Sometimes, people just plain SUCK. (Life With Unicorns.)

We live near Lake Mendota. Not on the lake, but within shouting distance of it, were one inclined to shout at a lake, which I never do.

Behind our house runs a "private road," Waconia Lane, in Middleton, Wisconsin. It has about 15 houses on it. The road runs from where it intersects our house to the lake. Here's a Google map of it:



The yellow line is Waconia Lane; the red arrow will be important in a minute.

Waconia Lane, as I said, is a "private road." It runs, though, right behind our backyard, and there's a gap in the hedge where some next-door neighbor kids used to cut through (before we lived there; those kids are grown now.)

About 2 years ago, I started walking with Mr F and Mr Bunches around the neighborhood -- and we'd always walk out our backyard, and down to where you see the red arrow on the map. At that point on Waconia Lane, the road deadends, and there's a small grassy embankment with some rocks on it and a stairway to a pier. We'd go there and look at the lake and I'd point out boats or ducks, and the boys would sometimes throw a rock or two in. That was it; then we'd turn around and walk back to the "public" roads, around our little neighborhood, and home.

Last summer, two or three times, the lady whose house is right at the end of the road came out to talk to us, introducing us to her two dogs and saying "hi" to Mr F and Mr Bunches.

This year, when the weather got warm, we started that again -- but the very first time out, some guy up the street came out on his deck and yelled at us.

"You're not supposed to be doing that," he said.

I said, politely "We've spoken to the lady whose yard this is, and she doesn't mind." (Keep in mind, we do not go down the stairs or onto anyone's property, other than the few feet of grass at the top of the hill.)

"That lake belongs to all of us! You shouldn't be throwing rocks into it," he said, somewhat bizarrely.

I got Mr F and Mr Bunches and we left that day, not wanting trouble. But the boys like that walk, and so I took another step: I drafted up a letter and distributed it to the people on that road. This is that letter:



I didn't hear anything back until today, when I got this:


You know, I never said anything when the "private road" people let their dogs run through the neighborhood, including in my yard, and I never said anything when the lady behind my house came walking all along my backyard frontage removing things (including, I think, wildflowers that I liked.)

But I did now, and emailed Mr. Brzezinski back that he's to remind his people to stay off my property, too.

I'll show those stupid Star-Bellied Sneetches.