Operation Hide The Neighbors

I know it sounds silly, and probably a little rude, but about a month ago Josh & I started "Operation: Hide The Neighbors." Now, let me just say that we do not live in a junky, white trash neighborhood, however when the little lady next door to us passed away 5 years ago (only a short year after we bought our house) we were anticipating a great young couple would move in next to us. Unfortunately that was not so. Since it was an older house that had yet to be updated the price was rather low to allow for renovation, and these tacky out-of-towners purchased the place. Being the nosy person that I am (I mean, they were going to be MY neighbors, I had a right to ask...) I asked the Realtor who these soon-to-be neighbors were. She assured me that we had nothing to worry about because the new owner was an interior decorator from Pennsylvania. Woohoo!! No worries, right? WRONG! Either the Realtor was scared to tell me the truth or someone lied to her, because this person is not an interior decorator by any means...and they are not exterior decorators, either! Unless you call their Christmas tree lights that have been hanging from the gutters for the last 4 years or the old blue S-10 that was being used as a lawn ornament for the last year (thankfully they found the key a few weeks ago...) a fashion statement. I beg to differ...  Oh, and lest we forget the fishing boat that sat in their front yard for what seemed like forever...WITH A HOLE IN IT! It was finally disposed of after enough of us rallied against them! haha!

{Ok, Ok. So their house doesn't look THIS bad...but it could!}

So what is a good neighbor (that would be me) who mows their yard and keeps up their home supposed to do? Sit and wait I suppose, but things are beginning to get out of control. Josh & I felt like we needed to do something, but talking to these yahoo's was not the answer, so we decided to "hide" them. We planted some cedar trees that should reach 15 feet tall next to our house. We then looked into getting a privacy fence, but yowzers, that's pricey! So, that will have to be a work in progress. We wouldn't really need a privacy fence if they would mow their backyard, but the chances of that are slim to none. It hasn't been mowed in about 2 years and the mosquito's are horrible...not to mention that they have a sweet little black and white cocker-spaniel named Buddy that lives in that mess of a jungle! At least he has a dog house to escape to! They don't even mow their front yard but about 2 times a summer...and I shouldn't really call it "mow" because they use a weed-eater to cut the grass down. Yes, I'm serious.

I know that I am not the only neighbor perturbed by this craziness. I know almost everyone on our street and have discussed this "issue" with many of them, and they all agree that something should be done - but what? and how? and by golly why do I have to live smack dab next to them? I have a sweet little boy who wants to play in his back yard! The rest of the neighborhood is probably tired of seeing us in the front all of the time. Plus our house has a great back porch and we just redid all of the landscaping so that we could enjoy our backyard this summer! AND Josh just bought me this great hammock, so I am dying to spend more time lying around and reading on it!

It's kind of sad. We just did all of this great remodeling to our home and now Josh & I are tossing around the idea of moving...though we probably won't. I hate moving. Hopefully it won't come to that. Maybe they'll clean up their act, or move themselves! But all I know is something has to happen...and soon!