Good Neighbors

   / Good Neighbors #1  

ratter

Silver Member
Joined
May 22, 2005
Messages
186
Location
Westmoreland CO, PA
Tractor
Massey Ferguson 1540
Man, all these stories of bad neighbors are bringing me down! I wonder if it might take the edge off a bit if we share some good neighbor stories, even if that good neighbor is you.

We just moved our here about five months ago - 52 acres, with basically one immediate neighbor on each side. On one side is a horse ranch. The guy who runs it stopped by shortly after we moved in to introduce himself and welcome us. In the other direction is a young family, not farmers, just folks like us who prefer the country, I guess. Nice kids, nice dogs. No ATV's, no funny business.

To the north of us is a fella who is quite well-to-do. He owns his own large excavation company. The day we moved in, he stopped by to introduce himself and to let us know that if we ever needed any earth moved, to just give him a call.

And finally, to the south is a 3rd generation dairy farmer, with three sons (4th gen.) who help him out every day. It's only been a few months and I can't count the number of times he's helped us out already. Whether it's pulling over on his way to doing some real work when he's sees me scratching my head at my little hobby tractor, or just to shoot the breeze for a while. When he's cutting hay on his hill (we each live at the foot of the same large hill that we split up the middle), he makes a few passes down our hill to clear our road.

Knowing that I've only got a little 40" bush hog, he uses his 10' rotary cutter to clear the edges of my fields along the road when he does his. Doesn't have to ask, and doesn't fish for thank yous, even though I offer them profusely every chance I get. Get this, he even went around and pounded in the survey stakes on my property so that he wouldn't accidentally knock any out when he's cutting.

Oh, and we're invited to the wedding of one of the sons in October. Normally I'd rather do just about anything than go to a wedding, but you can bet we'll be at this one.

There's not a whole heck of a lot that I've been able to do in return just yet, but I try. He knows that any hay on my property that he needs, he is welcome to, and he has taken some. Another neighbor passed away recently, so he was helping the widow tend their livestock. I was able to offer some fenceposts that he needed to help keep the animals where they were supposed to be. Oh, and he stores some equipment in my barn.

Now, the first week we moved in, we did have some ATV'ers going up the aforementioned road up the hill. As they came back down the hill, I walked out and told them, in friendly but very clear terms, that they couldn't ride there anymore. They were good kids, I think - looked scared s***less, as good kids would be in that scenario. And they haven't been back since. And nobody has come back to exact any juvenile revenge on myself or my property.

So there's some good neighbors. Now, granted, we haven't lived here through a hunting season yet. Hopefully I won't have to come back with any bad neighbor stories once the snow starts falling!

-Mike
 
   / Good Neighbors #2  
Mike, my experience 60 miles south of Dallas was similar. Very quickly got to know our neighbors and got to be friends with them. So we did everything from having cookouts together, to working each other's gardens, to building fences, baling hay, and repairing stuff to playing dominoes at night. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
   / Good Neighbors #3  
An old man told me once that in order to have good neighbors you had to be a good neighbor...
Probably not a hundred percent thing but it can't hurt. I've been lucky in that I've never had a neighbor problem although some were more highly regarded than others.
 
   / Good Neighbors #4  
We have great neighbors, and watch out for each other's animals, mail, security, etc., all the time. Whoever is out on the street on a given day with his tractor mows everyone's borrow ditches. When I was researching my tractor purchase, they let borrow theirs to try out and mow pasture with. When an evil oil company wanted to shoot seismic down our whole street across everybody's place, one neighbor in that business told everyone what they needed to put in their contracts, and negotiated on behalf of anyone who wanted to for free.

One amusing thing that happened to us is that we apparently bought our place from the one neighbor that no one else liked - he was known to pull up neighbor's survey pins and fence posts, and otherwise generally irritate people. So, as soon as anyone in the area found out we replaced J.M. and that he moved away, they instantly liked us before they even knew anything about us. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
   / Good Neighbors
  • Thread Starter
#5  
</font><font color="blue" class="small">(

One amusing thing that happened to us is that we apparently bought our place from the one neighbor that no one else liked - he was known to pull up neighbor's survey pins and fence posts, and otherwise generally irritate people. So, as soon as anyone in the area found out we replaced J.M. and that he moved away, they instantly liked us before they even knew anything about us. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif )</font>

Very funny - same thing happened to us. We probably got the "well, they can't be any worse!" benefit of the doubt. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
   / Good Neighbors #6  
Having been one who has posted about terrible neighbors, I reckon I should tell about the good neighbors I've had over the years. Most of my current neighbors keep to themselves, but are friendly, excepting the one guy I posted about.

About 7 years ago, I lived in a little community called Dry Branch Ga. Most of the neighbors were older folks. My next door neighbor was a World War 2 veteran who spent most of the war in Europe. I thoroughly cherished every minute I spent with him. We both had gardens and shared the bounty. We shared many cold beers over war stories and depression tales. I tilled his garden for him twice a year every year and did anything I could do for him. He died a couple of years ago, another of our Greatest Generation rapidly leaving this life. What an awesome man!

All our neighbors invited us to dinner and we invited them, cooking up the veggies we all enjoyed growing. One of the younger neighbors helped me during the construction of the home I now live in. I cannot recall even one single conflict among any of us.

I guess we all get caught up in the bad sometimes, and tend to overlook all the good people who have touched our lives and the blessings we have recieved as a result of having known them.

Thanks for the thread Mike!
 

Tractor & Equipment Auctions

2007 INTERNATIONAL 7400 DT466 SFA 4X4X CHASSIS TRK (A51406)
2007 INTERNATIONAL...
2014 PETERSON 4700B HORIZONTAL GRINDER (A51242)
2014 PETERSON...
2006 CATERPILLAR D604S GENERATOR (A50854)
2006 CATERPILLAR...
New 4x6 Chicken Coop (A50774)
New 4x6 Chicken...
2008 FORD F-250XL SUPER DUTY EXT CAB TRUCK (A51243)
2008 FORD F-250XL...
2006 Ford F-550 4x4 Flatbed Pickup Truck (A50323)
2006 Ford F-550...
 
Top