The Vine: January 27, 2010
Dear Sars,
I have fruit trees in my yard.Most of them are in the back behind a tall locked gate, but I have a tangerine tree in my front yard behind an unlocked (but gated) 3-foot-tall picket fence. When the fruit is ripe I pick it 2-3 times a week, but I don’t have time to pick fruit every day.
Fruit tends to disappear from this tree in between pickings, and when I see the neighborhood kids taking fruit (by either reaching over the fence, or opening the gate and coming uninvited into my yard), I try to stay casual and say things like “Hey, you can have what you already picked, but please stop taking my fruit in the future,” and leave it at that.
One boy (who is about 10 years old) will not stop taking fruit, though.The last time I saw him in taking it I told him in my firm teacher-voice that it was stealing and that I didn’t want to see him in my yard again, to which he replied, “My mom said that I can take your tangerines because you don’t eat them all and they will go to waste.”Now, I do eat them all (or juice them and freeze the juice), but that isn’t the point.I stayed calm, though, and told him to never come into my yard again.
Fast forward to a few days ago, when I came home from work to see the mom with a plastic grocery bag, in my yard (she opened the gate to come in), picking my fruit.She didn’t even stop picking when I drove into the driveway.I told her to stop, leave the bag, and go home.She informed me that she had an agreement with the previous owner when they planted the tree that she could have what she wanted, and since I obviously don’t use all of the fruit she is taking it (I’ve been in my home for three years by the way, this isn’t a recent move).I told her that the fruit is mine, I do use it, and since my lease had no clause that I had to share fruit it is entirely mine and she needed to leave.She snarked back that I wasn’t going to call the cops on her over fruit, and huffed away (taking my fruit with her).
Now, she is right — I would feel stupid calling the cops over fruit, but I can’t think of anything else to do to make it stop.It’s not like I can relocate the tree or anything. Am I a pushover and should call the police over a bag of tangerines, or do I just need to suck it up and accept the fact that she is going to steal from me whether I like it or not?How would you handle this?
My Fruit Is Not Community Property
Dear Fruit,
If you owned the property, I’d tell you to get a strong lock for the gate, post a polite but firm “No Trespassing, Private Property” sign for the fence just in front of the tree, and live with the fact that people will take what they can reach because some fights ain’t worth finishing.
You don’t own it, from what I can tell, so contact the landlord and let him/her know what’s going on.I’d suggest making it about not the fruit, but the trespassing — whatever agreement the woman (and her snotty kid) may have had with the previous owners, you don’t feel comfortable with strangers on the property, it’s a liability issue for the landlord if the brat climbs the tree, et cetera and so on.Then ask the landlord either to put a good plate-bolted inside lock on the gate, or to allow you to do it.
The landlord may not care and tell you to live with it, in which case I would absolutely never recommend climbing a ladder in the middle of the night and injecting all the fruit a ten-year-old could conceivably reach with stool softener.Because that would be wrong.It would probably also be wrong to find a friend with a dog who is friendly, but happens to bark a lot and jump up on people, and borrow that dog on days when you suspect the Snagsfruit McStealigans might stop by for a fill-up, so I would never suggest that you do that, either.
Seriously, though: decide now how much you care about the issue.I think the primary irritant is Mama McStealigan’s entitled attitude, and I’m totally with you, but in case the landlord doesn’t back you here, decide how far you will go in defense of the tangerines, and if that means calling the cops, well, she is in fact stealing and trespassing…but you’ll have to live in that neighborhood, and so will she, and: hostilities.If you can’t get a lock, you might have to let the shit go, without totally overwatering that section of the lawn so that people walking under the tree sink into mud up to their shins.Because that would be wrong.Ish.
Dear Sars —
One of my two cats got diagnosed with feline leukemia this week.I’ve lost a cat to this before, and I spent the week before I took this one to the vet trying to convince myself that wasn’t what it was because her symptoms were different and she didn’t seem as sick.
The vet gave me some medicine and told me there’s a chance she’ll pull through, but it’s hard to watch my formerly bouncy cat so weak and listless.So far the other cat is still healthy — she’s getting tested on Monday.
I know you have cats, and I was wondering/hoping if maybe you or any of the readers had ideas about anything I can be doing to help her beyond just making sure she gets her medicine.She won’t eat or drink so I’ve been giving her condensed milk in an eyedropper, just so she’ll have some nourishment, but I’m just not sure if I’m doing more harm than good.
Thanks–
I’m not ready to say goodbye
Dear Ready,
You can ask your vet if there’s anything you shouldn’t do in the effort to make her more comfortable — anything that might conflict with her medication, say, although I can’t think of anything — but you know the cat best, and you should take your cues from her.
It’s difficult, because most animals, when they’re sick and/or dying, want to crawl into a corner and be left alone, so it’s hard to nurture them and let them know you care, or will get them what they need, because they’re not having it with the human contact.(Some people are like this too, actually.I myself am of the “just leave some consommé and a true-crime book at the door; I’ll call you when I’m better DON’T LOOK AT ME” school.)
But make her as comfortable as you can.If she’s picked a hidey-hole in which to sulk (Hobey usually goes with the middle shelf of a closet), put a sweater or a t-shirt of yours in there for her to nest in, and maybe a little toy.Visit her with special treats.Nobody wants to be That Guy with the tearing up the cold cuts by hand, but…you know.They’re family.I’ve been That Guy, but my man the Hobe had two teeth left, which is how I wound up stretched out full-length under the bed with a strip of Boar’s Head ham draped over one finger, and a fingerful of lemon yogurt on the next.
Stay nearby, and check on her frequently, but if she’s growly and sulky, try not to take it personally; it’s just how they get when they don’t feel right.And good luck; let us know how she’s doing.
Dear Sars,
I have a cat question that I haven’t seen addressed in The Vine yet; I’m hoping you could provide some advice.
The situation is as follows: I have two two-year-old cats (they’re from the same litter, adopted as kittens). They’re adorable, fairly easy to take care of (they’ve never been sick, they use the litterbox, can pretty much entertain themselves), and they have a lot of energy and like it when my roommate and I play with them.
I’ve always liked and got along with other people’s cats, and always wanted my own, so you’d think everything would be fine. Not so much.
It turns out I really like cats, but I really dislike having them in my apartment. (Thankfully, I’ve never liked children, so I haven’t been tempted to get any of my own.) I don’t like having to be home at set times to feed them and play with them and change their litter (I’m frequently at my boyfriend’s house, and traveling back and forth is a pain — I’d like the option to NOT come home for a day if it’s not convenient). I don’t like cleaning the apartment top to bottom every week and having cat hair everywhere by the next day.
I also have a slight allergy, it turns out, so I have to keep the cats out of my bedroom, which is fine, but also means that whenever I’m outside of my bedroom for longer than half an hour, I end up having coughing fits for the rest of the day. I have a really nice apartment that I’d like to be able to, you know, live in.
Currently, my roommate is my best friend, and she helps me out with the cats, so it’s not a disaster, and we share the cleaning duties. However, she’s moving to another city in a few months, and so I have to make some choices. I can find another roommate who probably won’t be willing to look after my cats, or clean up after them (and I wouldn’t expect them to), which means I have to be there even more often than I am now.
Or, I could try to re-home them. I don’t like the thought of doing it: I’m giving up on my responsibilities, they’re really nice cats and don’t deserve this, maybe I should just grow up and get used to being an adult, etc. But the thought of taking care of them alone for the next 15 or whatever years makes me nauseous. What do I do?
Thanks in advance,
I think I might be evil
P.S. Do you know anyone in the Boston area that wants cats??
Dear Evil,
That cutesy moniker isn’t going to let you dodge both barrels, I’m afraid.It’s too late, really, because somebody should have asked you this before you took the cats — you should have asked yourself, at least — but you’re going to have to sit through another Sarah Has No Sense Of Humor On This Issue rant after the fact, because it might prevent someone else from making the same mistake, so here we go.
What did you think owning cats would be like?Did you not think they would need regular feeding and attention?Did you not factor in your time at your boyfriend’s when you chose to adopt two creatures who would rely on you for food and love?Did you not believe your cats would shed?At all?Two of them?
The allergic reaction is one thing; that isn’t something you could have foreseen with other people’s cats, necessarily, and I myself have mild allergic reactions to certain cats and not to others.But you put the other inconveniences first, and I get the feeling it’s those that really bug you — and if you’ve read The Vine before, you should know 1) that cats cause a shitload of problems, and you got lucky, comparatively; and 2) how I feel about people believing that pets equal décor, to wit: no, they do not. We’d all love to live in that magical Iams ad where nobody ever barfs on a deep-pile carpet, claw-pulls new cashmere, or licks his butt in front of company, but that ain’t reality.Reality is the goddamned eye shadow paw-print I found on the side of the bathtub this morning.Feline companionship is often delightful and hilarious, but just as often smelly, expensive, and baffling (“WTF, they’re drag queens now?”), and this is hardly a secret.
“Evil,” no.At least you’re trying to deal with the problem instead of streeting them.But you didn’t think this through, and you should have.
Okay, tirade over; on to the problem-solving.I think you should try to re-home them.You don’t want them, and they deserve a home where the humans are better equipped for them mentally.I don’t know about Boston, but the shelter system in New York is jammed and all the no-kill organizations already have their hands full, so you’re better off with a Craigslist ad — or better yet, go through your vet.Stick to the allergy story and do not deviate from it; don’t mention the other shit.Stress how well they behave and well-trained they are.Don’t split them up, don’t give them to a pet store, and if you get any strangers who are interested, ask them the questions you should have asked yourself: Do you understand that this is a decades-long commitment?Do you care that nice furniture is now a pipe dream?Do you have the money to handle it if one of them gets sick or hurt?Can you cope with minor inconveniences, paying for a cat-sitter, running the Roomba three times a week, sometimes stepping in cold yack first thing in the morning?Do you get that these are not pillows?Care enough about them to place them with someone you trust to provide the home that you can’t.
Any Boston-area readers who can help, please post here, or email me.I will sponsor an economy-sized bag of your food of choice to any TN-related adopter who might come through; we’ve done this before.Anyone else who’s about to get a pet, please remember: it is not cuddle fun times every minute, and if you can’t handle that, that is perfectly okay, get a stuffed animal instead and enjoy your pristine couch arms, nobody judges you.But like that shrink told Carmela Soprano, one thing you can never say is that you haven’t been told.There will be poo and drama.Be ready.
Tags: cats roommates
‘Would inserting stool softeners into the fruit really be illegal, though? It’s HER fruit; she owns the property and the tree and has specifically told the child and his parent to stop taking the fruit.”
Without getting into the legal concepts at issue, think of it this way: if Fruit had access to his lunchbox and drugged his Thermos, would it be wrongful? Could she be found liable? Of course she could. Because she knows he’s going to consume something possibly harmful, at her initiative. The same thing is at issue here. The whole point is for the child to unknowingly be dosed with possibly harmful medication. Yeah, you would be seriously liable for that.
That’s so interesting to me! I have very little knowledge about law so I had no idea that it could be actually illegal to do whatever she wanted with her own fruit after warning them about not eating the fruit! Thanks for all the answers on that.
You know, I just don’t see a major difference between owning and renting with regards to whether or not you’re going to allow trespassing. I’m guessing that if you were expected to be the neighborhood fruit stand, your landlord would have mentioned it.
Call the cops.
On second thought, hell, call your landlord. Tell him he’s likely to lose a portion of his property to adverse posession. Mention the liability thing, too. Nobody wants that.
@ferretrick: I think that’s true. My mom used to work at a very small doctor’s office and they would not salt the walkway when there was ice, because of that reason. Who knows if they were right when it’s a business, but I think it is for sure correct when it’s personal property.
Another problem with the stool softener trick is that the owner then can’t eat it (unless she doesn’t mind a lot of running to the bathroom) if the McStealigans don’t turn up again. What a waste of good food.
Also: eye-shadow paw print. Bwahahahaha!
I’ve been mulling over Fruit for a few days, and I’m wondering if this is a situation you really want to escalate. If the neighbour is that much of a Cow Bitchface, she is probably the type to retaliate for any action you take.
It might be better to be the bigger person, catch more flies with honey and so forth. As unpleasant an exercise as it would be, would it be worth sacrificing a few tangerines by taking them over in the bag and saying “I’m not comfortable with the idea of people being in my yard without my consent, so I brought you these. If you’d like more let me know and I will see what I can do”?
It may defuse the situation and cause her to calm the fuck down on this entitled shit. Plus, if she doesn’t, you’ll know you tried to find a compromise.
I know it’s not easy, in the same way that I spent a good 10 minutes tossing up whether to tell my annoying bitchface dumbfuck neighbour they’d left their headlights on when a large part of me thinking “Sucko” before I decided buying into noxious hostility is too draining and headed over there.
Evil: If you wind up keeping the kitties, I’d recommend getting the Dyson pet hair model vacuum (the purple one). Even if you have hard-wood floors, the thing is AMAZING on upholstery. It comes with this little brush you attach to the hose and seriously is the best thing ever. I have a very, very hairy white cat whose favorite activity on earth is to pull clumps of her dead hair off and spit them out all over my furniture and the vacuum gets them all. It’s expensive, but totally worth it. And it says right on the label that it’s good for asthma and allergies.
But if you really think you can’t learn to deal with your allergies and give the kitties a good home, I hope you do make a strong effort to find them the right kind of home.
@ferretrick says:
@L: Yes, you can be held liable for injury to trespassers, under certain circumstances. ESPECIALLY because its a child, who the court will presume doesn’t know better (and in this case thanks to Mama McSenseofEntitlement, he doesn’t). Not sure where the tree would fall on that spectrum, but say it wasn’t a tree, say it was a swimming pool. Now if you put a swimming pool on your property and you aren’t home for long periods of time, its predictable that it would attract kids who might get hurt unsupervised. So you have a duty to secure the pool, and you can be held liable if you don’t. The chance of liability for Fruit Tree increases since she knows in advance these people come on her property all the time without permission, so she has a greater duty to exercise care to protect them from injury.
See that whole concept just baffles me. Imensely. It ´s not even like she invited them over! Or the hypothetical person with the pool! The sidewalk thing I can wrap my head around it (since sidewalks are public places and it ´s your duty to take care of yours and so on…) but something inside your home?
Back on topic: if for nothing else, but to avoid being sued (and for the right to eat your own tangerine, damn it!) call the cops. All the other options sound like fun (sprinklers! big dog!) but may just incite your neighboors to get creative. Calling the cops make two fundamental points: 1. You are serious about this 2. It ´s not ok for her to just walk into your house and take the fruit. And I think that ´s what it ´ll take for them to stop.
I recently found my dream townhouse but the landlord doesn’t allow pets. I have a dog and was disappointed the she hadn’t advertise that…but it’s her place and she can make any rules she wants. I politely thanked her and left. She called me an hour later begging me to take the place because she “felt we clicked.” While I was flattered, I politely declined. She went on to say she’d already called someone WHO WOULD TAKE MY DOG OFF MY HANDS. I literally pulled the phone from my ear and stared at it. I told her my dog is not someTHING…she’s a part of my family. Do I always want to get up out of a warm bed on a weekend morning to walk her? No. Do I love the full body tail wag the dog does when I open the door after a long day at work? Hell yes!
I hope those cats find someone to really really really love them like animals love people!
Years ago, I lived in a rented house that had a loquat tree in the front yard. For those of you who don’t know (presumably most of you) loquats are an Asian fruit that are not commonly known here, but are beloved by Chinese people for their reputed medicinal properties. When I tried the fruit, I discovered I liked it very much, and looked forward to eating them as they ripened.
Well, one day I looked out front to see a middle-aged Asian couple stripping the tree! I mean they were organized, with ladders and boxes. I went out front and told them to stop, and they gave me the same ‘tude that Fruit got – previous owner let us take the fruit, and you won’t eat it anyway because white people don’t like it! I fussed at them but they just would. not. leave. until they had taken ALL the fruit. Hindsight being 50/50, duh, I should have called the cops, but I was a teenager in my very first home and didn’t think of it. Turns out they sold the fruit at farmer’s markets for a considerable sum…..
Still makes me a little steamed to think of it.
Shawn: really, though, it’s as if Fruit were drugging HER OWN thermos, and someone went into her lunchbox and drank it. NOT the same thing as going into someone else’s lunchbox and drugging HIS thermos.
Affurica: No landlord is involved here: Fruit OWNS the property: house, land, and tree. And liability!
@Fruit I agree with the sentiments to add a lock, but one thing occurred to me. Perhaps there’s reason that Fruit hasn’t already slapped a lock on that gate. Is the mailbox on the house? Then friends can’t come up to visit? Although I’m guessing that the garage/drive must be in the back somehow so maybe there’s still a door for people “in the know.”
I agree with LaBD – Bitch is going into Fruit’s lunch box & STEALING Fruit’s thermos – that’s a whole different set of circumstances. But the laws here in America are stupid & twisty & weird & then stupid some more – who knows? You might still be liable for tampering with items intended for human consumption – that’s an inch or two from attempted murder in the courts.
But even if they were just standing in your yard LOOKING at your tree, they’re trespassing, and you’ve asked them to leave. They are breaking the law even before they start picking! I’d just call the police & let them sort it out. Ask what they suggest in this sitch, I’m sure it’s not the first time they’ve heard this. And sadly, not the last. Videotape any confrontation if possible. I’m so sorry you have to go to extra trouble because Bitch has no manners.
My BFF & I were eating grapes from the public side of a chain-link fence & the old pooper whose grapes we were stealing shot at us with a shotgun loaded with rock salt. He missed me but caught Vicki in the leg – non-lethal, but she said it hurt so badly she just wished she’d die. We were seven. Second graders. And we got in trouble (at home, town was too small for a police force) for stealing. No one even questioned the old pooper’s right to shoot two little girls. The world has changed since 1962, huh?
Fruit, you don’t need to worry about Vicki & I – we will leave your tangerines alone! Owchiewawa!
Let this be a lesson to all — if you ever plant a fruit-bearing tree, put it in the back yard! :)
“Shawn: really, though, it’s as if Fruit were drugging HER OWN thermos, and someone went into her lunchbox and drank it. NOT the same thing as going into someone else’s lunchbox and drugging HIS thermos.”
No, it’s as if you knew in advance that a specific person (particularly a child!) were going to take your Thermos, and you dosed it. Look, I’m one of them lawyers too. The rule here is that you can’t intentionally hurt someone and escape liability for it. Regardless of the provenance of the dosed container, if you intentionally set out to hurt someone under these circumstances, you have committed a tort. The court will not value your fruit tree over the health of a child. What if the kid died? Do you really think the law allows you to try to poison someone for stealing fruit? It doesn’t.
Just a little legal edumacation: it really doesn’t matter whether you lease or own when it comes to what you can do your property in terms of putting up locks, and also whether you can be liable for what happens to someone on your property.
You can’t make permanent changes to a structure you’re leasing, but you can certainly add locks and other “fixtures” (like a ceiling fan) to the property. Just be aware that you have to give the owner a key to any locks you add, and that depending on the law of the state, the owner may become the owner of any fixtures you install unless there is a separate agreement that it remains yours. (One caveat — if your lease prohibited you from adding locks, you would have to abide by that.)
In terms of liability, you’re just as potentially screwed as the owner. When you rent in an apartment building, you as tenant are not responsible for any shared public spaces. But when you rent a house, you have full liability for everything that happens in the house and everything that happens on the land. And I would bet your lease specifically excuses the landlord from liability for anything, which will be binding unless whatever caused the injury was under the control of the landlord and not you. Which is why every tenant should spring for the couple of hundred bucks a year to get renter’s insurance — it’s not just for your property, it also offers liability coverage.
@ Hummer – “I recently found my dream townhouse but the landlord doesn’t allow pets. I have a dog and was disappointed the she hadn’t advertise that…but it’s her place and she can make any rules she wants. I politely thanked her and left. She called me an hour later begging me to take the place because she “felt we clicked.” While I was flattered, I politely declined. She went on to say she’d already called someone WHO WOULD TAKE MY DOG OFF MY HANDS. I literally pulled the phone from my ear and stared at it.”
Good lord, people are nuts. I won’t even look at a place unless they’ll allow my cats to come too. My standard line is, “No pets, no interest.” But to have someone try to get rid of your dog FOR you, when you have no interest in giving it up in the first place? CRAAAAZZZYYY.
I’m afraid yes, if Child McStealingan eats a tangerine and gets sick from the stool softener, the tenant can be charged with a felony. It’s the same principle involved with poisoning your own lunch to deter lunch thieves at the office (I wrote an article on this once, and there are previous legal cases that deal with this kind of thing.). If you won’t eat it yourself, you’re not allowed to do it. On the other hand, if the kid’s simply allergic to tangerines, or you’d cheerfully eat tangerines spiked with jalapenos, it’s not your problem.
Shawn: Thank you for the follow-up; I was actually only correcting the part about Tangerine dosing her own thermos in her own box, rather than going into someone else’s box and dosing HIS thermos. The LIABILITY part didn’t change, as you pointed out, and as I remembered this weekend – I realized that what I wrote might be interpreted as “… so then she doesn’t have liability!” Which is not correct. As you pointed out.
And while I would rather live in this country than anywhere else, I’d like to step up and say that I’m not a happy citizen at the proliferation of “treat people who steal from you as thoughtfully as possible!” mentality. I regard those incidents where burglars break in, get hurt, and successfully sue the homeowners as perversions of the law. However, since that IS the outcome, we go back to the best case for Tangerine Queen, which is: Call the cops.
Hummer: I heart you.
La BellaDonna- except for one case in California (where the school and burglar settled out of court, which was stupid of the school) I don’t know of any case in the U.S. where a burglar successfully sued a homeowner for getting hurt while burglarizing the house. (There could be cases where someone set a trap gun or something, but that’s a different issue.) Perhaps there are cases where a burglar did *file* a lawsuit, but any judge worth her salt should throw it out post haste.
We had a similar issue with a neighbor constantly coming into our yard. Ultimatly we did call the cops who told us that we had to post a “no trespassing” sign first…then if she continued to come into our yard we could have her arrested – if it came to that. Apparently the sign was enough for the neighbor, we had no further problems after that.
A friend of mine had an 8 foot high fence people would jump to steal her lawn furniture. So she very, very carefully placed razor blades along the bottom edge so if you jumped up and grabbed on . . . . ouch. That was in conjunction with her no-trespassing sign. Probably wrong. But very effective.
? Melanie, not that it would be right ANYWAY, but … your friend, she had solid gold lawn furniture, right? Because why the heck would someone be so driven as to scale an EIGHT FOOT FENCE in order to steal … lawn furniture?
I’m just boggling. Also, the spectacle of someone going BACK OVER THE FENCE with the lawn furniture is pretty boggling, too. Oh, they threw it over the fence. Thus damaging the furniture, and who would steal damaged lawn furniture?
I’m croggling at the mental pictures. Also? Good on your friend.
Hummer, that’s both crazy and hilarious! The idea of giving my dog away because of something like housing options is as odd to me as the idea of giving my husband away because his hair colour doesn’t match the curtains. My dog is a living creature that I love and that I have committed to caring for. End of story!
Michelle, I really hope that your friend has signs warning about the presence of those hidden razor blades, because if she doesn’t I suspect that there could be a serious court case in her future…
1) Post No Trespassing sign on gate
2) Put lock on gate
3) Turn the sprinklers on whenever you leave the house during the season
4) Log all conversations with her or her child; tell her you are doing so.
5) If all else fails. call the cops.
Fruit needs to pick EVERY DAY, even if she thinks she doesn’t have time for it. Fewer tangerines, fewer chances for theft. And more fruit for her.
Put up No Trespassing sign AND lock on gate, don’t wait to get permission from owner.
Get hand-held alarm and set it off whenever fruit thieves attempt to steal. Create an embarrassing commotion.
Take photos of thieves and call police. Lean heavily on the invasion of privacy and liability issues.
A week late, but: What Cooper said, basically.
Put a lock up on the gate *and* a “No Trespassing” sign. Let the cops know that Crazy Tangerine Lady and her kid have been trespassing previously and you’ve asked them to knock it off. Put them on speed-dial if you have to.
(I’m now imagining this turning into a routine for Fruit. “Hello?” “Oh, hello, Fruit.” “Hi, Darlene.” “They’re at it again?” “Yep. Go send a car to both our houses, will you? I’m about to go spray them with the hose.”)
Make it very clear to the police that, before Crazy Tangerine Lady mentioned it, you had no idea about any “arrangement” with the previous tenant and in any case, it’s been *three years* since you moved in. If Tangerine Lady wanted permission, she should’ve come and talked to you when you’d moved in. She didn’t, and you don’t care; you just want her to stop walking into your yard and stealing your fruit.
Also point out that the fruit is not, in fact, going to waste. From what you’ve said, I doubt you’re leaving it more than a day or two between the fruit getting ripe and picking it; it’s not falling off the branch and rotting on the ground, here. She’s stealing it off the tree, *after* the property owner has told her to knock it off.
I would start spraying her with a hose, if she keeps it up; if *she* complains to the police, mention that she’s trespassing and stealing.
Also, morbid curiosity has me wondering how this turns out.
Ix says:
Also, morbid curiosity has me wondering how this turns out.
You ´re definetly not alone in this… I check this thread all the time to see if there is a reply from Fruit heh
I think if Fruit really wants the stealing and trespassing to stop (because that’s what it is), the most straightforward way is the best. Send a note to neighbor apologizing for any misunderstanding over the tangerines, inform her that she and her son are not welcome on your property, and let her know that the next time you see either of them in your yard, you will be calling the police. And then stick to your word. Also, hanging up a “private property, no trespassing” sign is an excellent idea.
Although I agree that neighborly hostilities are generally best avoided, I think neighbor’s behavior is inexcusable and shouldn’t be tolerated. She’s been disrespectful and at this point there’s no way future interactions with her wouldn’t be awkward anyway.
Ix says:
Also, morbid curiosity has me wondering how this turns out.
L says:
You ´re definetly not alone in this… I check this thread all the time to see if there is a reply from Fruit heh
I say – me too! I come back at least every other day to see if there has been an update.
So I know it’s been awhile, but I was just wondering if “Evil” had figured out what she was going to do with the kitties in the long term. My boyfriend and I live in the Boston area, and we suddenly lost our very, very, very much beloved kitty last month. It was really terrible, because she was only 2 years old and the best kitty in the entire world, but enough time has passed now that we’re starting to look for a new pet. We’re hoping to adopt a younger adult cat, and may be willing to adopt a pair. The OP’s cats here sound like they might be the personality type that we are looking for, so if she still plans to re-home them and hasn’t yet found someone, I would be happy to get in touch with her.
@Katy – I actually took “Evil’s” cats (I don’t think she’s evil but I don’t want to use her real name) home yesterday. They are probably the sweetest cats I’ve ever met but they are extremely shy. One has gotten very friendly with me, my husband and even my 6 yr old son, but has not met my two other cats and is still afraid to leave the room they are in (the other cats being locked up at the time). The other cat came out for me and was very friendly this morning but keeps wedging himself into corners and not moving. My agreement with Evil is that if it doesn’t work she will take them back. My definition of “not working” would be imminent and constant threat of bloodshed between the old cats and new, or if the second cat’s health is in danger due to not coming out of his hidey hole.
I’m not saying I am already scoping out a new house at all, i just wanted to give an update that for now they are ok, but that it’s still in trial stage and that if the worst happens then Evil or I might be contacting you, if that’s still ok with you and/or Sars…?
Cayley: Definitely feel free to get in touch with me (and the same goes for “Evil”) if it doesn’t work out. I’m continuing to look for a new kitty, but due to my currently crazy schedule, it’s likely to be at least a couple of weeks before I end up taking one home.
Hi Katy,
Thanks so much for posting! Cayley tried to take the cats, but they did not get along with her other cat (that appears to be the understatement of the century). So, they’ll be back with me starting tomorrow (Sunday). I’ll give them a few days to calm down, then if you’re still interested in meeting them, please email me at spam.grrr @ gmail.com. I’ll reply from my main address, and can send you pictures!
Thanks again!
Evil