I came back on a Sunday afternoon. I walked through the front door, dropped my bag, let the dog out into the backyard, and that’s when I saw it. There was a brand new wooden balcony extending off the second story of Ronald’s house. Not just any balcony. This thing was massive. It stuck out probably 8 ft from the back of his house, and a solid good chunk of it, I’m talking at least 3 and 1/2 ft, was hanging directly over my yard.
I could even see it casting a shadow over my patio furniture. One of the two support posts was planted on my side of the fence right next to it where I had a raised garden bed that I’d spent an entire weekend building last spring. The garden bed was smashed, dirt everywhere. My plants were just gone. I stood there staring at it for a good 30 seconds. The dog was sniffing around the post like it was a fire hydrant.
I looked up at the balcony, then down at the post, and then back up. I actually said out loud to nobody, “No way.” I walked over to the fence. I looked at Ronald’s yard. Nobody home. or at least nobody outside. The balcony had nice wood railing, what looked like a composite decking, string lights already hung up. This was not some rushed weekend project. This had been professionally built while I was gone. Somebody had hired a crew, poured concrete footing inside my property, set a post, and built a structure that literally hung over my backyard, and nobody thought to mention it.
That evening, I was sitting on my patio trying to process what had happened here when Ronald came outside onto the balcony. He was holding a beer and he looked down at me with this big grin. Hey man, welcome back. What do you think? I looked at him. What do I think about what the deck just got finished Thursday? Turned out great, right? I pointed at the support post. Ronald, that post is in my yard. He leaned over the railing.
Oh yeah, the contractor said it was the only way to get the right load bearing for the span. Don’t worry about it. It’s just a post. It’s a post in my yard on my property. He waved his hand. Come on, man. It’s like 3 ft. You won’t even notice it after a while. Well, I’m noticing it right now. And you crushed my garden bed. He made a face like I told him that I was upset about a dandelion.
