Neighbor's Wood-Burning

tioga0630 · 2004-12-15T10:45:30+00:00

I have a friendly helpful next-door neighbor here in the woods (PA)where the zoning ordinance does NOT prohibit open burning. This is alifelong neighbor (30+) who grew up along with us and with whom we haveup until now been on very good terms. (The good terms do not extend toneighbor's wife.)For the past month, our home has REEKED of whatever it is that he hasbeen burning. We live on a dead-end road, but I don't want to give theimpression this is, like, Deliverance-style territory. It's just a70's-era development in the Poconos. We're not concerned that he'sburning something necessarily illegal as we are that our home isbecoming uninhabitable because of the smoke.I phoned two Saturdays ago. Neighbor's gnarly wife answered, claimed"We've burned twice a week for ten years!" (patently untrue), and that"*I* don't smell a thing." The response, while not out of characterfor this woman, was a bit more unfriendly than we're used to, even forher.The smoke got even worse, so we actually phoned neighbor's mom, wholives in a house out of line of the drifting smoke. Result was thatsmoke stopped, and next day, neighbor drives over to apologize and giveme a hug. I thought the problem was solved.Two days later, the burning started again. Because neighbor isextremely well-employed, I could see it wasn't a matter of his burningon yet another Monday mid-morning, and I started to wonder if heinstalled some sort of wood-burning device inside his home whose ventis aimed directly our way.What if anything can we do to settle this nightmare? This would belike something from Seinfeld if it wasn't causing such pain. If wecontact him again (and we'll have to do it when we're sure we won'tinstead get wife-from-Hades), we'll 1) "take back" the friendlyreception of our complaint to his Mom, or 2) show that we don't believehis explanation of "just extra wood left over from chopped trees." Hewould have had to cut down half his lot in order for the burning to begoing on this long.Any...

Dec 15, 2004 27 Replies

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tioga0630 21 years ago

THAT'S IT! Thanks to you and Gino, I figured out what it was, because when I called Gnarly Wife, she said "We've been burning garbage twice a week for the last ten years." They're the richest people on the road, but they are the only ones who don't have garbage pick-up. Oh, now I'm REALLY foamin'.

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Tekkie 21 years ago

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com posted for all of us....

Not that I would do this but maybe call your trash hauler and sign them up.

Either that or get gnarley wife a date w/ skunk!

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twstanley 21 years ago

I HATE the smell of burning garbage. There are a few folks around us, not next door but near enough to smell, that still burn garbage on occasion. It isn't all the time, but it still reeks.

I spent 8 months last year in Baghdad with my national guard unit, the smell of raw sewage and burning garbage will always remind me of that place.

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sawblade 21 years ago

If you were in Bagdad, you should know how to deal with the neighbor. Just toss a hand gernade in the window and say "bye". While you're at it, burn the whole neighborhood so nobody bothers you anymore. You;ll only smell the garbage (neighbors bodies) burning till the fire dept put out all the fires and hauls the dead bodys to the morgue.

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daman 21 years ago

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twstanley 21 years ago

I was just remarking to the original poster who had the complaints about neighbors burning something which was later determined to be garbage. The folks who do burn garbage around here do it rarely and it is quite a ways away so I don't have a problem with it. And no, I REALLY would not rather be in Baghdad. haha.

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Camilo 21 years ago

wrote >

Hey, I think you said this guy is an old friend, and this is worth a lot to have a friend as a neighbor, even if you don't get along so well with the wife.

If it's not a huge cost, maybe ask them if they'd do garbage pick up if you paid 1/2, 1/3 whatever. Might be worth the cost of keeping a friend and good neighbor.

These seemingly petty problems can really sour a neighbor relationship beyond repair and are worth trying to solve in a friendly fashion.

Camilo

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