but I would have gladly shared those grapes with anyone who asked, and never did find out who wanted them so badly.

 

Someone brought me Christmas cookies on a lovely plate, and when I was handwashing it I dropped it and it broke. I was so embarrassed (I was, like, 25) that I just never said anything about it. I acted like it was part of the gift. Probably it wasn't. If this happened now, I would go find another one and replace it, and I would cop to it. At 25 I did not respond maturely, but still that couple was friendly and we always watched out for each other. Grace and mercy are really nice. I need to get them and give them.

[InHisGrip]

I'll go first.

 

Our dining room sliding glass door overlooks our neighbor's yard (we're higher than they are on the hill). One early morning I came out into the dining room in my under shirt and panties, and look over to see my neighbor's husband out having a smoke. We waved before I realized that I was less than dressed. :w00t: Not long after, they put up a tall juniper blocking where he was standing!

 

Our neighbors in a previous location had a small grape vine that hey were trying to grow on the chain link fence that separated our property. They were complaining that it kept getting cut. Dh got very embarrassed and confessed that he had been cutting it because he thought it was a weed.

 

Other neighbor's had a very barky dog. One night around midnight I had it and called them to tell them to shut their dog up. The man said, "Um, Jean. Our dog's right here next to us in bed." It was another neighbor's dog. I apologized profusely. :blushing: They still invited me to their bbq a week later.

 

These are hilarious! Thanks for the laugh!

[forty-two]

We didn't get our Christmas lights down till March this year :eek:; we actually got an anonymous note about it (yes we deserved it - but couldn't they have the decency to sign their names :glare:).

[DarlaS]

We didn't get our Christmas lights down till March this year :eek:; we actually got an anonymous note about it (yes we deserved it - but couldn't they have the decency to sign their names :glare:).

 

 

OMGosh! Is that all it takes? We didn't get ours down this year until April. They'd been there since about 2007. :leaving: We are quite rural so I doubt anyone actually notices. I see some others around who still have theirs up.

 

We were also the neighbors with that dog. The one with a garbage habit. :glare: He always brought it home with him though, so at least it ended up being our problem to clean it up. No one complained. (Really it only happened a couple of times as there are only two days garbage is picked up on this road--and we were aware of his antics.)

Edited May 4, 2010 by darlasowders

[Renee in NC]

You mean like the time our pigs got out and destroyed the neighbor's new landscaping?:lol: (I laugh because their dogs kept coming on my property, stealing eggs and killing chickens!)

 

And mess? Yes. We have been those neighbors that have a couch on the porch and Sanford & Son in the front yard...:tongue_smilie:

[Meriwether]

I've let my 2 and 3 year old follow Miss Sue around her yard as she was working. Because, you know, I was pregnant and needed a break. And my 3 and 4 year old because I was taking care of the baby. And my 4 and 5 year old because by then they were really attached to Miss Sue.

 

Thankfully, she likes kids in general and mine in particular - at least, that's what she told me.

[nukeswife]

When we first got married we moved into Navy housing which was quadplexes. They were built into a hill so when you walked in the front door you were upstairs, but the back door was downstairs. So off of our dining room was a small second floor balcony. My neighbors always used to put her two chihuahuas out on hers when she was sick of listening to them yap in the house. Once I got so sick of them yapping at me and trying to nip me through the railing (they only had a spindle railing to separate the porch into 2 sides) when I was watering my plants that I sprayed them with the hose. I felt bad afterward but they didn't try to snap at me anymore.

 

I will say I have had someone call about my dog but it was actually not my dog doing the barking. Again we were in Navy housing (this time on the east coast) and the neighbor behind me called about my dog barking, animal control came out and told him it was the other neighbors dog because mine didn't even bark at them when she approached the fence to peak in on her (she was never much of a barker, only when the UPS man came would she ever bark) Then about a month later we got back from vacation to find a note from animal control on our door saying that he had complained again about our dog and to please call him. They said they couldn't confirm with us that it was our dog because she wasn't in the yard and we wouldn't answer the door the previous Tuesday when they had responded to the call. I told the officer that it wasn't my dog and it wasn't that I didn't answer the door but I was in Wisconsin for the past 3 weeks and my dog had been at the Kennel. She asked me for a copy of the kennel receipt which I gladly said I'd give her the next day when she stopped by for it. She then took it to the neighbor and told him to stop reporting me falsely.

 

I wasn't trying to be a bad neighbor, but was not happy that my dog was getting a bad rep because he was mistaken.

[MariannNOVA]

OMG! These are TOO funny!

 

A couple of houses ago (the million dollar house - big house on tiny piece of property) we lived in a community with an intranet. Our next door neighbor was constantly bringing home plants and shrubs (I know - it must just be me) from Costco and planting them all over his postage stamp sized lot. The plants would die, he would pull them out, and toss them on the side of his house - which was right outside our living room windows.

 

The clincher was that he built a fish pond (you cannot imagine how TINY these lots were) and put an awning over it - one of those home depot things that stands on four poles and puts it near the fish pond. There is a brutal thunderstorm and the thing blows into the middle of our driveway. His bubbler for the fish shorted out and the fish died. It was a MESS!

 

I wrote to the hoa and cited paragraph, etc regarding his violations - dh was on the hoa advisory something or other, and the neighbor had received certified letters, etc. He had been fined, and it still persisted.

 

Finally, never having seen him on the intranet posting or anything, I asked if anyone had experienced difficulty with a neighbor doing thus and such, and if so, how had they handled it (stated that we had gone through all the proper channels to no avail).

 

The next day, at the TOP of the intranet page is a post from the neighbor - he calls me out personally and by name, and says that if we didn't like what he was doing to his property, why didn't we come to him and tell him. He went on to say that it wouldn't have stopped him or made any difference, but he didn't like reading it on the intranet. OOPS!

 

That was my gaffe -- I was a little embarassed -- but for months prior to my posting, he had been the target of alot of comments around the community - one older gentleman called his disaster of a front and back yard "Skunk's Misery."

 

THAT was my bad neighbor moment!

[Jean in Newcastle]

When we first got married we moved into Navy housing which was quadplexes. They were built into a hill so when you walked in the front door you were upstairs, but the back door was downstairs. So off of our dining room was a small second floor balcony. My neighbors always used to put her two chihuahuas out on hers when she was sick of listening to them yap in the house. Once I got so sick of them yapping at me and trying to nip me through the railing (they only had a spindle railing to separate the porch into 2 sides) when I was watering my plants that I sprayed them with the hose. I felt bad afterward but they didn't try to snap at me anymore.

 

I will say I have had someone call about my dog but it was actually not my dog doing the barking. Again we were in Navy housing (this time on the east coast) and the neighbor behind me called about my dog barking, animal control came out and told him it was the other neighbors dog because mine didn't even bark at them when she approached the fence to peak in on her (she was never much of a barker, only when the UPS man came would she ever bark) Then about a month later we got back from vacation to find a note from animal control on our door saying that he had complained again about our dog and to please call him. They said they couldn't confirm with us that it was our dog because she wasn't in the yard and we wouldn't answer the door the previous Tuesday when they had responded to the call. I told the officer that it wasn't my dog and it wasn't that I didn't answer the door but I was in Wisconsin for the past 3 weeks and my dog had been at the Kennel. She asked me for a copy of the kennel receipt which I gladly said I'd give her the next day when she stopped by for it. She then took it to the neighbor and told him to stop reporting me falsely.

 

I wasn't trying to be a bad neighbor, but was not happy that my dog was getting a bad rep because he was mistaken.

 

I'd say these were examples of how your neighbors were less than good neighbors!

[Guest Katia]

We didn't get our Christmas lights down till March this year :eek:; we actually got an anonymous note about it (yes we deserved it - but couldn't they have the decency to sign their names :glare:).

 

Neighbors send notes about these kind of things? Really?

 

I noticed a family in our church kept their Christmas lights up long after Christmas...and wondered aloud about it one day at church and was told:

 

Their son, serving in Iraq, wrote in a letter to them how much he missed Christmas at home that year...the lights....the tree......family.....so they left all of the Christmas decorations up; tree, lights, everything, ready and waiting for their son to come home and celebrate Christmas with them.....in late April!

 

I can't even image how hurt and upset they would have been if someone had been insensitive enough to write a note and complain about a gift of hope for them ; that their son would, indeed, come home ; and the gift of Christmas that they were saving for their son. Wow.

[Hedgehogs4]

I'll go first.

 

Our dining room sliding glass door overlooks our neighbor's yard (we're higher than they are on the hill). One early morning I came out into the dining room in my under shirt and panties, and look over to see my neighbor's husband out having a smoke. We waved before I realized that I was less than dressed. :w00t: Not long after, they put up a tall juniper blocking where he was standing!

 

 

 

:lol: roflmao! hilarious! thanks for the laugh.

[forty-two]

Neighbors send notes about these kind of things? Really?

 

I noticed a family in our church kept their Christmas lights up long after Christmas...and wondered aloud about it one day at church and was told:

 

Their son, serving in Iraq, wrote in a letter to them how much he missed Christmas at home that year...the lights....the tree......family.....so they left all of the Christmas decorations up; tree, lights, everything, ready and waiting for their son to come home and celebrate Christmas with them.....in late April!

 

I can't even image how hurt and upset they would have been if someone had been insensitive enough to write a note and complain about a gift of hope for them ; that their son would, indeed, come home ; and the gift of Christmas that they were saving for their son. Wow.

 

Apparently :tongue_smilie:.

 

It wasn't a mean note or anything, though - just a newspaper survey that stated that the vast majority of people (89% iirc) believed that Christmas lights should be down by now. It only bothered me b/c I was already feeling like *that* neighbor wrt the lights - we had no reason outside of laziness that they were still up :glare:. If I had been the family you referenced (what a lovely story :)), it wouldn't have phased me in the least. If we had had *any* legit reason (by my standards, not someone else's) for them to still be up, I would have laughed it off. (As it was, I had to fight the contrary reaction of, "Well, I'm *never* taking them down now!" ;))

[newbie]

Right now yes, our brush is taller than me. Ugh.

 

Oh, I got one. I knew that a neighbor was sick , but she insisted on visiting, so i said okay, but I dont have the clicker to my security gate. She came anyhow, and I made her talk to me thru our seven foot gate.

 

She said too weird and really hasnt talked to me since.

[2cents]

After years of having to spend money and time trimming our neighbors out of control bushes between the properties I finally had it and poured weed killer on the bushes. I didn't think it would work as well as it did. It completely nuked them! :eek: Honestly, I only wanted to retard their growth. I can't say I'm sorry though because those bushes were a safety concern and were wrecking our roof. We'd cut them for years and had to dispose of the cuttings too. The neighbor has never mentioned it and we'll never tell.

[Allearia]

So no one admits to actually having the overgrown weeds/bushes? And I'm sure that no one here has yards so bad the neighbors on each side actually pitch in and trim bushes and weed. And no one of course has been humiliated by the neighbors actually weeding, mulching, and planting new plants in part of their yard.

 

Maybe we should rename the board The Well Trained Yard?

 

:leaving:

[Jean in Newcastle]

So no one admits to actually having the overgrown weeds/bushes? And I'm sure that no one here has yards so bad the neighbors on each side actually pitch in and trim bushes and weed. And no one of course has been humiliated by the neighbors actually weeding, mulching, and planting new plants in part of their yard.

 

Maybe we should rename the board The Well Trained Yard?

 

:leaving:

 

Oh, my back yard is very bad. But my neighbors can't see it:tongue_smilie: I am slowly trying to get the front yard (which isn't bad at all) spruced up with the help of ds12. But my health is putting a big damper on that right now.

[IsabelC]

Apparently we are bad neighbors because our driveway is 'a disgrace', according to the anonymous and messy note that was left in our letterbox. Not sure how they figured this out, since we're the ones who have to drive up and down there (and yes, it is atrocious), but still, when they drop the money in our box, we'll happily have it fixed. :lol:

[Dobela]

So no one admits to actually having the overgrown weeds/bushes? And I'm sure that no one here has yards so bad the neighbors on each side actually pitch in and trim bushes and weed. And no one of course has been humiliated by the neighbors actually weeding, mulching, and planting new plants in part of their yard.

 

Maybe we should rename the board The Well Trained Yard?

 

:leaving:

When we moved in the yard next door looked like Martha Stewart lived there. Stunning gardens, huge flowers... There is an old wire fence between us and her plants hug the fence. The first year I forgot the far reaching powers of roundup and accidently killed everything close to the fence while weed killing. The 2nd year I was pretty chronically sick and didn't kill anything. Unfortunately we also didn't mow or weed eat like we should have and all the weeds took over her flower beds along the fence. She has been figfhting the weeds ever since.

[cjbeach]

We recently moved into a temp rental. The neighbor was as sweet as pie as she asked my 7yo (???) in front of me how "we are going to keep your cat off of my car.":confused:

 

My dd's cat will only go to bathroom outdoors (a true blessing IMO) and neighbor found the cat on her car and told us that she then had to get her car washed (um, ok). She told me was concerned that the cat may not be declawed (it's not)and it would scratch her car.

 

I honestly thought she was kidding. I'm from the city. Maybe I'm just too "city" because she was totally serious. In return I was pleasant and offered to pay for the carwash, keep the cat indoors, etc.

 

She then went on to say she asked around and was told by friends and co-workers to try an air horn to scare the cat off of the car. :confused: Then I felt my back going up as my brain jumped to "...and potentially wake my 9yo ASD kid, the child who never sleeps? Waking up to an air horn would definitely set him off. " But I just ended the conversation and went inside.

 

So, I am not a good neighbor because my cat sat on my neighbor's old Toyota. :001_huh:

[Guest Katia]

So no one admits to actually having the overgrown weeds/bushes? And I'm sure that no one here has yards so bad the neighbors on each side actually pitch in and trim bushes and weed. And no one of course has been humiliated by the neighbors actually weeding, mulching, and planting new plants in part of their yard.

 

Maybe we should rename the board The Well Trained Yard?

 

:leaving:

 

Well, we certainly don't have overgrow bushes (we don't have any bushes), but we are the neighbors that hardly ever mow the lawn. Dh can't stand doing it; he just keeps putting it off and putting it off, and I don't mow! I feel like I do the inside mowing (vacuuming) so the outside mowing is dh's job.;)

 

As you can probably see, dh and I are not outdoor/lawn sort of people. Dd planted some flowers when she was 12yo, and I try to care for them (weeding and such) because they keep coming up. I like flowers. I like a nice looking lawn and weeded flower beds, but I just don't want to actually *do it, kwim?

 

If dh and I could afford to hire someone to do all the yard work, we'd do it in a flash. My 80yo father spent the summer with us last year and here was this 80yo man out mowing our lawn and working in our flower beds. It looked sad; but he LOVED it. Felt like he was contributing (and he WAS!!!) and useful. I'm sure the neighbors were glad the for the first time in 10 years our yard looked well cared for, but at the same time I'm sure they thought we were horrible people for having this old man doing it. Oh well.

[kalanamak]

I can't believe I'm confessing this: I've never told anyone. Ever.

 

When I was in college I moved into a three room duplex with nice roomies. I didn't know they were subletters and come fall a WILD man who rented two of the rooms (a bed room and the garage) moved back in, with wild parties. I was distressed to find a jungle of MJ plants growing in the garage and the fact he had everyone over to view and drool over them (he wasn't a dealer, he wanted a huge stash to share with his friends). I was fearful of a bust.

 

This was a perfect place to live, walking distance to school, cheap, new, in the woods, perfect. So, I got to know someone who had a thieving streak in him and let HIM know there were about a hundred HUGE MJ plants in the garage. One weekend there was a huge concert on a local farm. Everyone who was anyone went (not me, I wasn't anybody). I mentioned that I would be out of town to this thieving guy, and ohmygoodness, someone "knocked over the joint" that weekend and took all the pot. Who'da thunk it.

 

My roomie wept and carried on so I couldn't take it, and we both moved out the next month. I met him years later. He told me he'd borrowed an expensive film camera and tried to film from the INSIDE of a huge drier at the laudromat. The camera got loose (he was "braced" inside with it), clonked him on the head several times, and was destroyed. The hospital bill and the camera bill forced him to quit school and get a job, which, he told me, was the making of him. But I was chicken and never told him what I did.

 

One of the joys of being 50 is all that mess seems funny to me now.

[elise1mds]

It hasn't been an issue at this house (we've been here eight years) because all the neighbors are pretty much like us. We all have overgrown lawns/pastures sometimes, we all occasionally get a little loud though never TOO late at night, and we all sometimes leave the lights up a little too long.

 

HOWEVER.

 

When we lived in an apartment, we were the people who called on EVERYONE. The dude in the next apartment over who I still swear had to be abusing his wife/girlfriend - you NEVER saw her; the guy upstairs whose bass was so loud you could hear it in the front parking lot and who later got arrested for grand theft auto; and the list goes on. I'm sure they hated us. Not that I cared.

 

And, to be fair, I did make friends with a wonderful architect who had the cutest little dog. He used to throw packets of peach tea up on our balcony and then we'd have him up and we'd all sit around and drink peach tea and pet his dog.

[newbie]

So no one admits to actually having the overgrown weeds/bushes? And I'm sure that no one here has yards so bad the neighbors on each side actually pitch in and trim bushes and weed. And no one of course has been humiliated by the neighbors actually weeding, mulching, and planting new plants in part of their yard.

 

Maybe we should rename the board The Well Trained Yard?

 

 

 

:leaving:

 

I admitted to six foot high weeds. Hi my name is Jet and my weeds are taller than my kids.

[nukeswife]

I'd say these were examples of how your neighbors were less than good neighbors!

 

The second one maybe, but for a week or so I felt really bad for spraying the dogs with the hose. It wasn't their fault they weren't trained better.

[Nicole M]

I covered my entire front lawn with cardboard, and then added thick layers of compost and wood chip mulch. The whole process took a couple weeks. By the way my elderly neighbor acted, you'd think I'd burned the American flag out on my lawn. One day I was out puttering in the garden, and as this neighbor walked by he covered one side of his face, (the side I was on) and grumbled, "I don't even want to know what you're doing over here." Yes, he's an old curmudgeon, but in his eyes, I really am a bad neighbor.

[Anne in CA]

Oh, I am the naughty neighbor. I have too big of a lot because I don't like to be too close to my neighbors. I can't keep all the weeds pulled. I spend hours pulling weeds but I know that no one can tell the difference. I don't like weed killer. All my neighbors but one have grown children and make their houses lovely.

 

My house needs to be painted, but I would rather buy books. Dh likes to play blaring country music when he works on projects in the shop. Oh, and I practice my Spanish by eavesdropping on my Guatemalan neighbor when he takes his phone outside. My dog sounds like a junk yard dog even though he is a Golden Retriever. I'm sorry, but not sorry enough to change, lol.

[nukeswife]

So no one admits to actually having the overgrown weeds/bushes? And I'm sure that no one here has yards so bad the neighbors on each side actually pitch in and trim bushes and weed. And no one of course has been humiliated by the neighbors actually weeding, mulching, and planting new plants in part of their yard.

 

Maybe we should rename the board The Well Trained Yard?

 

:leaving:

 

Oh no, my yard is ok, but just Friday I said to myself "I better get out and mow that before I have to buy a combine and baler to handle the task" When we first moved in to this rental our yard wasn't much of one, the landlord and his wife are Navy pilots and not home a lot so much of the lawn was sparse and weedy. Dh and I figured "Oh well to late to do anything this time of year" Not knowing that Nov in SE VA is the time to aerate and seed. It stayed that way the whole next spring and summer because nothing would grow. We used to describe our house to people coming to visit as "the house with the napalmed yard"

[Tap]

I confess that I am the one who usually calls in noise complaints. They are justified, but I am still the neighbor who calls. In fact the other neighbors have called me on occasion to see if I have called it in, because they were getting ready to do it themselves.

 

My next door neighbor likes to turn his music up so loud that I can hear the lyrics in my house. Not just a distant sound, it sounds like I have my own stereo on. I have talked to him 4-5 times over the 9 years we have both lived here, he will turn it down for 5 minutes and then back up. I now don't even bother to talk to them anymore...I just call.

 

 

Same with the 20ish yo daughter of the neighbor across the street. I have talked to her about the same thing 3 times in this year....Saturday I called in a complaint. Then she went to another neighbor who was outside, and yelled at him for it. :lol: I apologized to him (my dd heard her) but I haven't told her I was the one who called.

 

All of the neighbors complain about the noise but no one has the gumption to call .... I do!

 

I have yelled, and I mean Yelled, at the neighbor whose black lab got loose, jumped in my car, with muddy paws, and scratched my leather seats! My baby was in the car buckled in the back and I was afraid that if he jumped into the back he would land on top of her. I went a little bit momma-bear-pissed off on her. LOL Then I called animal control to make sure they visited her too to get the report card on this dog started. She has a habit of having large, unmannered dogs that 'get out' every morning at the same time to poop in every one's yard. Yeah....right. Her last dog had to be put down for biting too many people when it 'escaped' every morning, you would think she would learn!

[Jean in Newcastle]

I covered my entire front lawn with cardboard, and then added thick layers of compost and wood chip mulch. The whole process took a couple weeks. By the way my elderly neighbor acted, you'd think I'd burned the American flag out on my lawn. One day I was out puttering in the garden, and as this neighbor walked by he covered one side of his face, (the side I was on) and grumbled, "I don't even want to know what you're doing over here." Yes, he's an old curmudgeon, but in his eyes, I really am a bad neighbor.

 

When dh and I were newlyweds we lived in a small house that was surrounded by a chain link fence. Our neighbor behind us was an elderly lady named Rose. A very nice lady that I talked to when I was outside working in the yard. Well, I decided to put in my first vegetable garden - a small one. I dug an area about 2 feet by 6 feet, put a small fence to keep out the dog and planted my seeds. Next time I was out, Rose came to the back fence and asked me about my little plot. I told her that it was my vegetable garden. She looked skeptical and asked after the health of my husband. I told her that he was fine. She then asked if he was home. I said "yes". It was only after she insisted on seeing him that I realized that she thought I had murdered my new husband and buried him in the backyard!:scared: And here I thought that she thought I was a good neighbor!

[RoughCollie]

I realized that she thought I had murdered my new husband and buried him in the backyard!

 

You ought to send your neighbor stories in to Reader's Digest. They are that funny. :001_smile:

[tonya in sc]

At least you would think so. They have had entire HOA mtgs. about us apparently. After the last one, our only friendly neighbor came with a list: keep your animals on your property, keep your trash cans off the street after trash day, don't burn stuff, don't let your dog out off a leash, don't park your work trailer in front of the house, don't let guests park on the street or on the empty lots on either side of you, etc.

Now, some perspective.

1. One neighbor was found lying in his front driveway totally nude. Not sick, drunk, or at night. Able bodied, sober, at 4 in the afternoon.

2. Another neighbor, her son, and her husband had a redneck throwdown in their front yard in front of my daughter. Cussing, throwing crowbars, and threats of bodily harm. Nice.

3. Another neighbor was out in her driveway until 2 in the morning calling for their lost dog. "Bo! Bo! Here boy!!!"

 

Trash cans and trailers indeed.

[Guest Katia]

When dh and I were newlyweds we lived in a small house that was surrounded by a chain link fence. Our neighbor behind us was an elderly lady named Rose. A very nice lady that I talked to when I was outside working in the yard. Well, I decided to put in my first vegetable garden - a small one. I dug an area about 2 feet by 6 feet, put a small fence to keep out the dog and planted my seeds. Next time I was out, Rose came to the back fence and asked me about my little plot. I told her that it was my vegetable garden. She looked skeptical and asked after the health of my husband. I told her that he was fine. She then asked if he was home. I said "yes". It was only after she insisted on seeing him that I realized that she thought I had murdered my new husband and buried him in the backyard!:scared: And here I thought that she thought I was a good neighbor!

 

Hahaha!!! This is a hoot! :lol::lol: Laughing out loud right after midnight when everyone else is asleep is probably not a good thing. :D

[Liz CA]

:001_smile: Since we live in the woods, overgrown bushes are not an issue here but our big mastiff has been over to the neighbors uprooting their small plants with which they run a certain "herb business" - legal here and called a "co-op." One day, I came home from work to find 2 large buckets of fertilizer (empty) in our driveway. She was playing with them because our horse is too old to play with her.

 

I suppose we should have locked her up but... we live on several acres and everyone's dogs and even a tame wolf walk all over the place.

[Rosie_0801]

When I was growing up, our dog went and ate all the neighbours chickens. That was quite embarrassing, but made worse because we had half a dozen chooks of our own the mutt could have eaten! Mum heard about someone curing their dog of the habit by tying a frozen chook around the dog's neck so it would putrify and put doggie off her dinner. Well that didn't work. She ate that too.

 

Rosie

[Mergath]

Our neighbor is the bottom unit in our up/down duplex- we're the top- and because we have a toddler, I'm thinking we're bad neighbors just by default, lol. I'm sure all the lower unit ever hears is "THUD! thud thud thudthudthudthud THUD! THUD! THUD!" But since we can't exactly tie dd to a piece of furniture, I don't worry about it.

[SproutMamaK]

So no one admits to actually having the overgrown weeds/bushes? :leaving:

 

Oh, we have overgrown plants that have shoots going (through the chain link fence!) into the neighbours yard, and some that even overhang the sidewalk )again, through a picket fence) slightly - and the sidewalk is used constantly, we live three doros down from an elementary school. However, no one complains, because the perimeter of our yard is lined with fruit bushes. The neighbours don't mind that they get a few branches of raspberries, and the school kids sure don't mind being able to grab a few strawberries on their walk to/from school. If anyone complained, we'd cut them back - more out of obligation than guilt, because I don't feel guilty at all, lol.

[Liza Q]

Our neighbor is the bottom unit in our up/down duplex- we're the top- and because we have a toddler, I'm thinking we're bad neighbors just by default, lol. I'm sure all the lower unit ever hears is "THUD! thud thud thudthudthudthud THUD! THUD! THUD!" But since we can't exactly tie dd to a piece of furniture, I don't worry about it.

 

So true! Children + upstairs = bad neighbor.

 

I have been a very bad neighbor! We are just too loud for our last two downstairs neighbors. When they were younger sometimes it would get really bad and the woman would come upstairs and complain. These days - maybe once a month or so? - they hit their ceiling with a broom handle or something when they think the kids are out of hand :001_huh: My three daughters are in the master bedroom and I do feel bad for my neighbor when they get in a silly mood and someone falls off a bed or they decide to have a dance party. But I don't know how much more I can shush them!!! Some times I think they will be in therapy when they are older because they have spent their lives being shushed. Well, not really - they do have those dance parties :lol:

[3lilreds in NC]

It was only after she insisted on seeing him that I realized that she thought I had murdered my new husband and buried him in the backyard!:scared: And here I thought that she thought I was a good neighbor!

 

:smilielol5::smilielol5::smilielol5: Oh, my goodness, that is TOO FUNNY! You really could make money from that one if you sent it in to Reader's Digest.

 

When we lived in Michigan, right before we moved to NC, we got new neighbors. We never actually met them (that's how I'm a bad neighbor, I don't introduce myself to new people) but we joked that Ted Nugent had moved in next door because they put up all kinds of what we initially thought was animal yard art, but turned out to be bow hunting targets. We didn't mind, but thought the timing was a little unfortunate since we were trying to sell our house, too. LOL!

 

Anyhoo, they had these two horribly obnoxious, yappy little dogs that would bark themselves into a tizzy every time I walked from my house to my garage - never near their yard. It drove me nuts. So, one day, I just stood there, still not really near their property line, and let the dogs bark at me. And bark, and bark, and bark, and bark.... Finally someone came out and let them in the house and I don't think we had the same issue again. Of course we moved shortly after that so I don't really remember but those dogs really irritated me. I know my reaction was quite immature, but to be honest, I'd probably do it again. :D

[DarlaS]

I admitted to six foot high weeds. Hi my name is Jet and my weeds are taller than my kids.

 

We have some of those kind of weeds too. We kind of left that area on purpose or we'd be mowing the whole five acres.

 

Can you have a back forty with 5 acres? Because we sort of do. I guess you could call it our meadow or a naturalized area. Yeah, that's it! We're even encouraging milkweed for the Monarch butterflies.

 

I actually startled a pair of fawns there one day while walking the dog. Their mother must have seen it as a safe place to leave them. Can't get much more "naturalized" than baby deer in your yard! :D

 

We do have paths mowed through it, which is fun for the kids when they get out the go-kart.

[bookfiend]

Yikes, This past winter we had our house painted and a metal roof put on. Fast forward over all of the contractor horrors, and here we are five months later with a big pile of old guttering between our house and the neighbors. We were supposed to get it to the scrap metal place long ago. Guess I need to put that back on the to-do list. It has become background to me now, kwim!

[SquirrellyMama]

Our yard is probably bringing down property values on our street :blush: We have lots of bare patches with only dirt and tons of weeds.

 

Landscaping isn't the priority right now. We have to save up to do all of our projects since we don't take out loans on things anymore so we choose the highest priority every year.

 

This year it is windows and bathroom. Next year will probably be landscaping.

 

Kelly

[Mejane]

I looked out the window one day just in time to see our cat getting ready to poop in our neighbor's kids' sandbox. I nearly broke the window banging on it. :glare:

[fmont6bu]

We got a new puppy in January. I thought she'd calm down with the yelping etc. after a few nights. We were crate training and keeping the crate at the end of our bed. We live in a townhouse. Well the yelping would start around 9 pm and she wouldn't stop until 1 am. I got so sick of it after about three weeks we finally bought her a bed to sleep next to us, but I felt badly. She also yelped when we left. Our neighbors said they could barely hear it and that they didn't care, but I still felt badly.

[Stacie]

Our neighbors have a very elaborately landscaped yard. It's beautiful and something that could be in a magazine. Three years ago their oldest daughter got married in an outdoor ceremony there. From our vantage point it was a large and impressive wedding with lots of catering vans, equipment, tents and covered areas, a wooden dance floor, etc.

 

We were not invited guests, though I received two shower invitations, attended both, and brought a gift. :glare: We knew when it was (who within five miles didn't?) so we left for a few hours with the kids to avoid the street parking and noise. After we got home we noticed our dog missing. She apparently dug her way under the fence to hob-nob with the wedding guests. And eat the catered food. And swim in the pool with the floating candles. And knock over a tent. She's such a social butterfly. I'm sure she was the life of the party!! :D

[Meriwether]

Our neighbors have a very elaborately landscaped yard. It's beautiful and something that could be in a magazine. Three years ago their oldest daughter got married in an outdoor ceremony there. From our vantage point it was a large and impressive wedding with lots of catering vans, equipment, tents and covered areas, a wooden dance floor, etc.

 

We were not invited guests, though I received two shower invitations, attended both, and brought a gift. :glare: We knew when it was (who within five miles didn't?) so we left for a few hours with the kids to avoid the street parking and noise. After we got home we noticed our dog missing. She apparently dug her way under the fence to hob-nob with the wedding guests. And eat the catered food. And swim in the pool with the floating candles. And knock over a tent. She's such a social butterfly. I'm sure she was the life of the party!! :D

 

 

:lol::lol::lol: I thought those kinds of things only happened in movies.

[DarlaS]

Our neighbors have a very elaborately landscaped yard. It's beautiful and something that could be in a magazine. Three years ago their oldest daughter got married in an outdoor ceremony there. From our vantage point it was a large and impressive wedding with lots of catering vans, equipment, tents and covered areas, a wooden dance floor, etc.

 

We were not invited guests, though I received two shower invitations, attended both, and brought a gift. :glare: We knew when it was (who within five miles didn't?) so we left for a few hours with the kids to avoid the street parking and noise. After we got home we noticed our dog missing. She apparently dug her way under the fence to hob-nob with the wedding guests. And eat the catered food. And swim in the pool with the floating candles. And knock over a tent. She's such a social butterfly. I'm sure she was the life of the party!! :D

 

That's an inherent risk of an outdoor wedding. That and sudden storms. I bet she was at least slightly preferable to a storm. :tongue_smilie:

[MariannNOVA]

Our neighbors have a very elaborately landscaped yard. It's beautiful and something that could be in a magazine. Three years ago their oldest daughter got married in an outdoor ceremony there. From our vantage point it was a large and impressive wedding with lots of catering vans, equipment, tents and covered areas, a wooden dance floor, etc.

 

We were not invited guests, though I received two shower invitations, attended both, and brought a gift. :glare: We knew when it was (who within five miles didn't?) so we left for a few hours with the kids to avoid the street parking and noise. After we got home we noticed our dog missing. She apparently dug her way under the fence to hob-nob with the wedding guests. And eat the catered food. And swim in the pool with the floating candles. And knock over a tent. She's such a social butterfly. I'm sure she was the life of the party!! :D

 

:lol::lol::lol:

[MariannNOVA]

Mr and Mrs Scissorhands will receive notice today that they are forbidden to enter on our property for any reason.

 

I am sure that makes us NOT VERY GOOD NEIGHBORS. I am also sure, though, that it will give Mrs. Scissorhands something to yap about for years to come. So, perhaps that does make me a good neighbor.:confused: