Helping neighbors

[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.