Dammit. DH went postal on the skeezy neighbors.

[MorningGlow]

If anybody recalls, recently I was upset because one of the neighbor kids has turned psycho and is periodically vandalizing our yard and house. I wanted to talk to the father about her behavior but, quite honestly, chickened out once or twice, although I swore I was going over there the very next time I saw him outside while the kids were in school.

However, this evening Mr. MG looked out the kitchen window in time to see the youngest kid (not the bad seed--her younger brother) intentionally throwing things at our house (sticks, a ball, etc.) Mr. MG snapped and went storming over there. Much shouting ensued. Neighbor threatened to call the cops on DH until the son admitted that he did indeed throw things at our house. Still, the argument continued for quite a while and veered into strange territory (neighbor believed our tree, long since taken down, "ruined" his roof--but he apparently was unaware that any limbs on his side of the property line were his responsibility; neighbor believes the company who put up our fence broke his garage window--but he never said anything so we could file a complaint with the company; neighbor thinks we put up the stockade fence because we didn't want to see all the crap in his yard...well, that's true...)

Sigh. I would have handled it differently--WAY differently. But that doesn't matter now. Now I have to deal with a pissed off adult as well as three quite honestly not-so-bright kids, one of whom could have a bright future in juvie. Now what? Are we officially at war? I'm not seeing a very bright future here. So...Loungers...can this relationship be saved? If so, how? :(

[ghostsofgiants]

1. Time to turn it into a wacky sitcom.

[MorningGlow]

3. Ugghhhhh I wish I could

Of course, there are some really juicy personalities...!

[ghostsofgiants]

4. Go over and talk to the wife, talk about how silly men are, etc.

Classic sitcom stuff. :P

(Of course, then the wife gets offended at you calling the husband silly and escalates the war even further.)

[MorningGlow]

6. Alas, no wife--divorced

Although...wait...this could be some good comedy--she lives within walking distance and more often than not is over there anyway. Yeah, I think we can do something with that! :P

[Lil Missy]

2. Did he at least agree to talk to his kids about the vandalism?

[MorningGlow]

5. I believe he yelled at the boy not to throw things anymore

but it's remarkable how what he tells them doesn't really "stick" for very long.

He argued that he's always told his kids not to go in our yard, which is also a big issue. In their eyes, our yard is their yard, because nobody ever told them it wasn't. Previous residents (renters) didn't care, but we do--hence the stockade fence, which wasn't really a deterrent, as it only ran the length of our adjoining property line--they can easily go around it, and they have. So that directive didn't stick either.

[Gormy Cuss]

12. Do you make cookies or muffins?

It may be time for a peace offering. Let him know that the fence is there to help the kids on BOTH sides of the fence respect the boundary. If I were in your shoes I'd offer to reimburse the cost of replacing the garage window (assuming that I could afford it.)

The tree thing is stickier. Check the tree law in your city and the state. Generally neighbors are allowed to cut overhanging branches but the responsibility for the tree is the home owners. I don't know the local or state regs were you are but you can probably find them for yourself.

[MorningGlow]

16. Yeah, I was planning on that BEFORE Mr. MG ripped the guy a new one

I sincerely wanted to talk to the guy about his daughter, the middle kid, because I truly am worried about her. She wasn't so angry and violent (and evil) the past couple of years.

Neighbor would refuse help with the window because, as he told DH, the window right next to it was broken anyway. (The "garage"--really a glorified shed that's too small for even one car, is falling down.)

Interestingly enough, we had our insurance guy check out the tree thing a while back before we had it taken down entirely (so this isn't even an issue anymore!), and we learned that our state regs say that a property owner is responsible for trimming branches (even from a neighbor's tree) if it's on their own property.

[Pierre.Suave]

7. Would you like me to come over

with a company of Marines to secure the perimeter?

:P

[MorningGlow]

8. Now that's an idea!!

Bring it on! :P

[Pierre.Suave]

9. trust me

put a few stern looking Marines on the perimeter and they wont dare bother you again...

:rofl:

[MorningGlow]

10. Will they work for meatballs and apple pie?

:rofl:

[Pierre.Suave]

11. for that

they work harder!

Homemade Meatballs and Apple Pie are MUCH better than MREs...

:P

[BeachBaby]

13. Marines? Did you say Marines?

Yum.

That is all.

[Pierre.Suave]

14. I need to scan in some photos

and send them to you.

Apparently I was quite handsome in Uniform... :P

[LeftyMom]

15. What you need is to have large, intimidating friends visit on a regular basis.

Start hosting potlucks for bikers or something. ;)

[MorningGlow]

17. I like that!

Don't know any bikers, though. However, necessity being the mother of invention and all that, this just means that Mr. MG and I will have to start hanging out in bars more often!
:rofl: