Careless Neighbors Leave Their Mark

It was an agonizing morning yesterday when we discovered that a truck had jumped the curb and run down the middle of one of our strips. I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later, and that's the chance you take when you garden that close to the street. One year we a neighbor slid into some of the upright posts, which thank goodness stopped his forward progress, but it was nothing like this. My heart sunk as I realized that the path was right over most of the new plants I brought back from Santa Fe this fall. After the initial shock I rationalized that perhaps the posts did stop some of the momentum of the truck and since there was already snow on the ground (and lots of mulch) perhaps there was some cushion for the tender plants. A couple Russian Sage were knocked over and will need to be cut back as soon as weather permits. It could have been a lot worse.

Heidi and her owner come to help...

...or maybe not.

Later, a neighbor came forward to tell us that he had lost control of his truck. I had an idea it might have been him. He and some friends live in what I call the "party house." Every weekend they sit out front and party until 3 a.m. and I've had to complain about the noise. When the weather gets colder they stay in their big diesel truck and run it for quite a while, several times during the night. Since they rent, I suppose they are out there smoking and whatever else they don't want their landlord to know about. The noise is so loud right outside my window that neither a pillow over my head nor my ipod earphones drown it out. Sooooo... I guess it was nice that he at least admitted that he was the one and even offered to pay for the damage. It's amazing that he would do that, and while I give him credit for doing so, it was very difficult to stand there and "appreciate" his actions, even though that is what I said. I still feel bad about my plants and we told him that we really won't know the damage until we see what happens this spring. Most of my plants are pretty hardy. But still, the fact that I have to put up with this guy and his cohorts all the time just pisses me off. Just one more reason why I can't stand the guy. Ughhh!!!

On the lighter side, it was a beautiful (if icy) snowfall and we really needed the moisture. One of our NICE neighbors brought their St. Bernard over to console us and have some fun.