Property Schmroperty

One of the reasons Tina and I picked this house was because we loved the view from the deck. Basically, the back of the house is just at the edge of a gradually sloping cliff which forms one wall of a small canyon. The creek at the bottom runs down to the lake, which is about a quarter mile from our house

Our land extends down to the center of that creek. I was under the impression I understood exactly how our land was laid out in relation to our house until a couple months ago, when I noticed our neighbor (on the right side as you face the street... she's a former member of a band that put out a one hit wonder back in the 80's...) laying out a nylon rope along the property line between our 2 houses.

"Whacha doin [Name of One-Hit-Wonder-Creating-Neighbor Here] ?", I asked.

"Well, I was talking to your kids the other day and they said that you and Tina were concerned that someone was cutting wood on your property. I've been cutting wood, but I can assure you, it's not on YOUR property..."

"Hmmm... Yeah... well I don't know if it was you or not. We've been finding these piles of cut cedar down there by the creek. We assumed it was you, since you've been cutting your own property..."

"Yeah but see, that's just it. I am cutting my property! That's why I'm laying out this rope. I want you to see how the property line goes all the way from the street, down to the creek. Do you want to see it?" At this point, I was getting slightly irritated. I had been washing my motorcycle when I first noticed her, and while I was interested in what she was doing, I didn't really want to break out the survey gear and walk the line with her.

Nevertheless, I was wondering where her head was at and so I agreed to lay the rope out with her. As we were making our way down the cliff, she kept wanting to bring the rope over to the right. I could see that each of the little piles of cut wood were falling on "her side" of the line as we cut diagonally across what I had been thinking of as my property. Once we got down to the creek, I finally said something.

"[Name of One-Hit-Wonder-Creating-Neighbor Here] This doesn't make any sense. You've cut this line right across our back yard. It seems like you've got it ending up at the other side of our property. "

She replied "No no... you see... the property line cuts straight back from the street, and your house is set at an angle to the lines of the rectangle. I thought the same thing when I first moved in and only later learned how it all lays out." At this point, I was getting the nagging feeling that she was right, but I was having a hard time believing it. So I went inside and broke out the survey. After I lined things up, it definitely appeared that she was correct. Tina and I were going to have to adjust our thoughts about what was ours and what was not.

I was fine w/that until I learned about the fence...