Intolerable Neighbor Rant

[Kitsa]

I'm sure that there are worse neighbors out there than these. However.

I've about had it with these people. They act as if the entire duplex belongs to them. Their kids play in our yard (not theirs, because it's studded with dogshit). Speaking of dogshit, when they first moved in they allowed their dog to crap all over our yard in addition to their own. It eased up after they saw me collecting it all in a large paper bag...they might have wondered if I had any projects in mind. I don't mind if someone has a dog, dogs are great, but at least clean up the shit!

One kid hangs out in our driveway, sitting with his back to our garage door. His mom doesn't seem to give a rat's ass. I live in fear that one day we'll unknowingly back out of our garage and roll right over him. He also steals and tortures the mantises I keep in my garden for pest control, even after I tell him to leave them alone. And I notice that almost every time I catch him hanging around our mailbox, we receive word from the cable company or Netflix or whomever that they never got what we sent them. (I sent a letter to the postmaster that some of our mail was going missing- no response).

The UPS guy will not drop off here because he says they take packages.

On most sunny days, our ENTIRE shared driveway is filled with their car-repair projects. They have one functional car, one functional truck, and two junkers that they don't have a problem leaving parked right in front of OUR house. Sometimes one of their two bass boats is parked crosswise across the shared driveway, their yard, or both. I mean, they seriously do seem to think the entire property is theirs.

They had a garage sale and never told us, and we grinned and bore it as the property was filled with nibby old ladies and their Buicks. A few months later, we had one and didn't tell them (I wanted to, but they don't speak to me) and they acted like we'd taken a dump on their doorstep.

They use their garage as a family room. They have a TV and couches in there. Which is fine, whatever, but when we use it as a garage (you know, the way we're SUPPOSED to?), power tools or whatever on a weekend afternoon, they pound on the garage wall because we're interrupting the game or Nascar race or whatever.

Unfortunately, our landlord is a very nonconfrontational sort of guy and bitching to him would do no good. I've tried very hard to be nice to these people, but the husband is the only one who's done so much as return a wave. Nothing out of the mother or any of the kids. They pretend I'm not there.

We'd never dream of letting an animal of ours crap in their yard, or parking our junker cars in front of their house (not that we have any, or that we could, because most of the time they have one of their bass boats parked there). And we sure as hell wouldn't pound on the garage wall if someone was hammering or using a drill in there on a Saturday afternoon. That's what garages are for! And my two kids aren't going to be out of me until later this summer, but you'd better believe I'd never let them hang out in the other family's driveway or let them go through other people's mailboxes!

Very, very aggravating.