# This just peeves me



## sheiler1963 (Nov 23, 2011)

We are in the middle of the worst drought since the Dust Bowl. The crops have been dried up and dead since June. Just about everyone has been doing everything and anything they can to conserve water with one exception. My neighbor who waters his precious lawn religiously. He has the only green grass on the block. What really did it for me today is seeing him watering his lawn IN THE RAIN. Seriously dude? The first rain in months and you are still hogging all the water you can get?


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## Nova_Implosion (Jul 20, 2012)

Unfortunately, there are people like that everywhere. You could try reporting him to the city, see what happens. 

On another note, even if your grass was growing, how would you mow it with all those tree limbs in the way?


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I read a short story about this sort of situation recently. . . . .turns out he had dead bodies buried in his yard and he didn't want anyone to notice the graves if the grass over them died differently than the rest of the lawn.  So he kept watering.


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## JimC1946 (Aug 6, 2009)

Does your city or county have watering restrictions during a drought?


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

We have a semi-similar situation here, but the guy watering his lawn has a private well on his property, so there is nothing the city can do.


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Nice camera work.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Ann in Arlington said:


> I read a short story about this sort of situation recently. . . . .turns out he had dead bodies buried in his yard and he didn't want anyone to notice the graves if the grass over them died differently than the rest of the lawn. So he kept watering.


LOL, Ann!

Betsy


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## Cherise (May 13, 2012)

Ann in Arlington said:


> I read a short story about this sort of situation recently. . . . .turns out he had dead bodies buried in his yard and he didn't want anyone to notice the graves if the grass over them died differently than the rest of the lawn. So he kept watering.


Creepy!

And, I remember hearing a case very similar to this on the news years ago, all except the part about the watering.

Here, the case I heard about was convicted serial killer Dorothea Puente of Sacramento, CA:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothea_Puente

"In the 1980s, Puente ran a boarding house in Sacramento, California, and cashed the Social Security checks of her elderly and mentally disabled boarders. Those who complained were killed and buried in her yard."


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## balaspa (Dec 27, 2009)

Yeah, isn't there some way to report him to someone?  I guess I could try to be a good neighbor, but I would be very tempted to report him.


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## Thumper (Feb 26, 2009)

Cherise Kelley said:


> "In the 1980s, Puente ran a boarding house in Sacramento, California, and cashed the Social Security checks of her elderly and mentally disabled boarders. Those who complained were killed and buried in her yard."


Man, I remember that... It was touted around here as "The Nightmare on F Street." She was kind of creepy, this sweet looking little old lady, swearing she was innocent. I don't think she ever admitted it, but dang there were a lot of bodies buried there...


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## sheiler1963 (Nov 23, 2011)

balaspa said:


> Yeah, isn't there some way to report him to someone? I guess I could try to be a good neighbor, but I would be very tempted to report him.


 As far as I know there hasn't been any restrictions on water usage in our little town. That might be because just about everyone around here is (or knows) someone whose living is made off the crops they grow, so they stopped using water for frivolous things. The devastation I drive by every day is heartbreaking. Acres and acres of corn and other crops burned to a crisp and a total loss. Most of it is so far gone it can't even be harvested for silage to feed the cattle. One guy I know put a yardstick down one of the cracks in his field, and it didn't touch a bottom. I realize even if EVERYONE stopped watering their grass, it still wouldn't make any difference. Still and all, it just chaps my hide to watch him dragging those sprinklers around. Watching him do it while it was raining......ARG! It would be like me lighting a cigarette at the funeral of someone who just died of lung cancer. It's not against the law, but it's pretty d*mn disrespectful.


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## Cherise (May 13, 2012)

sheiler1963 said:


> As far as I know there hasn't been any restrictions on water usage in our little town. That might be because just about everyone around here is (or knows) someone whose living is made off the crops they grow, so they stopped using water for frivolous things. The devastation I drive by every day is heartbreaking. Acres and acres of corn and other crops burned to a crisp and a total loss. Most of it is so far gone it can't even be harvested for silage to feed the cattle. One guy I know put a yardstick down one of the cracks in his field, and it didn't touch a bottom. I realize even if EVERYONE stopped watering their grass, it still wouldn't make any difference. Still and all, it just chaps my hide to watch him dragging those sprinklers around. Watching him do it while it was raining......ARG! It would be like me lighting a cigarette at the funeral of someone who just died of lung cancer. It's not against the law, but it's pretty d*mn disrespectful.


Is it possible he just doesn't realize that everyone else stopped watering out of sympathy for the farmers?

Might leaving a kind, anonymous letter in his mailbox help clue him in?


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## Gareth K Pengelly (Aug 25, 2012)

Here in the UK we have bans on using hosepipes and the like during periods of low rainfall.

I'm sure that you might have something similar there. Trying ringing the powers that be, ask their advice. He might be breaking some kind of law.


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## Jan Hurst-Nicholson (Aug 25, 2010)

The world over we are being asked to conserve water. It used to p me off when I would switch the tap on and off when brushing my teeth, and my neighbour would merrily use her hosepipe to wash the pavement (sidewalk) outside her house!   She has now moved so the aggravation is thankfully over.


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## Cuechick (Oct 28, 2008)

Cherise Kelley said:


> Is it possible he just doesn't realize that everyone else stopped watering out of sympathy for the farmers?
> 
> Might leaving a kind, anonymous letter in his mailbox help clue him in?


I like this ideal.


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## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

Ann in Arlington said:


> I read a short story about this sort of situation recently. . . . .turns out he had dead bodies buried in his yard and he didn't want anyone to notice the graves if the grass over them died differently than the rest of the lawn. So he kept watering.


  This is how rumors get started....


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## prairiesky (Aug 11, 2009)

Hmmm.  No water restriction that you know of...so why are you so concerned with your neighbors watering his lawn.  If he were ignoring restrictions, then there would be a problem.  I know that we have draught conditions.  However, if your town (city) does not feel that watering restrictions are necessary, I don't see the problem.  My city, has in the past, posed water restrictions.  However, this year, (so far), has not.  I don't feel that I need to curb my yard watering at this time.  I don't waste water, but I do keep my grass and plants healthy.  I just don't understand all the drama?


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## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

prairiesky said:


> Hmmm. No water restriction that you know of...so why are you so concerned with your neighbors watering his lawn. If he were ignoring restrictions, then there would be a problem.


There are plenty of things that have no restriction or laws against them but are nonetheless unethical or irresponsible.

(Whether or not neighbors should get involved, IMHO, depends on the severity of the issue. I can't judge that; I'm not there. But just because the town hasn't issued a restriction doesn't mean it's okay.)


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## William Peter Grasso (May 1, 2011)

Peeved as I, too, would be, I'd take a pass on trying to change a neighbor's post-aristocratic landed gentry obsession with lawn appearance, even during a severe drought. Far too often, attempts at correcting a neighbor's behavior quickly escalate from coercive, to punitive, to violent...usually over something that will not change the course of human history, let alone a drought.

If my life or property was being threatened, that--unfortunately--becomes a different story.

WPG


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## Cherise (May 13, 2012)

William Peter Grasso said:


> Peeved as I, too, would be, I'd take a pass on trying to change a neighbor's post-aristocratic landed gentry obsession with lawn appearance, even during a severe drought. Far too often, attempts at correcting a neighbor's behavior quickly escalate from coercive, to punitive, to violent...usually over something that will not change the course of human history, let alone a drought.
> 
> If my life or property was being threatened, that--unfortunately--becomes a different story.
> 
> WPG


Hear, hear.

Has anyone else seen this movie about what happens when neighbors get too enthusiastic about changing each other's behavior?


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## sheiler1963 (Nov 23, 2011)

prairiesky said:


> Hmmm. No water restriction that you know of...so why are you so concerned with your neighbors watering his lawn. If he were ignoring restrictions, then there would be a problem. I know that we have draught conditions. However, if your town (city) does not feel that watering restrictions are necessary, I don't see the problem. My city, has in the past, posed water restrictions. However, this year, (so far), has not. I don't feel that I need to curb my yard watering at this time. I don't waste water, but I do keep my grass and plants healthy. I just don't understand all the drama?


HUH? I don't see that I have created any 'drama'. I haven't left anonymous notes, kicked up a fuss at a city council meeting, written a letter to the editor of the local paper, started a petition to make people stop watering their grass. I merely posted a peeve on a msg board that my neighbor will never see. Nope, no drama here. It bothers me when I see the devastation caused by this drought and someones disregard for it. My lawn along with many others in the community is not 'unhealthy', I've just allowed it to go dormant. I do keep my indoor plants healthy, but I reuse/conserve water by emptying pets water dishes into them or re-purposing water used for cooking. I use a steam machine to clean hard floors rather than buckets of water. I follow the 'if it's yellow let it mellow' for flushing toilets. I turn the water off when I'm brushing my teeth etc. I'm very conscious of conserving water and so watching it run down the street while my neighbor wastes it is painful to me. Hopefully that will answer to your confusion about why it concerns me.


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## Seleya (Feb 25, 2011)

Might it be that he had the sprinkler on an automated timer? It would have watered on its own, rain or no rain.


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## sheiler1963 (Nov 23, 2011)

Seleya said:


> Might it be that he had the sprinkler on an automated timer? It would have watered on its own, rain or no rain.


Nope, I watched him drag the sprinklers around. In the rain. I've also seen him hand watering his grass in the rain.


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## Cherise (May 13, 2012)

sheiler1963 said:


> Nope, I watched him drag the sprinklers around. In the rain. I've also seen him hand watering his grass in the rain.


OK, that is WEIRD!


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