I live in in a small neighborhood in a suburban setting. So it might be surprising to you when I tell you that I almost got my ass kicked while checking my mailbox.

Yes, it’s true.

In my nice little gated community, I was just approached by a neighbor and screamed at.

It all started when I noticed this minivan pulled up along the street, blocking the driveway next door. I decided it would be a good time to get the mail and see what was going on, and when I went outside. I noticed the neighbor 2 houses down (we’ll call her Nancy New Yorker) and this woman (the owner of the minivan) about my age standing on the sidewalk talking. FYI, Nanvy New Yorker moved her earlier this year when she retired, and apparently she hates the HOA rules. Uhh…why did you move in then? She constantly complains how much Florida sucks.)

As I got to my mailbox the younger woman approached me asking, “Do you know who lives here?” I asked why? She didn’t answer and repeated herself. Again, I asked why?

She started screaming at me, berating me, for some phone call my neighbor apparently made to the county complaining about the trees in the neighborhood. (There’s a rule that the oak trees have to be maintained, aka kept alive, and they can’t be replaced with palm trees, which quite a few people have done.) She stated she KNEW it was my neighbor and it was public record, and she didn’t like her “friends” (I’m assuming she means Nancy New Yorker) being bullied, and she was going to make a flyer and put them out around the neighborhood so that EVERYONE would know what my neighbor had done.

If by what she did, do you mean lodge a complaint with the county that people aren’t following the rules? But I digress…

Anyway, this woman went on and on about how I’d better tell my neighbor and warn her, and I finally cut her off and said, “Look, she’s nothing more than my next door neighbor in this situation.” She continued about her plans to “out” my neighbor and I said, “Good luck!” and walked inside. After the woman talked to Nancy New Yorker (who had stayed in her yard for this exchange) she waited a few more minutes, hoping my neighbor was inside her house I guess, and left.

I’d like to point out she had 2 kids in her minivan who witnessed this. Nice, huh?

But inside…oh, I am LIVID! We have friends here, and our kids have friends here, and I do not want to make an enemy out of anyone in the neighborhood. Let the people who make the rules enforce the rules, or report them anonymously. Yeah, it annoys me when the neighbors do things that we’re not supposed to do, like park on the street, or install illegal fences. But I have no need to police it and make enemies. I’ve got to live here!

And I don’t get our neighbor, Nancy New Yorker. When she moved in, she immediately took down her oak trees and planted palm trees, and then bitched about the HOA when she had to replace the palms back to oak. She’s always got some comment about the HOA enforcing the rules – then WHY DID YOU MOVE HERE?

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