I finally broke. I couldn't take being continuously disturbed by the noise of my neighbor using his backhoe (JCB). I've absolutely no idea what he's doing with it - looks like he's just shoveling dirt from one spot to another. I've recorded 10 days this month where it has bothered me. Yes, I'm oversensitive to noise - but I don't think this was unreasonable to complain about. So I wrote a note. I'll save a face-to-face confrontation as a second resort. Spent a long time composing the note - trying to strike that compromise between being polite and being direct. Finally happy with the wording, I dropped it in his mailbox on Saturday (under the watchful eye of another neighbor who probably thought I was stealing his mail or something). Accompanied with the note was some information on the laws regarding outdoor burning, another of my pet peeves with this guy. A few weeks ago I filed a complaint with the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency about his likely illegal outdoor burning, but they rather unhelpfully called back and told me I should call 911. Which I definitely wouldn't do as this does not constitute an emergency. Anyway, he was both using his JCB and had a fire going when I dropped the note off, and was shocked by the strong smell of smoke. At least I don't live close enough to experience that, but I would be really surprised if another neighbor hasn't said anything - I've recorded 10+ days this month of outdoor burning. So, let's see what kind of hornet's nest I've stirred up or whether it doesn't make a jot of difference. Nothing promising so far, I've heard the JCB both yesterday and this morning, and he had another fire going yesterday. Perhaps he hasn't read the note yet. Perhaps it is just my wishful thinking that he hasn't read the note yet. But I'm happy to have finally said something and to at least have made them aware that there is a problem, even if they don't act on it. The next few weeks will be interesting, and we'll go from there.
Grass
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