Party Time

Let's start with a confession: it was not a nice thing to do, but it felt good.

The family next door is having another one of their on-going family parties. Lots of people; lots of kids; small front yard.

It's inevitable that the kids come into my front yard, which I've put up with now for about 3 years. However, now the fun is escalating, so they stand on my bench and jump off: can you say "head wound"? And they play hide & seek at the side of my house, hiding behind my truck! And then they stand on the big rock and jump off: broken arm/leg in the offing. And they ride their bikes into my driveway and back into the street without bothering to look for oncoming traffic.

They are having fun at my expense, and I don't want to be on the receiving end of a lawsuit when one of them is injured or killed while on my property.

I've asked nicely, but it does no good because there is no boundary between our properties, just their grass growing into my grass, and only 3 of my hedge bushes left to mark the dividing line. When someone broke into their home, I came home one day and found my previous hedge ripped out: the neighbors diagonally across the street are related, and they are going to keep an eye on the house next-door, but couldn't see through my hedge. I'm sure from their standpoint it was logical, but from my point of view, it was illegal!

However, I figure it's wise to choose my battles, and that wasn't one I wanted to wage.

I planted the current hedge, 7 plants in all, to replace what the neighbor tore out, but I only have 3 left. They were all thriving, but I suspect "someone" cut off the water to them and, perhaps, did something else to make sure they would die. I did figure out about the sprinkler head in my system that they turned to water their grass at my expense, but it was too late to save my plants and/or the surrounding grass.

Today, I just went into the garage and turned on the watering system. The kids started screaming and ran off toward their own property, which was my goal. They'll dry off as they run around in the nice, fresh air--in their own yard, and my lawn can always use a good watering.