A person shared his story after receiving a notice that a pest inspection had been scheduled for his condo during normal working hours. The inspection was aimed at several units because mice had reportedly become a problem in the building. What made the situation frustrating was that the person had not seen any signs of…
A person shared his story after buying a condo in a small six-unit community and getting pulled into an unexpected gardening dispute. Everything seemed ordinary until the HOA president contacted him about a noticeable increase in the community’s water bill. Since every unit shared that bill through the HOA dues, the sudden increase had everyone…
A person shared a story about a homeowner in Plymouth, Minnesota, who decided her ordinary suburban lawn could become something much more alive. Instead of keeping a traditional stretch of grass, she filled the yard with native plants and created a natural landscape designed to support local wildlife. At the time she planted everything, there…
A person shared his story after watching his neighbor dramatically change the landscape around his property. The leafy canopy that once shaded his yard had been cut back, taking away much of the greenery and cool shade he had grown accustomed to. But then one particular tree was removed, and this was not just another…
A person shared his story after coming home from work and discovering that another large tree in his co-op courtyard was being removed. The property had more than five mature trees, some estimated to be at least 50 years old, and several had already disappeared over the previous couple of years. What bothered him most…
A family living on the edge of a sprawling Southwest city had spent years enjoying their backyard, even though the desert began just beyond their property. Their home sat about forty feet from their neighbor’s house, with a stone wall dividing the two properties and giving everyone a reasonable amount of privacy. For years, there…
A person shared his story about a teenager who had turned the quiet street around their homes into his personal cricket ground. The boy, who was around tenth-grade age, regularly played in the street and seemed to have no problem sending cricket balls flying into nearby gardens. At first, the neighbors treated it as an…
A person shared his story about buying a house with one particularly troublesome feature: a fence so badly deteriorated that replacing it seemed inevitable. He was the kind of homeowner who preferred doing repairs himself, partly to save money and partly because he wanted the finished work done properly. When the neighboring homeowner also complained…
A person shared his story about a gardening situation that started with a few trees planted in a relative’s yard. The trees had originally been planted with the neighbor’s permission, so everyone seemed comfortable with the arrangement. For a while, there was nothing especially dramatic about the setup. Then the neighboring property was rented to…
A person shared his story after his girlfriend, an avid gardener, planted a young chokecherry tree in their backyard. The tree was only about eight feet tall, but it had somehow become a major topic of discussion with the neighbors. At first, the homeowners thought the issue might be easy to solve by simply moving…