"They do it to trick you"

Some days, are just strange for me.

A little background, I am not a fan of strange children in my yard.  My aunt says boys, in particular, just have trouble with rough play and the concept of a property line.

So, I find it a bit disturbing that the kids on one side of my house have literally torn a piece of siding off the house - playing rough with their soccer ball.  I think they tried to kick the ball, missed, and got the siding instead.  I find it a bit disturbing that they just walk into my yard whenever they lose a ball.

The way I was raised, you NEVER went into a neighbor's yard without express permission from your parent, AND the neighbor, every time you went in the yard.  [shrug]  If I broke the rule I'd get spanked, lectured, and chores.

Ron and I got pretty tired of strange kids coming into the yard because "I lost my ball".  We tried telling them they had to ask us to get the ball, which turned into a sick game of "fetch" with one child pestering me every 10 minutes or so.  Ron had to have a talk with his mother.

After hearing we could be held liable for injuries obtained in the yard, we had a policy of "If your parent asks, we will give them the ball" - that eliminated the "fetch".  But they kept coming.  I found it very disturbing, strange kids staring in my windows and "exploring" my yard.  If I went out and confronted them, they'd grab the ball and run off.  The starers just made strange comments like "You have a lot of books".  One kid was in the back yard, looking into a window, and when I confronted him he said he wanted us to pay him to mow the yard.

So, Ron put a lock on the gate.  That held them off for a while; then they started climbing over the gate, the gate that took my husband a long time to build.  They broke it.

I was very angry.  Ron built a new gate when we had the dog problems last year, we thought the dog might have been getting out on the street side, then coming into our yard through the broken gate.

We decided to leave it unlocked.  The kid next door, on occasion, will come and get his ball.

I don't think much of it, usually, until I heard what I did today.  They are having some kind of birthday party today, several cars all over  (one of them parked, blocking my driveway - would have been nice to ASK me before doing that), several adults, and several kids.

Anyway, I heard the kids coming around the house again after the ball.  One of the boys expressed trepidation, he thought we had a dog.  The other kid said "No, they don't have a dog.  They just made the gate like that to TRICK YOU into thinking they have one."

WTF?

I don't think I can understand that reasoning.  Hey, kid, you are trespassing.  I am allowing it because your parents are decent people.  But it's MY property, not yours, and I can do anything I want with it.  So get your ball and get the heck out!

[shudder]  I can see why some people buy 100 acres or so, out in the middle of nowhere, with a big fence.