Need help with neighbors accusation

Anne Lurie wrote:

Do you have a pump in your pond? My understanding is that mosquitoes need
*still* water for the eggs to hatch.

It doesn't have to be totally still.

Minnows are a good thing.

I had some brief issues with things like that when I first set up our
pond. The neighbor came over complaining that it was stinking up her
yard. Funny, because I sit in my chair at the side of the pond most
nights and never noticed any smell expect for when I was adding water
and could catch a whiff of the product we use to neutralize chloramines.
Turns out, it was a fly catcher she had hung on her property that was
full of rotting flies. I suspect some people, even if truth smacked 'em
upside the head, would not believe it. I also wonder if her complaint
was in retaliation for my polite request to keep her dog from using our
yard as his personal bathroom. *sigh*

Susan
shsimko[@]duke[.]edu

I had some brief issues with things like that when I first set up our
pond. The neighbor came over complaining that it was stinking up her
yard. Funny, because I sit in my chair at the side of the pond most
nights and never noticed any smell expect for when I was adding water
and could catch a whiff of the product we use to neutralize chloramines.
Turns out, it was a fly catcher she had hung on her property that was
full of rotting flies. I suspect some people, even if truth smacked 'em
upside the head, would not believe it. I also wonder if her complaint
was in retaliation for my polite request to keep her dog from using our
yard as his personal bathroom. *sigh*

Susan
shsimko[@]duke[.]edu

Susan H. Simko wrote:
I had some brief issues with things like that when I first set up our
pond. The neighbor came over complaining that it was stinking up her
yard. Funny, because I sit in my chair at the side of the pond most
nights and never noticed any smell expect for when I was adding water
and could catch a whiff of the product we use to neutralize chloramines.
Turns out, it was a fly catcher she had hung on her property that was
full of rotting flies. I suspect some people, even if truth smacked 'em
upside the head, would not believe it. I also wonder if her complaint
was in retaliation for my polite request to keep her dog from using our
yard as his personal bathroom. *sigh*

Yeah, sometimes neighbors come up with completely unfounded accusations
when the real problem is something more psychological in nature, such as a
minor form of revenge or some sort of fear. I think many are not even
consciously aware they're doing this, just that somehow in their minds,
something has happened that makes them think you're the source of all evil
in the neighborhood. My parents had to deal with such when a cat-phobic
person moved in a couple houses down. Rather than come out and admit he
was scared of cats (which was my working theory on his problem), he came
over and made wild claims like "the cat food is attracting hornets into my
yard". In actuality, it was all the flowering plants attracting large
bumble bees into his yard, but he wouldn't believe it.

When that didn't work, suddenly the city was getting all sorts of
complaints about minor code issues (such as a large empty wooden wire
spool my dad was using as a work bench on the side of the house for half a
decade, the neighbor and city considered it to be "junk" and my dad had to
tear it down and throw it away). Complaints that stopped when that
neighbor moved out. Of course, there was no city ordinance against feeding
feral cats (which my dad does to tame/trap them and their kittens to get
them fixed and/or adopted), so the neighbor was out of luck in the cat
department. Funny thing that, isn't it.

Susan H. Simko wrote:
I had some brief issues with things like that when I first set up our
pond. The neighbor came over complaining that it was stinking up her
yard. Funny, because I sit in my chair at the side of the pond most
nights and never noticed any smell expect for when I was adding water
and could catch a whiff of the product we use to neutralize chloramines.
Turns out, it was a fly catcher she had hung on her property that was
full of rotting flies. I suspect some people, even if truth smacked 'em
upside the head, would not believe it. I also wonder if her complaint
was in retaliation for my polite request to keep her dog from using our
yard as his personal bathroom. *sigh*

Yeah, sometimes neighbors come up with completely unfounded accusations
when the real problem is something more psychological in nature, such as a
minor form of revenge or some sort of fear. I think many are not even
consciously aware they're doing this, just that somehow in their minds,
something has happened that makes them think you're the source of all evil
in the neighborhood. My parents had to deal with such when a cat-phobic
person moved in a couple houses down. Rather than come out and admit he
was scared of cats (which was my working theory on his problem), he came
over and made wild claims like "the cat food is attracting hornets into my
yard". In actuality, it was all the flowering plants attracting large
bumble bees into his yard, but he wouldn't believe it.

When that didn't work, suddenly the city was getting all sorts of
complaints about minor code issues (such as a large empty wooden wire
spool my dad was using as a work bench on the side of the house for half a
decade, the neighbor and city considered it to be "junk" and my dad had to
tear it down and throw it away). Complaints that stopped when that
neighbor moved out. Of course, there was no city ordinance against feeding
feral cats (which my dad does to tame/trap them and their kittens to get
them fixed and/or adopted), so the neighbor was out of luck in the cat
department. Funny thing that, isn't it.

Some people arent happy unless they are busy making other people crazy. Ingrid

Cichlidiot wrote:
Yeah, sometimes neighbors come up with completely unfounded accusations
when the real problem is something more psychological in nature,


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

Some people arent happy unless they are busy making other people crazy. Ingrid

Cichlidiot wrote:
Yeah, sometimes neighbors come up with completely unfounded accusations
when the real problem is something more psychological in nature,


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

wrote:
Some people arent happy unless they are busy making other people crazy.

Definite agreement. This particular neighbor didn't seem to realize
that there were many things I could have done about the dog especially
since we have leash laws but chose to politely (and I stress *politely*)
ask her to keep the dog from using our yard as his personal bathroom.
Like many other ponders, I am also a gardener. It had gotten to the
point where I could not work on one particular bed in the fron of our
yard without stepping in dog excrement. (Nor was the smell at all
enticing.) To me, that was excessive.

Ever since then, relationships have been a bit frosty and unpleasant. I
still want to ask her if she would have preferred for me to call animal
control instead? All I wanted to do was be able to weed my flower bed
without first having to scoop her dog's waste.... *sigh* I can just
imagine what she would do if our four cats were allowed outdoors (they
aren't) and used her gradnchild's sandbox as a litterbox.....

Susan
shsimko[@]duke[.]edu

wrote:
Some people arent happy unless they are busy making other people crazy.

Definite agreement. This particular neighbor didn't seem to realize
that there were many things I could have done about the dog especially
since we have leash laws but chose to politely (and I stress *politely*)
ask her to keep the dog from using our yard as his personal bathroom.
Like many other ponders, I am also a gardener. It had gotten to the
point where I could not work on one particular bed in the fron of our
yard without stepping in dog excrement. (Nor was the smell at all
enticing.) To me, that was excessive.

Ever since then, relationships have been a bit frosty and unpleasant. I
still want to ask her if she would have preferred for me to call animal
control instead? All I wanted to do was be able to weed my flower bed
without first having to scoop her dog's waste.... *sigh* I can just
imagine what she would do if our four cats were allowed outdoors (they
aren't) and used her gradnchild's sandbox as a litterbox.....

Susan
shsimko[@]duke[.]edu

"Susan H. Simko" wrote in message
...
I can just
imagine what she would do if our four cats were allowed outdoors (they
aren't) and used her gradnchild's sandbox as a litterbox.....


You don't let your cats outside??? !!!
--
**So long, and thanks for all the fish!**