More background:
We moved into the neighborhood last year. The family that lived here before had been here for a long time. The trees and shrubs that were planted when they moved in have now become overgrown and have caused a mess in our neighbors' yards.
There was a blue spruce was was beautiful. However, it was planted about 30 years ago for the former occupants' first Christmas. It was lovely and tall, but the roots were so big that they were lifting up our driveway and causing water to pool around the foundation. So, we had it removed.
Our neighbors then mentioned that a big fir tree (tallest in our yard) has made a mess in their's. Our tree has dumped a considerable amount of needles in their yard. Now, they same thing happened in ours. Plus, it creates so much shade that it would be impossible for us to grow a veggie garden. So, we removed it. We're happy and the neighbor is happy.
Now, the tree that I am inquiring about:
On the back side of our yard is an elderly lady. I never see her. She lives alone, but has an older middle aged guy visit every now and then to help out. She has an old apple tree growing on the corner of her lot. However, the tree is not maintained at all. The apples are small and drop all over our side of the fence. Now, I don't mind having smushy apples on our ground, but the yellow jackets love them. We have been taken over by yellow jackets and since we haven't had a hard frost yet, it seems like they are no longer just a seasonal pest. The kids, dog, and myself have been stung.
I don't want to bother the elderly lady that lives within the adjacent lot. But, I'm tired of the yellow jackets. I'm pondering trimming back the apple tree branches so that they don't fall into our yard. Or, I could just string a couple of wasp traps within 10 feet from her apple tree (but will that encourage more to just come). I guess I could also just make our fence taller.