This is odd...

[Freds]

I saw something a little odd this morning and I feel like saying something about it. It concerns my neighbor and his leaves. Now first off I'd like to say that this is my favorite neighbor. We get along great and are always helping one another out. I am not trying to start one of those bad neighbor topics, but what he's done is just not like him. I don't think his actions were intended to affect me in any way, but they inevitably will and basically already have, hence the post.

He lives to the south of me and his house, which is closer to the road than mine (further west), is surrounded by trees. Aside from an Oak and a few pines, I hardly have trees on the front of my property where my house, pole barn and business sit.
In the four years I've lived here I have never seen anyone in the neighborhood pick up a rake and rake leaves. They get ran over with the mower and blow away towards our back fields with the normally west winds. Today the wind is strong and coming from the south. He is out there feverishly raking the leaves that surround his house across his driveway onto my property. The wind is of course making things very easy for him. This really struck me as odd, first because I've never seen him raking leaves before, second because he's raking them onto my property and third because I have to deal with them now. This had to be obvious. I'm not saying I don't get a light scattering of leaves in my front yards, but nothing like this 60' x 60' layer I'm going to have to deal with. Because they are in this huge pile I'm not sure if the wind will take care of them or not. Maybe over time or as they dry up.... but I doubt before I mow. The winds are strong, it has started to rain and they are sitting there in the front corner of my yard like I raked them there.

I'm hoping I can get the mower out within a day or two to try to mulch them all up so they won't create a solid wet layer that will kill my newly planted grass, or at least get them chopped up some so they don't all blow against my buildings. I imagine between my grass and the leaves I will either have to go fairly slow or use a higher setting in that area. I've been mowing twice a week the past three weeks so that my grass clippings are almost disappearing in the grass so as not to create a layer of dead grass, hoping my yard will come back strong next year from the draught we had, now I have this. I'm just not used to dealing with all these leaves.
/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[thcri]

If he is out there right now I would go out there and just kindly ask him what he plans on doing with the leaves now that he has pushed them on your newly seeded lawn. Tell him them leaves can't stay there as it will destroy the new grass. If the wind just blew them over there, that is one thing, but if he is actually raking them over there there I would think he responsible. When I lived in town we always made sure our leaves were picked up ASAP so they wouldn't get into others lawn.

murph

 

[JJT]

Fred, If that were my neighbor, I'd simply mow the leaves. If he did it again, I'd have a discussion with him. If he did it a third time, I'd put up a snow fence. Of course the best time to talk to him was when he was raking. Why didn't you ask him what he was doing?

 

[RonR]

I'd be cautious not to give him the impression that you want him to move them off your yard--he might mow them with a 10,000 pound tractor that will cut ruts in your new grass.

I'd make the opportunity to mow it on a day when it could all blow back his way.................

Have fun,
ron

 

[Freds]

Update. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
He must have looked at them and thought a bit because he has since taken his mower and mowed/mulched them from my yard back into his driveway. If the chopped up leaves blow over now, at least it will be more natural and they'll be scattered about.
Maybe he was just burnin' off some steam this morning and not really paying attention. Sometimes I get in one of those workin' moods where I'll look up and say, what the heck am I doing? /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
JJT, If we weren't such good neighbors I probably would have walked over and said something. It would be easier to find the right words if we were feuding over something /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm glad it worked out for you. My neighbor and I don't have a fence, but generally know where the line is. He wanted to burn some brush and asked if he could do it in an area on my side of the line. I said sure, so he piled it all up and then nothing happened.

About two weeks of nothing, I casually asked him when he was going to burn that pile of brush. He said he'd been real busy, but would get right on it, and he did.

Just a friendly question is all it took.

But I was also thinking about pushing it back on his side of the line in the middle of his road that runs along our boundry.

Now I 'm glad I was civil about it.

Eddie

 

[beenthere]

I'm wondering why you aren't over there either helping him or at least out there talking to him, as neighbors do? Of course, I don't know your situation (health, etc.) so it's just a "wonder" that I have. Fortunately for me, my leaves don't blow on my neighbors, so I don't have to worry about "my" leaves. However, I do get my neighbors leaves, like you, when the wind blows. I just figure the wind is in their favor, and I pick them up on the 3 acres of lawn that gets their leaves along with my hickory trees.
However, my 'neighbor' complaint is their dog that they let 'dump' their load on MY lawn. Bugs the heck out of me. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Freds]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I'm wondering why you aren't over there either helping him or at least out there talking to him, as neighbors do? )</font>

/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Good one! I'm going to *help* him rake his pile of leaves onto my yard. lol.
If you read my second post (maybe you were still typing yours) you'll see that I really didn't know what to say to him about it. I didn't want to cause a rift and apparently he didn't either because he took care of the leaves himself. Sometimes things work out if you just leave them alone, but you're right, sometimes you need to help them along a little. I'm gald I didn't go over and say anything to him.

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( However, I do get my neighbors leaves, like you, when the wind blows )</font>

Seems like you might be a little off topic... I get a scattering of leaves when the wind blows, I imagine someone gets a scattering of mine, too. There's a bit of difference between wind blowing leaves around and someone picking a windy day where the direction he is raking deposits them all onto your yard... That's why I thought it was odd.
No harm done.

 

[DrRod]

As for the dumping dog -- get a bag of "steer manure" fertilizer and fertilize your lawn. The dog will love it and most likely roll around in it. After the second time the owner has to deal with "smelly dog syndrome" he will no longer let the dog run loose on your property.

 

[Marlowe]

Even good neighbors do some things that bug us now and then. I've had the same neighbors for twenty eight years. I'm sure I've done some things that bug them too. I've often cut the grass next to their drive and left leaves blown on the concrete. I make an effort to clean it up a bit as soon as I can. Sometimes it's just a matter of seeing things from a different perspective.

I was going to suggest that you just give it time and see what the neighbor eventually did about the leaves, but I see that he did the right thing. No wonder you like this guy.

Tom