New neighbors...haven't met them. Had a party...they are Hispanic and had a birthday party last night(outside) it was one of those where the kid hits this thing with prizes and candy inside. They left the trash from that party on the ground and one of the neighborhood dogs decided to bring a large bag of it to my yard and go through it. Do I gather it up and take it to their yard and leave it or do I go to them and ask them to come clean up my yard?

Personally, since it wasn't their dog that made the mess, I'd just bag it all up and do one of two things:

1. If they clean their own yard, I'd just throw it away and forget about it.
2. If they leave their yard a mess, then I'd drop the bag in their yard with the rest of the mess.

Oy! What a way to make a crappy first impression. Them, not you.

The trash shouldn't have been left out in the yard in the first place.

I agree with Steve for the most part. I guess I'd be inclined to actually talk with them about it though.

Btw ... it's called a piñata .....

I would talk to them before I got on my high horse and threw it back into their yard.

Talking to them first is a good idea I suppose although anyone who lives a sh** load of trash in their yard isn't likely to give a damn if some of it ended up in your yard anyway....

Also, you need to hope that they actually speak English....

Everyone, please tread lightly on the ethnicity comments.

Our neighbor just had the roof on his house and garage replaced in the past couple of days and the crew wasn't too worried about what flew into our yard either. They still have a few things behind his house so maybe they'll come back and finish up. We'll see.
Not the neighbor's fault of course. New neighbors could be a bit tricky but I definitely would clean up what got into my yard myself, especially since a dog did this. Now, if it happened again...then I'd probably say something.

I wasn't trying to be insulting here....just stating a possibility. Many of the Hispanics around here speak very limited and often broken English.

I'm sorry if my comment was taken the wrong way.

It wasn't aimed at you specifically, hence the 'everyone' part. The fact that they are Hispanic shouldn't really factor into the whole conversation, but it is human nature to want to define things. I was only pointing it out so it didn't take a turn in the wrong direction.

Ok.....thanks. I still figure that if the neighbors don't care about trash in their own yard, they're certainly not going to care if any of it ends up in someone else's yard...

It sounds like the trash was in a bag, anyway.
My mom was always one to bust her butt preparing for a party, then enjoy the party and do all the cleaning up in the morning, but for the food part.

When I was young... like 6-12ish I used to go down early and sample all the leftover drinks....

I would spark up a conversation, see if they needed help cleaning up and offer to help. Mention the dog incident, share a laugh and a joint, then all will be well.

On one side we have a retired Mexican couple in their 70s. They don't speak but a few words of English but they're always coming over into our yard when we our outside as Delores loves little kids. She comes over and teaches Kristen words in Spanish and I take care of their yard for them, it's a great relationship. Much better than my relationship with my other neighbor who suffers from a severe case of douchebaggery and likes to drink and complain. So even if the language barrier is there, it's easy enough to knock that barrier down and make a connection with them regardless if they're Hispanic, Russian, Chinese, you name it. If they're a Wisconsinite ... well those people from Wisconsin aren't quite right if you know what I'm saying so beware. Course if your neighbor is a Wisconsinite then you're a Wisconsinite so you and your neighbors are screwed.

Defining the neighbors as hispanic was a way of describing the party and why there was such a mess. Pinata and a lot of kids. No racial stuff coming from this direction. They must have had 15 to 20 cars at their house that night. Sunday morning everything was left on the ground. We left for church and most had been picked up.......at least in their yard when we returned. I had a broken sack of garbage, a few paper plates and McDonald bags. I left for work this morning it was still there. The wife called to tell me someone had picked up most of what was in my yard. I suspect it was my neighbor that has dogs. He's good at cleaning up after his dogs do that and they were most likely guilty. The trash shouldn't have been left out overnight. There is still a few pieces scattered in the party yard.

Okay I'm probably going to get booted from the forums for this but...at the very least that statement you just made is stereotyping hispanic people. I mean, you're equating the term Hispanics to creating a mess and having a lot of kids. Maybe I'm being waaaay too sensitive, but that was a bit of a rough pill to swallow.

Wrong Mike.............the point is or was pinata and all that goes with it. You've misjudged me totally! I may not have stated it like you thought I should but don't be too quick to judge. I don't care if they are pink or green. It has nothing to do with what was going on. Sensitivity is great when placed correctly. This time it wasn't!

Mike, I can see how you misinterpreted that sentence. I almost did also. Cole meant that the piñata and the kids were why there was such a mess.... and the Hispanic explained why there was a piñata in the first place. Personally, I wouldn't have needed the Hispanic part to get that, but I also see it wasn't intended to be a racial or ethnic comment.

I didn't mean to start trouble when I asked everyone to tread lightly here. Maybe it's my fault that it ended up turning in the direction it did simply because of my comment. I am sorry if I inadvertently started anything.

I would be wary of the possibility of racisms here at OP anyway, but the fact that we do have a Hispanic member here makes me even more aware of this.

Be careful Mike or I might have to take back what I said about you being so awesome!!!

LOL, watch out for Wisconsinites.

@ reebee

LOL, I plead the fifth.

I'll take a fifth too ......

a fifth, the fifth.......both work. LOL

Neeeeeoww.... that went right over my head until reebee pointed it out.



But now that I see it...