Re: Flying trash - "Maybe he died."

Good morning,

I'm Tammy. I escaped the board; my husband is currently a member at large. I'm seeking your advice on what action(s) I should take regarding our newest (high and tight, quirky) neighbor (70 yrs old?) living in a Yurt, hauling water and configuring solar for the home he is going to build. He built a tarped 15' x 30'? or larger workshop area that housed his kitchen, clothes, food. He defined his perimeter, lined walkways, hung lights. His progress was amazing. Our subdivision is heavily treed, and his activities mostly obscured.

A few months ago, my husband noted packages that had been sitting at the neighbor's entrance for a few days. We dropped over and found our neighbor hadn't been feeling well. He left the property shortly after our visit. We haven't seen him since.

Enter heavy snow and high winds, followed by squalls and rain. Husband reports the cover from the workshop has caved in.

The snow finally melted this weekend, exposing litter all over our property! I don't recognize the litter as being from our household. Husband says, "I'm telling you, that's his trash! Coyotes, bears, packrats and mice are having a field day over there!" "Maybe he died."

Another neighbor stopped by yesterday. We drove over to the absent neighbor's place together. OH MY GOSH! The tarps have blown completely off and away. The walkways are lined with litter. Plastic bags hang from trees. Lables stuck to brush and on the ground. Broken dishes, cupboards knocked over, unsecured Yurt entrance (laptop sitting open). Clothes exposed to elements, tools. It was a sad sight to see. Heartbreaking. We noted that he bagged his trash and kept it under a tarp. A visitor would assume it was building supplies. Every bag is compromised, and contents are strewn everywhere. Ev. Re. Where. This is the work of the weather and animals, not thieves.

This is where we find ourselves, and we sure could use some advice.

thanks for lending an ear.

Ask police to do a wellness check. They will make a note of it, or investigate what happened to him if they feel necessary.

Yes, start with a welfare check by the police. Is the owner current on assessments? If the litter is racking up fines by the HOA
that are going unpaid, have your HOA attorney run a skip trace on the individual.

Sage advice. Thank you TimB4!

Through a series of assessor records and Zillow, I was able to reach out to a realtor and then (finally!) to the family of the owner of the property via email. Our neighbor had been sick and hospitalized. He is warm and safe with family now. Permission was granted to do whatever necessary to secure our property from the litter assault coming from his property.

Thankfully so, because once we parked the pickup in the driveway, Nosy Nans began to circle the proverbial pot, paddles in hand.

Our docs have no teeth; no fines, no penalties. Perhaps this is the spark that will ignite members to action. Hope springs eternal.

Our subdivision is far from hardtop road. Communication options are telephone, telegram and tell a neighbor. I consider contacting a sheriff to ask if they have trail cams they could put up. The word is out!

The neighbor's family forwarded my email address to him. He was very grateful and offered to pay. He followed with several detailed instructions about tent tensioners, nylon cord & the use of tape to keep it from fraying, turning lamps on, and how to properly describe his living quarters as "a white canvas tent" and not a Yurt! I also received a detailed report of what was in his "several" bags of trash and a promise that there were no meat products in them. Except for a couple containers that had held rotisserie chicken! Ya know ... all I wanted to do was pick up trash to keep it off my property. That's all. smh ...

Um .. 2 people - 2 hours - 9 black bags of trash. We estimate we covered about 20% of the problem area(s)!

We must be careful what we wish for!!

I hope you are chuckling. I am.

Great to hear.

I'm sure you made a friend in the process as well.

I'm glad he is ok. His health is the most important thing.