The book is edited, and in good shape. What comes now is that messy business of composing the ‘mini’ and the ‘full’ downloads, which is close to arcane—not so, since I know what she’s doing, but suffice it to say she’s only gotten to the TOC (table of contents) and she’s nursing a splitting headache.
Plus we had a neighbor come over and fuss about the two Canadian hemlocks in Jane’s very carefully planted side yard, the one ‘done’ part of our landscaping project: seems the neighbors are all fussing about those two very spriggy trees, that you can see through, and which are due to have a branch height you can walk under, once they’re trimmed up as they grow, because allegedly they can’t see through them to watch the traffic, when stopping at the stopsign. Well, they’re nowhere near as impenetrable as the next street down, which blocks the view with a chainlink fence with a vine growing on it. I did a test drive-by, and you can see perfectly well. They’re probably envisioning them as a hedge—but we don’t want to get into a fight about it. We try to accommodate. Goes around, comes around. Sigh.
But it has not made Jane happier: she is trying to do the front yard, (we both are) and now we’re going to have to stop our work on that and move two man-high trees that are quite happy where they are.
There’s accommodation and then there are people given an inch and then wanting the whole mile. My question is, why are they worried about watching traffic stop at the stop sigh? Are they that hard up for entertainment that they have to be ready to call the police for every car that runs the signs?
I’m as adamant as the next person that we are slowly going to hell in a handbasket because people see how much they can get away with, and then push the boundaries even further. Ryssand, Murandys, Nelefreissen…..play the game our way with our rules that we change every day.
I’m under the impression that if you give in to this woman’s complaining about something that is non-existent, she’s going to start complaining about everything else until she’s gotten her way so many times, she feels it’s her right.
I don’t live there, don’t know the neighbor, but I think that she needs a hobby other than stop sign watching. Give her a book on Birds of Washington if she wants to watch something.
This is a normal pattern: the use of automobiles to sublimate the lack
of territorial space leads to suddenly noticing that something is now
different. It triggers the territorial behaviors. No amount of reason
will cause it to subside, even if it is patently ridiculous in reality.
Every layperson thinks they are an expert on traffic control…GRIN
This is why they are usually referred to as morons in the trade.
You don’t have to tell your neighbors I said that. I’m sure you haven’t
blocked the sight distance because you have to drive there too. Tell
Jane she is too smart to get involved in territory disputes with the
other tribe.
Either that or File Intent on the neighbor.
My solution was to just not to have neighbors, at least any you don’t need binoculars to see. Now if I can just keep their moron kids with bikes from trespassing in the woods behind the house…
Carolyn, I certainly have never had a problem! In fact, I never have even really *noticed* them when at that intersection. This is craziness! I agree with Joe: File Intent!
😆 well, we will fix it. We will move the trees. They’ll be over 40′ tall someday. All things come to those who wait. 😉
The thing is, folks, we don’t have to use that intersection every day and several times a day the way our neighbors do. Their drives all come out on that street. I’m going to seriously check out some of the things we’ve got in mind for that corner and do my best to make it as safe as possible. We’ve got lots of land…too much…and can punt. The trees will have a home and we’ll have a nice shade tree in the front. I’m a lot more worried about our one big hemlock that’s been weeping sap for several months now. Gotta do something about that, because those I don’t want to lose.
Think you have the right attitude. Compromise is at the heart of any diplomacy,and safety is key. So if you can move the trees back 8 or so feet and keep you neighbors happy it’s not too much of a sacrifice over a range war.
Now if they take this as an opening to start making other demands, then a line must be drawn…
Well, they’re good neighbors, and I’ve come down off the ceiling. We’ve had far worse, and if somebody has a difficult focusing on things through a thin lattice of twigs…somebody could have that difficulty, I suppose (though I manage to back out of our drive with a solid wall of stout elms and brush between me and that same traffic…) Maybe their car puts them at a different angle. So we move the poor trees.
I think you have the right idea. Save your battles for more important concerns. 8)
At heart I agree with Xenephon. Live out in the woods a quarter mile from the road. 😉
Here is an example of the range war I am embroiled in with my neighbors.Just so you know how stupid things can get.
Take a look at what lil’ Austin did.
http://img.webme.com/pic/x/xenophon/100_0318.jpg
I have a 1979 Dodge D-100 Pickup sitting on a back lot. A neighbor boy, named Austin, from a family that recently moved in sneaked onto the property and smashed most of the glass and bulbs out of the truck and tried to pry off the front grill doing $1,400 worth of damage to the vehicle.
Ok, childhood ignorance… Figured the parents would come over apologize for their moron kid and offer me a couple hundred bucks and I would call it good. Waited a few days, nothing… so I called the police and filed a report. Almost two months later, the officer files a lackluster report, barely getting the details right. Which I had to pay $9 to view, pay to play justice.
I wanted the report so I could write the parents ask them to meet with me and work something out. Mainly, for when I consulted with a paralegal she strongly advised me not to confront them face to face. When I read the report, their names were blocked out to protect the guilty. So now I’m filing a freedom of information act request and writing the States Attorney to make sure he prosecutes the case. If he takes the case, Austin, being a minor, will probably get a slap on the wrist, and I will still be out several hundred and have to pursue this in civil court.
UPDATE: The State’s Attorney has taken the case and is pursuing damages for me. So since the damage is felony level the parents now get to decide if they want to pay, or their kid goes to juvie for a few months, and of course, I’m to blame for pursuing this in the first place.
Oh, joy! I hope they use common sense; but common sense didn’t raise that kid.
Probably not, they also have unpenned animals wandering onto my property too. I’m sure you know the term I’m thinking of, but I loath to utter it. Jeff Foxworthy could have a field day with these folk.
I really didn’t want to involve the authorities. I am very independent and try to solve my own problems. But having an angry 7’1″ ex-commando show up on their doorstep would probably just make me the villain. Since I’m in the right on this one I intended to stay that way.
They still have not attempted to contact me, so I’m going to leave it in the hands on the State’s Attorney and let him sort it out.
That’s wise. The state’s attorney will help. And once you have that on record, make friends with the local sheriff regarding the critters.
I have been told by a tree specialist that the height of limbs does not change. Once a tree sets out limbs, those limbs never increase in height. The trunk increases in circumference but the lowest limbs are at their ultimate height. The only effect that humans can make is to cut limbs. If the trees are too young to survive having limbs lopped off, then you might indeed need to move them. Generally, the only people who would have their view blocked at this point, are those who drive high ground clearance trucks and SUVs where the driver sits up as high as the limbs. If you can afford to remove limbs below truck driver height, I’d just ignore the *** cause they’re complaining to hear themselves talk.
If necessary, Xenophon-ji, and you think it might be wise, ask for a restraining order or similar document from the court that will prevent this 7’1″ ex-commando from coming over to confront you. Also, it might even be able to include his animals (which might or might not include his kid(s)). There is no reason why you should be subject to terrorism when you are the injured party. This also keeps you from having to accidentally come face-to-face with him or his animals and/or family. I suppose Mr. Commando thinks because the truck was 30 years old, it could be junked, but then, maybe the same could be said for a ’57 Chevy Bel Air, or a ’42 Ford, or a ’67 Corvette. Value is in the eyes of the owner, not some jerk who thinks it’s something to beat up and destroy, especially when it isn’t on his property, but yours.
My neighbor has animals that get out occasionally, especially his Labrador Retriever. Well, the sound of an AirSoft BB whizzing over the dog’s head seemed to do the trick. By no means would I wish to hurt the animals, but when his donkey got loose and was traipsing over the cornfield, I thought maybe he needed to do a little better “pen”manship.
Thanks Joe, that’s pretty funny… Unfortunately, I am the 7’1″ ex-commando. Click on my name link above and you can see some pics of me in action. Even when I confront someone with the best of intentions, things tend to get a little out of hand for one reason or another. No villagers with pitchforks and torches yet. They seem to be pretty fearful of me for now, so I’m not ready to file more paperwork unless more things come up vandalized or missing. The animals are some goats, chickens, and a really obnoxious chaweenie dog that has learned the hard way not to come over here.(Set out a toothless raccoon trap that smacked him in the snout pretty good)And it’s not like I’m really close, there is about a 200 meter buffer of woods between us.
I moved here to get away from people, but over time they have encroached on my little chunk of sanctuary and boxed me in.
The truck runs ok, and though not really valuable, meant allot to me, that’s why I hung onto it all these years. After getting the sticker shock from the estimate, it might get junked anyway, because I don’t know if it would be worth restoring the way I intended.
It was mainly the insult added to injury that this painful for me. Not only did I have someone violate my privacy and destroy my property, then had the audacity to not acknowledge it or even attempt an apology. That was what ultimately made me go for compensation, just to teach these folks a lesson. Hopefully it will sink in…
Well, I certainly hope this works out for you and these people get the idea that that property line stops their territory. The less you see of them the better.
I like the picture of Xenophon on his pony…GRIN
That was a very fun summer, my first out of the infantry, hence the hair.
I had grown an overabundance of birdhouse gourds and had put them on a fence posts. Then would ride down the row playing barbarian, taking swipes at them with a machete. That is really a full-size horse. I was able to ride her bareback by holding onto her mane and locking my feet under her armpits. Friend thought it was hilarious and took a bunch of snapshots.
Too bad you didn’t have an Atlantean broadsword at your disposal.
I have a ton of questions about your former occupation, but don’t believe that this is the forum, and if you’re not comfortable with questions, that’s fine. They are simply questions about professional opinion, not controversial stuff, and certainly not questions that are intended to embarrass you or anger you. As one former military member to another, thanks for your service.
Joe,
Likewise, you are free to send me questions through the send message tab on my website> I’m sure you are wondering how a 7’1″ guy got into the infantry in the first place. The answer is I was only 6’9″ when I enlisted and got a wavier, turning down both academic and athletic scholarships to do so. My father disowned me for 16 years because of it. And yes, I made a great target and now have a few extra holes in my body.