Here's a new one...

[KayLR]

Last night as we were at the table eating, my hubs exclaimed all of a sudden, "Look at that! that lady is pee-ing in her yard!!!" What??? So I turned and looked just as she was pulling up her pants.

This older couple lives in the house behind us and one house over so we just see the side of their house and part of the backyard. She was squatting next to an arborvitae, out of sight of the street, but in our view.

In about a half hour, here comes the man of the house, same thing.

Now I feel bad thinking they must not have water or working bathroom or something. I don't know how long this has been going on; the neighbors directly behind us just took down an old unsightly fence a week or so ago, so we couldn't see the house before that.

What do you think? Would you do/say anything? To whom? None of my business?

[CathyA]

Maybe send them a pack of Depends? :~)

Do they spend a lot of time in their yard?
Well, if all the foliage around there starts dying, it might indicate that there IS something wrong with their plumbing (in the house, that is). Do you know any neighbors well enough to ask if they've seen them do that often?

[iris lilies]

Last night as we were at the table eating, my hubs exclaimed all of a sudden, "Look at that! that lady is pee-ing in her yard!!!" What??? So I turned and looked just as she was pulling up her pants.

This older couple lives in the house behind us and one house over so we just see the side of their house and part of the backyard. She was squatting next to an arborvitae, out of sight of the street, but in our view.

In about a half hour, here comes the man of the house, same thing.

Now I feel bad thinking they must not have water or working bathroom or something. I don't know how long this has been going on; the neighbors directly behind us just took down an old unsightly fence a week or so ago, so we couldn't see the house before that.

What do you think? Would you do/say anything? To whom? None of my business?

I would keep an eye on this. If it continues for a while, some sort of action has to take place if it seems that they do not have functional plumbing.

Hey, once in a while I pee in a bucket inside the house where my main garden sits. There is no plumbing there. I dump the bucket contents in the lily bed and keep it outdoors to for the rain to wash it out. It's not entirely sanitary, but its close enough. This happens a couple of times a month. I haven't asked DH if he does the same, but even though he has better equipment for stealth urination in the great outdoors, he is more civilized than I am, so he probably doesn't do it outside. Besides, too many neighbor eyes are around.

Funny you should bring this up because we had 3 reports on our neighborhood listserv last week about people squatting and peeing behind bushes of residents here. All of them were outsiders, visiting for a summer concert or eating at one of the (high end) restaurants. I guess it's an epidemic. Now, during Mardi Gras things are completely out of control here. I've told many times the worst incident I've ever heard of: in broad daylight, facing a major street in our neighborhood, someone defecated on the front porch someone in our neighborhood. A next door neighbor actually saw the act being performed. That's CRAZY! They were likely drunk out of their minds.

[CathyA]

Hey....IL gives me an idea.......is it possible that those folks think it's good for the plant(s) they're peeing next to?? Do they see it as a good fertilizer?

[freshstart]

they are old, right? I would watch kind of everything, are they stumbling around and peeing outside because they have dementia? But the odds of two dementia patients doing that exact same thing would be slim. I'd eventually call Adult Protective and tell them you think that they do not have BR facilities and they don't appear to know how to remedy that, could they just check on them? AP doesn't do much but I'd like to think they could at least help connect them to a plumber.

my parents' neighbors used human feces in their large garden and then would offer them some zucchini. My dad would take the bag, thank them and then bag it up twice and throw it out and then rant, "shit zucchini? human shit zucchini? WTF????" I tried to explain they were of another culture and some Americans do this now. This would just piss him off more and when I would leave the shit zucchini would be on the passenger's seat, lol. Which I hurled out the window into the woods, the only times I have ever littered, I swear!

[ToomuchStuff]

It is so easy to mail something anonymous (no return address, type written either typewriter or computer), that I probably would send a letter......

I recently thought I didn't know squat, then several of us saw you two squat while at a party we were attending.....

You didn't have a party, and they will think more people saw them, so it would throw them off a bit.

[Miss Cellane]

My first thought was hoarders, who now have a plumbing problem but can't call in plumbers because of the hoard.

Or they are living on a limited income and can't afford repairs.

But there are also people who feel pee is a fertilizer. Or that human pee will keep cats and deer away from their gardens.

[pinkytoe]

Are you in a rural area? Country folk often pee outside.

[KayLR]

Nope, not in a rural area. Nope, it's not for fertilizer as they just use a spot behind a shrub on their lawn at the corner of the house. Will keep an eye on it and perhaps make a call of concern if it keeps up. Maybe Adult Protection.

[Gardnr]

Being a country girl at heart, my first thought was "save water, pee near a tree". You noticed it once-big deal. I'd stay mum.

[ApatheticNoMore]

Ugh so sick of this drought! Let it mellow if you must, but now peeing outside .... I joke about the drought: "I never should have voted for drought! It was one of those confusing referendums where I thought I was voting against drought, and ended up voting FOR drought!" Then: "well what do you expect when the Governors name is Brown, should have voted for Green instead".


My first thought was hoarders, who now have a plumbing problem but can't call in plumbers because of the hoard.

yea, even this indicates psychological problems even above and beyond hoarding. As long as the most minimal path is cleared to the bathroom and around where he has to work, you think the plumber cares if you are a hoarder? And what if they do, so the plumber gossips about you, who cares. The fear among hoarders is always that the plumber is gong to call the authorities, but they really don't, all they want is to get paid.

My family has a toilet that takes several attempts to flush (they do use the toilet) and a bath that only fills very very slowly (and no working shower - that's in another bathroom that is not working at all), but they do take baths - though not daily. I have offered to pay to have this fixed, to contribute about $1000 (it is inherited money that noone is 100% sure who it belongs to only all data we have points to everyone conceding it's mine), even though it's quite possible they could pay especially if they stopped what basically amounts to gambling away money (and I don't mean the stock market). But no shame about hoarding and even a $1000 offer isn't persuasive, and the thing is the hoarding isn't even particularly unsanitary, it's not smelly or with animal poo or anything, it's just a mess, so just clear a stupid path. I don't try to fix the hoarding: I'm like who cares if it's messy, get a plumber! But it hasn't' happened.


Or they are living on a limited income and can't afford repairs.

Yea I thought that too, that someone should offer to contribute to their repairs since this really seems the most likely scenario to me (more likely than hoarding even): people too poor to even get the plumbing fixed :(

[kib]

The thing that strikes me as really odd if it's a plumbing issue is that they're not doing as Iris suggested, peeing inside and then dumping it. Maybe it's just their habit to go out in the yard and they have no idea they can now be seen? I have a friend who pees off his back porch all the time, I have no idea why. It's not the craziest thing I've ever heard, but someone should tell them you can't dump unlimited undiluted pee on shrubs. Electrolytes, not really what plants crave. ;)

ETA: I would really leave an anonymous note before I'd call APS, that would be so humiliating if there's no real issue. - Or if you're really brave, catch them in front of the house and say, "I love gardening, it's so green around here. Do you know we can see your whole yard from our window now?"

[freshstart]

do you know them at all? As in being able to very gently probe a little and see if they need help with plumbing? It seems odd if they never took care of their plantings that way before, why start now? And wouldn't you go in a bucket so you can spread the urine around since women have less ability to direct where their pee goes? If they weren't old and if they routinely did this, I'd keep my mouth shut but not if it's new behavior in a pretty old couple. I'd be worried about what else is going on, do they have running water, etc. Some elderly are living on less then $800 a month in social security, pretty hard to get food, utilities, meds and have enough left over for a plumber. If the AP social worker is good, they probably won't take the case, but she should go over with them programs they may be eligible for. Hopefully, they have abilities to act on her information.