Snickelfritz the Menace (Sort of)

Meet Snickelfritz, our Sicilian Buttercup rooster. A real troublemaker—at least, according to our neighbor. His crime? Taking a little field trip to her yard, where he apparently “terrorized” her and her dogs.

Now, when she called to report this horrifying incident, I braced myself. What did he do?! Attack? Chase? Poop all over her patio?

Nope.

He walked around her yard. Pecked at the ground. Looked for bugs.

Clearly, a true menace.

Snickelfritz

A Case of Mismatched Expectations

When we moved here, we really hoped for friendly, like-minded neighbors—you know, the farmy type. After all, this is agricultural land, with acreage parcels. It made sense to assume our neighbors would also embrace the joys of country life.

Turns out… not so much.

Now, in my world, a random chicken showing up in my yard would be the highlight of my day. I’d geek out, take lots of pictures, lure it with treats, try to get a selfie with it. But I also get that not everyone shares my enthusiasm for rogue poultry.

And that’s fine. It’s fine.

It’s also totally fine that she doesn’t seem to like us. Or our chickens. Or the placement of our house. Or, you know… our general existence. (Apparently, she had convinced herself that our ten acres somehow belonged to her in the magical fantasy land of her imagination.) I finally had to put up No Trespassing signs just to stop her from taking her dogs on daily strolls through our property. Because nothing says welcome to the neighborhood quite like boundary disputes!

Operation: Make Peace (or at Least Avoid All-Out War)

So, along with everything else we’re trying to figure out—gardening, livestock, self-sufficiency—we now have a new challenge: How to get along with our next-door neighbor.

Or, at the very least, how to get her to not hate us.

And to make matters worse? She was supposed to be on Scream Duty Alert—you know, the designated someone-will-come-running-if-I-shriek-in-distress neighbor.

Yeah. Pretty sure that’s not happening anymore.