It was these very same neighbours who strategically had thinned their side of my hedge to facilitate their view of us and our yard. Being slightly rankled by this, and to ensure our privacy, I encouraged the hedge to thicken by diligently fertilizing and watering it. The neighbours, figuring out my strategy, responded by leaning a tall ladder up against their side of the hedge, which enabled them to spy on us. I called attention to this fact in a volume that could be heard at least a mile away. Obviously, the folks next door were not pleased. My announcement to all and sundry spurred the neighbours to launch a letter campaign. These letters accused me (us) of spying on them while in their bedroom. They should be so flattered!! Despite the Superwoman powers they ascribed to me, I cannot see through walls and thick draperies. On occasion, I do climb my hilly backyard when watering or gardening and while there, I look off in the distance, hoping to glimpse the distant waterway and mountains. In their fickle minds, this constituted my spying on the neighbours.
My deck furniture was angled in such a way as to allow me to admire my hillside garden and listen to the stream I built, and avoid the view of them next door. There is absolutely no way I could purposefully view them from my lounge chair; anyway, why ruin my day?!
Do these same neighbours honour me with the same courtesy I strive to give them? No way!! They sit on their deck in such a way as to monitor my every move and that of my family when we are outside in our own yard. My family stopped going into the back unless absolutely necessary. I carried on as usual, and when feeling their penetrating glare, I'd turn a harsh gaze towards them with the goal to embarrass them enough to turn their eyes away. But did they? Not a chance! Mooning them passed through my mind, but I rejected the idea. Why give them the thrill of their pathetic lives?!
In one of their missives, the folks complained that rainwater flowed down from our guttered roof, bypassing the downpipes and flowed into their yard, thus causing flooding. Therefore, they felt, we should replace their drain tiles. I had noted that they had a water sock attached to the end of their down-pipe, thus facilitating a mini flood. I pointed this out as I refused their request. They called the district inspector to examine the area. He did and could barely contain his laughter. He supported my refusal to buy the neighbours new drainage tiles.
Did this finally stop their harassment? No way. Being true pains in the butt, these same people turned their demands in another direction. They decided that our garage storage space was situated a tad too close to the property line and needed to be removed. The shed provided us with privacy from their prying eyes, and no way were we going to sacrifice that. Building permits proved it was built according to code and within the property line. Seething, I declared that I'd take the shed down and replace it with a bloody big one that was not built to code. My proposed shed would obstruct their view of us and our property even more. That ended that demand.
