Monday, June 2, 2008

A Boundary Issue


What, do you think, are the chances of Montana taking over the state zoning laws in Idaho? Slim? What if Washington state decided to start managing the Idaho State parks? Unlikely? Suppose Oregon decided that Idaho would really benefit if they too, like Oregon, insisted on having only gas station employees pump gas and made it illegal for car owners to do it? Unbelievable, not? So imagine my surprise when I returned to my house on Saturday afternoon to find my entire lawn mowed. This year I've been working on changing my lawn from a 2 1/2 hour lawn moving job to a half hour lawn mowing job (actually, more like 45 minutes). I thought it was looking good. I planted 17 chokecherry trees and 16 raspberry bushes to begin to fill it in. In a couple years it would start looking pretty good. But someone else thought differently. Someone, I don't know who, mowed it for me. They even mowed over at least 3 of the chokecherry trees - there may be more gone that that, I'm too upset to look them over carefully. I suspect this person, whomever they are, thinks they did a good freaking deed. Three of my neighbors, seeing me limp around the block, offered to mow my lawn for me. I thanked them and turned them down, explaining that I wanted to have more biodiversity in my lawn and expand the deer highway that runs behind my house and the neighbor's woods. Our neighborhood is the kind where it's OK to have a fairly wild lawn. So I don't think it's any of those three neighbors. I would never mow any body's lawn without knowing it was okay with them first. What can they be thinking that would make it okay to mow my lawn without asking? And what do I do about it? Knock on doors and ask, "Did you mow my lawn?" And then read them the riot act? Do nothing and run the risk of it happening again? Put up a sign saying, "Check with homeowner before mowing." Or better yet, "No trespassing." Last winter someone cleared my driveway without asking. I was grateful for that but also confused because at first I thought the man I hired to do it had done it. But Jerry has moved out so I know it isn't him. What is next? Will they start trimming my trees or paving my driveway? I really resent this random act of lawn mowing. I feel like somebody thinks they know better than I do about my place. If they agreed to pay half the mortgage, I'd let them have some of the decision making power.

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