Okay - I'm majorly venting, but since the weather is warming up here, it's starting again. We finished building our house last summer. It is in a neighborhood with a lake out behind our house. The lake belongs to the homeowner's association. The shore of the lake on the side behind our house is our property. There is a neighborhood entrance to the other side of the lake further on down the street. People constantly walk through our back yard to go to the lake. We've tried being nice and politely letting them know they are in our back yard - didn't work. DH put up No Trespassing signs - still didn't work. I really didn't want to put up a fence, but I guess we're just going to have to. Today, 3 kids cut through our back yard, and on the way, picked up one of my dog's balls and headed off down to the lake. Now honestly, I don't care about the ball, but geez, if you're going to cut through my yard, at least have the decency to leave my stuff alone!! I walked down and said, "Can you please give me back the ball you just took? It belongs to my dog." "Oh, I'm sorry. We were just playing with it." "You know, you guys are cutting through my back yard, and I'd really appreciate it if you would use the neighborhood entrance down the street." "Oh, we can't do that. It belongs to someone." 
What I wanted to say was, "Hey genius, so does this property," but I didn't. I just said, "Well, this is our property. The entrance down the street is for people to come down here to the lake. You really need to stay out of people's back yards and respect their property." Now, these are same three boys last summer who when my kids and I were swimming in the pool just came trotting through the yard within 3 feet of my pool and act like they have a right to be there. DH walked down to the lake and talked to them - an hour later, they come right back through again. I'm sooo aggravated with the situation. We're not talking about huge acreage here. It's a regular sized neighborhood lot - it's so obvious that you are in my back yard!!
What I wanted to say was, "Hey genius, so does this property," but I didn't. I just said, "Well, this is our property. The entrance down the street is for people to come down here to the lake. You really need to stay out of people's back yards and respect their property." Now, these are same three boys last summer who when my kids and I were swimming in the pool just came trotting through the yard within 3 feet of my pool and act like they have a right to be there. DH walked down to the lake and talked to them - an hour later, they come right back through again. I'm sooo aggravated with the situation. We're not talking about huge acreage here. It's a regular sized neighborhood lot - it's so obvious that you are in my back yard!!
Also, they do not live at the house adjacent to our property that shares a property line with our large side-yard. These are just kids from somewhere around the block. We don't know who they belong to, so we can't even talk to the parents. In fact, we have called the Sheriff's Office (non-emergency number) and a deputy has come out to speak to them, and yet, still they sometimes play in our yard??!??!! I do have to say it has been a month or so since they have, but almost worse they are playing golf in the street. I am waiting for a window to be broken. 
