Does your neighbor's yard make you cringe?

[salmoneous]

I used to have neighbors that had one of those big Bob's Burger Boy statues in their yard. It was taller than their house.

Oh, come on, that's just cool. I want one.

 

[JR6ooo4]

My neighbors are lovely - the nicest people you would ever want to live next to. They have a double lot in back of their property with some woods, and they are environmentally friendly in the extreme - composting, etc. BUT, she has decorated some trees with CDs that she has hung on a string. They are the visual version of windchimes. They twist in the wind and the sun reflects off them into my backyard and sunroom. Even at 3 in the morning, they will catch the reflection of the moon or a passing headlight from two streets away and flash. It makes me feels like giant eyes are out there in the night peering over at me. In the daytime it just looks like someone hung all their CDS out on a vertical clothesline.

Let me stress again how much I adore these neighbors, but I wish they would find another way to decorate their backyard - one closer to the ground, without so much reflective power!!!

Well unless they are a little bit crazy....

Usualy shiny hanging things are meant to scare away birds. My dad hung aluminum pie plates from our fruit trees to keep the birds away.

Mikeeee

 

[DisneyBeagle]

Oh, come on, that's just cool. I want one.

I know...I'm jealous. I love people with a sense of humor.

 

[DisneyBeagle]

I'm that neighbor. My next door neighbor has no children and her yard is her pride and joy. I have a lawn guy who comes every other week to mow. Aside form that there is no landscaping at all. The yard was a place for my girls to play with their friends. I don't garden and hate being out in the hot sun. Sorry neighbor but deal with it.

I don't think that you ARE that neighbor that we're talking about. As long as your lawn is mowed occasionally, that's enough for most people. As I said in one of my earlier posts, one of my neighbors has NO landscaping (no grass, it's just dirt). I said that it didn't bother me as long as they kept their weeds from getting out of control...which they didn't.

 

[sassyat30]

When I mention un-mowed lawns, I'm specifically talking about the ones that aren't mowed every Saturday at precisely 10am.

Our lawn is mowed (depending on how much rain we've had) every 7-10 days in the summer and that is plenty.

We also don't water our lawn, as it's a ridiculous waste of water. If people don't like the brown grass in the neighborhood, don't look at it.

No one in our subdivision waters their lawn...that is what rain is for.

 

[Quest4fun]

Oh, come on, that's just cool. I want one.

I must have one. I think that would be acceptable in any neighborhood where people value good food at reasonable prices.

 

[Chicago526]

No but I'm sure ours makes our neighbors cringe!

Our entire front lawn died last fall for some reason, all but dried up and blew away. Then both DH and I were sick just as leaves were in full "fall" mode and we couldn't rake. Finally got better and the weekend we were going to tackle the leaves, it snowed and stayed snowed over until a few weeks ago. Now our dead lawn is covered in leavs from last fall. We want to re-sod but have to wait for warmer weather, and the leaves are still too wet to rake. It looks awefull and I'm so emarassed!

I promise, next month we'll work on it, I swear! Don't call the city on us yet!

 

[BeNJeNWaFFLe]

For a few years my neighbors were "those" people. They are the corner lot and their backyard is enclosed with a chain link fence. So...you can see their entire yard easily. Lets see...

1. They let the landscaping go to hell. The 6ft tall evergreen bushes were left to die. They turned brown and were left there like that for over a year.
2. They let the lawn get to about 3 ft tall. (It was waist high on me!) The town had to come and mow it.
3. They had a boat in the driveway they never used nor did they keep it covered. They ran the motor ever few months, though I don't know why...it never left the driveway.
4. They put a hot tub on a hill in the middle of the backyard for all to see. It also was never used but was left to sink into the lawn.
5. The had patio furniture cusions blew off into the lawn during a windy day. Those also stayed there for over a year.
6. They had floor to ceiling bedroom windows. Those windows had no curtians, blinds or even a sheet. Their upstairs tenant had a bedroom window that faced the highly used street. She liked to get dressed in front of it while it was wide open. I accidentally looked up once while getting out of my car and saw her, she freaked and got mad. Well hello! Close the blinds next time then!
7. Thankfully they moved out in the middle of the night and the new people seem to be normal.

My new-ish neighbors on the other side:

1. Had one of those brick retaining walls (half finished) around their semi-circular driveway. A drunken friend crashed into it and it sat in pieces on the driveway for months.
2. He just built a bar in the backyard. I am dreading all his loud, drunken friends spending weeks there now.
3. He had a bobcat this morning digging up the backyard for the 3rd time in 2 years. He never did anything the first 2 times so I doubt he'll do anything with it this time.

My fiance's neighbor has a random Mack truck sitting in the driveway. She rents out the space to some company to make money. How's that for landscaping?

 

[Bunchkin]

There is a house across the street that is postioned so we can see a side view of their house. So basically we see their front yard, backyard and one side. They always have newspapers piled up in the driveway. Why not have them stopped being delivered if you're not going to read them? During the winter there must have been a couple dozen or so!!
Last summer they had a small flood in their basement from a sump pump failure and took everything out of the basement and put a good chunk in their backyard. They left some of it there!!! They have no fence so the wind blows it all around. Plus they have stuff left out from last summer's block party we all had.


The people behind us have soooo much patio furniture that blows over in the wind. They've had patio table tops break. Chairs break. So they've taken to just piling it up in the corners of their fenced yard! Very attractive!!! Oh, and they never clean up after their dogs. Yes, it's in their yard.....but the smell ISN'T!!!!!

 

[MM27]

My neighbors just painted their house peach and it is so bright that it looks like lights are on in our rooms on that side of the house because of the glow from the neighbors.

That's a step up though from the people that lived there before. They had pigeons that pooped everywhere. They would let their lawn get knee high before mowing it and then when they did mow it, the lawnmower would usually die because of the high grass so they would leave the mower in the middle of the yard for the next three weeks.

 

[nhpooh]

These neighbor's that have the yard all dug up, also has had a rug on the fence since last July. If you don't want it just put it in the trash. No I have to look at it!

 

[Quest4fun]

My neighbors just painted their house peach and it is so bright that it looks like lights are on in our rooms on that side of the house because of the glow from the neighbors.

That's a step up though from the people that lived there before. They had pigeons that pooped everywhere. They would let their lawn get knee high before mowing it and then when they did mow it, the lawnmower would usually die because of the high grass so they would leave the mower in the middle of the yard for the next three weeks.

I think we used to have the same neighbor. Do you live in Ventura, CA by any chance? They had about 4 or 5 broken wading pools amidst their overgrown lawn. There were probably a few bodies and a car or two out there as well.

Needless to say we were not allowed to play with their kids. There were once 5 but one or two disappeared in their backyard.

 

[mumom95]

I think we used to have the same neighbor. Do you live in Ventura, CA by any chance? They had about 4 or 5 broken wading pools amidst their overgrown lawn. There were probably a few bodies and a car or two out there as well.

Needless to say we were not allowed to play with their kids. There were once 5 but one or two disappeared in their backyard.

Oh my goodness, I used to live in Ventura, CA and we had a neighbor down the street that was like this. You didn't happen to live on Sunflower St. did you? Apparently the parents got so sick of the kids destorying the house that they bought an RV and parked it in the front yard, and the parents lived in the RV and the kids lived in the house. They had a pool in their back yard that they just drained and then used the pool hole as a storage are for old furniture and mattress pads.

On a side note, I miss Ventura. I loved being so close to the beach and mountains.

 

[disneymom3]

Well, we could probably be on the hated by our neighbors list. However, as for statues and such was have a very strict HOA and no one can have anything like that. We do however have plenty of weeds.

 

[Quest4fun]

Oh my goodness, I used to live in Ventura, CA and we had a neighbor down the street that was like this. You didn't happen to live on Sunflower St. did you? Apparently the parents got so sick of the kids destorying the house that they bought an RV and parked it in the front yard, and the parents lived in the RV and the kids lived in the house. They had a pool in their back yard that they just drained and then used the pool hole as a storage are for old furniture and mattress pads.

On a side note, I miss Ventura. I loved being so close to the beach and mountains.

If you're talking about the Sunflower St. off of Telephone road then yes I lived right by there. I went to Montalvo elementary and one of my friends lived off Bristol and Sunflower St.

I visited recently and had no idea how close I was to the ocean when I lived there. Perspective changes when you're all grown up.

We were pretty close to the railroad tracks which usually means we lived in Dogpatch.

 

[mumom95]

If you're talking about the Sunflower St. off of Telephone road then yes I lived right by there. I went to Montalvo elementary and one of my friends lived off Bristol and Sunflower St.

I visited recently and had no idea how close I was to the ocean when I lived there. Perspective changes when you're all grown up.

We were pretty close to the railroad tracks which usually means we lived in Dogpatch.

That is the Sunflower St. I'm talking about, off of Telephone Rd.

I taught at St. Bonaventure High School.

Ventura is a great city.

 

[Rock'n Robin]

Right now our house is 2 different colors. We had tudor on the top half of the front, and the fiberboard was rotting. We replaced it with fiber cement, but got if for free from DH's old job and the color does not match. We plan on painting this summer, but hey, I don't turn down free materials to please the neighborhood.
Now my neighbors, I love them. Unfortunately one of them has a muscle disease so the added on a master bedroom addition. My "sit in the hammock and let the setting sun warm me" is now "sit in the hammock and look at the neighbor's addition". (sigh) I do love them but my little paradise I had worked on a little bit at a time for years (plant a tree, put in a garden, buy a hammock) is pretty much worthless right now, esp. since their yard is still all torn up.
BTW I have one of those Mickey "Welcome" stones (from the flower and garden festival this year) in my front yard, right next to my small OSU gnome. I'll move them into the backyard if asked, but no one seems to mind. They are very subtle.
Robin M.

 

[Quest4fun]

Right now our house is 2 different colors. We had tudor on the top half of the front, and the fiberboard was rotting. We replaced it with fiber cement, but got if for free from DH's old job and the color does not match. We plan on painting this summer, but hey, I don't turn down free materials to please the neighborhood.
Now my neighbors, I love them. Unfortunately one of them has a muscle disease so the added on a master bedroom addition. My "sit in the hammock and let the setting sun warm me" is now "sit in the hammock and look at the neighbor's addition". (sigh) I do love them but my little paradise I had worked on a little bit at a time for years (plant a tree, put in a garden, buy a hammock) is pretty much worthless right now, esp. since their yard is still all torn up.
BTW I have one of those Mickey "Welcome" stones (from the flower and garden festival this year) in my front yard, right next to my small OSU gnome. I'll move them into the backyard if asked, but no one seems to mind. They are very subtle.
Robin M.

I mourn your loss.

No need to move things like that to your back yard. The giant windmill, toilet planter, and 54 Chevy pickup, on the other hand, must go.

 

[bbwfan]

I would LOVE to see pictures!!!!

 

[va32h]

I am "that neighbor" right now. I have a bunch of stuff on my front porch that I unloaded from my van and haven't been able to bring inside because I have a cold and feel lousy.

My neighborhood is older, so we do not have an HOA, but we do have a very strict Code Compliance squad, aided and abetted by people like my crazy neighbor who goes around with a yardstick measuring everyone's grass.

Right now I am having my fence replaced because Code Compliance considered it an eyesore (it's chain-link). I'm pretty annoyed about that, because the definition of "eyesore" is pretty subjective, and because it's my backyard fence, which faces an alley and is not even visible from the street.