Invasive Neighbor Starts War Over Tree Droppings, Ends Terribly For Him

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mattstaff
Aug 14, 2021 5:00 PM EDT

Unfortunately, far too many of us have found ourselves in situations where we realize that we're living next to absolutely nightmarish neighbors. It sounds like this guy had his hands full with a neighbor who couldn't be bothered to respect the clear boundaries that were in place. And then, almost as if it were inevitable, the neighbor ends up crossing one of those hard lines in the sand that can't be crossed. You don't mess with someone's trees, man. 

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  • 01
    Font - r/pettyrevenge u/silverjaydog • 3d + Join 1 2 1 e 4 3 3 Tree guys vs. Pool guys -I win, but so does he, after he moves away Classic pool guys vs. tree guys. I'm a tree guy. Neighbor behind me was a pool guy. And a prairie dog - meaning the kind of neighbor that likes to peek over everyone's fence and get in their business. And a d- bag, but that's just ad hominem at this point. We'll call him PD for Prairie Dog. His wife? PDW. PD is a contractor, and likes to "fix" everyone's sh*t. He tri
    via u/silverjaydog
  • 02
    Font - So my wife is out back one day and PD pokes his head over the fence to tell her our Chinese hackberry trees we have growing in the yard are dropping sh*t in his pool and on his deck and ruining everything. Now my wife and I have recognized this and in fact had an appointment with an arborist to take a look to see if we could treat the trees to make it stop fruiting. These things are big and beautiful and we don't want to take them out if we can avoid it. Said appointment was a couple week
    via u/silverjaydog
  • 03
    Font - My wife tells him we'd rather get the opinion of an expert and then he asks her the dreaded question all wives hate: "Is your husband home? Let me talk to him." Now my wife is not to be trifled with. I commend her for not knifing him where he stood. Instead, she comes inside where l'm watching a movie with my sons and says to me, "Go out and talk to the neighbor before I do something I regret. He wants to take out the trees." She explains the scenario, I thank her for her restraint and fo
    via u/silverjaydog
  • 04
    Font - When I tell him that we are going to wait for the opinion of an expert, he tells me that he is going to have to see a copy of my homeowners insurance. This is a little bit out of left field for me, and so I simply roll my eyes and say "yeah you know what? I'll go right inside and get that for you. Wait here." He knows I'm being sarcastic at this point and tells me that the trees have to come out because the roots are growing on his side and there's no way they can stay. So now, we are tal
    via u/silverjaydog
  • 05
    Font - The next day, I am sitting in my backyard enjoying a cold drink and barbecuing up some meat to enjoy. I notice PD standing on the fence trimming the tree branches that had grown on his side all the way up to infinity, as is his right to do. That didn't make the activity any less jerky, but whatever. He notices me sitting in the back yard and gives me a look. I smile and raise my drink, and he goes back to trimming the trees. All the time, he has a sour look on his face and keeps glancing
    via u/silverjaydog
  • 06
    Font - A few minutes later prairie dog wife, PDW, sticks her head up over top of the fence and barks, this is funny??" To which I replied up at PD, still standing on the fence, "You told on me to your wife? Smooth move." At this point, PDW gets pretty livid, and starts going on a tirade about how we have ruined the concrete with the droppings from the trees. I reply that I have concrete as well and that the stains come up pretty easily with some powdered detergent, and that's got to be a lot les
    via u/silverjaydog
  • 07
    Font - But the gloves came off when I received a text the next day from my wife as she got home from work and I was still at the office. It was a picture of the roots of my tree completely severed and cut away from the fence. My wife had a few choice words to say about it. So I came home, and I called my local police department. Now I live in a decent sized city, but the city services are all kind of like Mayberry, where everyone knows each other and still gives you that small town feel. I like
    via u/silverjaydog
  • 08
    Font - I chuckle and tell the officer "message received," and he asks me for PD's phone number so he can call him up and ask him about what happened personally. I happily oblige him and give him PD's number (which PD had graciously given me to call when I was ready to have him help me take the trees out), and the officer tells me he will call me back as soon as he has spoken to PD.
    via u/silverjaydog
  • 09
    Font - Less than a half hour later, I get a call back from the officer, who tells me "Well, he cut your roots, that much is for sure. He admitted it to me. But he claims that he did it from his side of the fence. Now I don't know how that's possible without having the world's longest arms because your backyard fence has to be six or 7 feet tall, right?" I laugh. He continues, "Because he admitted it, he's liable if the tree dies. I don't know if you have investigated tree law, but it's really ex
    via u/silverjaydog
  • 10
    Font - I never heard from PD about those trees ever again. Eventually, we had the trees treated so they stopped dropping sh*t everywhere. But I waited until PD moved away before removing the trees entirely. The root system was getting a bit out of control, and they started affecting the next door neighbors that I actually like. I wouldn't want to cause them any damage. They are nice people after all. I should've called my former neighbor to help me. "Hey Prairie Dog! l'm ready to take the trees
    via u/silverjaydog

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