Making friends?

[ponytug]

I'm not sure how you feel about it this.

But if someone is trying to retieve their animal that went on walk about, I could care less if they ask me permission first before coming into my land to get it.

If they need to get their animal, come get it.

I came home last spring and one of the neighbors calves had pulled a Houdini

She was wandering around my yard checking things out. I got some cute pictures, texted the owner, and laughed about it.

Calves can be like smoke. Some of them just drift obliviously through fences. Over the years, our dogs have alerted us to countless calves "out of bounds". One was curled up under a horse trailer, all 8" of clearance, but perfect size for a calf.

All the best,

Peter

 

[Dftodd]

Calves can be like smoke. Some of them just drift obliviously through fences. Over the years, our dogs have alerted us to countless calves "out of bounds". One was curled up under a horse trailer, all 8" of clearance, but perfect size for a calf.

All the best,

Peter

Yeah, this one found one strand of barbed wire loose. He's got 8 strands about 6" apart.

Little bugger walked over to the fence, ducked it's head and stepped on through

Fawns were using that same spot to get through the fence.

So when he fixed that spot, he trapped a fawn in with his cows until momma came back and collected her and took her back out the other side of the pasture.

 

[Hay Dude]

We had a neighbor from he$$ for a bit. The house next door was a rental property.

The couple from California that was renting were the worst busy bodies and passive aggressive, back stabbing so and so's

They came over once and got into it with me because they said my dog was outside freezing his butt off.

We had a sunroom on the back of the house with doggy door and it was heated and cooled.

Apparently my dog decided to dig out of the yard and go visit. They said he was shivering really bad. I pointed out that he has a doggy door and heated and cooled area to go to when we aren't home. If he decided to freeze his butt off that's on him. And then promptly forgot about the conversation.

5 months later during a heat wave, they called the cops saying I was leaving the dogs outside when it was too hot. And they didn't have any water.

Cop shows up and starts asking me about the dogs, the heat, and the water situation.

So I walk him to the side gate into the back yard. He saw the kiddy pool by the water spigot in the shade with good clean water.

I then walked him around the corner and showed him the doggy door and heated and cooled sun porch.

At that point the cop said he had seen enough and the people were FOS.

I then said "Hey, while your here, can I show you something???"

And walked him over to the side of my yard that bordered the neighbors. I introduced him to the sweet old nag the neighbors had.

I showed him her hooves and the obvious neglect. Offered the nag an apple off my tree, and he saw the difficulty she had with it. Her teeth needed to be addressed.

Well.... he walked over and had a really good come to Jesus meeting with the knuckle heads next door.

A few days later I see the farrier put there working on the nag, and that California couple stewing about how much money it was costing them

Damn, what a couple of creeps they were.

Semi-related we had this blonde with the “smart glasses” blow into our town about 20 years ago from Chicago. She quickly got on the school board and tried to start preaching to us “local rubes” how to live. Well, some started believing the BS of this blonde blowhard and she convinced the school board and the town to build a paved walking trail for about $80,000. The money was raised and it was built. She never considered how much it would cost to shovel the snow and that random people of unknown reputations and kids on motorcycles would ride the trail, too.

Also, the pavement needed replacing. By the time the second paving was required, she had sold her house and moved away to the next town of “ignorant rubes” and stuck us with the bill.

People are so easily fooled.

 

[Dftodd]

Damn, what a couple of creeps they were.

Semi-related we had this blonde with the “smart glasses” blow into our town about 20 years ago from Chicago. She quickly got on the school board and tried to start preaching to us “local rubes” how to live. Well, some started believing the BS of this blonde blowhard and she convinced the school board and the town to build a paved walking trail for about $80,000. The money was raised and it was built. She never considered how much it would cost to shovel the snow and that random people of unknown reputations and kids on motorcycles would ride the trail, too.

Also, the pavement needed replacing. By the time the second paving was required, she had sold her house and moved away to the next town of “ignorant rubes” and stuck us with the bill.

People are so easily fooled.

Yeah, I ended up having to put a neighbors dog down since it was being aggressive and scratching cars on my property.

They got right in the middle of it.

I ended up spending a few hours in a holding cell charged with cruelty to animals which was later thrown out of court.

That night after I got bailed out of jail, I had to stop my wife from going over their, ringing the doorbell and punching out whomever answered it

They were two worthless POS.

On to your story, we have a really nice walking trail across the city with pickle ball courts, basket ball, tennis courts, skate park, and a few other goodies.

It's hugely popular and the fact we are a milder climate, we really don't have to worry about plowing. You do occasionally have it shut down for a week or two in the winter due to snow and ice.

My daughter is under contract for a house whose property butt's directly to the walking trail. She's super excited.

 

[Yander]

Well, they've clearly let you know what they want. Maybe send a letter back, with your expectations, maybe describe your livestock in case they get out, so your neighbors will know who to call, and carry on.
Sometimes the neighbors can start treating a property like their own, and a bit confrontational with the newcomers when they lose access, which can be not particularly fun to deal with.

Pretty much all the neighbor conflicts in my area have been about the one farmers dogs running around the township, and the odd tree that got cut just over the property line. We and others talked to the farmer about the dogs, and nothing changed, and then the dogs started not coming home and a letter from the other neighbors lawyer solved that.

I'm that neighbor who works at keeping good neighbors but as I get older, I don't work as hard at it. I will even pull in and introduce myself if you live on my road and within a mile or so. I have met most of my neighbors within a half mile of my house, about 8. Only one of those 8 have I had any issues with and it was mild.

Her dogs would chase me on my bike and I stopped to have a chat with her about it because my wife is very afraid of dogs. Me not so much, they didn't bother me. She got downright nasty pretty quick and told me it was my problem and advised me to use wasp and hornet spray on her dogs if they came out. Uhhhh,, NO!

I told her, it sounds like your trying to make this my problem to solve and it isn't. So she sped off on her mower and purposely slung rocks from the drive toward my car, before I could get backed out of her drive, as she did.

So I went home and called the county dog warden. He sent me a form to fill out and I did. He said I'll go out and have a chat with them and explain what it means to own a dog in Delaware county. He did too. Never saw those dogs on the road again.

I like dogs a lot, but dogs out of control piss me off very quickly. I've shot them and got the law called on me. Don't like your dogs being shot? don't have them come out after myself and my kids while in my yard; which was what happened. Talk about some pissed off neighbors.... Don't care!

 

[Yander]

To make friends, one must show themselves friendly.

When a nastygram came from a new neighbor in the mail, I just ignored thier lack of social skills and were continually friendly to them.
Offered to help them out when a wind storm blew through and knocked over two trees on thier driveway. They had no chain saws or equipment and they needed to get out to get to work.
After that they changed thier attitude towards us and after the three years they watch our livestock for us if we are out of the area.

It's called overcoming evil with good... good on you!

 

[D&D]

Well it did say that they had a previous bad experience with a neighbor. Would the person who owned the land they bought next to you have bad mouthed you?

I would suggest not letting it bother you and see if respect towards them changes anything.

I certainly would not turn down an offer to bid (whatever their GC was looking for a bid on) since it might lead to a better relationship.

Up to you though. No need to be friends with neighbors so long as each respects the property rights of the other.

Bad experience where they came from, not here. Won’t bid without a site visit and are banned from the property.

 

[D&D]

To make friends, one must show themselves friendly.

When a nastygram came from a new neighbor in the mail, I just ignored thier lack of social skills and were continually friendly to them.
Offered to help them out when a wind storm blew through and knocked over two trees on thier driveway. They had no chain saws or equipment and they needed to get out to get to work.
After that they changed thier attitude towards us and after the three years they watch our livestock for us if we are out of the area.

To clarify, I have never met them. They do not live here, they have an undeveloped lot. Found out last night, they put their other 2 neighbors (that they haven’t talked to) on notice also.

 

[D&D]

To me, that's just a weird, weird letter.

We were guilty of having sent a letter to our neighbors a few weeks after moving in, but it was a "Hey, we are new and having a BBQ, and we would love to meet you" type letter.

I'd be tempted to bid on the work for their GC, as a way to break the ice. Who knows what they went through at their last place?

Like anywhere, most of our neighbors are nice, and a few are wonderful, and two, well, as @oosik wrote, the less said the better, but one was convicted as part of a murder for monetary gain scheme that was apparently carried out. Out of prison, but not showing much respect for law and order.

All the best,

Peter

The GC and I had dinner last night (on my tab). I told him he would have to find someone else, they are not the kind of people I wish to work for.

 

[D&D]

Yeah, I ended up having to put a neighbors dog down since it was being aggressive and scratching cars on my property.

They got right in the middle of it.

I ended up spending a few hours in a holding cell charged with cruelty to animals which was later thrown out of court.

That night after I got bailed out of jail, I had to stop my wife from going over their, ringing the doorbell and punching out whomever answered it

They were two worthless POS.

On to your story, we have a really nice walking trail across the city with pickle ball courts, basket ball, tennis courts, skate park, and a few other goodies.

It's hugely popular and the fact we are a milder climate, we really don't have to worry about plowing. You do occasionally have it shut down for a week or two in the winter due to snow and ice.

My daughter is under contract for a house whose property butt's directly to the walking trail. She's super excited.

I red to get a whole bunch of the southern border wall panels. Think I can a grant ?

 

[D&D]

Dude, this is when you got to get gangster with mofo's. Let him know, "dawg you new here, but I'm from here. You come here with that BS and you can get touched." IDK, maybe get his wife drunk and F her or something, then let him know all about it. You've got to check him now, while it's still early. Let him know he's beneath you. If the guy's intimidating then get your homeboys. You established there.?.? He's just a newb.

Thanks for making me snort my coffee, I needed that.

 

[Runner]

I don't have any livestock, but neighbors on both sides of me have had horses at one time or another. But the neighbors are complete opposite situations in terms of how they care for the animals.

The property on one side was owned by an "absentee landlord". There was no house on the property and he just rented the place (8 acres) out to people to keep their horses on. Problem is, there was no grass and the property is mostly wooded. To make it worse, the renters kept three horses there and only visited a couple of times per week. Since they didn't own the place, they paid no attention to the fence or what the horses were doing to the property (or my property).

The end result was that they chewed what little grass there was down to the dirt, which caused erosion to the point that their property is now two feet lower than mine, also causing the fence (which is mine) to start collapsing, so I now had to try to fix the situation. This is a 5 wire fence, so the horses were also reaching over/through the fence and chewing my grass down, causing the same erosion on my side. The horses also tore the fence down and I was constantly finding them on my property because it was the only place they could find food. I wound up having to install wire mesh fencing over the 5 wire to keep them out, which of course creates other issues, particularly regarding keeping brush cleared from the fence line. Basically, huge maintenance problem for me, and nobody over there gave a damn.

On the other side, I had a single lady, owned 6 horses, same type of property (trees, no grass) but since she lived there and was responsible, I had very little trouble with the animals because she actually cared for the them, made sure they were properly fed and knew where they were most of the time. Well, almost. One time she let them run free for a couple of days back in the woods, and caused the same erosion problem on that side. But once she figured out what was happening, at least she took steps to stop it. After that, she kept the horses in a corral up by the house and fed them hay.

The point of all this is, I felt completely different about the situation when it was obvious to me that the owner of the livestock gave a damn about the impact to the neighbors versus the one who didn't.

Now, neither of the neighbors have livestock and life is good.

As for the original post, wow, I can't imagine anyone acting like that to someone they've never even met, especially a new neighbor. About all you can do is ignore them, I guess.

 

[In.the.Piñons]

OP, your new neighbor sounds rather impolite, but if that's the worst you have to deal with, then I'd say you have it pretty good!

 

[Alan W.]

Had couple of kooks for neighbors that I had to go to court and have the judge tell them I was right over a property line. To make it worse my grandmother had gave them the land where they originally built. They have since passed and their daughter and her husband live here now. Best people in the world. We get along great.

 

[ruffdog]

To clarify, I have never met them. They do not live here, they have an undeveloped lot. Found out last night, they put their other 2 neighbors (that they haven’t talked to) on notice also.

OP, your new neighbor sounds rather impolite, but if that's the worst you have to deal with, then I'd say you have it pretty good!

I would just make sure the lot line stakes are well marked and easy to see. If both land owners respect the line, life is good. Who knows the issues those people had in the past?

 

[jyoutz]

Interesting. In my rural area, about 4 of us have keys to each other’s places and know what needs to be done for chores and how the animals are fed. When we go out of town, we call each other and ask who is available to take care of our place and animals. One of the neighbors always comes through.

 

[ruffdog]

These people had their land stolen, then sold to people that are building a house on it. From what I have read, this type of theft is becoming more popular.

 

[In.the.Piñons]

I would just make sure the lot line stakes are well marked and easy to see. If both land owners respect the line, life is good. Who knows the issues those people had in the past?

We had one fence line that was off by about 200 feet (representing 3 acres of our land) and our neighbor was using it to graze their horses, behind a locked gate. Basically, they used the gate, which was on our property, like it was theirs.

After talking with them about it, they said the gate had to be kept closed because they had horses. I naturally wanted access to that part of my land (we had survey pegs to show where the property lines were) but we would give them a year to put up their own gate/fence. I also asked them to take the lock off the gate. They did neither, so after about two years I just took my gate and moved it to a different part of my property.

This neighbor has been out for blood since our first meeting. They've tried everything from trying to bully us into forming a HOA, to vandalizing our fences to theft. They've made false police reports and told lies about us to whomever would listen. All this just because we want to use our own land, rather than just give it to them.

 

[Torvy]

We've had the whole spectrum of good and bad neighbors over the years. Fortunately, it all good around here. Some of the women annoy my wife, but it's just minor personality preferences.

In Texas, property is open range by default. Counties can choose closed if they want. Ours is open. For those unaware, open means livestock are not at fault if you hit them on most roads. Also means the neighbor would have to fence livestock out (rather than OP needing to fence them in). Harming those livestock would be akin to rustling.

OP, I would make a few attempts to be neighborly despite the bad manners. They just don't know what they don't know. Bless their hearts. Responding to their rudeness with more rudeness will cement the issue into perpetual stress.

I'd probably talk with the other neighbors and make them feel a part of the neighborhood. Maybe a sweetly worded letter explaining how things work in the country and that y'all are willing to help if they have questions or need anything. If they are out there, maybe have a BBQ or bring them produce or baked goods.

If you make a few good faith efforts and they are still jerks...let them deal with it all themselves.

 

[ultrarunner]

Local rancher is having lots of issues with anti cow people cutting fences.

Doesn’t help that a small community of multi million dollar homes built adjoins ranch land.

One morning my brother looks out and sees cattle on his back 40… it really is brother’s back 40 acres.

He called the rancher who was most apologetic and my brother said no problem just wanted you to know.

Rancher said ever since the new homes went up nothing but problems… calls to animal control saying too hot for the cows to be out to weekly fence cuts.

Neighbors sure can transform paradise to hell.

I’ve only had one problem and that is when a couple from San Francisco bought a home on Moms street… the ladies called adult protective services because they were worried about moms safety on her daily walks.

Mom still ran marathons at 75 and still walking several miles each day at 88.

The ladies thought quite irresponsible for an old woman to be out by herself.

Several random visits and the agencies said there is nothing to this but said once a call is made they open a case file…