Observation on Human Nature

[wdfifteen]

I live in an area of 5 acre lots. Most are wooded but there is a lot of grass. The place is heaven on a weekday morning, so peaceful and quiet you can hear the birds chirping and water in the brook. Friday at 5 PM all hell breaks loose. The mowers come out and except for the hours between 9 PM and 7AM you can hear a small engine running from Friday until after dark Sunday. Cook outs and outside parties are ruined by the racket. Some of my neighbors got together and wrote a letter requesting neighbors that, if possible, try to refrain from mowing after 4PM and before 8AM.
Some people responded and said they would do their best, most people didn't say a thing, but I've noticed a marked decrease in the sound of mowers, weedwhackers, and leaf blowers in the evening. Of course there is one guy - there is always one - who wrote back saying nobody is going to tell him when to mow his gall-darn lawn and we can all go to h e l l . He happens to be the guy with the Texas flag over his house, for what that's worth.

[DaveE]

People around where I live seem to have a fascination with burning barrels which is also wonderful to sit and enjoy outside on a nice quiet summer evening.

[onewhippedpuppy]

I would probably have the same reaction, mainly because our HOA is full of bored old people that like to arbitrarily make new rules and attempt to make our neighborhood into a retirement community. They've done all they can to make it as unfriendly to young families like mine as possible, to the point that I just tell them to eff off. I'm actually a very laid back person with a long fuse, but I'm sick and tired of their harassment. I've made my house substantially nicer every year I've lived here and am within all of the rules, so leave me the hell alone!

Sorry for the rant, just playing devil's advocate. Maybe the guy is just tired of rules? Or, you know, he could just be a dick.

[RANDY P]

Maybe you should mow the lawn sometime...

rjp

[stomachmonkey]

Well you are both right.

You have the right to enjoy your time outdoors and he has the right to maintain his property (within reason) at his convenience.

I don't bust out the mower / weed whacker before 9 AM. If I miss the morning 9-11 window then I have no choice but to do it after 7pm. It's just too damn hot otherwise. Worst / hottest part of our day is 4-6pm.

But I feel your pain. We had a similar problem on Long Island. We lived up on the North Shore under what we called the Hamptons Highway.

The Hamptons Highway was the flight corridor used by yuppies from Manhattan who got ferried back and forth from the Hamptons via helicopter. Would start up on Friday evening with the peak traffic being the Sunday noon / eve return trip.

It became such a problem that towns along the Highway were successful in getting the FAA to require operators fly over Long Island Sound instead of the residential areas.

[pavulon]

Some have to mow lawn when it fits between other demands. That's a working person's life.

[fastfredracing]

Wonder how your neighborsnwould feel once everybody's grass is 12 inches tall and the weeds have not been trimmed in weeks. You gotta make hay when the sun shines.
I work a lot of 7,day weeks and evenings are the onlyntime I can mow. I would probably be ",that guy"

[rcooled]

Part of the issue is that many are unaware of just how much noise they're making with their mowers, leaf blowers, power tools etc., or just how far that noise carries, and that their neighbors might actually be enjoying 'the sounds of silence'. Others just don't give a damn.

I live in a suburban neighborhood with much smaller lot sizes than yours and experience the same thing...it seems that somebody's always making noise with something. There's really not much you can do about it...people have stuff to do, and they're gonna do it whenever they feel like.

The bottom line is that the modern world has gotten to be a pretty noisy place...and many of us seem to have little or no appreciation for quite time anyway.

[yazhound]

That is totally unreasonable. Hell, my neighbors cut their grass at night with lights on. We JOKE about it. Ha... Charles is cutting the grass at night again! Go figure.

Gotta do it when you have time... that's life. some would say... "Rich people problems"

[Baz]

[flipper35]

Sometimes it can't wait until the weekend to get cut so ours gets cut as soon as I have time to do so. Might have to be after ball games and late at night but thems the breaks. I can't let it go very long or it would need to be raked and bailed after it is cut.

[M.D. Holloway]

I actually like the sound of small engines...indication work is being done and that an engineered product is being used. As for bird chirping? Those are war cries and pleas to have bird sex...I'll have none of it!

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by M.D. Holloway

I actually like the sound of small engines...indication work is being done and that an engineered product is being used. As for bird chirping? Those are war cries and pleas to have bird sex...I'll have none of it!

I like your warped way of thinking.

[id10t]

My lawn service comes in the middle of the day, so it doesn't bother the neighbors. Then again, I only have 2 that are within "small engine noise hearing range" anyway.

Now, I've got someone about half a mile away who likes to shoot. A lot. Which is cool, I don't mind, little jealous in fact (I don't have a good place for a safe backstop, etc). Just worries me that they may not be as paranoid as I am about safety ...

[Tilikum Turbo]

No matter how noble the intent...you'll always piss someone off even if your the Golden Goose laying gold eggs handing them out for free(can I have two?...where were you yesterday?...it's not big enough).

I handled some meat-heads in our complex who were putting everyone's saftery at risk by turning LEFT....when the sign clearly says NO LEFT TURN.

While I could have left a letter on a few choice people that choose to do so, I approached the association, which then sent out a blanket-letter about concern for safety, and they also had a local police "monitor" the situation for several days making sure everyone got the memo.

To those dissenting and being either visibly upset in maintaining a civil manner, or writing back with a vile diatribe...these are usually very bitter people who(m) never amounted to much in life, or are stuck in miserable relationships(or both).

[dan88911]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

I live in an area of 5 acre lots. Most are wooded but there is a lot of grass. The place is heaven on a weekday morning, so peaceful and quiet you can hear the birds chirping and water in the brook. Friday at 5 PM all hell breaks loose. The mowers come out and except for the hours between 9 PM and 7AM you can hear a small engine running from Friday until after dark Sunday. Cook outs and outside parties are ruined by the racket. Some of my neighbors got together and wrote a letter requesting neighbors that, if possible, try to refrain from mowing after 4PM and before 8AM.
Some people responded and said they would do their best, most people didn't say a thing, but I've noticed a marked decrease in the sound of mowers, weedwhackers, and leaf blowers in the evening. Of course there is one guy - there is always one - who wrote back saying nobody is going to tell him when to mow his gall-darn lawn and we can all go to h e l l . He happens to be the guy with the Texas flag over his house, for what that's worth.

If I lived in your area this guy with the Texas flag would be the last neighbor, I would check on if a disaster hit the neighbor. And it would not be because of the flag.

[RANDY P]

Originally Posted by Tilikum Turbo

No matter how noble the intent...you'll always piss someone off even if your the Golden Goose laying gold eggs handing them out for free(can I have two?...where were you yesterday?...it's not big enough).

I handled some meat-heads in our complex who were putting everyone's saftery at risk by turning LEFT....when the sign clearly says NO LEFT TURN.

While I could have left a letter on a few choice people that choose to do so, I approached the association, which then sent out a blanket-letter about concern for safety, and they also had a local police "monitor" the situation for several days making sure everyone got the memo.

To those dissenting and being either visibly upset in maintaining a civil manner, or writing back with a vile diatribe...these are usually very bitter people who(m) never amounted to much in life, or are stuck in miserable relationships(or both).

Wow. Snitch.

Ok Mr Nanny...

rjp

[gacook]

This thread has made me start to wonder if I'm "that guy."

I'm a bit of a night owl; only sleep 2-3 hours a day, and I do a lot of my little projects at night after the rest of the family is asleep. I typically do work with the power tools during daylight hours, but occasionally run the sander or saw at night in my garage...I don't THINK it's that loud, but wonder now if I'm possibly bothering others...

Thanks for making me feel like I'm an ass, gents!

[RANDY P]

The guy didn't do anything wrong. Amazing how some here are hell-bent on making others subscribe to their line of thinking and their concepts of quiet enjoyment.

You are on 5 acres- how you hear that, I don't know. Hopefully the next guy / neighbor that moves in likes to collect dead Fords...

rjp

[BE911SC]

Try living in Alaska where the sun stays up all night long in the summer months. People can't sleep so they get their Harleys and jet-skis out and power around the streets and lakes during otherwise quiet hours. It's a yearly problem and the noise-makers refuse to have their right to make noise impinged upon by someone else's right not to have the peace disturbed.