Neighbor Problems Kiowa Kansas

DAY 1:

Yesterday, September 13, 2011, we had gone to get the boat trailer inspected at Medicine Lodge.  I had Christina call her sister to see if it would be possible to get her neighbor’s number so that we could call to see if we could park the boat in their driveway until this weekend.  We have a lot of things in the garage where we have been keeping the boat.  Until we move into our house that is the only place for us to have access to our things.  This week I was hoping to wash the boat and clean it out before this weekend.  I didn’t want to move everything in and out of the garage every time I moved the boat.

Christina called to ask her sister.  Her sister said no, that now was not a good time to ask.  We left it at that.

When I got home Cherish was distraught.  I heard that she had just found out that her neighbor that is not living in the vacant house beside them is going to cut down the tree that is growing on the border of both of their yards.  It is a large tree that produces a lot of shade for the yard.

Then I found out that they were trying to buy some land from this neighbor.  The fence that goes around the house is not on their land.  They had an agreement with the father to use the land.  The father has passed and his children have inherited the house and the land.

The reason for the tree being removed is for a new 10-foot tall fence being put up along the actual land line all the way into the front yard.  The land line is only a couple feet from the house and would require the air conditioner to have to be moved.  On top of that there is only about 15 foot from the back of the house that is their land.  There could be very little back yard for Todd and Cherish’s 9 children to play in.

None of this was discussed with Todd or Cherish before this day, and the people coming to cut down all the larger trees were already starting to cut on the other end of the yard.

Cherish made an offer to buy the small portion of land so that they could keep their air conditioning, shade and a reasonable back yard.  The neighbor said that she would think about it.

DAY 2:

Today, September 14, 2011, the neighbor stopped by the house while I was home for lunch.  She asked if Todd was home.  I told her that they had left town to take Peyton to the hospital for his fractured leg.  She asked that I have them call her when they get back because she had made a decision.  She went on to say that she had thought about it all night and decided she can’t just start selling off parts and pieces of her families land to random people.  Then went on to say that they had a difficult enough time getting possession of the house and had to agree to make all kinds of improvements in order to get the house.

It was everything I could do not to spit chew all over her.  There is a lot of land around the vacant house in the first place and no use for the land that they plan to take back from Todd and Cherish. 

I asked Christina today if Todd and Cherish knew the size of the land when they bought the house.  She said they did.  Part of me is outraged at the insensitivity of this nasty woman.  The other part of me tries to reason that it is her land. 

The tree however is not hers.  It is on the property line and is half on her land and half in Todd and Cherish’s.  I feel that there may be a big battle over that tree.  It is the only shade for Todd and Cherish and will increase energy consumption if it is cut down.  It is in the way of the new fence for the ruthless neighbor. 

DAY 3:

September 15, 2011, I am home with the younger children while Todd and Cherish are in Wichita with Peyton.  Peyton ended up having surgery for his fractured leg.  I hear the chain saw start up around 8:00 in the morning. 

By 9:00, the insensitive, heartless neighbor called.  She asked if Todd or Cherish were home.  I let her know that Peyton had to have surgery and they would be home that afternoon.  She then said that she was going to go ahead and cut down the tree that she had told the Reeve’s that she would not cut down.  I asked her politely to wait until the Reeve’s got home from surgery, as I didn’t want to bother them during this trying time.

Her response was, “It really doesn’t matter, the tree is on my property, and they don’t have a say in it anyway.”  She went on to try to make herself sound better, but the more she spoke the more distaste I had for her.  She said that the tree trimmers said that the tree didn’t provide any shade for the Reeve’s anyway.  I quickly corrected her as the tree hung more than half way over the yard.  She then said that the tree’s roots were growing into the shed foundation.  She sounded so pitiful when she said it, like she just came up with it.  There is a closer, larger tree on the other side of the shed.  That one’s roots aren’t growing into the foundation of the shed or the patio?  She is leaving that tree.

She ended the conversation with, “I just hope they don’t hate me.”  I wanted to tell her that even her own family dislikes her, and now I hate her, and will make sure many, many others will hate her.  That would have been useless to say.  She thinks she is royalty and everybody needs to bow down to her.  She is shallow.  I am sure it would have hurt her, but she would consider me unworthy to be giving her insults.  This seems to me to be another case of horrible parenting.  Any good name her father had built in this town is dying with her.

As soon as I got off the phone with her I was trying to think of what to do to save the tree.  I tried calling my wife who did not answer.  Right away, the tree cutter moved from the tree he was working on, to the tree in Todd and Cherish’s yard.  I broke down and called Todd and Cherish in the middle of surgery.  They called one of the law enforcement officers to come over to see if he could stop the cutting until they got back to town.  He didn’t think he could do anything so he suggested calling the City.  The city was no help in the matter either.  Nobody could stop the cutting of the tree.

I had just read a book, As The Crow Flies.  In the book there is lady that was 2^nd generation in the money.  Her father had built up his legacy, then, she came along.  In the book she was ruthless, manipulative, and downright evil.  As I was reading I was happy it was a fictional book and people like that don’t really exist.

This neighbor is the exact same woman that was in that book.   

Now there is the air conditioner that the neighbor said she would allow to stay.  She has already lied on everything else.  She has known what she was going to do all along and has not given any consideration to Todd and Cherish.  She proved that point by waiting until they were out of town for their son’s surgery to cut down the tree.

Last night, my wife and I were running at the track.  She quit running and said she can’t stop thinking about what a horrible person the neighbor is.  My wife wants retaliation.  I jokingly told her to try to wish bad things on her.  I then said I hope a tree falls over and crushes her legs, and then when she is in surgery we can point and laugh at her.  How just would that be?  We laughed about it for a while, but couldn’t get the thought of how horrible this woman is, out of our heads. 

Nothing will cure my hatred for what she has already done and how she treats people.  She needs a lot of prayers, for her to become a better person.  I really do hope that she can change.