Wednesday, June 06, 2018

I Don't Understand

Sometimes, life is a head-scratcher.

In the 13 years that we have lived in this place, I can recall perhaps four times that our neighbours  have mowed our small, shared front lawn.

The first of the four pairs were physically challenged owners, but they did have their son mow it once.

The next group were boys who rented, or I guess I should say young men. They were nice enough but boys they were. They did it once or perhaps not, but I think so.

The next group was true riffraff, not that they were noisy or outwardly obnoxious, but they were awful people who left the property in such a deplorable state that the place was unrentable for three years as the landlord slowly worked to rehabilitate it. Certainly, lawn maintenance was not even remotely on their minds, nor on the landlord's mind during those three years.

The present renters are also nice and quiet, and they did mow once last year, and they also take reasonably good care of their back yard.

Meanwhile, I mowed the whole lawn many times last year. Most of my side is garden and mulch except for a small bit near the sidewalk, but I always cut the whole lawn anyway. Sue weeds a lot over on that side, especially in spring when the dandelions appear. But they did cut the grass once last year, and I will take what I can get.

So it was that I was quite heartened to see her out trimming the grass on the weekend. I had already mowed it once this season, but she got out there for the second cutting before I did.

Except ...



... when I went out to check later, I realized that she had stopped before my little patch (which because or perspective looks larger in the picture than it really is). Our half is to the right of the red line, which is approximately where she stopped with her trimming.

This is beyond my comprehension. I just don't understand.

But I will continue to mow the whole thing when it is needed, for to do half (or even less) of such a small lawn is silly. Really silly.


10 comments:

Marty said...

Silly and perhaps petty?

Tabor said...

Odd. Perhaps her mind was way, way somewhere else and she failed to realize that it would only take a few minutes to do the rest? Maybe she thought you would not like the way she mowed? Lucky you as it takes my husband 2 hours to do our yard.

Christina said...

Neighbours eh? Have you spoken to her? You could come to a mutual agreement and take turns.

Mind you, easier said than done. We have some minor garden issues with our neighbour and have spoken to them, in particular regarding a wild seeded tree that is starting to take over both gardens. The guy is a controlling man, likes to be in charge and doesn't like being told what to do, even in the most reasonable and friendly manner. I know that from the arguments we have to witness through the wall and from how the poor woman parks her car at a distance when she expects him home from work so he can park right outside his door (we works away a few days at the time).

I hope you find a solution.

Marie Smith said...

Grass can be such a pain, especially where neighbours are concerned. On the other hand, we share strips of grass with neighbours on both sides and we each do our own bits. It’s worked perfectly through a number of neighbour changes. We talk about it when they move in and it has always worked, so far at least.

Joanne Noragon said...

That's how I feel about the lawn sharing around here. It's three extra mower widths to finish from your house to my drive. Just do it, otherwise it looks stupid until I get out on your schedule to finish. I mow our whole back yard, why can't you do the extra 18" of our side yard!

Mage said...

Yes, it truly is.

troutbirder said...

Threaten them to do their share mowing or persuade your government to pass a massive tax increase to fund your building a massive wall along the red line in the photograph..... Ok it's an American solution to a Canadian problem but give it some thought.

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

Puzzling for sure and we never had this issue because we did our whole property which was not shared, except for a couple of small patches in the front and back and occasionally ourselves or the neighbor would do those areas.

Jim said...

I have a through alley on the east and south sides of my property, and the "kids" with 4 children on the west side don't care that I mow right up to their driveway curb that is 18-20" from my property line. Street is on the north side, so I don't have a lawn problem. I do however have a sand cherry tree that has branches that overhand the west driveway. I try to keep them trimmed up so they can park without getting their car scratched by my tree. They are great neighbors, as are almost all of mine. The ones straight across the street are minus more than a few brain cells, but the rest of us just ignore them and we all get along fine!!
You have beautiful a beautiful flower bed. Since your neighbors get to enjoy it without any care, you'd think the lawn mowing would be a "thank you" to you for the beauty. Not happening!!

Jenn Jilks said...

I'm glad we're on 16 acres...