Helping neighbors

[Gary Fowler]

I have several neighbors that I help whenever they need something from mowing yard to mechanic work. Since it was so nice outside today I finally got my across the road neighbor to get his car out to replace the head light on his Nissan Maxima. You have to remove the inner fender liner to access it (which is really stupid design). He had called dealer about replacing the lights (planned to replace all the lamps since it is a pain to get to them) and they estimated cost to be from $175 - $400 depending on which dealer he called.
I finally got enough of the inner fender plastic pulled back to take a look and after some searching found the lamp location. After getting a small flash light, I found the place to plug in the bulb and then found the unattached wire. Either the wire was never plugged in or it simple came unplugged.

We discussed how doubtful it would be that a dealer would have simply plugged the wire back in and said good to go OR would they have replaced all the good bulbs, charged $400 and said nothing. It took me about 5 minutes to remove one plug and pry back the plastic enough to see what was inside and another 5 minutes to put it back. The rest of the 1/2 hour total time that I spent was just looking for stuff like a light and looking under the hood etc just to find the lamp location and the loose plug.
A technician that knew how to get to the lamps and had all the tools handy wouldn't have taken over 10 minutes to complete the job.

 

[4get gto]

Dealers don't put up 50k square foot buildings with office and garage space on half hour repair bills.. Sadly I think we all know the answer..!

 

[Jstpssng]

My father was always the guy people would call whenever they were in trouble. As he got older that good will came back to roost... as he grew infirm in the last few years of his life other people were looking out for him, and now my mother is able to stay on the homestead because she has neighbors like you. :thumbsup:

 

[Gary Fowler]

Looks like I just picked up another neighbor to help. My neighbor who lives due east of me told me her husband has liver and lung cancer and is loosing about 1# per day due to not being able to eat and hold it down. He has went from about 180# to 130# now. He is starting chemo tomorrow but I dont hold out much hope for him. It looks like I will have another widow to tend to soon. Heck I am surrounded by widows and infirmed folks. I sure hope my health remains good for a few more decades because my wife doesn't know how to do any of the work needing done outside and there is no one around here that could help her so she would be forced to move.

 

[MossRoad]

It's good to help your neighbors. At our old house, I always did our elderly neighbor's snow in winter, and he'd mow 1/2 my lawn in summer. There was another old guy that lived down the block. I'd loan him $20 the third week of every month for ground beef, bread, and Redman chewing tobacco. He'd pay me back the 1st of every month.

I do our current neighbor's snow. He mows part of my lawn in summer. Feels good.

On the headlight note.... my kid's Malibu requires the entire front bumper to be removed to change the bulbs! Idiotic!!! :laughing:

 

[Buppies]

Very well done it痴 nice to see people doing good deeds for others helps restore faith in man kind

 

[MossRoad]

Very well done itç—´ nice to see people doing good deeds for others helps restore faith in man kind

I charge them $400 each time.....


:laughing: no I don't, but it seemed funny at the time.

 

[oosik]

This last summer I finally got a close neighbor. Just across the county road. Our houses are about a mile and a half apart. I graded their driveway and spread the gravel he ordered. Took me about two hours. Their driveway is like a snake that you stepped on. Its about 200 yards long and has about five bends. Fortunately, it's all level.

I got paid. The wife baked me a strawberry-rhubarb pie. Man, I'll grade that driveway every week for that kind of pay.

 

[mddorange]

Dealers don't put up 50k square foot buildings with office and garage space on half hour repair bills.. Sadly I think we all know the answer..!

I know exactly what you mean.

Example: Back in the 90's there was a close dealer that I went to because they had a head mechanic that really knew his stuff. If it was something quick to fix they charged a flat 1/2 hour rate of $25.00. I thought that that was very fair and happily paid it.

Then when the old man who owned that dealership died and they sold the dealership, I went back to see the same mechanic about a quick repair expecting the same charge or maybe a little more. Boy was I in for a rude awakening. It still took him only 10 minutes to fix it but when I went to pay for it the bill was $293.73.

When I asked the young man at the service desk in the coat and tie on why it cost so much, he said to put it on the computer diagnostic machine was a flat fee of $150.00 and the hour to repair it was another $75.00 and the shop fee was $50.00 and tax, etc.

I explained to him that the computer and shop were never used as Jim went out to my car and changed it in 15 minutes. He didn't care since "The Book" said he could charge that. Of course, I never went back.

 

[Fuddy1952]

My wife had surgery Friday...I was a wreck (together 47 years) but all was well! No cancer, just a really bad fibrous cyst.
Our neighbor's I mentioned the upcoming surgery and they surprised us with fantastic home cooked food since!
We'll have to reciprocate and there are wonderful people out there!
Yes, anytime over the years helping people really warms the heart.

 

[mapper]

This last summer I finally got a close neighbor. Just across the county road. Our houses are about a mile and a half apart. I graded their driveway and spread the gravel he ordered. Took me about two hours. Their driveway is like a snake that you stepped on. Its about 200 yards long and has about five bends. Fortunately, it's all level.

I got paid. The wife baked me a strawberry-rhubarb pie. Man, I'll grade that driveway every week for that kind of pay.

Nothing compares to homade pie! We make our own, occasionally someone inflicts a store bought pie on us, not worth eating IMHO.
I much prefer exchange of favors with my neighbors to cash, l help you now, you'll return the favor later when I need some help.

 

[Jstpssng]

This last summer I finally got a close neighbor. Just across the county road. Our houses are about a mile and a half apart. I graded their driveway and spread the gravel he ordered. Took me about two hours. Their driveway is like a snake that you stepped on. Its about 200 yards long and has about five bends. Fortunately, it's all level.

I got paid. The wife baked me a strawberry-rhubarb pie. Man, I'll grade that driveway every week for that kind of pay.

Do you need an assistant? :licking:

 

[BlackOps]

i had neighbor who had a tree down in a strom. never really met him since most around me are antisocial - i am a recluse but people here are cold as ice. anyway - i am crippled and just ook a chpower and this guy had this little run down unsharpened little chainsaw. so i went by to offer my help since i cut would for the last 50 yrs. and i have a super nice saw with sharp chains. he was rude and gave me a bit of lip and i even offered him a glass or two of wine from my vineyard when he ever finished it; but he was rude, nasty aloof and a real jerk. give my other neighbors eggs and rarely get a wave hello when they drive by. when i grew up in ontario and norther NY people were so much different. the 50's are long gone in my book.



congrats to all of you for the help and the positive appreciation.

 

[Gunny]

I also do jobs for neighbors, mowed the yard for the lady next door for almost ten years, replaced water heater elements for her, put her ac units in the windows every summer, always asked her if she need anything from town when I was going, etc. Great old lady, I miss her a lot. When she passed, her son and daughter told me that it was her wish that I get first option on her property, they gave me a price that was about 25% of appraisal.
I now help out two others close by with mowing some of their yards, doing other small jobs.

But lately, as younger couples move in, it appears that generation don't own any tools and really don't have a desire to get any. It seems a week doesn't go by that I don't get at least two calls to see if I have a sewer snake, meter wrench, chainsaw, tire plug kit, etc. They seem appreciative, but it gets old when the same person asks to borrow the same item two or three times and never seems to think they maybe could just get their own.

 

[shooterdon]

I live in an area where helping others is normal. Of course there are a few jerks who think that helping a widow means I might be getting some "benefits". Funny, they do not think that way when I grade the driveway or shovel a path to the outhouse for the Veteran I that lives on my road. LOL

Good to hear many of you help others.

 

[deserteagle71]

I noticed my neighbor out on his riding lawn mower, mowing several acres of desert cheat grass close to his house. A lot of the time all I could see was a big cloud of dust with the noise of an engine coming out of it - and this old guy has COPD. I went over there with my Kubota and my 6' rotary mower and told him to get out of the way, then I sat in that air-conditioned cab out of the dust and got the job done in about 3 hours or so.

I reap the benefits all year long now- they bring me fresh vegetables during the summer and jars full of all kinds of preserves the rest of the year. What I call a mutually beneficial relationship; you can bet I'll be over again this summer to help out.

 

[dodge man]

I was driving by a neighbors house about 1.5 miles away and they flagged me down last night while I was gong by in my tractor. They had a 1 ton dually (2 wheel drive) and car trailer stuck in their driveway in the snow for about 3 weeks. I plowed around it as best I could with my tractor. Still stuck and I went and got my truck and drug just the trailer out in the road and he hooked on it with his other truck. He offered me money, which I appreciate but turned him down. He has at least 2 little kids, maybe three, they probably need the money more than me. It just would have been an hour I lost which would have been spent in front of the TV.

 

[kenmac]

I thought about going across the road and cutting up a large pine that has fell in my neighbors yard. Sad part is, he's allot younger than I, and he hasn't attempted to clean /cut it up yet. It's been there about a week.
I don't mind helping out, but I'm not about to do it all.

 

[s219]

I do a fair amount of tractor and tree work for neighbors who ask for help and often help some who don't ask and get in trouble. I remember one time bringing a load of something up to the road and I saw my neighbor two properties down struggling to place concrete culvert pipe with his wife and only hand tools. I drove down and helped them for about 10-15 minutes with the tractor, doing what would have taken hours (and caused injuries/pain) with only hand tools. And I was sure to scold him gently for not asking for help. I truly felt guilty that he was out there working so hard when a tractor would have made it much easier.

My favorite was prior to a recent hurricane. I had spent the day, a Sunday, preparing to transfer my boat over to a ramp and trailer it back on land. Got everything ready and planned to move the boat the next morning when the winds and tides were favorable. I am not joking when I say it took me 5-6 hours just to get everything ready to trailer the next day, which is why I had to split it into two days. Well, at about 8:30 Sunday night (I had already showered and was watching TV in my jammies), my neighbor calls and asks if I can help him get his boat out *now* since he had to leave on a business trip the next day. I said sure, what the heck, there isn't anything good on TV, so I get dressed and go over to his dock with only a flashlight to help me through the woods. Turns out his boat's nav lights weren't working, he had no spot lights, and he had no chartplotter or GPS, so this was going to be a real redneck operation. I had him first go over to my dock so I could grab a portable spotlight out of my boat, and longingly looked at the big spreader lights, chartplotter/GPS, and radar on my boat which would have made night time navigation a cinch (and safe).

We made it out of our creek via spotlight, but once out on the main river, there was nothing for the spotlight to see since the shorelines were so far away. Shining a spotlight at open water is like looking into the void of space. Luckily I was able to use the map on my iPhone and eyeball our location to keep in the middle of the river and avoid known shallow spots until we got close enough to the boat ramp (unlighted of course) to use the spotlight again. Everything went off without a hiccup and he thanked me over and over. I kept telling him it was way more fun than I would have had sitting at home.