Mothball Neighbors Making Me Miserable

[sjrec]

I think going over in your scrubs is a great idea.
Maybe take a bottle of wine over, welcome to the neighborhood, and then ask why?? Then the whole “maybe you didn’t realize, but...”
I don’t blame you for being upset.
And I’m another cranky home owner that doesn’t like your dog peeing on my lawn or flowers -he doesn’t really have to go, he’s marking his territory. And then every dog that walks by will want to do the same and soon there’ dead flowers or a shrub with a nasty brown patch.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

We have new next door nieghbors and they seem to have covered their yard in mothballs.

Ummmm, what?

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Ok, hold on a second. These people are killing bees. These people suck.

 

[GreatLakes]

I never knew this was a thing and I can't imagine how many mothballs it would take to cover any of our yards in them. It would have to be in millions.

 

[Happyinwonerland]

Ummmm, what?

I never knew this was a thing and I can't imagine how many mothballs it would take to cover any of our yards in them. It would have to be in millions.

Well, not literally covered, but they have placed them around the perimeter of their house.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Totally against this. I love my pollinators. This would be a "knock this off" or move situation for me.

 

[Imzadi]

I think going over in your scrubs is a great idea.
Maybe take a bottle of wine over, welcome to the neighborhood, and then ask why?? Then the whole “maybe you didn’t realize, but...”
I don’t blame you for being upset.
And I’m another cranky home owner that doesn’t like your dog peeing on my lawn or flowers -he doesn’t really have to go, he’s marking his territory. And then every dog that walks by will want to do the same and soon there’ dead flowers or a shrub with a nasty brown patch.

Yes, have the attitude more of an FYI: "I noticed you put down a layer of mothballs. I was wondering why? Perhaps you don't know, but as a nurse, I want to tell you that mothballs are quite toxic to people & pets. I've seen when people come into the hospital, after accidentally poisoning themselves with household chemicals they didn't know could make they so ill. I'd hate for that to happen to you, your family or your pooch. . ."

Then see what they say. Either they really don't know that. They read some tip on the Internet to try. (We all know everything we read on the Internet is true. ) Or they are OCD and THIS is why they had to move from their last place.

 

[mom2rtk]

Yes, have the attitude more of an FYI: "I noticed you put down a layer of mothballs. I was wondering why? Perhaps you don't know, but as a nurse, I want to tell you that mothballs are quite toxic to people & pets."

Then see what they say. Either they really don't know that. They read some tip on the Internet to try. (We all know everything we read on the Internet is true. ) Or they are OCD and THIS is why they had to move from their last place.

I agree. It doesn't have to be confrontational.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

Yes, we’ve had dogs pee on our annual flowers and it killed them.

Our own dog killed a small evergreen tree that we planted near the house. We lived on a farm with many acres for him to pee on but the darn dog insisted on doing his business on that particular tree until it turned brown. Not defending "mothball neighbors" because I have asthma and if the smell really is that strong then their actions could kill me. Strong smells also trigger my migraines so if the asthma flare didn't kill me, I'd wish I was dead once the migraines hit.

 

[Imzadi]

I do the passive aggressive WiFi thing. Naming our WiFi “ please stop mowing at 6 am, it’s not burn season, and your dog was almost ran over this morning “. It surprisingly works

I have all my devices set on auto-connect to WiFi. I never see other people's WiFi names, nor did I pay attention to what anyone else's names are. So, something like that would never work with me, as I'd never see your "message."

One neighbor has been too lazy to walk her dog and just throws him out the door. The poor thing was hit last fall and limps. She was at it again and he was almost hit the other day. Either she saw the message or someone talked to her because the dog hasn’t been running loose.

Or maybe the dog was hit again and it's dead. Or more likely, someone called the ASPCA that a dog was running loose and they sent a dog catcher or the neighbor was fined for having an unleashed dog.

 

[Happyinwonerland]

The health dept came by today and talked to them, gave them some info. The moth balls are still in place

I'm considering making a yard sign that says "Your mothballs are poison!" and putting it close the the border of our yards.

 

[CarolAnn856]

The health dept came by today and talked to them, gave them some info. The moth balls are still in place

I'm considering making a yard sign that says "Your mothballs are poison!" and putting it close the the border of our yards.

I was really sympathetic at first. But even though I'm sure the smell is awful, I'm having trouble staying sympathetic. You refused to try talking and called the health department on them instead, you are eatching their house enough to know that the HD came and gave them pamphlets, you haven't given them a chance to clean them up (maybe they're going to but couldn't right away), and you are upset about their dog that must have been pretty quiet for you to not know was there for an entire week. I sincerely hope you're joking about the signs, but at this point I'm not sure if you are or not.

Instead of sitting there fuming, do the adult thing, go over, take them some banana bread or chocolate chip cookies, and introduce yourself. You would out yourself if you mention the mothballs, but maybe you can get a line of communication going.

 

[GreatLakes]

The health dept came by today and talked to them, gave them some info. The moth balls are still in place

I'm considering making a yard sign that says "Your mothballs are poison!" and putting it close the the border of our yards.

I don't get this. Just go over and talk to them. I would have done that before calling the country or health department or whatever. If after a talk they didn't remove them or they were rude I'd escalate it but there is no reason for this to start off confrontational.

 

[mom2rtk]

I don't get this. Just go over and talk to them. I would have done that before calling the country or health department or whatever. If after a talk they didn't remove them or they were rude I'd escalate it but there is no reason for this to start off confrontational.

I don't either. The sign is even more confrontational than knocking on the door and talking to them.

 

[larissawbb]

I have all my devices set on auto-connect to WiFi. I never see other people's WiFi names, nor did I pay attention to what anyone else's names are. So, something like that would never work with me, as I'd never see your "message."



Or maybe the dog was hit again and it's dead. Or more likely, someone called the ASPCA that a dog was running loose and they sent a dog catcher or the neighbor was fined for having an unleashed dog.

She responded with kids let him out on her WiFi. She had a dog hit before on our street and lost him. Our houses are so close that , we see 9 different network names come up. I guess it might not be helpful in every situation.

 

[CarolAnn856]

She responded with kids let him out on her WiFi. She had a dog hit before on our street and lost him. Our houses are so close that , we see 9 different network names come up. I guess it might not be helpful in every situation.

It's not that you are close enough to see other networks, it that most people never even look at their network options when connecting at home. I think the last time I clicked on the network options while at home was when I connected my laptop to my wifi - three years ago. I'd never see that kind of message. And half the people I know have no clue how to change the name of their wifi anyway. It's a cool coincidence that you both check it frequently and know how to change them!

 

[Wishing on a star]

If the Health Department has come out, they must consider this to be an issue.
Exactly what is the policy on this level of Mothballs/Toxins???
Are they 'allowed' or not.

If the Health Department does consider this to be a violation, then, still, that doesn't mean that the problem is cleaned up right away. i would guess that they would get a warning and a XX-Day notice to take care of the issue???

PS: while some might not agree with the OP's venting and her way of handling it... That does not have anything to do with the fact that these smelly toxic mothballs are a very real problem for her.

I was at home with a kid and a large dog... I had neighbors who thought it was like their favorite daily past-time to go out and burn crap on their burn-piles, making it impossible for me to breathe and for my kid and my dog to enjoy being outside.

I KNOW HOW BAD THIS KIND OF A PROBLEM CAN BE!!!!

 

[cabanafrau]

She responded with kids let him out on her WiFi. She had a dog hit before on our street and lost him. Our houses are so close that , we see 9 different network names come up. I guess it might not be helpful in every situation.

This would be my husband's idea of a fun evening's challenge.

 

[nephthys43]

I'm going to admit that I've done the mothball thing. We had feral cats living under our bedroom window (apartments). Neither the complex nor the city would do anything about it. I was tired of smelling pee when I had my windows open. I put mothballs out for like a week. The cats relocated and I cleaned it up.

 

[mom2rtk]

The cats relocated.......

Or crawled off to die somewhere.