Good Fences Make Good Neighbors (But Not Really)
Sep 14, 2009
We live in a quiet suburban neighborhood, where everyone smiles and waves at each other as they park in garages which they close behind them. The yards are manicured and fenced; kids ride bikes in safety, graffiti the sidewalks in chalk and generally make too much noise.
Several years ago, a couple with three children bought the house to our immediate east. We share a property line and sixty feet of fencing. Like all new homeowners they set about making the place their own. They built giant flower boxes edged in plywood and kept stuff in the garage but their cars in the driveway.
And then in June, they decided to dig a hole to China. With a jackhammer. At 8 AM. On a Saturday.
I'm guessing it was meant to be a fish pond. Until they ran into the Central Texas bedrock approximately two inches below the topsoil. And forgot to put in a liner. Or water, a filter, fish, water plants, anything actually. For three months.
So it's really just a failed attempt at a large-ish fish pond/water garden thing. And with all the rain this past weekend, it's now a muddy bog surrounded by limestone shrapnel breeding mosquitos - which they cannot seem to keep in their own yard.
I think I'm gonna need a bigger fence.
LOL, and I REALLY needed some laughing today :)
(And, yes, we are now some of those people with a garage full of boxes and cars in the driveway. At least for a few more months. Then I will have an outrageously well-organized and color-coded garage that will be the envy of the neighborhood! But I digress ...)
I SO feel your pain. Did you know that you can get those anti-mosquito pellets that look amazingly like Cherrios which you just toss into standing water to kill mosquito eggs? A little prevention can go a LONG way. Plus, you can get a crazy-little-thrill from making your neighbors yard more functional in spite of them.