Youtube and neighbors

I prefer to be polite and somewhat friendly, at least approachable, but not ‘friends’ with neighbors. I’ve been down the road of getting in pissing matches with them when I lived elsewhere. It all started by being too friendly leading to assumptions. Neither me nor my wife are social types

Jeff, those neighbors would **** me off.
 
We used to have a problem with young rabbits coming through the fence to eat what the birds dropped out of the feeders. The dogs would patrol the yard and chase them back out. It wasn't much of a problem until the rabbits started growing a bit. Some could squeeze back through the fence, but others got stuck. One of the dogs was a real hunter and would kill and try to eat the ones that got stuck. If I remember correctly she got 6 before we finally had to do something to prevent it.

It always seemed to happen at about 5 AM as I was heading out the door for work. When she would get a rabbit, she would be soaked in blood and fleas. We would have to take her in the house and immediately administer a flea bath. It didn't take long for that scenario to get really old. I finally put 3' high chicken wire along the fence to remedy the problem. The upside was not only that she didn't get the rabbits, but that the leaves from the neighbors' trees were no longer filling the yard. They all stopped at the fence. Sometimes the pile was nearly to the top of the chicken wire. It might not be the prettiest solution, but it should eliminate the problem of the neighbor intentionally blowing them into your yard.
 
rabler said:
I prefer to be polite and somewhat friendly, at least approachable, but not ‘friends’ with neighbors. I’ve been down the road of getting in pissing matches with them when I lived elsewhere. It all started by being too friendly leading to assumptions. Neither me nor my wife are social types

Jeff, those neighbors would **** me off.
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My wife and I moved back into the old family home in the mid 90's and I towed my project car in and set it down in the pasture. We have about 100 acres on the home place and the land across the FM Highway had been sold, cut up into 5 acre tracts and sold with deed restrictions. The fellow across the road came over, the day I pulled it in, to inform me it would have to go. I smiled and told him he needed to go back across the road where he belonged and a few weeks later I received legal notice that I was being sued over the deed restrictions. When I showed up in court his lawyer did his dead level best to make me out as a rube type villain and my lawyer presented the deed to our property to the court as evidence that the deed restrictions did not apply since we have owned the property 8 generations..... The notion that city folks do not belong in the country.
 
MrWhoopee said:
I have three rules for borrowers.
1. Take better care of it than if it was yours.
(This was originally "treat it like it was your own", but I have a friend who treats his stuff like sh*t.)
2. Return it promptly.
3. DON'T MAKE ME ASK TO GET IT BACK!

Violation of any one of the three results in loss of privileges.
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Exactly this!

I'd maybe add one more rule
4) I do NOT loan tools to anyone I don't know well. If it's a small job bring it into my shop and we can do it together. That helps me get to know them and their competence. Once they know me they should see my respect for my tools and my expectations of any other users.

When I borrowed a buddy's air hose and roofing nailer I returned them cleaner than I got them; a bunch of tar cleaned off both and the hose in a neat roll with velcro ties. Of course I was simply treating his tools like my own; inspect before use, oils the nailer, clean off after use and store properly. His comment on return was "Wow. Is there anything else you want to borrow?"

Brian
 
I moved into my neighborhood in 86 and was the youngster on the block . Drove my Corvette up with open headers the first day in the house . :grin: This was farm country , 160 acre farm directly across my house . Walked out my driveway to his fruit and vegetable stand everyday . Helped them out with whatever they needed . After they passed , the land was split up amongst the kids . They all have very large lots and houses still . One decided to sell out maybe 50 acres . The buyer built a friggin mansion , sub divided the rest . Tried to build a strip mall on the corner with resteraunt and micro brewery that was squashed by the community association due to water issues . We are on wells . We have about 10-15 new houses on the block at this point . All are very large and on at least 2 acre lots .


Jason moved up from Carolina and had this place . We got along great , helped each other out . He had a larger Kubota and liked working and having a few beers . They just sold the place for a quick $200,000 profit . They got tired of the BS and bought a place with more land .

Just to say , I maintained and still do many of these lots for the old time neighbors on the block even though I am the old fart on the block now . The woman across the street has an apple tree that has fallen and she asked me to remove it with the tractor . I told her too many people would ***** when I would burn it , even in my 2' x 2' wood burning stove which is perfectly legal . I try to help everyone out but draw the limit these days . I let them buy their own tools and let them do their own work , usually the hard way . :grin:
 
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