OK, first off, insert standard speech here about not escalating violence and turning the other cheek and all that.
Having said that, one notion that comes to mind is to recapitulate the animal control behavior. That is, every time they call AC to complain about your cats doing something she has no evidence they are doing, return the favor wrt their cat. In fact, coordinate with the rest of the neighborhood... for every bogus but unactionable complaint they make about any of you, ALL of you make a similar complaint about any of them.
It might be nice to leave her a vaguely worded letter making it clear that's what you're doing in some non-actionable way. Eg, something to the effect of "We just wanted you to know exactly HOW much we appreciated the way you've handled the animal situation, and we can find no more appropriate way to do so than to adopt the same level of vigilance and attentiveness to what's really happening in the community that you've demonstrated for the last N months. Thank you, your neighbors."
Growing up in a smallish town, I unfortunately saw more than my share of this kind of behavior. I can only feel sorrow and pity for people who's lives are so sad that they derive pleasure from inflicting hardship on others. By trying to get back at them, you end up stopping to their level, and in all reality they are probably better at playing this game than you are. It's cheesy, but I think the only way to resolve the situation is gratuitous acts of kindness. Bake them a cake, have dinner delivered, do something nice. People like this don't deserve revenge, they deserve our sympathy.
unfortunately, this is illegal due to being trespassing and likely against the neighborhood association rules, but the first thing to spring to mind is to set up approx 100 pink plastic flamingos in their yard in the middle of the night.
the next n ight? lawn gnomes.
then? those little mushrooms with legs.
i really think more things need to be catapult. leaves, mice... random cream pies...
Being the paranoid sort, I'd suggest that you might want to lock this post.
I thought your parents' house was in the city, while the rest of the subdivision was stiil in the county. If so, are the neighbors calling the correct set of authorities to complain? And if they are in the county, can they expect city noise ordinances to apply to noise they hear on their property.
Now, the proper way to go about it is to have an acoustic engineer set up monitoring equipment along the fence, then play the sounds of dogs barking that are below the legal noise level. When the neighbors complain (which they will) there will be witnesses to confirm that a) none of your dogs were barking and b) the noise levels were below the levels mandated by the ordinance. If it can be demonstrated that they are making false complaints, then the authorities will not look kindly on their future calls.
Oh, and get a photo of the raccoon that is pooping in their yard.
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Having said that, one notion that comes to mind is to recapitulate the animal control behavior. That is, every time they call AC to complain about your cats doing something she has no evidence they are doing, return the favor wrt their cat. In fact, coordinate with the rest of the neighborhood... for every bogus but unactionable complaint they make about any of you, ALL of you make a similar complaint about any of them.
It might be nice to leave her a vaguely worded letter making it clear that's what you're doing in some non-actionable way. Eg, something to the effect of "We just wanted you to know exactly HOW much we appreciated the way you've handled the animal situation, and we can find no more appropriate way to do so than to adopt the same level of vigilance and attentiveness to what's really happening in the community that you've demonstrated for the last N months. Thank you, your neighbors."
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Just thought I'd mention that.
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the next n ight? lawn gnomes.
then? those little mushrooms with legs.
i really think more things need to be catapult. leaves, mice... random cream pies...
Reply
I thought your parents' house was in the city, while the rest of the subdivision was stiil in the county. If so, are the neighbors calling the correct set of authorities to complain? And if they are in the county, can they expect city noise ordinances to apply to noise they hear on their property.
Now, the proper way to go about it is to have an acoustic engineer set up monitoring equipment along the fence, then play the sounds of dogs barking that are below the legal noise level. When the neighbors complain (which they will) there will be witnesses to confirm that a) none of your dogs were barking and b) the noise levels were below the levels mandated by the ordinance. If it can be demonstrated that they are making false complaints, then the authorities will not look kindly on their future calls.
Oh, and get a photo of the raccoon that is pooping in their yard.
Reply
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