Hello r/nosleep community. I saw that this was a subreddit with a lot of people (I didn’t realize that so many redditors didn’t sleep well, though it makes sense in retrospect LOL). I am hoping that at least a few of you guys will understand what I am struggling with.
A few weeks ago, one of my neighbors started mowing his lawn every night. For context, I live in a pretty sparse neighborhood, with only a few houses near mine. He has one of these big rideable mowers that is absurdle loud, the ones they have at the front of the Tractor Supply. Now, he used to mow his lawn at night every now and then, and that was fine. I can go the occasional night without sleep, and often did. However, I have not slept for weeks now. I nap during the day, but it is not the same.
I’m pissed, but not very confrontational, so I went over to his house to politely ask him to stop, and he said that he couldn’t mow during the day because he would be at work. He also said that he mowed so much because it took his mind off of his wife, who had apparently gone missing a week or so before. I’ll admit, I don’t talk to my neighbors much. I guess we all have our own methods of grieving, and it seems to be really effective for him. He also said that the grass gets uneven if he doesn’t mow it often, so maybe he just has OCD. He did have to leave for a couple days for a business trip once. I confirmed that the grass is uneven when he doesn’t mow it during the couple of hours I didn’t take the opportunity to sleep.
I thought of a couple solutions, but they might be dumb. One, maybe I can get him a scythe. The scythe can cut the grass quietly, and he already has a few tools, so he clearly doesn’t mind using his hands. Plus, he has to run through so much fuel; I couldn’t afford the fuel that he has been using. However, I don’t want to seem weird or creepy for suggesting a scythe. I did suggest that he put some stones over the uneven grass to cover it up as well, but he said that that would make the uneven grass more obvious somehow? I have also tried some basic sleep medicine, but his mower is too loud. Pillow over the ears didn’t work either. I ordered a pair of noise cancelling headphones, but they’ll take a few days to get here.
I don’t want to stop someone from grieving over their loved one, or taking care of their lawn, but I cannot sleep at all. He is pissing me off. This has affected my performance at work. The only reason that I have not been fired is because I already told my boss this. Does anyone know what I can do in order to sleep again? Thank you guys very much in advance! 🙂