Neighbor Cuts Trees, Leaves Mess: Was I Wrong to Throw It Back?

One day, our neighbor came over and mentioned he was thinking about trimming the trees between our properties since they mostly grew on his side. I was a bit surprised but told him that the trees were fine on our side. We liked the greenery and had a few families of cardinals living in the trees and bushes. I thanked him for bringing it up and he assured me that he’d trim them lightly. I emphasized that he didn't need to trim our side at all.

I thought I was saving my neighbor some money and trouble by not worrying about our side of the trees.

A week later, we came home to find the trees along our property line completely butchered. He had cut every bit of green off those poor trees. Now we have a clear view of his messy backyard, and we've lost the sound barrier for when he’s out there playing (badly) the guitar. The cardinals are gone; they probably found new nests elsewhere. To make things worse, our neighbor hired his friend’s kids to do the trimming, and they left a huge pile of branches and debris in our yard. Our neighbor knows we are recovering from a fire and lack the tools and vehicle to clean up the mess ourselves—nor should we have to.

He left our yard a mess and didn’t even offer to clean it up. It stayed that way for three weeks.

When the leaves started falling, I went out to rake. I'll admit I was PMSing and this is a bit immature, but each branch that was too big to fit in my leaf bag, I just tossed right over what was left of our living fence and back into his yard.

Yesterday, the neighbor texted my husband asking if we threw the branches over and complaining that he hurt his back and can’t get out there to pick them up. My husband got flustered and lied about kids running through the yards. I say, "FUCK THAT, YES, I threw those branches back into his yard." I know I could have handled this better, but honestly, I was really pissed that he cut down all our greenery after we asked him to leave it and then left a huge mess for us to clean up. So the branches were fine to leave in OUR yard, but he couldn’t possibly clean them up if they are in HIS yard. Am I the only one seeing it this way? I hate that I put my husband in this position, but I think it’s best to be honest. Plus, I think I’m totally right! Am I wrong here?

I wonder how people would react if this situation was on a reality show. Would viewers think I overreacted or would they side with me, understanding my frustration and the mess our neighbor left us with?