Good Neighbor thread... most of us have them

[40Kchicks]

I met most of my neighbors rounding up some wild cattle that my wife bought at the auction. My neighbors are all great. Most have lived in the area a long time and owned livestock. I was having trouble getting this one mean cow out of the neighbors field so I left it to try and get its calf. The neighbor came home and saw my ATV tracks in the field so he followed them. When he got back to the corner of the field that cow came out of the bushes and knocked him down. When I came back I introduced myself and he told me what happened. I felt so bad I was just waiting to get yelled at but he just laughed and asked me what he could do to help. Attitudes are different in the country. When stock are out on the loose we help the owner. I have been helped many times and hope that I have been helpful. Another neighbor and I swap equipment all the time. We never take advantage of this arrangement and it has worked really well. I wanted to buy his flail mower because I use it and he doesn’t. He wouldn’t sell it to me. He said this way you use it all you want and don’t have to pay for it. I could go on and on but I’ll end this with saying how lucky I am to have such good people around me.

Eric

 

[goneandbrokeit]

Not only does my neighbor fascinate me His Hobby
He is also quite handy to have around Handy Fellow
Nothing like skipping church on Sunday morning, hopping on the ATV for a short ride, and sitting down for a good bull/see what he got up to now session.

 

[Jstpssng]

Sounds like the best kind of neighbor. And there's nothing I love more than seeing some oldtimer who doesn't realise he's supposed to climb into his rocker and let the world pass by. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

A few years ago I bought a logging winch from an 84 YO, who was selling it because his bulldozer could pull a lot more wood. I must have been there an hour and a half listening to him as he talked while showing me his wood shop and his Lane band sawmill. I hope I have half his energy in 35 years.

 

[LBrown59]

Time for an update?
Any more good neighbor stories?

 

[artfull dodger]

I try to be the good neighbor myself. Being a vintage Cub Cadet fan and owning a fairly large model. They come to me to pull bushes, I keep thier drives clear in the winter with the snow tosser and I fix thier smaller lawn tractors or loan them mine if thiers is in the shop. Our one neighbor used to give me the look after we moved in, like "oh great, new redneck neighbors" And I am proud to be a redneck myself, old diesel pickup, diesel garden tractor. But when he had foot surgery this past winter, he would watch out the front window while I cleared his drive with the snow tosser on our 782d and just smile! We live at the end of along cul-de-sac and we all watch each others houses when others are away. Cheers Mike and Michele T

 

[Ridgewalker]

Great thread!

My suburban neighbors aren't worth a flip, they all dart into their houses as soon as they get home and I hardly ever see them.

My rural neighbors are great. Since I am only down on the farm on weekends they keep an eye on things for me. I did lose my best neighbor recently, he had a bad heart and didn't make it thru surgery to fix some veins in his legs.

His name was Thee Otis Cook Jr. and he was a hoot, every time I showed up he would always come over and help with what ever I was doing. He is the guy who taught me how to build 3 strand last year, he also loaned me his grandpa's PHD once, it was so old it had a square nut. Old timers like him are priceless, he always had a few good stories about way back when, of course I was usually in a hurry but I did force myself to slow down and take it in. I am very glad I did now.

 

[RadarTech]

Well,
I guess I could add a few things here..

At our new house, we have a couple of really dreadful neighbors. One who put up a no trespassing sign when he saw us building. One who put up a fence.
BUT we have some great neighbors. One guy has gone out of his way to just be nice. Came by to bring our workers hot coffee last winter. another who drove over just to check on some gun shots.. (I had another thread talking about a possum attack) He came over the morning after the ratta tatt tatt when he saw me outside.

In favor of the good neighbors I have tried to be a good neighbor too..

In our area we have several folks that summer over from Florida.. And even one guy from Hawaii!!

anyway one of them had their house broken into. and when I saw them on the side of the road, and heard their story I had to help them somehow.

they asked for a name of someone to scrape their driveway...
I gave them a name, and then decided just to go do it..
Refused money and they just kept checking on me for the week they were in town.

Now if yall have been reading some of my other posts, we just got slammed with snow.. well slammed for us-- (a foot!!) It was funny how the nicer neighbors all worked together and for free...

But I just heard that one of the not so nice neighbors paid several hundred $$ for a driveway scrape(to be fair it was 1/4 mile private road)...It seems noone would do it for free.. and the guy that did it just threw a number out he thought high enough to not do the job.
he was actually the "low bid"!!!! none of the neighbors really wanted to even offer after many problems in the past..of 8 neighbors 4 have tractors. funny both of the "enjoyable" neighbors are tractorless! hmm.. could that be an indication????

I guess the moral of this set of stories is multifold--
1. The bible says do unto others as you would have others do unto you.
funny- those that refuse to help others- are often pressed to get help
kinda fits doesn't it?

2. As an old saying--what goes around comes around.
almost the same as #1-- but not quite biblical!
this also comes true sooner of later!

3. A friend in need is a friend indeed..
I don't have a reference for this-- but when you help a someone out--
If will always come back to you and so does the opposite..


Anyway, that is my story and I am not asleep in the recliner...



J

 

[wolc123]

I like all my neighbors. The one who is right nextdoor (lawyer who moved out from the city)gave me a hard time once, threatening to sue when one of my trees fell onto his property, but he has been fine ever since I plowed his driveway a few times after some big snowstorms. My job takes me away from home quite a bit, but I can always depend on my nieghbors to help out my wife and little kids when I am away. With my family having been on this farm since the mid 1800's, I know most of the folks who have been around these parts for a while. The last few years, a lot of new folks have been moving out here but I find that they are usually just as nice as the folks who have been around for a long time. I dont think my neighborhood is unique, as everywhere I have traveled, I have encountered lots of fine folks, and that includes most of the lower 48 states. In general, I believe that most folks problems with nieghbors can be repaired by thier own actions. The payback, fences, posted signs, security system, lawsuits, police, eye-for-an-eye stuff is all BS, and wont give you nothing but more stress.

 

[capi75rs]

I'm the newbie on the block, we've lived here for 5 yrs now and my neighbors and I all get along great. The farmer who owns the 80 acres next to me is a great guy. Our friendship started when I informed I wanted to replace the fience round my pasture which boarders his place. I told him that I'd do all the work and pay for everything, even though by law he was required to do half, my pasture is only @ 4 acres. I put in the new fience to my specks and he provided a new gate to put up between his place and mine and also gave me a check to cover half of the materials. That was nice and unexpected. Later on I was driving down the road and noticed he had a place in his fience that was down, not part of the new fience that was just installed. He runs cattle on the 80 acres. So I got on my wheeler and loaded up some posts and drove down and fixed the low spot, then called him and let him know. After that I received a lot of thanks and have been given permission to fish his pond, on the 80 acres and only 1800' from my house and I can also ride my wheeler on his place anytime. To this day I still get on the wheeler and ride his fience line and when I find a low spot, I'll hop off and fix it. Last year he asked if he could use power from my barn to run a hot wire and I had no problems at all. He said he'd pay for the electricity however I could not notice any increase in the electric bill so I didn't accept any money. This year he is going to refience his 80 along the road that I keep an eye on. I told him to let me know when and I'd be happy to help. I asked if I could use his PHD while he was hear to install some new post on my place and he agreed. I'm really blessed to have great neighbors.

 

[Flatheadyoungin]

where i live now- suburbs- i have a great neighbor on my west side.....he and i have been friends for years........when he's not working mega hours we do most of our work around here together........when i first started out, i didn't have hardly any tools, etc and he always let me use his.......now, i have more than him and he borrows mine! he's a lot like a father figure to me....

on the other side, i had a great neighbor until he passed away....he was a picky ole' fella but he liked me......i fixed his mowers and whatever else he drug home from the flea market...........now, this new guy is a whole different sotry.........he's disabled so i started out offering lots of help, etc....telling him all about his house- because i'm the one that kept up with it until he bought it........then, over a complete misunderstanding, we don't hardly speak.....long story short, i was out trying to find our property pins and was telling him that the neighbor on the other side was going to put up a fence...when i came back out several days later, he had me building a fence between us.....i tried to explain that i wasn't building a fence but he had it in his head......he got hot headed and i walked off- i wasn't going to argue with a man on his own property....oh well, his loss.........

then as most of you know, when i bought my 43acres, i was worried that some of the neighbors wouldn't be too inviting....man, i couldn't have been more wrong.....my property is surrounded by 13 different tracts of land and owners......i haven't met 5 of them and all but 1 has been very nice....keeping an eye on everything, fixing parts i've broken, went and got an 85hp JD with a 10' hog to help me, getting tools for me.......actually several of them have become friends and call me every now and then.......

i can't wait to get out there.....some of them are ole' timers and i hope they hang around for a long time......