One homeowner was peeved at a prickly neighbor who they said was using his sprinklers to soak school children standing on the sidewalk.
"I have a neighbor who lives in a corner house that is very private. Nothing wrong with that at all," said the Redditor.
However, the neighbor takes his desire for privacy too far, the original poster said. "Last week he started turning on his sprinklers anytime somebody walked on the sidewalk near his house. He also started running it at the exact moment the kids line up for the school bus which happens to be at the corner he is located on."
The Redditor said this behavior applies to anyone who passes on the sidewalk near this neighbor's house. "My office window stares out the front of my house toward his, so I see his sprinklers turn on 8-10 times a day as people walk their dogs or push strollers around the corner. I can also see him in the window of the second floor watching when he turns them on," they said. In a comment, they clarified that the sprinklers were unlikely to be motion-activated since they couldn't trigger them on purpose when they tried.
Lawns are already an incredible waste of water when so much of the U.S. is suffering from severe drought. There are many beautiful, cost-effective, water-saving alternatives like native plants and clover lawns.
Using water to harass neighbors on the public sidewalk is an incredible act of selfishness — and, to add insult to injury, the Redditor said their neighbor wasn't even watering the grass while he did it. "He doesn't care about his lawn; it's absolutely dead from a very hot summer. He didn't water or cut it all summer," they revealed in a comment.
"He is being a d***** soaking kids with his sprinklers before they go to school at 7:30 am, so I want to mess with him," the original poster concluded. "Any suggestions?"
One commenter had a few harmless but effective ones. "If there is any wind outside then put pinwheels up over the sidewalk so that the alarm on his cameras goes off all day long," they said. "I haven't thought of something for the kids yet; this is payback for people on the sidewalk."
The original poster said they provided empty paint cans to a couple of the kids' dads so they can put them over the sprinkler heads while the kids wait for the bus. "D***** neighbor is not happy about it but stays in his house yelling thru the window," they added.
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