West Texas Manners… My Yard, Your Tree. Who Trims And Rakes?

One of the most polite states, without a doubt, is Texas. The people here are some of the most amazing folks you will ever want to run into in your lifetime. Generous, giving, caring, and always there to lend a hand when you need help. Stranded with a flat? Someone will stop and help. Need a lift to the store? Elderly and need the yard cleaned up? Neighbors will pitch in. The sense of community here is easily the strongest I've ever encountered. Doesn't say much for the midwest, where we moved from almost 2 years ago this summer. Having said that there's always the slightly uncomfortable dilemma of who's responsibility some things are in the neighborhood. Property lines divide, but sometimes circumstances can cause a neighbor headaches. Like a tree overhanging into your next-door neighbor's yard.

We had this situation in Chicago too. The trunk and 90% of the tree were in our next-door neighbor's back yard, and a privacy fence separated us. There were several branches--very LONG branches--that hung over the fence at about 12 feet in the air reaching a pretty good distance into our backyard. And it never failed-we would always find twigs and sticks and bark on our lawn back there. Especially after a particularly windy day or after a storm had passed thru. On occasion-even a downed branch, depending on how bad the storm was. In addition to that-every fall when it was time to change seasons--we got an abundance of leaves scattered all around that area of the backyard (and it just so happened that we also had a trampoline there for the kids to play on and it would always fill up with leaves too).

So--who's responsibility is it to maintain? I would say the person whose yard the trunk is in is responsible to keep the branches trimmed and not allow hang over into the neighbor's yard. But I'd love to hear from YOU--what do YOU--the most polite and considerate folks in the country--think? Comment below!