Consideration

My level of irritation is at an all-time high right now.

If you've followed this blog for any period of time you know how much effort I have put into my backyard and making it nice. I have a looong way to go, but I think it's a good start. One of the reasons why I'm putting so much effort into making a nice backyard is because the views from the back of the house are spectacular and I want to have a nice place to sip my morning coffee or enjoy my afternoon cocktail.

The guy who leases the land behind us is putting in a new orchard. Long story short, they dug up lots of very large rocks while preparing the land. With numerous suitable places available to put the rocks, he chose the one that is basically right in my backyard. Here's the pile when they first started. I am about 5'2" and the pile is now taller than I am and about twice this wide. When I am standing in my house looking out the window, it is right at eye level and is the only thing I see.

Is it just me, or does this seem particularly inconsiderate of him, considering how many other places on the property he could have put the rocks where they'd be out of the way and out of sight of everyone?

I talked to him yesterday about moving them. He pretty much told me that it was his property and he could put them wherever he wanted. I politely pointed out that according to county regulations, they can't be within 10 feet of the property line and right now they are about 2 feet. I had heard that this guy was a real jerk, and I knew that he would probably be a spiteful jerk and would just move the pile back 10 feet, so I had planned to offer to pay him to move them to another part of our property that we don't use and can't see (a win-win for everyone). But before I could even get to that, he went ballistic (totally defensive and agitated; communication 101 classic signs of a guy who knows he's wrong but is too big of a jerk to admit it). He accused me of threatening him and then went on a tirade about how I'm basically a parasitic homeowner and he's THE FARMER. The conversation did not go well, probably because this guy was the poster child for bullies in high school. I had heard that the guy was a Class A Jerk, and he certainly lived up to his reputation.

At the end of the conversation he did say that he'd push them over the edge down into the area where the creek is on the left. There is a large area right above the creek where they can go without interfering with the movement of water through there. He said he would move them yesterday, but at the end of the day not only was the pile still there, but he had added to it. Under normal circumstances I would have called him to ask whether he had changed his mind and to find out if I should make my own plans to move them, but I figured he'd probably just accuse me of harassing him. At one point during our conversation he said I could feel free to move them myself, so that's exactly what I started doing last night. I used a little wagon we have to start moving the small rocks to the other side of our property that is out of sight and not usable anyway. I moved about 10 wagon loads. Once he has finished planting the trees and repairing our irrigation line (which he dug up but never bothered to mention to us), I'll use our small tractor to start moving them in larger quantities. Most will get moved to the other side of our property, but I am hoping to roll the larger ones down into the creek that is to the left of the pile. I really don't have any spare time to do this, so it will probably take me all summer.

In the meantime, if anyone needs some rocks, let me know. I'll give you a really good deal. :)

Update: They moved the rocks on Saturday. It took four guys and a backhoe four hours to do it, so I'm really happy they moved them and I didn't have to. Yippee! :D