Subdividing the countryside

slowrev · Feb 18, 2005

Most country folks have consideration for their neighbors, not all but most. We have some jerks too. The jerks, well they tend to not have any helpers or friends and tend to move on after a while.......Minimal courtesy is given to those who have no consideration for others.
There is also the clash of lifestyles issues. If I have cattle and so do my neighbors, it is no big deal if one of them get out and tromp up my lawn a bit, becuase someday mine might do that to the neighbor. I just put it in a pen and tell the owner to come and get it before we have a barbecue /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif (told in a friendly manner to the enjoyment of all)

Of couse if a city slicker moves in next door and has no AG interests and a cow tromps up his Chemlawn treated lawn, then he tends to get upset, not remembering that he is the exception not the rule in the country.

then there are those that think they live in the country, but it is merely rural suberbia lifestyle, bigger lots perhaps but the same thing, with the same lifestyles, kids soccer, mall shopping, etc, just a longer cummute while driving fast cussing slow moving tractors and such on the road.

Oh well such is the ways of the human species....

Ben

EastTexFrank · Feb 18, 2005

Welcome to another Brit. I lived in London for about 7 years. When I go back now it scares me. Nothing but shoulder to shoulder people. I don't know why I stayed there for so long. I traveled through to East Anglia quite a bit but it was too flat for my liking. I like a little roll to the countryside but it's a great place to visit.

Bad neighbours are bad neighbours and you can have them in the country just as well as in the city. It's just that in the country, if you're lucky, they're usually far enough away that you can ignore them. I think it all comes down to tolerance, live and let live. As long as what you do doesn't affect the quality of my life, you're welcome to it. Do onto others ......

Having said that, don't mess with me. Don't mess with my fences ... they're there for a reason, don't let your kids ride 4-wheelers across my property and my present hot button, don't let your dogs roam free all day just because you are at work. I'm a dog lover, having 3 of my own, but we have one lately that comes up to the house and marks everything and craps all over the place, around the pool, deck etc. My wife went out to chase it off one day and it bared its teeth and growled at her. I talked to the owners about it and the only answer I got was, "Never could teach that dog any manners". Well, guess what?, I can teach it manners and and I think that I'm probably going to have to but they won't like it much. It's the same at the farm. Loose dogs seem to think it's a lot of fun to chase new born calves at this time of year. Dog owners must realize that those calves are an investment to me, both in time and money, and that I will protect my investment. I don't want to deprive some small kid of their best friend or destroy someone's prize bird dog but if you want to keep your dog, keep it home and/or under control. Maybe it would be easier if I just shot the owners. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif Can you do that?????

slowrev · Feb 18, 2005

Frank, regretfully we can't shoot the owners, but they are the real problem. In most places you can shoot dogs for chasing your stock with no "legal" repercussions. I would hate it but understand if someone shot a dog of mine for chasing stock. I love my animals but they are my problem not someone elses, that is why I keep them under control. A loader or backhoe is handy for burying the offensive critter.

Ben

Varmintmist · Feb 18, 2005

Getut, sure /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif I shoot a lot and run the chainsaws pretty much every weekend.

I have been thinking of a 22-250 switch for the light. However I can respect their rights and leave the light alone without doing something wrong or worse yet trying to get a ordinance against lights. No matter how much I find them annoying, its his property.

( The bottom line problem that creeps up here is property rights. Yes, you can do what you want to do on your property... but should you?)

As long as you are not interfering with the others rights, yes you should.

( The area changes around you... through laws and legislation your property may have been overlooked. Maybe you have vision and are holding out... whatever....
Where is your responsibility to the community? )

To pay reasonable nessassary taxes. Other than that, leave me alone and we will get along fine. I have no "duty" to "community" and have never seen that as part of being a citizen in any document or oath that I have taken or read, at least in this country.

( I detect a "don't move here if you don't like it". What is that all about?)

That is dont move here and make here just as (expletive)ed up as where you came from. You ran away from there to my back yard because you didnt like there and the life style I have you like. Well what I have has its own set of rules, if you are not willing to abide them then yes, you can leave, because changing that will make it somewhere where we both dont want to live.

That is like buying a red car, then complaining that it isn't blue and forcing the dealership through government force to repaint it. If you bought it red, then that is what you wanted or at least something you could accept.

( What right does anyone have to say that? )

Common sense. What right do you have to move to an area and change it for the worse??

( The right of property ownership? Sound and visuals follow no boundry.
)

Yes, and wrong.

You dont own a tree on my ground, nor the view. A veiw can be protected if you buy ground in a development and waive your property rights to change the landscape. Other than that, the property owner owns it. If I want to cut down some trees, and you like looking at them you have NO say in it.

BTW, about the 30-06? In this state, as long as you have a proper backstop it is legal. In as much as I bought my ground with the intention of building a range to practice for competition using a 30-06, the neighbors can live with it. I shoot after 10 AM and am done way before dinner, not because of ordinances, just because I am polite. If they want me to stop, they can call the troopers and he can inspect my backstop and then I will start shooting earlier. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

What if you use clay colored sideing on your house? I dont like clay sideing with green shutters. Should there be a ordinance to ban clay colored siding with green shutters?? I think we should make you re-side your house under force of law. No brick, the red contrasts with the trees, looks obnoxious. I like trees in yards. I think we need a ordinance that says you need to plant a minimum of 20 trees per 1000 sq feet. All pools must be kidney shaped, have a slide, and a yellow pool toy that looks like a duck.

Even with a noise ordinance, they only go into effect after 10 pm normally. With the recent advent of the moronmobile (mobile sub woofer) there are ordinances to deal with them simply because they affect the owners normal use of property.

Private property rights are THE fundamental building block of this country IMHO. If you can't own your property and use it in a way that suits you without stepping on others real rights, not percived (ie right to a view) then we have nothing here.

Chuck52 · Feb 18, 2005

We're waiting to find out if the new neighbor's dogs are going to be a problem. Our old collie died last summer, and before he passed on, he was accustomed to roaming around quite a bit. I told all the neighbors to please let me know if he became a nuisance, but he was far too old and slow to chase anything but maybe snails. Anyway, some of the other neighborhood dogs would also wander around my place, and we never had any problems....just had to increase the dog food portions sometimes. Now we have new neighbors. They're probably fine folks....most people are if you get to know them. They do seem to have a number of dogs, however. Since we gained two neighbors at once....brothers buying adjoining properties...I suppose the dogs may be joint property. Nice dogs, so far, though the rott-German shepherd mix, or whatever, gave me a start when he chased a deer through my back field as I was working on the blackberries. And the black lab had me worried when he chased me out to the mailbox....I was afraid he'd run right into the road and get hit. Then last weekend I heard a commotion out back and found their big old hound dog going after my cat, Lir. I probably should have let him catch Lir, who must weigh 20 lbs and has claws like a panther. I suspect that cat is part wildcat. But he might have taken out the poor dog's eyes, so I yelled and ran him off. We'll see. They also have at least one beagle or bassett looking dog. If their dogs help keep the deer out of my garden and berries, I'll put up with a lot. Don't want another dog of my own to have to put in a kennel when we want to take a trip.

Chuck

btolle · Feb 18, 2005

ByronBob,

Most counties (at least in Texas) have some ordinance they can use to get the racket turned down after 10 PM. They could be considered to be "disturbing the peace" which gives the Sheriff some latitude to enforce some quiet. Of course if they get a whiff of dope while they are telling them to turn it down they may try to be nicer so you won't call the Sheriff again!

Sounds like calling the Sheriff is your only option since they don't seem to be considerate enough to turn it down when you ask nicely.

Bill Tolle

JDgreen227 · Feb 18, 2005

"Sounds like calling the sheriff is your only option"... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

If any of my new neighbors make a racket I really don't know who to call as two of them are police officers.

I've lived on our 11 acres since 1989, the nearest house to the north is a half mile away, the nearest one to the south was a quarter mile away, however last year the owner of the property south of us sold his 2.5 acres and the person who purchased it subdivided the lot into four parcels, and as a result three new homes were constructed next to each other.
After 15 years of privacy we are not too pleased about having all these folks living close by, but I knew development would gradually arrive someday.

Last fall a huge sign went up across the road, the farmer who owns the several hundred acres across from us is trying to sell four one acre lots along the road, directly facing our property...this after the land had been used for farming for the last hundred years. As there is little profit in raising crops I can't blame him for trying to make some money this way, but....

Every time I see new development it makes me wonder where all these people are coming from. If I had driven south of our house for three miles five years ago, I would have found myself surrounded by sod farms and a small country airport with one gas pump and a dozen hangars. Today that same 3 mile distant site has a huge new golf course with a country club, enough new student housing units to accomodate 4,000 people, a rental storage complex, a strip mall with two restaurants AND THEY ARE BUILDING MORE PLACES ALL THE TIME.

My father bought this property back in 1974, I recall when he bought it it was because he grew up on a small farm back in the 1940's, and I also recall him saying he doubted if there would be any development this far out until after both of us were gone.

Dad wasn't wrong about many things, but I'm sorry he was wrong about that. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

LPlates · Feb 19, 2005

RE: EastTexFrank

I left London 22 year ago, it was'nt the shoulder to shoulder people that I did'nt like it was a concrete jungle and all the time they made those buildings taller and bigger.

Yer East Anglia is very flat and can be boring, but it all depends on what people mean by the country. I like the flatness and the never ending skies especially in the summer with the lovely sunsets, and believe it or not we do get wildlife around here, but that is about to be ruined even here, I dont know the views of Wind Turbines in America but over here its not good, and the companies are out to surround us with them.

As for noisey animals (Dogs) that's a major problem here, and it isnt just one dog it's about 50 of the things. I'd shoot them, but as this is a very small village I think they would work out the culprit very quickly, is it rearly worth doing time for?.

L.Plates

Tractors4u · Feb 20, 2005

( There again, the whole frame of mind eludes people that were not raised rurally. )

Bingo, you get it!

( I despise it when I drive past what used to be a patch of hardwoods that have been pushed down for a development full of people who fertilize their lawns so they can say they are better than the Joneses. )

There is a new subdivision going in down the road from my soon to be place. They bulldozed a stretch of roadside frontage about 500 yds long and went about 100 yds deep. Took out all the the trees, including a lot of nice big hardwoods. Can you guess the new name of this place? The Woodlands.

Getut, I believe you and I could be neighbors, we think alike.

hitekcountry · Feb 20, 2005

I just remember as the place they used to grow prunes. How many of you all knew that? 

Rat
Oh I remember all right, us kids would pick prunes and strawberries in the summer to earn money to buy new clothes for the following school year. People forget that the reason for summer vacation was the need for the kids to help bring in the summer harvest, not because the kids needed time to go to Miami Beach or Cabo.

Back in the 40s and 50s when I was a kid, Santa Clara County (now known as Silicon Valley) was all Agricultural. It was a beautiful valley. The growing season was year around because of the mild climate. The area was considered some of the richest farmland in the world.

Today it’s wall to wall pavement, houses and large commercial buildings and year around smog.

Progress soon to come to a city near you.

Fred