In my Fun Fact Friday post, I mentioned driving 3 sets of neighbors out, and a couple people in boxed me asking what was up with that? Don't be scared! Unless you move in next door and act like an asshat.
Okay, so here is the story, and you be the judge. I moved into my home at the age of 17, husband was 20. We had great neighbors with 3 little boys. We aren't a trick-or-treat area, so I would make them special little decorated boxes full of treats for Halloween, attended their birthday parties, gave homemade Xmas cookies, we were always leaving treats on each other's doorsteps. The mom did the same for us, especially after we had Abby. It was a great relationship, then they decided to move into a bigger home, and some new people bought the house next to us.
Enter A&A (I am not going to use any names in this story). A&A were....I am going to assume early 30-somethings, I honestly couldn't tell you. They were career folks, and all they really wanted was to flip the house and make some big money. They rejected all efforts to be friendly, and were not fond of pretty much anything we did. They HATED our dog, and called the dog officer or police any chance they got. They didn't approve of our 4wheelers, chain saw's or kids making noise. My husband is the type of person who pretty much is who he is, and doesn't change for anyone. It just made it a strained situation, and soon they would say loudly enough for us to hear that they couldn't wait to get away from these hicks, make some profit and be gone. Whatever. I guess it's not accurate to say we "drove them out", but it sounds more dramatic. The last time I saw A&A, they were wearing matching overalls, with these big bug spray canisters marching around their back yard. Oh yea, I'd miss them alright.
Next came a little family of 3. Yay a kid! A girl Logan's age, and Abby was thrilled. We made extra efforts to welcome them, determined to make a solid friendship, and we did. They were great friends of ours. The dad even got himself a motorcycle so he could ride with my husband and his friends. We attended each others functions and even shared a couple kids birthdays in a backyard area that was kind of behind both of our homes.
The only issue we really had with them was their daughter- she was extremely spoiled and sheltered. Anytime she was with us, her parents had an issue about what we were allowing her to do, like pat kittens or get dirty. Hey, my kids played outside, and I like it. Not them, and it became a rift. Abby would go to their house (where they'd play inside only) and she would be sent home, coming through the door upset at being kicked out of their house. This was ALWAYS because she wouldn't give the girl her way. For example - the girls were playing a Barbie computer game. Part of the game was to name your horse. Abby chose "mystic". The girl says "you can't have mystic, that's my beanie baby unicorns name" Abby said that she liked it, and that's what she wanted for the name. The girl went and got her father, and without asking for details he kicked Abby out saying she was upsetting his little girl. Ok..
This was just a quick example. This went on and on and on. It ended up turning into a strained relationship, stemming from the way we were treating each others kids. The girl was terrified of everything, so any time she was at our house, where there were dogs, cats, birds and a bull, she would go home in tears and the parents would be pissed at us. It spiraled, until we were barely speaking. I admit, it did suck because we'd been friends, and I knew that someday when the little girl got older things might change.
We had a huge shrub that divided our driveways, the shrub was on our property. This shrub was a pain for the kids to get around to visit each other, so we cut a doorway and put an arbor up so they could pass through easily. Well, this shrub was a bee haven, and soon there was a nest near the doorway. The mom bitched and whined and complained, and we tried spraying and knocking it down, but they kept coming back.
One day I pulled in after work to find the shrub GONE. My husband had gotten fed up and taken his back ho to it, yanking up the whole length of it. We were literally in each others driveways now. I would pull into my parking spot and they would be sitting 12 feet away eating at their picnic table.
The for sale sign went up shortly after.
Enter the worst neighbors in history. "The Heinous family" (a take on their actual last name). Started okay, married couple, pregnant wife. We were friendly. My husband plowed them out in winter, helped them move some big rocks in their yard, dug a pond for them in the back.
The first issue to arise was their dogs. 2 big Chows that were not well trained. They needed sedation to be groomed or vet visits- and they refused to tie or fence them. My kids were young, and I had a 6 lb Pomeranian- this was not a good situation. To take my kids or dog out I would need to go out alone first and do a yard sweep to check for them. They would chase my cat right up to my front door. If they were outside, they'd take a challenging stance, glaring and growling. They would shit on our lawn and we'd all step in it. More than once my husband flung the poop up onto their back deck after finding it in our grass.
We tried to ask nicely- expressed our concerns. Nope, didn't care, we aren't tying up our dogs (assholes). Still, we stayed fairly friendly. I painted a gorgeous rocking chair when they had their baby and customized it with her name. They were going on a trip for 3 weeks and asked that we watch their house, which we did.
While they were gone I hatched a plan. The layout of our properties made it ingenious..We could start at the road, run a fence between our properties, but stay on our land so we weren't trespassing....behind us was a common land area owned by a cul-de-sac (who hated those Chows as well) so they gave us the okay to put the fence on their part, and so did the neighbor on the other side of these people. This might work.....
They returned from their trip to find their entire property fenced in. They were MAD- as this was a crappy farm style wire fence, but it did the job and those dogs couldn't get out on 3 sides (only if they ran to the front and came around it) This was perfect! I could be outside and be safe again! but they were irate, and it started a huge feud. I do acknowledge that this was the catalyst to the feud- but that's just tough shit as far as I am concerned. My family and their safety comes first and foremost, and if you threaten that, then you are my enemy, very simple.
They hated the fence, so lucky for us, they had a fence company come replace it with a nice one - a big tall stockade fence that nobody could see over- yes!! The only problem was the fence wasn't low enough, it didn't sit on the ground, it was up a bit, and the frigging dogs could get their faces under, and while doing some yard work one day- my husband got bit. Cops were called, an ER visit was had, and the first report was filed. A few days later Logan was playing and the dog's snout came under, teeth searching for a target. My husband went next door and said very calmly to them "If your dog bites my kid, I am not going to kill your dog, I am going to kill you." (yup, not really a smart thing to say...but I do think he meant it at that moment)
The next thing we noticed was water. Water was running under the fence, flooding our driveway. What the heck? We snooped a little and discovered they'd blocked their pond drain, allowing it to overflow and then made a little trough to funnel it under the fence. They did the same to their roof gutters, making a little channel aimed toward our yard. Dicks.
We had very little verbal exchange at this point. We tried to ignore them. Their dogs chased and bit a jogger, then the UPS man. I was scared of those dogs.
One day one dog got loose. I was in the driveway with my kids, and I looked over to see him glaring at us...I quickly ushered them in as a jogger ran by, and off this creep of a dog went after him- and WHAMMMM hit and run over by a car. The woman ran out, and so did I. I was more concerned for the poor lady who hit the dog, she was so upset. I assured her it wasn't her fault- but the neighbor was making her feel awful. The husband got the dog into their car, took him to the vet and he lived. Ugh.
Their dogs got sick- they accused us of poisoning them!! (this offended me sooo bad). I was scared for my own animals, especially our bull being out alone at night.
One night we were in our driveway, they on their deck which was up high enough that they could see over the fence, and the guy says to us "you might want to have your daughter change the password on her computer...cute kid you got there" (she was 13) I was HORRIFIED. The guy does computer security for a huge corporation that we all know. I started to feel panicky and paranoid.
The next thing we knew, my husband starting receiving credit cards. First a couple, then up to 100 a day- filling our mailbox. Wtf? They were all connected to crazy email addresses, variations of his name- but had his SS#. I had to freeze his credit.
One day I got a call from a realtor asking when we'd like to schedule the open house. "Excuse me?" I asked her.....yup..that fuckwad had put our house on the market. I could not believe this was happening.
We had police step in at that point. A file was opened and IP addresses were captured. We installed security cameras, and locked down all password protected electronics. Finally, after the police coming multiple times, and this guy not being able to spin the situation to his advantage, the for sale sign went up. YESSSSS!!!
Not so fast. The housing market had tanked, and they were in deep- over double what their original mortgage was (yup I checked). They were stuck They took more loans and renovated. Still sat not selling. His job moved him out of state and they were able to rent it out- and that is who is still there now- renters (and WE LOVE THEM).
So, take the facts, and make your own call. Did we drive them out? Maybe not technically....but they still own that house, and could return at any time.....stay tuned..
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| Our stone driveway, fence that divides our properties |
