(grumble) Neighbors (grumble)

Yeah... post-vacation life has been a little crazy busy. Also a little crazy crazy so I have not had time to do anything fun like blog or upload photos.

Let's see, there are many new responsibilities on my plate at work. Busy busy.

Then there's the sudden realization that my quiet little neighborhood has some of those annoying neighbor types (they have apparently been waiting for the proper time to pop up & reveal themselves... like within 1 week of each other). The kind that mow your lawn *without asking if that's acceptable to you* while you're at the bank. Or the kind who after 6 fires in your fire pit decide that they don't like you having fires in your fire pit on your property & call the fire department to try and put an end to that. Instead of walking 10 feet to the fence and giving you a clue as to what exactly the problem is. Because using government workers/services is the proper way to deal with petty neighbor annoyances when you're an adult, I guess.

Look, here's the thing... my last house was bordered by a museum for AA people, an apartment building where unsupervised children seemed to spontaneously multiply every week & a home for the mentally handicapped. Was I constantly annoyed by things that were happening? Yes. Cars blocking my driveway, kids destroying my flowers, people banging their heads on windows, kids hopping my fence to just hang out on my patio, cigarette butts & trash in my garden, and SO LOUD all the time... Did I ever call the police/fire department/city? NO. Because that should always be the last resort. And a lot of that was stuff that was affecting my property! I'm more of a bitch about it, do what you can & then move on type. And yeah, I will bitch about things *when needed*. I'll tell the kids to get off my patio & I'll make the museum people fix the damage their contractors caused to my property. And you know what? That usually works. Amazing!

But as for what people do on or with their own property, not my business. MYOB should go a looong way in neighbor relations. I'm not talking about ignoring if someone is climbing in their window or smoke is coming from their garage. I'm talking about all the little things that you would never do but they would do. Like paint their house peach. YUCK. But meh, MYOB. Or don't keep up their lawn as much as you'd like. Meh, MYOB. Or have a loudish party every once in awhile. Meh, MYOB. You know? You can not like it. You can be annoyed by it. But you know what else you can do? Ignore it. It's really pretty simple once you make that decision.

If my neighbors want to spend lots of time, energy & money on replicating some marketing department's idea of the Perfect American Lawn... they can go ahead & do it. I'm not ever gonna let my lawn get to a length where city notices get staked in the yard but I'm also not gonna mow it every week in the summer (and you're really not suppose to). And if my neighbor down the street, who can't even see my property from his property, has a problem with that? He can say something to me and listen as I explain to him how wasteful I find "the perfect lawn" to be. That's why I don't have chemicals sprayed on it or water it for hours every week or have more than a reel mower or think it's worth 4 hours of energy to make sure it's the same height as my bordering neighbors at all times. And that I have a gorgeous landscaping plan for my lawn but that it's gonna take about 5 years to get it there. If he wants to continue being annoyed by the it? That's his choice. But he does not get to bring his gas spewing mower over & mow my lawn without asking. Because I'm the one paying the mortgage & property taxes and I get to make the decisions. (stomps feet)

And as for Miss Fire Department, I will still be using my fire pit. As the nice firemen hopefully explained to her, I was following all the rules & they had no problems with my fire. I hope that she will respect that and I will try to respect her by moving the fire pit as far away from her property as I can. If I had known it was bothering her, I would have moved it sooner.

Because I'm not a jerk. Unlike some people.