ARGH - basketball next doors

[Lawrencewendall]

If you can't beat them, join them. A little exercise and community involvement goes a long way. Just saying.

[socca]

The last week or so, an adolescent snowy egret has been hurling itself against my dining room sliding glass door, causing enormous racket and even waking me up from my nap (nap time is sacred around my house ). I shoo the bird away, but it keeps coming right back. Food, shelter, or sex - what is it looking for? Do I look like a female snowy egret? Don't think so ...

[savory]

I'm not sure what is worse but we started lawn mower season in our neighborhood. You can't go outside without hearing one and once the windows open, the same terrible noise is inside. I love the season but hate the noise.

[CardsFan]

Sorry. But I have a hard time finding sympathy. A few high school kids are playing hoops, in their driveway, for "hours". Don't they know they are supposed to be inside gaming, or roaming the streets causing trouble?

If you were the dad, where would you prefer they be?

[zinger1457]

Made me laugh because I was that kid when I was a teen, playing pickup basketball games at my neighbors driveway. They even had spotlights on the garage so we could play at night, never heard any complaints. There is a lot worse mischief those kids could be getting into beside playing hoops.

[CaliKid]

It sucks if it's really like nails on a chalkboard to you. I realize we are all different but I love the sound of kids playing hoops or anything else. Reminds me of my youth doing the same thing. We had lights in the yard and played very late during high school years.

[youbet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by socca Do I look like a female snowy egret?

More than you might think, actually.

[GalaxyBoy]

I feel your pain, and I also feel that the kids really don't mean harm and the exercise is surely good for them.

For me, it's two LOUD barking dogs, one on either side (thankfully two doors down, each). WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF all dang day. I mean ALL dang day. And somehow, when I'm the one simply trying to concentrate or just relax, I'M the jerk who DARES complain about the noise.

There. I feel a bit better now.

OH, and speaking of cannabis stories. You've surely heard how some businesses who hire less-skilled labor have a hard time finding candidates who can pass a drug test. I met a guy who told me that when he told an interviewee that drug testing would be required but that the company would pay for counselling, he was told "no, I like doing drugs and I'll go find a job somewhere else."

[Sunset]

There is always some noise to bother someone, that is the price of not living in the middle of the boonies.
We had the same issue, but it got solved. Just wait 10 years and the kids will grow up, and they will be tired of throwing balls and instead be at jobs/school/moved away etc...

In the meantime, turn on your music, or get out of the house and do stuff in the daytime.

[timo2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunset There is always some noise to bother someone, that is the price of not living in the middle of the boonies. We had the same issue, but it got solved. Just wait 10 years and the kids will grow up, and they will be tired of throwing balls and instead be at jobs/school/moved away etc... In the meantime, turn on your music, or get out of the house and do stuff in the daytime.

Even the boonies can have noise. I lived in a cabin in Wyoming once that would get elk rubbing against it and vocalizing very early in the morning on work days. Work is work no matter where and falling asleep on the job is never good form.

[braumeister]

Just make sure they don't get any closer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7X2_V60YK8

[Ronstar]

I have the same problem with birds, ducks, geese, etc. At least the OP's problem will grow up and move away.

[panacea]

Sounds like me when I was a kid. It was my favorite thing to do... shoot baskets in the driveway for hours at a time. Sometimes I was even able to get the neighbors over for a game of horse. Now as an adult I love a peaceful neighborhood but yet somehow when there are loud kids playing outside ruining my peace and quiet it still makes me smile. It's nice to see kids outside getting some fresh air, getting exercise, using their imaginations, etc. If you need quiet time to work, I'd go with the earplugs.

[Jack_Pine]

In Wisconsin we are on 80 acres. sometimes a plane flys over and makes noise. I have learned to live with it.

Seriously, there is a shooting club about a mile away and it is noisy sometimes, I just hear it as background noise now.

[EastWest Gal]

When we moved here we discovered that there was a racetrack 1/2 a mile from our house. Saturday nights, all summer, so noisy you had to shout to talk. Thank goodness it shut down after a few years.

After 30 years as a pediatrician with crying toddlers and babies, the quiet tones of a basketball are music to my ears. Our son played across the street when he was a kid and our neighbors have a basketball hoop. When my husband plays piano or I practice my flute, our neighbors say they open the window to listen. I love the sound of a small plane overhead. It reminds me of lazy summer afternoons growing up in California. The sound made me happy then, it does still.

Instead of trying to change the sound, try figuring out why you are so upset about it.

[joeea]

Quote:

Originally Posted by broadway My neighbor has a teenage son probably a junior this year. They bought a portable basketball hoop four years ago, and the son has his friends over to play some basketball. The basketball hoop is about 20' from the bedroom that is my "office" and where I am typing this. It isn't just an hour. Today it has now been 2 hours and still going strong. Last year, they started at 6 pm and played until it turned dark. At that rate I have another 2.5 hours to endure the constant noise. Last year another neighbor spoke to the father, but the father basically did a FU. It angers me that people are so inconsiderate of others.

Does this neighbor actually know that you are bothered so much by their basketball play? If not, it's hard to use the word "inconsiderate" here.

Is the hoop on their own property? Or on a public street?

It's going to be hard to find a reasonable way to complain to someone playing basketball for a few hours on their own property during daylight hours. The same is true for playing on a public street, although in this care you might nicely ask if they could move the hoop a bit so that it's a bit further away from your window.

So you still have reasonable choices here:

• You could move your office to the other side of your home (I'm guessing this wouldn't be your best solution)
• You could wear noise-cancelling headphones when basketball is being played
• You could put up some sound-dampening draperies
• You could learn to live with it. Honestly, most people can tune out almost any repetitive noise after a little while
• You could shut your computer down, go outside and join in the b-ball for a while

Now "get off my lawn"!

[gerntz]

Dang shame these guys are outside getting some exercise & camaraderie when they could be alone inside on their iPad or doing drugs somewhere. Awful, awful parents.

[Mykle57]

I'm sinking into my chair with guilt reading this thread. Years ago, I lived in a multi-family neighborhood (two and three story buildings in close proximity). I had two teenage boys who would play bball in the driveway endlessly. Often times I would come home from work to find more than a dozen kids in my driveway playing, yelling and generally whooping it up. I bet the neighbors secretly hated me. But, they were home and I got to know most of their friends too.

Not much assurance I can offer you, but, after a couple years, their circle will widen, they'll discover girls and you'll be back to peace…. That is until they discover cars and motorcycles.

[gerntz]

Reminds me of the story of the woman who looked outside & saw her sons & other boys roughhousing in their yard and yelled to her husband that they were tearing up the grass. Husband calmly responds, "We're raising sons, not grass.". I think of this a lot when kids are outside playing & making a racket. I feel good.

[broadway]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GalaxyBoy I feel your pain, and I also feel that the kids really don't mean harm and the exercise is surely good for them. For me, it's two LOUD barking dogs, one on either side (thankfully two doors down, each). WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF all dang day. I mean ALL dang day. And somehow, when I'm the one simply trying to concentrate or just relax, I'M the jerk who DARES complain about the noise.

Dog constantly barking drives me crazy too. And I love dogs.