Ok, this is going to be very long just so I can get it off my chest. Oi!

So, our neighbor is certifiably crazy. He's 70 something and roams through the alley, digging through the dumpsters. I've seen him remove our trashbags we just put out there full of crappy diapers.

Obviously, at his age he's retired. Does he do his yard work in the AM like most retired folk? Nope. He does it 6-10 pm right outside our kids windows. He continues to go after the sun has set; he just tapes a flashlight to his mower so he doesn't have to stop. One point, we asked him to stopped because our kids were sleeping and he just laughed. He's also come in our backyard while we weren't here to cut down the 4 inch weeds (OMG! 4 inches!) along our side of the shared fence. OK. So that's the back story.

So tonight, we hear our dog going nuts. We're trying to get my 3 year old down for bed and my 7 month old is sleeping. We look outside and old man has a ladder against the fence reaching over with this... weird... utensil on a pole trying to cut down the fairly short weeds. Seriously, they're not even against city ordinance. My husband asks him to stop because he's driving our dog nuts. Old man says the dog always drives him nuts barking and jumping on his fence (i.e. our side of the shared fence). My husband tells old man the dog is barking because he's over the fence on OUR property. I then jump in and tell dude our 7 month old is trying to sleep and all of this is bothering her. He just says "So let her sleep" and keeps on going. My husband told him "I'll take care of this tomorrow" and old man just scoffs and keeps on going!

My husband is seriously p!ssed at this point so he takes the thingie dude has on our property away and dude threatens to call the cops. I jump back in and tell him if he wants something like this taken care of he just needs to ask because I work full time, my husband is a full time student, we have two young kids, etc. Old man says next time I'll just do it with my weed eater. So I remind him he is under no circumstances to come on our property without our permission.

Jeez. Why in the world would you think any of this is OK? We tried multiple times to ask him nicely to stop and he just scoffs? Really?

From now on I'm just taking pictures/video and calling the cops for trespassing. Do people not understand you can't mess with others property?

[/rant]

I can't wait until we move. I know it's soooooo wrong but I keep hoping he'll pass away. That's so awful but he makes us so mad! (Repeating my manta "Tomorrow will be better! Tomorrow will be better! Tomorrow will be better! )

Forget the bad thoughts, you would feel terrible if he did pass away. Check and see if you have Neighborhood Arbitration in your city. He will change his tune after a talk with those folks.

I have nothing to say but I'm sorry and CREEP ALERT!!!

I would but arbitrarion isn't free. It's $75 and hour which we can afford and I don't think he's worth.

Obviously I don't know your neighbor, but is there any chance he is showing early signs of dementia? Not that you can do anything about it if he is, but it might make it easier for you to live with if you can just tell yourself that he can't help acting the way he does.

While I don't know him well, I'd have to say no. He's not confused, doesn't stumble over words, etc. He's just weird and mean. The only thing he cares about is having his yard (which looks like a well groomed trailer park) immaculate.

He's always yelled at our dog and kids. Funny thing, the coffee shop with the loud people on the patio doesnt bother him every Friday and Saturday night. Guess it's just us. But like I said, I guess I'm going to have to teach him boundaries concerning others property by just avoiding the direct confrontation and calling the police. Sad that it has to come to that when we just wanted to talk to him politely about it.

Personally, next time he is trying to get onto your property, I'd call the police. I had a neighbor who was nice but who bummed everything; he'd come over, bum food, cigaretts, my vaccum, dishes, a coke, a glass of milk; the weirdest things. But, he was nice, so I never wanted to get into a conflict about it. It was hard to be nice though, when he was knocking at our door at 5 am. >.<

Neighbors like that are horrible. We used to live next to an elderly lady and while she was super sweet (loved our kids, was always nice, etc.) her son who would come and do the yard work was crazier than a loon. He would ram our fence (not even a shared one!) with his lawn mower while mowing the two feet of OUR property on the outside of the fence, resulting in holes our dogs would get out through, then complain when our dogs would go after him. He killed our peach tree by pruning the branches that hung over the fence onto OUR proptery, he killed my blackberry bush my mowing it over... Some people are just thick headed. My husband asked him to stop numerous times, but he wouldn't, and the police just told us to get a property line marker.
Anyway, check and see if you have noise ordinances or quiet hours in your town or city, many cities have them and they start at 9pm or so, then you can call the police if he's out mowing after that time. And please do call the police when he is on your property, he's completely in the wrong and maybe a visit from the cops will help him realize it. How long have you lived there? Maybe the neighbors who were there before didn't care that he did it and he needs that little bit of proper authority (the cops) to help him understand you're not so allowing. Good luck!

Yikes! I would probably call the cops myself next time. It might piss him off but he might finally get the message and it doesn't sound like he would do anything dangerous.... Just send him a message to mind his own business to leave you (and your weeds) alone

Time for a sprinkler system that you can switch on and soak him every time he comes over the fence.
You can call the police too since there is a noise ordinance and trespassing is illegal. Put a no trespassing sign on your fence as a warning, and he can't whine to the cops.
Hmm...what else??? Oh maybe some coiled razor wire at the top of the fence if nothing else works? Ugly for sure but he won't try to come over the fence anymore...

It is free in the county where I live and I have used it successfully.

I like the sprinkler idea, turn it on everytime he gets close to your fence. I would caution taking thngs into your own hands, though. Document everything and take pictures and call the police.