How would you feel if some stranger came and mowed your grass?

[dusty3030]

Got some new neighbors. Neighbor beeing a relative term since where we are is very rural and houses or clusters of houses are pretty spread out.

One of the oldest houses in the county is less than a mile down the road from our place. Neat old house sits on 3 acres now. Rest of it sold off long ago and is all farmland around it. Some people have been trying to renovate it and flip it, two different sets of them, for several years. Housing crashed they abandoned it and it foreclosed. Needless to say it is pretty grown up. Lots of mature trees that he storms in April tore up pretty good and no one has cleaned it up.

A younger couple bought it. I noticed a couple of cars there for a couple of weeks and saw a moving truck unload there a couple of weeks ago. I stopped in one evening and introduced myself, gave them our number and me and my wifes name and welcomed them to the neighborhood. They had young children and told me they weren't letting them play outside much since it was so grown up. They had a smaller Snapper rider, but hadn't tackled the outside yet. This bugged me so this past Saturday I rode down with my tractor and bush hog. They weren't home, I thought about it and just went ahead and mowed most of it. Picked up the big limbs with the FEL and put them on a pile of limbs already started. They never came home before I left. I haven't been back down there.

Now I'm hoping I didn't freak them out. They aren't from around here or the country. I don't care to be thanked, but in hindsight I hope I didn't offend them. If they are city people they might not take it well someone was "invading their space" when they weren't there.

What say you, should I approach them again or let a sleeping dog lay.

 

[groundcover]

Sounds mighty neighborly to me ! I would stop by and fess up that you did a welcome to the neighborhood drive by mowing:laughing:

 

[acme97]

Dusty, I think it was a great gesture you did. I'd just stop back by and let them know you did it. I'm sure they will appreciate it. If you stop by and they're not home, just leave a note saying you didn't want them to worry about who did it, just doing a neighborly thing. Of course, you might now have a new chore to add to your list!

 

[k0ua]

I am not sure how they would take it, but I can tell you a story:

On my old place at Willard, Mo. was in the process of cleaning out a fence row that faced the county road. This process took several days, as the fence row had some rather large trees in it, and several older stumps that someone had cut previously. Anyway when I was down to the larger stumps I had quite a time trying to dig them up with just the FEL. So one Saturday morning I told the wife I was going back out to attack the remaining 5 stumps, got on the tractor and went to work, but when I got there they were all gone! In their place was just some chips left by the stumpgrinder! I told the wife that the Stump Fairy had come and taken all the stumps! To this day we joke about the Stump Fairy, and never did learn who or what removed the stumps for me. But I can tell you this I was darn glad the "Fairy" visited me:laughing:

James K0UA

 

[Bird]

To me, that's a perfectly logical thing to do. I've done the same thing for a couple of neighbors here in town. But I never said anything to them about it. In my case, both of them had a pretty good idea who might have done it, and thanked me for it.

 

[GGB]

I'd bet if you just stopped by again to say hello and ask if they need any help with anything, they'd probably ask if you were the one who mowed and cleaned up some of the limbs. And most likely be very grateful for the help!

I love to hear stories about random acts of kindness. It reminds me that not everything is wrong with this old world. Thanks for doing a good deed for your new neighbors. That sure seems like a good start to help out when they are probably still up to their ears in boxes trying to move in.

GGB

 

[dusty74]

Got some new neighbors. Neighbor beeing a relative term since where we are is very rural and houses or clusters of houses are pretty spread out.

One of the oldest houses in the county is less than a mile down the road from our place. Neat old house sits on 3 acres now. Rest of it sold off long ago and is all farmland around it. Some people have been trying to renovate it and flip it, two different sets of them, for several years. Housing crashed they abandoned it and it foreclosed. Needless to say it is pretty grown up. Lots of mature trees that he storms in April tore up pretty good and no one has cleaned it up.

A younger couple bought it. I noticed a couple of cars there for a couple of weeks and saw a moving truck unload there a couple of weeks ago. I stopped in one evening and introduced myself, gave them our number and me and my wifes name and welcomed them to the neighborhood. They had young children and told me they weren't letting them play outside much since it was so grown up. They had a smaller Snapper rider, but hadn't tackled the outside yet. This bugged me so this past Saturday I rode down with my tractor and bush hog. They weren't home, I thought about it and just went ahead and mowed most of it. Picked up the big limbs with the FEL and put them on a pile of limbs already started. They never came home before I left. I haven't been back down there.

Now I'm hoping I didn't freak them out. They aren't from around here or the country. I don't care to be thanked, but in hindsight I hope I didn't offend them. If they are city people they might not take it well someone was "invading their space" when they weren't there.

What say you, should I approach them again or let a sleeping dog lay.

When I got my new to me Kubota I started shoveling snow from everyone driveways. I let them know if only so they were not friked out.

 

[kco]

:thumbsup:
To me these stories about the stumps and mowing the grass are what all neighbours (not just country folk) should be like. With easier transportation and communication methods our societies seem to focus more on our personal friends and family with less interaction with neighbours.

It is not that we are naturally unfriendly, but we seem to be afraid or embarassed to introduce ourselves or welcome new neighbours. Possibly it is a fear of rejection.

It's easier to interact with neighbours in a country setting because we rely on each other more for common concerns regarding road clearing, brushing, family, pets, security, etc.

I'm fortunate to live in an area where the neighbours help each other. I greatly benefitted from that last winter after a severe fall from a ladder put me out of commission for two weeks (two dislocated toes & broken tail bone). Neighbours hauled the wood in (wood furnace) and did a lot of snow clearing that otherwise would not have been done. My wife may have been able to manage the wood, but it would have been a struggle. The good thing about it was we did not feel indebted. We have looked after both neighbours' places/pets/cattle/clearing/mowing and they have assisted us. There's no sense of obligation but more a feeling (as Red Green says) "we're all in this together". We need more of that feeling.

 

[ultrarunner]

I've done the same on a smaller scale with foreclosed properties in the neighborhood...

Neighbors have thanked me a lot... a couple of time folks thought I was the new owner...

Never heard a word from the actual owners...

 

[tmajor]

Obviously, you approved of them or you wouldn't have been there trying give them a leg up. I don't think, it would hurt to give them your story. It sounds like they had plenty of other things, to spend their time on.