What would you do if your neighbor’s yard looked like this?

Posted on May 25, 2012 by Matt Bernier


Shitty picture from my iPhone of 1' tall weeds and grass

 

We don’t ever see our neighbor, OK not ever – but when we do see people over there it’s an old lady sitting by the back door watching what seems to be her grand-daughter playing in the back yard. So, with the combination of nearly never seeing anyone over there and then seeing an old lady with a grand-child, we kind of assume that an old lady lives there and can’t mow her own yard.

We have been trying to take care of our yard, grow a garden, have a flower bed, and keep our grass weed-free. It has taken us two summers to get where we are and  seeing someone else so close to us just bombard us with their weed-seeds is frankly driving me a little bonkers.

The good-deed-doer in me screams that I should just roll over there with my trusty lawn-mower and take out the jungle, so that she doesn’t get in trouble and I help control the weeds.

The asshole inside me screams “call the damn home-owners association”, if you mow it she’ll expect you to mow it all the time.

I’m torn. I don’t want to get some old lady in trouble, let alone a neighbor. At the same time, we’re paying good money for another one of our neighbors, a lawn care specialist) to help us save our grass and keep the weeds out of our rocks (the yards were outlined in rocks – stupidest thing ever).

What would you do?  What SHOULD I do?

Note: Our HOA is a useless corporate entity that claims our money, threatens to put a lean on your house if you don’t pay, but never actually does anything for us even if we ask them to.

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  • jwilker

    hhhm tough one. I’m of both minds too. If the HOA is that useless though that sucks, since my first reaction is make them earn their dues. 

    Could always wait until you see the grand-daughter which assumes parents are there or come and go and ambush them :) What kind of kid lets their parent’s house get like that?

    • http://mkbernier.com Matt Bernier

      Yeah, I don’t understand it. I think there’s a couple problems here:
      1. If you can’t take care of your yard or house, it might be time to move
      2. Your children should be helping you if you’re old and they let their kid come and hang out with you (they like you enough)
      3. No one else seems to give a crap in my neighborhood, but I sure as hell do.
      4. damn those dandelions. damn damn damn them.
      5. Our HOA has routinely not given a single fuck when asked to have a different neighbor stop parking his commercial vehicle on the street where it blocks a view to traffic. I almost ran a kid over the other day, luckily I saw him duck behind the van before I came around the corner. Not everyone looks and most speed through there. Scary!

    • http://mkbernier.com Matt Bernier

      I actually found out the lady is pretty standoffish with her neighbors who have also tried to help her out in the past. She wasn’t there when I knocked and her neighbor told me she’s likely to call the cops and get me for trespassing if I went on her property on my own. 

      Turns out the old lady is a visitor to the house, not the owner. And… the HOA has fined her a couple times, according to the neighbor.