Good Neighbours

Yesterday when I wandered around my backyard checking the progress of some flowers and endings of others, I noticed this peony had come into bloom.  I hadn't even noticed that it was in bud, but it is rather hidden by the bleeding hearts.

 

It's gorgeous with such pretty pink petals delicately streaked with a darker fuchsia colour on the outer base.  I planted this I think two years ago, and this is the first time it has bloomed.  It was a happy moment and I bent down to smell it wondering if even unscented peonies carried some distinctive fragrance.  I was so surprised to catch a beautiful scent from this peony!  I didn't remember that I had bought a scented one, and I am in love with it.  I'll be clearing some bleeding hearts back from it to give it room to grow and grow and grow!  Bleeding hearts do so well in my yard, that I have no qualms of ripping out a few when something else grabs my attention and wants their spot.

In the front yard, my white peonies are also doing quite well.  My husband gets a peony support on top of the plant as soon as he sees the shoots coming up, so it hopefully falls nicely above the ground and not splayed all over like a drunken fool ... it doesn't always work though ...

 

 

 

 

Now you may be wondering if these peonies are my "good neighbours", and I guess in a way they are.  I myself try to be a good neighbour. 

 

I don't have wild, noisy parties in the summertime, I always told my kids not to scream like banshees when they were playing.  I don't cut my grass really early on Sunday mornings or during the supper hour. 

And I never ever let my dog run across my neighbours' lawns to pee on their gardens.  I don't even let my dog walk on the lawn side of the sidewalk, he has to walk on the curb side, and I always pick up after my dog ... even when we walk in the woods and open fields.  I really try to be a considerate dog owner because I know not everyone is crazy about them and their habits.

 

Yesterday I had been getting a laugh from a large noisy grackle family squawking and splashing in my little gurgling water fountain on the patio. 

The birds are so big they can barely squeeze into the largest basin, but one young bird did and he looked like an elephant in a bathtub (sorry no photo of that, I didn't want to scare him off to jump up for the camera). 

So when I had to go out in the afternoon and came home to a neighbour's cat sitting outside my backyard gate watching this bird family, I had no qualms of letting my dog lose to chase him off.  I don't own cats, and I really love my backyard birds. 

There were six goldfinches at the feeder ... one is on the back of the feeder, and one is on the pole to the right.

I felt somewhat awkward, however, when the dog chased after him across two good neighbours' yards before trotting happily back home.  And don't worry, my pup wouldn't harm a cat, he just likes to give chase.  He knows also, that he's not to go past the hedge bordering one side of my front yard, or the drop off our lawn to the neighbour's driveway on the other.  He's a well-behaved herding dog, and they like to stay close to home and their family, so he doesn't wander. 

 

 My neighbour got a dog about a year ago.  You couldn't ask for a more beautiful dog ... golden retriever, calm, gentle and well loved. 

 

 

But my neighbour, who I don't believe has ever owned a dog prior to this one, has no dog ownership manners.  This dog has knocked down a child in my care, and the neighbour did nothing to reprimand it.  I've recently seen the dog jump up on an adult across the street and put his enormous paws on the 6ft+ man's shoulders!  I could tell the man did not think it was "cute" or even "funny" and was probably a bit alarmed, again the dog owner did nothing. 

 

 

The dog gets lots of walks with three adults living in the home, but whenever they come around the corner onto our street, the dog is let off his leash, and he happily runs ahead of the owners, up onto my lawn and pees every time around the edges of my garden. 

 

 

I work in that garden regularly, and I don't wear gardening gloves.  The thought of grabbing some weeds with dog pee on them disgusts me.  I don't want my flowers to suffer from the effects of dog pee either. 

 

the pee garden :[

So what do you do.  What would you do? 

 

our houses are close as you can see

Last night when I was closing up the front windows, there was the neighbour and his dog coming home from a walk in the dark, and the dog was sniffing and peeing all around my garden directly below my window.  I'm sure the neighbour saw me in the window, and maybe I should have called to him and said "please keep your dog out of my garden", but I kept quiet because I don't want to cause waves.

 

I know this is bothering me more and more because last night I woke up in the middle of the night, and my first thought was "what to do about that darned dog!".  I originally wanted to plant a garden and bushes along that side of the yard, but now I don't think that will be enough. 

I want to put up a short fence in line with the existing garden at the top, to the spruce tree, and then down the small hill to the road.  We'd like to plant about 3 bridal wreath spirea in front of the fence on the road side of the spruce tree, and another burning bush beside that existing one at the end of the garden.

I think the dog will still pee on the bushes and then squeeze through them to his own side.  Now I want to put up a fence, nothing fortress like, just enough to keep the dog out.  I'm angry.  I don't want to talk to the neighbours about it because I already asked them quite nicely not to park in front of my house (they rarely park their cars in front of their house, and they were always parked in front of mine for days at a time).  I thought I asked in a considerate manner, but apparently they thought otherwise.  I heard back from their son that a good friend of there's growled "I don't care what Wendy wants, I'll park my car where I want!!" (there were many swear words peppered through the comment).  This is a friend that visits them a lot.  Now I just cringe when that friend is sitting on their deck overlooking my yard in back.  Why can't people just take it for what it is and just say "ok, no problem, I'll park in front of my house".  It did take me about eight years to finally say something.

 

So the dog issue festers with me.  The dog has marked my front yard as his own territory and has established his habit well.  When the neighbours are in the front, the dog actually sits on my front yard rather than their own.  I read somewhere you can buy coyote urine and spray it around your yard for these types of cases, but I'm not sure how I'd feel about the Purolator man delivering a bag of coyote urine to my door.  How would they collect this stuff?!  A fence is maybe something I could pull off a little easier.   

 

Anyway, this is my rant.  I normally don't like to rant on my blog, but I just wondered if anyone else has this trouble and how they resolved it.  Thanks for listening guys :)

Wendy

My dog Cody

Linking up with Fishtail Cottage Garden Party