"This neighborhood isn't bad, but a lot of grade school kids are irreverent and think nothing of throwing fast food garbage in peoples' yards and damaging the landscaping. "
I've been dealing with theft of produce (and damage to the kitchen garden enclosure) as well as trash being tossed onto the front garden/landscaping which, I have to admit, isn't anything BHG or House Beautiful photo-worthy, but I do work at keeping it tidy. And this isn't being done by kids, so much, as by the drunks who are wandering from the tavern at the end of the block, where my one block-long street "T's" with a main road, to the parking lot behind the arts center which is more or less across the street from my house. Very annoying. No actual damage from the trash, yet, although it ticks me off to have to police the front yard twice a day---I have to remind myself that no one held a loaded and cocked pistol to my head and forced me to buy this property, y'know? And one morning I found a never opened beer can (Coors, in case anyone's curious) which I gave to my neighbor's summer-long house guest who "camps" in his motor home on said neighbor's parking pad.
(Sheesh: I just realized this sounds like we're Jeff Foxworthy-worthy, but actually the neighborhood is very modest, neat-and-tidy old-fashion Disney middle class circa 1958 or thereabouts.)
OP, I feel for you! That's just so stupid and so mean, taking things because they're there or because they've got a mad-on at the world or why ever----it's mean, and it's wrong. What about those motion-sensor activated water spray gizmo's? You control the length of the arc segment (how many degrees of a circle, in other words) and those things have quite a range. One person filled the chamber with India ink, which is hard to remove, and another, not actually thinking when he did this, filled the chamber or chambers (if he had more than one device) with coyote urine he'd purchased on-line. Then he activated the sensors, forgetting they only detect movement and don't distinguish between friend and foe. Coyote pee's smell is almost as hard to eradicate as skunk must, they say.
(If you do go this route, ask---discreetly---your local police or sheriff's department how far you can go with this sort of thing without your vandal-thieves being able to successfully press some kind of charge against you, despite the fact that they're trespassing, vandalizing (maybe), and stealing and that you are trying to protect your property.)
Oh, I almost forgot...three years ago, I had two small Easter Island head lawn ornaments in my front garden. When I came back from a two week vacation, they were gone.
I probably get drunks by my house, but don't really have a bar nearby. They're exactly the kind of people to have that irreverant mentality, just because many don't have interests outside of drinking. I come from a small town of about 9,000 people, and am surrounded by many even smaller towns. All growing up, I'd meet all kinds of people who'd say, "There's nothing to do in a small town but drink". I'd tell them that it isn't true, there's all kinds of things to do, like garden, golf, volunteer work through the church, activities the park districts and community centers put on, etc.
Then recently, I'm at work talking about gardening to some other guy who likes to garden. A drunk I work with started ridiculing us and acting like it wasn't worth doing because it was hard work, and she was one of those weird people who prides herself on not doing much work and who brags about partying all the time. I was like, "There's more to life than drinking and partying.." (or at least there better be, or else it's sad, especially the older one gets). I could see that lady at work being the kind of person who would throw garbage in someone's yard or stomp a plant because people who haven't worked hard much don't appreciate either the effort or the results.
I've been dealing with theft of produce (and damage to the kitchen garden enclosure) as well as trash being tossed onto the front garden/landscaping which, I have to admit, isn't anything BHG or House Beautiful photo-worthy, but I do work at keeping it tidy. And this isn't being done by kids, so much, as by the drunks who are wandering from the tavern at the end of the block, where my one block-long street "T's" with a main road, to the parking lot behind the arts center which is more or less across the street from my house.
Very annoying.
No actual damage from the trash, yet, although it ticks me off to have to police the front yard twice a day---I have to remind myself that no one held a loaded and cocked pistol to my head and forced me to buy this property, y'know? And one morning I found a never opened beer can (Coors, in case anyone's curious) which I gave to my neighbor's summer-long house guest who "camps" in his motor home on said neighbor's parking pad.
(Sheesh: I just realized this sounds like we're Jeff Foxworthy-worthy, but actually the neighborhood is very modest, neat-and-tidy old-fashion Disney middle class circa 1958 or thereabouts.)
OP, I feel for you! That's just so stupid and so mean, taking things because they're there or because they've got a mad-on at the world or why ever----it's mean, and it's wrong.
What about those motion-sensor activated water spray gizmo's? You control the length of the arc segment (how many degrees of a circle, in other words) and those things have quite a range. One person filled the chamber with India ink, which is hard to remove, and another, not actually thinking when he did this, filled the chamber or chambers (if he had more than one device) with coyote urine he'd purchased on-line. Then he activated the sensors, forgetting they only detect movement and don't distinguish between friend and foe.
Coyote pee's smell is almost as hard to eradicate as skunk must, they say.
(If you do go this route, ask---discreetly---your local police or sheriff's department how far you can go with this sort of thing without your vandal-thieves being able to successfully press some kind of charge against you, despite the fact that they're trespassing, vandalizing (maybe), and stealing and that you are trying to protect your property.)
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I probably get drunks by my house, but don't really have a bar nearby. They're exactly the kind of people to have that irreverant mentality, just because many don't have interests outside of drinking. I come from a small town of about 9,000 people, and am surrounded by many even smaller towns. All growing up, I'd meet all kinds of people who'd say, "There's nothing to do in a small town but drink". I'd tell them that it isn't true, there's all kinds of things to do, like garden, golf, volunteer work through the church, activities the park districts and community centers put on, etc.
Then recently, I'm at work talking about gardening to some other guy who likes to garden. A drunk I work with started ridiculing us and acting like it wasn't worth doing because it was hard work, and she was one of those weird people who prides herself on not doing much work and who brags about partying all the time. I was like, "There's more to life than drinking and partying.." (or at least there better be, or else it's sad, especially the older one gets). I could see that lady at work being the kind of person who would throw garbage in someone's yard or stomp a plant because people who haven't worked hard much don't appreciate either the effort or the results.
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