July 17, 2014

July 17, 2014

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Behaviorist

Dear Reader, 

A delicious smelling first flower came out on the Gardenia this writer and his wife had recently planted. It is also so nice to see things grow. His wife is really into gardening and she planted a vegetable patch, where she grows tomatoes, squash, cantaloupe, beans and eggplant. So far, the harvest has been good and it is remarkable how fast things grow. Each plant is embedded in a mount and it is nice to look at, especially since the rest of the yard is quite a mess. There was a huge tree they had cut because it was hanging over their house. It had roots above the grass which went throughout the yard, so they had tree service saw down the tree and grind down those roots. They still have to think about what they want to do with that part of their yard. Right now it lays bare, but it is okay for the time being.  

It has cooled down significantly and a breeze enters the bedroom through the open window. Today this writer wants to write about his surroundings. He is sitting on his bed and his wife is getting ready for the day in front of the mirror in the bathroom. The cat Kayla is sitting right behind her and is hoping to get her attention for some brushing before she goes. From where he sits this writer can see the fence of the yard and the hedge of the neighbor which has again reached the height of the fence. Months ago, this hedge had gotten so huge that is was hanging heavily over the fence. This writer had talked about it with the neighbor and had asked her if she was okay if he cut it back. The neighbor responded very positively and had even given him her saw and clippers. She said repeatedly to cut off as much as he thought was necessary. 

This writer stood on a ladder and began trimming the hedge. Since he had a bow saw it was an easy job. Since the neighbor, a divorced woman, who lives by herself, had encouraged him to cut off as much as he liked, this writer thought he would do her a great favor by cutting the hedge to the seize of the fence. It was a job he enjoyed doing. He was sure he was doing her a favor by saving her money she didn’t need to spend on having it done by a gardener. When she saw the result, however, she screamed and complained that he had cut the hedge too short. Although she had repeatedly stated that she wanted this writer to cut off as much as he wanted, she didn’t like what she saw when her hedge, which had given her a sense of privacy, had been cut back to the seize of the fence. She came to this writer’s house and demanded a solution. This writer was at a loss about what to do and felt very sorry for upsetting his new neighbor this way. There was nothing that could be done. The hedge had been cut and this writer decided to buy her Dutch chocolate and cookies to ease the pain. It seemed to calm her down, but she kept being upset about the fact that he had bend over the fence and had cut her hedge too short. This writer had been unaware of the fact that he had working on her property. She insisted he had violated her rights and threatened to sue if she didn’t agree with the solution we offered. 

This writer and his wife, who recently moved into their new house, wanted to do everything possible to get this angry neighbor of their backs. It was eventually settled by buying her a big umbrella, which, instead of the hedge, would then give her shade in her bed room. Initially, this writer had been feeling friendly toward the neighbor, but after this he felt taken advantage of. When they had just moved in this writer had helped his her various times carrying things into her house, but after this debacle he was  no longer inclined to do this. Now the hedge has started to grow back and is reaching again above the fence. We all knew that this was going to happen, but it didn’t matter to her. It still matters to this writer though. He knew when he was cutting the hedge that it would grow back beautifully within one season. So much for neighborly favors. 

The other neighbor, who knows this lady, agreed that she intimidated us with legal action to get her way. In about a month the hedge will have grown three feet above the fence and she will have her shade back. May be we can ask the umbrella back, which cost us more than hundred dollars? I think we should. By the way, she has a big dead tree close to the fence, which needs to be cut down. She will have to pay the tree service fees to have that job done. This writer had wanted to do this for her, but is no longer willing to help her with anything. The  hedge has grown back and that is nice, but the relationship did not grow back.