WW-N

 Well, I'm hoping I didn't start WW-N (as in "neighbor").  My house is one house from the corner of a busy street.  But my driveway is the first driveway.  The corner house has a driveway off of the busy street (42nd St.) and on top of that, it is severely sloped up AND the privacy fence of the neighbor behind them abuts their driveway so that if they are pulling out, they have to be already into traffic before they can see if it's clear.  So they have one of those curved mirrors to help them see down the street.  It's not a terrifically clear reflection.  So most of the tenants that live there don't use that driveway - only the brazen!  

And more about that property.  For many years, we have never seen tenants in there for more than one year.  I'm sure I've talked about it before.  It doesn't appear bad, but once they live there, I think all its problems become clear.  Basement takes on water when it rains... some roof leaks...a little added on front room is very cold... mold from past plumbing problems.  Then there's the noise from 42nd St. and parking down the street.  

Well, one of the problems is they always seem to want to use my driveway and that added wear and tear requires more maintenance.  A couple of tenants ago, in a moment of feeling "nice" I told one of the tenants that if they needed to unload groceries, they could pull in for a moment.  Next thing I knew, they were in my driveway every single day, and that was just what I was seeing!  I don't stand at my front window watching for users pulling in.  These were just the times I was walking by or sitting at just the right angle to see them, so if I was seeing it at least once a day, you can bet it was happening multiple times a day!  When they moved, I said NO MORE!  I just need to be a total bitch about it...  And awhile back, before they rented it, I was able to express that to the property manager and he said he has ALWAYS made it very clear for them not to use my driveway.

So, in move these new tenants - a black couple with two kids and a dog.  Seem nice enough.  But they have this huge suburban that they park on the street, nearly always facing the wrong direction.  And they occasionally turn around in my driveway (go figure - that means they go in reverse to turn around... why not just go around the block??)  And I've caught a few delivery people pulling in to deliver, and visitors.  So I had a sign made up...

But before I put it out, I want them to know that it's more about their visitors than them, so they don't think I'm just being a total bitch.  Yet when I've tried to tell people why I don't want folks in my driveway, they start to get a little defensive, like, "Well, geez, it's just for a quick minute..."  So I sent an email to their landlord hoping he will forward it on to them and the purpose of doing it that way is so they can get through my whole explanation about WHY before they start that whole whining about it being such a little deal.  Here's what I sent the landlord:

Hi Rick,

I'm Denise @4208 Pacific St., the house next to 4204.  I'm hoping you have the new tenant's email address so that you can forward this to them.  I could walk over and try to talk to them, but sometimes people get really defensive when I try to express myself about this driveway situation.  So I figure if I can just "get it all out" (so to speak), maybe they'll understand my position and be more cooperative.  And it's not that they aren't being relatively respectful... And can you let me know when you send this on to them so I can get my sign out after that?  Here's what I want them to know:

Hi neighbors!  Denise next door here.  I wanted to give you a heads-up that I'm going to put a sign next to my driveway about pulling in.  This is not directed at you guys specifically as I suspect Rick has made it clear I don't want you to use my driveway (though I did just see you there a few minutes ago and have a few times...)  But you've had delivery people, and it's not uncommon for people who are visiting the corner house to assume my driveway belongs to that house.  So it's time to get out my sign again...

Because I don't want you to think I'm just a total bitch, which I am NOT, I want to explain why I take this stance.  I've been here for a long, long time and in that time, I have had to replace the end of that driveway twice and have had to have repairs made in between.  None of my neighbors up and down the street have had to do that in all the years I've been here.  And I can tell you why.  The house you're living in doesn't seem to keep tenants more than a year at a time.  I can kind of understand why - it would get tiresome to have all that loud 42nd St. noise for starters - it's bad enough here where I have your house to block a lot of it!  The parking is atrocious - yes, you have your own driveway, but I can imagine the stress it brings on to try to pull out into that crazy 42nd St. traffic!!  So that means the street, and of course, you can't park close.  So I've always struggled with the folks in that house wanting to pull into my driveway "just to unload groceries" or other "just this or that" things.  Or (like you have done a few times that I've seen) to turn around.  On top of that, anyone coming to your house seems to think my driveway is yours.  And then there are the people who "oops, I turned at the wrong street" and use my driveway to turn around.  All of this really adds up.  

So instead of my little light car pulling in and out once, maybe twice a day at most, I get all this additional weight, wear and tear on my driveway.  (I'll interject here that yours is one of the BIG ones!)  And there is no one with their hand out to help me pay the exorbitant cost of fixing or replacing it.  So I'm begging you to please, please, please not use my driveway.  I want to be a good neighbor, and thankfully, I've been blessed on the other side with awesome neighbors all the years I've been here.  And I've had good neighbors in your house for the most part, too, except for this problem with the driveway.  And you guys seem like really nice folks and I don't want this to be a source of irritation.

My husband died  3 years ago and I'm doing my very best to stay in this house I love so much for as long as I can.  Big expenses will be the thing that eventually forces me to sell it, so I'm just doing my best to avoid them.  I hope you understand...

If you need to get hold of me, you can call or text 402-707-4390.  

And now, I'll just keep my fingers crossed and hope they don't sic someone on me!  They've been pretty decent otherwise.  They have a dog, Cinnamon, who they put out on a line in the back yard and let her bark and bark and bark, but it seems like I'm often disappointed in "pet parents" that live close by.  One day, I was in the kitchen and saw Cinnamon was outside their fence - she had jumped the fence with a rope tied to her collar!  I was grateful she hadn't choked to death!  I ran next door and got them to come get her and then she proceeded to run around and around in our yards, trying to evade them.  So I ran inside the house before I could witness her being hit on 42nd St.  Thankfully, they caught her and she was out barking again a bit later!

But I so hate coming off as the "bad guy".  And I don't know why it makes me feel that way.  I guess it's because I figure people think it's petty.  I remember back when we bought the building down in Papillion - we had our wedding venue there with a big parking lot that inter-connected with another big parking lot owned by a nearby bowling alley.  And what we discovered was that people in the area used the two inter-connecting parking lots like a street.  I would see car after car after car streaking through our parking lot, first one way then the other, all day long.  Were they completely oblivious that they were creating wear and tear on private property that was NOT maintained by the city?  Finally, we put a fence between the two parking lots.  And then, for the next month or so, cars would come into our lot, oops... there's a fence there now!!... and come back out.  Probably irritated that their shortcut had been eliminated!  I remember a few years later, while bartending a function, some guy come up to order a drink and said something like, "I used to use this lot to go down to the bank and one day, there was a fence!  What's up with that?"  Seriously, I thought?  I explained the premise of creating wear and tear on a surface WE had to maintain and he just shrugged his shoulders and walked away with his drink.  What a num-nutz!  People are so oblivious to anything that doesn't affect them!

I'm looking into a program called HealthyWage that's about getting paid to lose weight.  You "wager" that you can lose 'x' number of pounds in a time frame you choose.  So say you want to lose 50 lbs. in 6 months and you wager $50 a month that you can do it.  If you reach your goal in the timeframe, you get more than 4x what you wagered!  I'm giving it some thought.  It's a great incentive, but I'm just not sure I can find what works for me, short of starvation.  Oh, I know I can deprive myself into weight loss - I've don't it before. But that is never sustainable.  Once you quit the deprivation, it all comes back and then some.

John (my handyman) came by Friday and got my new bamboo curtains up.  I replaced my old ones, thinking the new ones were just like the old ones.  (The old ones were looking a little worn, and I wanted 4 in the front window instead of 3 for a fuller look...)  But when I got them, they were different with a heavy "frame" with heavier gromets as part of that frame (instead of hanging rings.)  So when I put them up, they were so heavy, they bent the hardware that holds the rod up.  OMG, they make shit SO cheap these days!  It's disgusting.  So I ordered three heavy duty  IRON brackets and decided to have John do it because it was just a bit too much for me to handle on my own.  

So now my living room is nicely up-to-date.  The oldest things in there are the two lamps - a floor lamp and a table lamp - and they were both very expensive nice lamps so I won't be replacing them.  Now it feels like it's all "well put together" and not quite so "eclectic".  Well, ok my snowman collection doesn't exactly scream "classy", but they make me feel good!  LOL!

Time to retire to the lady cave!