Privacy disappears fast when the wrong people move in next door.

So, what would you do if your new neighbors chopped down the trees that once gave you peace and quiet and turned their backyard into a noisy sports arena where balls are constantly flying into your yard?

Would you keep throwing them back? Or would you make the balls disappear forever?

In the following story, one homeowner finds himself in this situation and tries the latter.

Here’s what happened.

You’ll never do that again

I live deep in the heart of suburbia in an upper-middle-class area.

We had a nice semi-private yard until the neighbors directly behind us sold their home and moved.

The new people, who have two teenage sons and have been there for 4 years now, cut down all the trees and shrubs on their side of the fence, transforming my nice, private yard into a semi-public space.

It’s their yard, so he keeps his mouth shut.

We weren’t happy, but there was nothing we could do about it since it was their yard.

We did plant shrubs on our side, but it’s still not as covered as it was before they moved in. Now the shrubs at least partially obstruct their view of my yard.

They put a basketball set up on their patio, and their two extremely uncoordinated sons are constantly outside playing sports and tossing bricks against the backboard. They also love kicking soccer balls, tossing tennis balls, and throwing crocs around.

Again, it’s their yard, so as much as I don’t like it, I keep my mouth shut.

He was a kid once, so he understands, but still.

I loved playing sports as a boy, and I wasn’t the greatest athlete, but I was always respectful of my neighbors and kept my balls in my own yard, and, when I didn’t, I was nice and apologetic about it. The two kids behind me aren’t like that at all.

Once they moved in, their balls and crocs were regularly in my yard as well as their next-door neighbors’ yards.

At first, they’d either ring my bell to ask for them or, if I saw them, I’d just toss them back over the fence.

But how much is too much? It was happening weekly.

Their ball was gone for good.

Then they’d stop coming over to ask, and their balls would just sit in my yard until I tossed them over.

Last summer, I just collected them near my side of the fence behind my shed and let them sit there until late autumn, until I finally tossed them back.

This year, a soccer ball was in my yard. Soccer balls are expensive. We let it sit there for a good two weeks. When our landscaper came to do the lawn maintenance, we told them they could have the ball.

We haven’t had a ball in our yard since.

Nice! Well, at least the ball went to a good home.

Let’s see how the people over at Reddit relate to this story.

This reader would install a fence.

According to this person, their dogs will get stray balls.

Yet another person whose dog loves to play with balls.

According to this comment, the toys become his after a while.

Ultimately, he did what he had to do. Can’t knock him for that.

If you liked that post, check out this one about an employee that got revenge on HR when they refused to reimburse his travel.