A homeowner in a Frisco subdivision had a nursery plant thirty trees on his lot. Two were a matched pair, one on each side of the swimming pool, so the back yard looked right from inside the house.
One of the pair grew tall enough to block the next-door neighbor’s balcony view of the subdivision clubhouse. Once or twice the neighbor asked whether his own tree service could trim it, and offered to pay. The homeowner said no — he would take care of his own trees.
In October 2002 he had them trimmed anyway, to keep the peace. About a month later he left for a two-week vacation, and gave the neighbor his itinerary and emergency numbers…