Rant: The Neighbors are Killing Me!

Our backyard was a major selling point for us when we bought this house. It's a private, well-landscaped, little sanctuary - pretty unique for such a heavily populated area. Recently, however, the privacy element of our backyard was obliterated by a chainsaw. The neighbors to our right cut down their entire line of thick, wonderful, 8' tall hedges which formed a perfect barrier along the side of our yards. Even though they weren't mine, I loved those hedges.

Our little sanctuary has been sadly exposed - instead of lush greenery, our yard now offers a disgracefully clear view of unsightly backyards all the way to the Cambridge line. I keep asking (make that whining) "WHY?!"

The same weekend the hedges came down, the neighbors on the other side decided to extend their driveway into their backyard. Not pretty. Call me a Yankee - but overlooking a pickup truck while grilling? Ick. To add insult to injury, some lovely flowering tree branches were casualties of the endeavor. All in the same weekend? It made me nauseous.

As of now, the Riley sanctuary borders a horticultural refugee camp on one side and Kentucky on the other (see for yourself) and then of course, the basement flooding neighbor at 12 o'clock...but that was last summer's project. What will we do? Well, that brings us to our next project.
See our plans for the yard here + before and current pics