An Ugly Day

It's not a nice day today. I'm glad I got my tree planted yesterday. Today it's gray and drizzly and really windy -- sustained NW winds around 20 mph with gusts to 45 mph up here on top of the hill.

It's a good thing I've got most of my hanging birdfeeders wired up because otherwise they would be horizontal and I'd lose all the seed. The chickadees can barely hang on to pick up their mealworms! And there's SNOW in the forecast again (curses!!) I'd better remember to plug in the heated birdbath again for the predicted overnight temps in the mid-20's. The thing that makes it really hard to take is that only a week ago (3/26) we had the record high temp of 81 degrees.

If you look real close at the center of this picture, you'll notice the green coated clothesline wire going from the center of the pole out to each feeder.

Because it's an ugly day, it's a good day to post the pictures of my neighbor's ugly yard. My dad was worried that I might be setting myself up for trouble by posting these pictures, but I assured Dad there was nothing here that would reveal my neighbor's identity and unless you know where I live, you couldn't figure it out either. Because our yards are big and long, the views you're about to see are visible only from my yard.

Here's the house -- if you look real close you can see the patio door but no deck. The deck was rotten and they took it off 2 years ago; it's never been replaced. The red truck is one of several abandoned vehicles parked in their yard.

A little background . . . I put up the cheesy little wire fence probably about 10 years ago when the previous neighbors were living there and let their dog run loose. I was sick of their dog coming over to our yard to bug my dogs and because their dog was kind of stupid, the fence was enough to stop it -- even though the fence doesn't go the entire length of the yard. I was glad the fence was there when the current homeowners took over because they have absolutely no concept of respect for the the neighborhood or the neighbor's property lines. Hence, all the s*!# piled up along the fence.

Here are their burning barrels. The first time they burn when I've got laundry hanging out I'm turning them into the PCA! The shed was started about 5 years ago. The finally got the roof on last summer and wrapped it in Tyvek. This winter they got the doors put on. Maybe next year they'll put some siding on . . .

Out my kitchen window the view of their place has been completely obscured by a double row of white pines. Along the fence, I've planted some elderberry and viburnum shrubs, but they're taking a while to grow. I'm going to have to do some serious fertilizing this summer. There are some "bird planted" grapes growing on the fence and I may have to find a few more grape plants to plant along there also this summer.

I live with the hope that once the shed is completed, maybe they will move all this crap inside!

The really sad thing about their whole place is that the owner is self-employed as a "home improvement specialist." He's stupid enough to leave his trailer (advertising the name and phone number of his business) parked in front of their place. (I'm not including any pictures of the front of their house because it's so horrible and you would be disgusted and also saddened seeing his two dogs chained out in front of the house.)

To the far right of this picture and the far left of the picture below is a huge pile of construction debris. A couple of years ago he had another pile like this that they burned one Saturday night. You can bet if he does that again this year, the sheriff's department will get a call about whether there's a legal burning permit. (I am definitely the neighbor you never want to piss off!)
I fantasize about the day we move away from here and I'm going over to their house to ring the doorbell and when they answer telling them that they were the WORST NEIGHBOR I'VE EVER HAD and then driving away. The other fantasy I have centers around winning the lottery, buying their place, evicting them and then tearing everything down and turning the entire 5 acres into wildlife habitat.

For now, I'll just concentrate on turning my 5 acres into wildlife habitat and planting enough trees and shrubs to eventually obscure this ugly disaster of a yard.