Yesterday we had unnecessary drama unfolding here, and all because of one IDIOT neighbor!
It was a gorgeous day here in New Orleans, I took some of my Muscovy ducks outside into the duck pen, filled up their pool and watched them play. I also took my wood ducks and put them in our other duck pen that was holding 10 mallards that we rehabilitated for release. The mallards didn't want the wood ducks there and went after them, so when Will came home, I told him that the mallards looked like they were ready to go. So we opened the gate and shooed them all out. They went out of our backyard and we herded them towards the canal behind our yard where the wild mallards and muscovies live.
A neighbor was running with his dog off the leash and one of the mallards got scared and ducked into a hole under the fence of our next door neighbors house. That neighbor has a lot of trash in her yard and we knew the poor duck couldn't find her way back out, and since she still can't fly, she couldn't fly over the fence.
So Will goes and knocks on her door and points to her yard and tells her one of our ducks got into her yard through a hole in HER fence and could he go back there and get the duck please. She said she doesn't speak English, and told him GO GO GET OUT! NO DUCK HERE! But yet she SAW the duck through the fence. So we figured maybe she misunderstood, so I told Will to go to talk to the neighbor across the street and since he spoke Spanish, to explain to her that the duck is stuck there and we just want to get her back. So that neighbor goes and talks to her and comes back and tells us that she said we are her enemies and she hates us and is mad at us and we are NOT stepping foot into her yard. Meanwhile the duck is quacking and scared.
Finally I told Will to just call the police because I wasn't leaving the duck there and we told them we needed a Spanish speaking officer. So the cop comes out, tells us that if she doesn't let him into her yard, he won't be able to do anything about it. He banged on her door yelling POLICEI! Finally she answered and she let him go in the yard with her. Of course the duck hid, so he comes back out and says there was no duck in her yard. He said if we go in there, she can have us arrested.
So I went upstairs and out the window onto our porch roof and sat there looking at her yard and sure enough, there was the duck! We tried water, food, EVERYTHING for two hours. Finally I told Will to go behind our shed and cut a hole in the fence that joined her yard to ours. That part was behind a lot of trash in her yard so that she couldn't see him. He cut the hole but the duck, being raised for release, wasn't human friendly and wasn't coming to the big hole. Will said he was just going to go through the hole and snatch the duck and be back out, so I told him I'll go on the roof and watch, but then I saw HER watching from HER second story window, holding her cell phone and LAUGHING. I yelled at Will not to go in because she was waiting to take his picture with her cell phone. So at that point we didn't know what to do. We called our friend at the humane society but he said he couldn't do anything till morning.
We decided to wait till about 2 in the morning when it was completely dark and she was asleep and then we would both sneak into her yard and get the duck. But then she let her CAT out into her yard, and back in the window LAUGHING. That cat has killed or maimed SEVERAL ducklings that live on the canal and come into our yard for daily feedings. The cat was stalking the duck and I sat there on my roof WATCHING this unfold and I could do NOTHING about it!!! But then the duck ran to the front of her yard, where there was a chain link gate only 3 feet tall instead of the 7 foot tall wooden fence that separate our yards. I yelled at Will to grab the net and run to the front because her cat had the poor duck cornered and she was panicking. So Will ran and with the net scooped her up and got her out of there just as the cat pounced!
This turned into a 5 hour ordeal, something that would have lasted 90 seconds at the most, turned into a 5 hour ordeal! All because our neighbor decided to be a pill about it.
And why does she view us as her enemies? Because two years ago, after watching her day after day after day of carrying her stupid little dog and placing it on OUR front lawn to poop, we finally told her NICELY not to let her dog poop on our lawn. She of course ignored us. So one day while her dog was pooping on my lawn yet again, I let MY dog out to chase her dog off and she ran into her house, grabbed a broom and started beating FEMA! I should have called the cops right there and then, but didn't.
I was a good neighbor to her. Right after hurricane Katrina when all of our neighbors were gutting their homes, I cooked a huge pot of crawfish etouffe in our RV and knocked on doors and handed out 50 bowls to my neighbors, HER included. When he mail comes to our mailbox, I go and return it to her. Her son smokes pot in her yard and throws his joints over the fence into MY yard and my chickens have picked up SEVERAL of them, and still I said nothing.
But for her to not allow us to get our duck out of her yard and then laughing about it and letting her cat our to attack our duck, IT'S ON!
We set up a trap to trap her can next time it comes into my yard, and she better hope and pray her dog never steps foot on MY front lawn again!
It was a gorgeous day here in New Orleans, I took some of my Muscovy ducks outside into the duck pen, filled up their pool and watched them play. I also took my wood ducks and put them in our other duck pen that was holding 10 mallards that we rehabilitated for release. The mallards didn't want the wood ducks there and went after them, so when Will came home, I told him that the mallards looked like they were ready to go. So we opened the gate and shooed them all out. They went out of our backyard and we herded them towards the canal behind our yard where the wild mallards and muscovies live.
A neighbor was running with his dog off the leash and one of the mallards got scared and ducked into a hole under the fence of our next door neighbors house. That neighbor has a lot of trash in her yard and we knew the poor duck couldn't find her way back out, and since she still can't fly, she couldn't fly over the fence.
So Will goes and knocks on her door and points to her yard and tells her one of our ducks got into her yard through a hole in HER fence and could he go back there and get the duck please. She said she doesn't speak English, and told him GO GO GET OUT! NO DUCK HERE! But yet she SAW the duck through the fence. So we figured maybe she misunderstood, so I told Will to go to talk to the neighbor across the street and since he spoke Spanish, to explain to her that the duck is stuck there and we just want to get her back. So that neighbor goes and talks to her and comes back and tells us that she said we are her enemies and she hates us and is mad at us and we are NOT stepping foot into her yard. Meanwhile the duck is quacking and scared.
Finally I told Will to just call the police because I wasn't leaving the duck there and we told them we needed a Spanish speaking officer. So the cop comes out, tells us that if she doesn't let him into her yard, he won't be able to do anything about it. He banged on her door yelling POLICEI! Finally she answered and she let him go in the yard with her. Of course the duck hid, so he comes back out and says there was no duck in her yard. He said if we go in there, she can have us arrested.
So I went upstairs and out the window onto our porch roof and sat there looking at her yard and sure enough, there was the duck! We tried water, food, EVERYTHING for two hours. Finally I told Will to go behind our shed and cut a hole in the fence that joined her yard to ours. That part was behind a lot of trash in her yard so that she couldn't see him. He cut the hole but the duck, being raised for release, wasn't human friendly and wasn't coming to the big hole. Will said he was just going to go through the hole and snatch the duck and be back out, so I told him I'll go on the roof and watch, but then I saw HER watching from HER second story window, holding her cell phone and LAUGHING. I yelled at Will not to go in because she was waiting to take his picture with her cell phone. So at that point we didn't know what to do. We called our friend at the humane society but he said he couldn't do anything till morning.
We decided to wait till about 2 in the morning when it was completely dark and she was asleep and then we would both sneak into her yard and get the duck. But then she let her CAT out into her yard, and back in the window LAUGHING. That cat has killed or maimed SEVERAL ducklings that live on the canal and come into our yard for daily feedings. The cat was stalking the duck and I sat there on my roof WATCHING this unfold and I could do NOTHING about it!!! But then the duck ran to the front of her yard, where there was a chain link gate only 3 feet tall instead of the 7 foot tall wooden fence that separate our yards. I yelled at Will to grab the net and run to the front because her cat had the poor duck cornered and she was panicking. So Will ran and with the net scooped her up and got her out of there just as the cat pounced!
This turned into a 5 hour ordeal, something that would have lasted 90 seconds at the most, turned into a 5 hour ordeal! All because our neighbor decided to be a pill about it.
And why does she view us as her enemies? Because two years ago, after watching her day after day after day of carrying her stupid little dog and placing it on OUR front lawn to poop, we finally told her NICELY not to let her dog poop on our lawn. She of course ignored us. So one day while her dog was pooping on my lawn yet again, I let MY dog out to chase her dog off and she ran into her house, grabbed a broom and started beating FEMA! I should have called the cops right there and then, but didn't.
I was a good neighbor to her. Right after hurricane Katrina when all of our neighbors were gutting their homes, I cooked a huge pot of crawfish etouffe in our RV and knocked on doors and handed out 50 bowls to my neighbors, HER included. When he mail comes to our mailbox, I go and return it to her. Her son smokes pot in her yard and throws his joints over the fence into MY yard and my chickens have picked up SEVERAL of them, and still I said nothing.
But for her to not allow us to get our duck out of her yard and then laughing about it and letting her cat our to attack our duck, IT'S ON!
