Stop that woman!

So the husband and I are wrapping up our few final projects on the house before we take a "break" on the house.  The new sofa has been ordered from Ethan Allen.  New Andersen windows - with the proper fenestration - have been ordered for our sun room.  And we have begun the process of getting a fence so little dogs can roam the back yard and play in the sun.

It was with the fence that we hit the speed bump.

If you will recall, we found out after we bought the house that said house lies inside a neighborhood with restrictive covenants on the architecture of the of the houses.  And, if you'll recall, I locked horns with one of the surly dowagers of the Architectural Review Committee who takes all of this way too seriously.

Reader, with this fence, she is back in our life.

I had to have all of the neighbors sign off on our fence plan.  To do so I had to provide a survey (from closing), a picture of the fence style and specs, and I have to get each neighbor whose property adjoins ours sign off on the fence and put their name on the dotted line.

Everyone on the right and left of our house were easy to work with, but because the back yard of the doyenne from  "The Committee" adjoins ours across the back yard for ten feet, she too had to sign off on it.

So we met with her and everything was going well when she starts mumbling about "public rights of way" and how sure she is that there is one across our back yards.

Had their been one, it would have been on the property description and deed when we signed on the dotted line.

However, before we could say "Jack Robinson", the octogenarian grabs our application and bid, says she is going to research this this week and that she'll return our paperwork once she determines whether one exists or not, and off she goes.

The husband and I are a bit stunned.  We've knocked on her door, but she isn't answering.

And evidently, she did this same thing with the family down the block.  Even though they didn't need her sign off, she knocked on the door, came in their house, chatted, saw the plans, scooped them up and made off with them, holding them and claiming something about an right away that prevented them from building a fence.  They built the fence anyway.

The husband and I feel a bit of anger at her presumption, and we've decided to give her until Monday evening to return said paperwork.  If she doesn't, then we will examine our options.

We want to be good neighbors, but we find her actions odd, and we are not amused.