And in the middle of all of this, there were people at the house servicing the A/C

Last week, we received a letter from the HOA that we needed to trim the big grasses next to our driveway within the next 10 days. We realized this but just hadn't done it. The letter wasn't an impetus behind getting it done--our neighbor to the south of us has needed to paint his garage for several YEARS. I've complained about it and nothing has been done. So, we weren't in a big hurry to get the grasses trimmed. I figured we'd do it when we cleaned up the yard in the fall.

Imagine my surprise when I came home today to find our bushes trimmed. Not really trimmed so much as shorn. They look like little grass nubs. Utter confusion turned to anger as I looked at the letter and realized it had only been eight days since the letter was mailed. We still have at least two days to comply if we were going to. It was one of those shaking mad while dialing the phone number for the HOA compliance officer and just let into him, telling him that it hadn't been 10 days and this trim job looks ridiculous and yes, we know we needed to do it but they grow quickly because they're right next to the downspout and it's been raining so it's an ongoing battle and it hadn't been 10 days and. When I took a breath finally, he explained that he just writes the letters but the HOA doesn't do anything about the violation. They weren't the ones who trimmed the things. Oh. OK. So I sheepishly apologized for my outburst and said that I would call my neighbor next door who was probably responsible. And did I mention I'm sorry for yelling at you?

I took a few deep breaths and walked next door where my neighor was on the phone, leaving an apology on our machine for the grasses. She had had some yardwork done and since we never really know who is actually responsible for the grasses (we've taken turns in the past trimming them back) and she suggested that he trim the grasses so they looked like such. She said she was pretty shocked when she saw what they looked like when he was done (it's kind of like he was trying to get them straight and just kept cutting until the grasses were nubs). We chatted for a while, I told her about the compliance letter, and as we were talking, I realized that it probably wasn't her who made the complaint but the neighbor across the street who did it (she apparently questioned the ownership of the grasses a few weeks ago to our next-door neighbor). Next-door neighbor and I chatted for a while longer, she apologized again for the nubs, and sent me home with some pears from her tree as a peace offering (a yummy peace offering).

And looking on the brightside, we won't have to trim the grasses again for a couple of years: