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| I swear, just looking at this pile burning makes my lungs hurt. |
The past few days were just downright gorgeous here and I spent most of Friday and Saturday working in the yard, turning beds, moving around plants, raking and getting ready to plant. The hubby and I raked the front yard and carried those leaves to the curb for trash pickup, but the backyard is much larger, and has lots more ground and lots more leaves. Those leaves we mow over with the bag on the mower and then spread the mulched leaves in the gardens along the fence line. When my husband tried to crank the mower late Friday afternoon though, it wouldn't turn over, so he had to run that to a friend to do carburetor work.
Southern Style Hissy Fit Ahead Warning:
Well, the
annual struggle with the leaf burning out here where we live, but most especially with the Annoying Leaf Burning Neighbors closest to me, has begun again with the spring shedding of our oak trees out here. We are in the county, where it is not illegal to burn, but the area we live in is not rural county with acreage around neighbors, but is a typical subdivision where houses are right next to one another, like any other suburban neighborhood in the city. All of the lack of rules, regulations, ordinances and protective covenants that apply to people who do have acres of land between each other, also are missing for those of us who live right on top of each other. It's a nightmare.
Saturday morning I canvassed the neighborhood pleading my case with the neighbors in the houses surrounding mine, to talk with them about my personal health issues with leaf burning, and leaving behind a flyer about how leaf burning affects my ability to breathe...
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| Click to enlarge |
... and attached to that, was
a separate document from the EPA that outlines the specific air pollution, health problems, and fire hazard risks associated with residential leaf burning. I guess I went by about 30 or 40 homes in the blocks surrounding our house.
The Annoying Leaf Burning Neighbors closest to me weren't home, so I left one rolled up in the gate of the chain link fence that encircles their front yard. Last year either my husband or I told them on 4 separate occasions when they burned, how sick it was making me. We also told them that the smoke was seeping into our attic vent, and into our house, making it impossible for me to escape it.
The 4th time I was told by Annoying Leaf Burning Neighbor Wife to "get over myself" and that she "had no intention to stop burning her leaves." Yes! She said that! She burned leaves 8 more times in the next month and a half, making me sick for more than two months, and remember ... this is a small, suburban lot. She burned leaves 12 times over a 2 month period on a small suburban lot. Her own son later apologized to me and told me that the excessive burning that she did was on purpose to antagonize me, making it both malicious and intentional.
Late last night, when I was watching television, Annoying Leaf Burning Neighbor Wife was on her way out and apparently stopped by and dropped this off on my door. It's a copy of the back of the flyer that was attached to the
EPA document. My front door was wide open at the time, so she could see through the glass door that I was home and awake, and could have very easily knocked on the door and talked with me, but she just left this instead.
Now, to be honest, I like to think the best of most people, so I thought that maybe she really wasn't aware of
the health issues related to residential leaf burning, namely:
☠ The toxic, irritant, and carcinogenic (cancer-causing) compounds released in leaf smoke.
☠ Or that leaf smoke also contains carbon monoxide.
☠ Or that these microscopic particles can reach the deepest regions of the lung and remain there for months or even years, and even cause lung cancer.
☠ Or that a substantial portion of the hydrocarbons in leaf smoke consists of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, some of which are known carcinogens (cancer-causers).
Reading
this document from the EPA, I really thought that as an RN, she might then have a pang of consciousness and perhaps even some empathy for the health problems and illness she was causing me.
I also thought that being a breast cancer survivor, she might appreciate learning about the toxins and cancer causing properties that burning leaves puts out and be concerned about a recurrence of her own cancer.
I thought she might have concern that she was affecting the health of another family on the other side of her, or another across the street from her, both of whom have several young children.
I thought she might have concern about her own grandson who lives with them full time with his daddy.
Nope. All she was concerned about was this.
That it is not illegal. And that by me asking her to use another alternative to burning, that I am harassing
her. Oh, yes, and this...
Okay. Guess she didn't see this part...
I left out the part where since she burns so close to my house, and the smoke seeps into my attic vent, then into my attic, then into my house, which quickly fills with the odor of a dirty ashtray, that I cannot even take refuge in my own house to escape it.
I also left out the part that despite it being gorgeous spring weather where I could potentially open up the windows and air out the house, not only can I not do that, but I also have to run my air conditioner to condition the inside air in my house due to her burning smoke seeping into my house.
And, I guess she also missed this part...
Or.... I guess, to her, these issues are "
nothing."
I also left out the part about how it also causes extreme difficulty breathing (think gasping for air while it feels like somebody is sitting on your chest and you're having a heart attack), plus nose bleeds, ear and nose congestion, a severe chemical rash reaction to my skin, especially on my face, on top of the panic, anxiety, stress, irritability and exhaustion it causes.
Since our county supervisors keep shelving this issue and refuse to pass a no burn ordinance for heavily populated unincorporated areas of the county we live in, my only recourse is to take this to the courts. A ridiculous waste of money for both of us, considering the many alternatives to burning she could be using. In my county, if you simply rake or dump the leaves at the curb, they will pick them up. Or you can use your bag mower to mulch them and put them around your trees and gardens. Or you can use your bag mower to dump them into bags to put on the street.
Do you know that last year, I swear before God as my witness, that after my husband told The Annoying Leaf Burning Neighbor Husband TWICE how sick their leaf burning was making me, I watched him run his mower over the leaves with his bagger on it, then dump the bag of mulched leaves on the side of his house by my back door, and set it on fire? He could have easily dumped that into a garbage bag and put it on the street!!
But, you see, The Annoying Leaf Burning Neighbors think that if it's not illegal, it's okay to do, no matter how it may affect others.
But... there is also this little private nuisance law that applies no matter where you live, because a person has a right to the quiet enjoyment and use of their land under the law, regardless of whether they live in a city or in the county. A private nuisance is something that interferes with that person's use of their property in the manner of comfort, convenience, or health, or in some way disturbs an occupant's mental tranquility. That can include foul odors,
SMOKE, dust, loud noises, including excessively barking dogs, or dogs that act vicious or aggressive, even if any injury is only threatened and not actual.
Course, I haven't mentioned yet that since I work full time from home now, she is also interfering with my ability to work when she makes me ill.
I already know that the law is on my side and that I will prevail. Thankfully I can also sue to recover court costs, attorneys fees, and especially in this case, since the residents there have been informed of my health issues, and that they continue to repeat the contributory behavior, namely burning, that is an act of malice and reckless disregard, subject to monetary awards for pain and suffering for intentional infliction of emotional distress.
It's all just a shame.
You know, it's sad, but I don't need to be their friends. I don't even need to be friendly with them and I could care less whether they like me or not. So long as they leave me alone and stop infringing on my right to breath, and my right to enjoy my own property, instead of having to hide away inside my home to avoid their hateful behavior.
Thanks to the Other Annoying Neighbors chain smoking in their garage adjacent to my back door, I have already had to use one of these masks almost every time that I go outside - which by the way Annoying Leaf Burning Neighbor Wife, has seen me wearing.
It's not much, but it does seem to help to prevent me from inhaling the cigarette fume chemicals.
{I saw the price of cigarettes last time I pumped gas. Geez... seriously, are people willing to pay that much to slowly kill themselves?}
Even still... looks like I'm gonna need to upgrade. Shame all this, ain't it?
I miss the good ole days when people actually cared about one another. Such drama.
.
. I could totally get into having a shelf with 3 or 4 of a variety of these going with flowers, herbs, and salad lettuce. Except for checking the water and adding the nutrient about every 2 weeks, it's a pretty much maintenance free garden. Everything is nice and green. It's bug free. And very healthy. No worries about light - that all happens automatically. And, I've already cut and used some of the basil! 
," by author Steve Mitchell, who dedicated his books to "all Yankees in the hope that it will teach them how to talk right." 
