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He has the right to stand on his porch. Is he ever out there when you're not mowing? You're sure it's connected to the mowing? One strategy is to simply ignore him.
Or, as another poster said, stop the mower and stare at him until he goes away. You can stand there for a long time. 5 minutes. 10 minutes. 20 minutes. Eventually he will go inside. Do it to him every time he comes out and watches you. Eventually he'll be creeped out and will avoid you. Maybe you won't end up being best of friends but at least he'll leave you alone.
Another thing you could do is start to mow, then stop when he comes out, fiddle with the mower, go inside for a long time, then come out again and start up the mower, then stop again, fiddle with it, go in the garage for a long time, come out and restart the mower, and... you get the idea. As soon as he comes out on the porch, you stop. As soon as he goes back in, you start again. Before long his wife will be asking him what the hell he's doing. Or else, maybe she's the one telling him to watch... who knows? People are crazy.
You could also just not mow that strip next to his yard. Let it grow. The fact is that he seems somehow uncomfortable or overly concerned when you get to that area, so just skip it. You can simply refuse to mow it as long as he is staring at you. After a while, it will look like crap. The message is, "Go away and I'll clean this up. Keep staring at me, and I'll just let it become 10 feet high."
Or do what someone else suggested and put up a privacy fence, problem solved. If he doesn't like it, tough; he brought it on himself!
I like the first suggestion. Just my opinion, but some of the other these suggestions would make YOU the creepy, angry neighbor. And a control freak. Plus these actions take a lot of time and energy, and if you keep doing them, you'll give yourself an unhealthy obsession.
Whereas giving the benefit of the doubt, simply waving, and not worrying if someone is standing on his porch or not makes you a pleasant neighbor and doesn't take time or energy at all. Just something to think about.
He's probably wondering why, when he goes out to stand on his porch for a while, ... you often decide to mow your lawn. It's happened 6-8 times already! What's up with that?? (Are you certain the only time he stands on his own porch, minding his own business -- is when you are mowing your lawn?)
Honestly, maybe he's lonely and just hoping for a little neighborly interaction.
This does sound annoying. I'd stop mowing, go over and talk to this person. Mention to him you noticed he comes out to watch you mowing, and ask if he was concerned you might do something to disturb his property. If he tries to boss you around by telling you he doesn't like how you mow, the pattern, not bagging grass or whatever, tell him thanks for the suggestions but this is the way you like to do it.
Some neighbors feel a sense of territory extending to your property and think nothing of telling you how to do things when you didn't ask for their opinion.
If he says no, he was simply hanging out looking around, just say, "OK, good going then, have a nice day. I need to get back to this." And leave it at that.
You never know, it might be the sound of your mowing is very loud to him and it bothers him, but you will never know unless you talk to him. It is best to at least be cordial and communicative with your neighbors, because you never know when you might need each other under an urgent situation.
People are really nutty about their property. The smaller the property, the more nutty
Want to see how nutty your neighbors are about their property...put up a fence like we did last year! We were arguing about millimeters of land at the end lol
I guarantee you he is just obsessive about his lawn. He might have a thing with how high he cuts his lawn and doesn't want you to touch him. Something like that
I would definitely strike up a very happy friendly conversation with him every time he comes out. Don't stare, don't ask him questions. Just be overly friendly. Then you will be in the right
I moved to my new home around 3 years and since June of this year now for the 6th or 8th time my next door neighbor walks out of his front door and stands on his front porch kind of looking at me or looking away EVERY SINGLE TIME I cut my front lawn which joins to his front lawn at right side. Actually when I cut the left side of my front lawn he stays in his home, the moment I reach the smaller lawn to right of my driveway that joins with his front lawn is when he walks out and stands on his porch(the second I approach that part of the lawn he pops out of his front door). It seems he may be doing this on purpose and I don't know why. I'm a single guy who tends to be a loner and stay in most of the time, aside from that I have no other problems. What can I do about this because its causing me a mind disturbance.
Your neighbor is definitely as a control freak. I've seen it in my own experience where people get very territorial about their property. You might want to think about doing an online background check to see if the guy has a documented violent history but in reality, you most likely have nothing to worry about. You should laugh about it and make it into a game. Get your mower going at top speed, aimed directly at his lawn and stop when you get one foot from the border. You could also consider planting shrubs on your side of the property line to effectively screen him off. I like double6's advice too.
As for him possibly being attracted to you, take it from a gay man, you have nothing to be concerned about. Some straight men like to think that they are so attractive that gay men will be magnetically drawn to them, unable to control themselves. Take my word for it, it doesn't work that way any more than it does for straight people. To think otherwise is simply evidence of the latent homophobia still existing in our society.
Stop your mower and ask, "Did you need something?"
No.
"Oh. It's just that you came out and seemed to be wanting to talk to me..."
Either he'll say why, go back inside, or remain there, his oddity galvanized.
I'm using this as a marker.
Some of you suggest that the neighbor has to go inside because the OP doesn't like it when he's outside? That's what you're suggesting, as well as his being a control freak or concerned about his own yard.
Meanwhile, by his own admission, the OP is never outside except when he cuts his grass and has no idea whether the neighbor comes out on the porch at other times or not.
I'm really glad you guys aren't my neighbors because I'm on my porch off and on throughout the day.
A sampling of why:
Morning cup(s) of coffee.
Breakfast.
Random times to smoke a cigarette.
Read the newspaper.
Do sundry other paperwork things. I have to look at some Town documents when I'm done here.
Just sitting.
Eating dinner.
Where we pick crabs when we have them.
Mrs. NBP spends much of most summer mornings sitting on the porch. In fact she just came in the house. She'll likely go on it in a couple minutes to eat lunch.
A lot of odd advice, that won't make a friendly neighbor.
Dude, go to your game console, find your nutty's, and be the super character you play on whatever game it is. Head outside and tell him off!!!
Just kidding, seriously. Go out there, cut your lawn. If he comes outside looking at you. Don't sweat it. Turn the mower off, walk towards him a bit and say"good afternoon, my name is blah blah. I see you out here a lot. Are you enjoying this weather? You know, I admire your lawn. Do you have any advice for me, I'm new at this"
It's called starting a conversation... you are building a bridge with your neighbor. It's not hard. You can do it.
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