The Neighbors...

['63GENIII]

Hmmm.

I think I'll have to ask my neighbors for some good stories. I think we are "those" neighbors!

We're pretty much the only blue collar home in a neighborhood of techie - upwardly mobile folks.

When my second daughter started driving, I found a clean Mazda Protege with a blown head gasket. She loves that car and takes good care of it.

My immediate neighbor just bought a brand new 2019 Jag two door for his 16yo daughter which she promptly wrecked a week after getting her license.

I think that paints a pretty clear picture of my neighborhood.

[100%Chevy]

Moving!
Richard Prior and Randy Quaid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beXPpObKWFo

Mike.

[Dukk]

We are pretty lucky. I had a 66 Cadillac Hearse in my driveway for 9 years. Not only did I never receive a complaint, in the month following it moving on I had 3 people stop and ask what happened to it! Apparently it had become the neighborhood landmark.

Neighbors to my right just split. We were friends with them before we bought 22 years ago and still are. She's still there.

Neighbors to the left have changed a few times. First were an old couple that were indifferent and I never talked to. Second was a friendly cop and his standoffish wife. Current is a couple from London and their three boys. The boys are into soccer and I don't mind the odd soccer ball in my back yard and they don't mind when my shepherd eats the odd one

Guy across the street owns a window company. Great guy.

Overall we got lucky I guess.

[1976gmc20]

When we first bought this 40 acre place, there was an old guy "retired school teacher on social security" living on the 40 behind us with unfortunately a driveway easement through our new place.

Well as time went on he started seeming pretty weird and annoying but nothing too terrible serious. He had some younger guys living with him from time to time and I had to yell at one of them to not ride his ATV on our property except on the right of way.

Then we find out that he has been indicted on federal obscenity charges and it turns out most or all of his younger boyfriends were child molesters on probation. Our highschool daughters got some mini-horses and they were required to feed them in the mornings before school. Well, one day late fall one daughter goes out to the stack pen and her little dog lights off to something/someone (?) behind the hay stack, and there is a car idling just down the hill in the easement drive. It didn't take too much to figure what might be going on: I think they were trying to kidnap one or both of the twins for their nefarious purposes and I doubt that I was far from wrong. So the rest of that school year I had to get up early and go out before them with a light and a rifle and clear the entire yard area before they could feed their ponies.

So he finally pled out and sold his place and went away to government housing for a few years. A guy from back east bought it and used it just for a hunting camp in the fall. But for a number of years, from time to time we would have various no-good-niks show up at our place trying to find the former owner or just flat out demanding things from us. I came really close to having to run some of them off at gun point.

After a long while things sort of settled down and the new guy was pretty decent. He had me watch his place when he was gone, and we more or less had 80 acres to ourselves 50 weeks per year. Everything was pretty peaceful, until ….

to be continued

[BROWN 70]

hi guys, I,ve lived here for 31 yrs. on the south side is a registered sex offender and he is also on a mental issues web site. he has threatened me 3-4 times. and the cops have been here twice. I have done nothing to this freak. he has also messed with 2 other familys on the block . there is an old saying, people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw rocks. he is on disability and he installed a new roof by himself 2 years ago. I have pictures. LOL

[67C10Step]

All I will say about my previous neighbors is the husband was an IT guy at the local community college and he got 20 years for enticement of a minor on the internet. Shortly thereafter I guess the final screws came loose in the wife’s squirrelly head and our last year in that house was a nightmare. All the other neighbors were great but we literally could not go outside because she would come out and act like a fool screaming singing at the top of her lungs, whatever it took to be a nuisance. Got to the point if we met her on the highway she would flash her lights, honk her horn, etc. We would not leave our kids at home alone for fear she would go too far. As some on here have probably discovered, until they finally attack or threaten you all you can do is nothing.

We moved to our current house just over 8 years ago and it’s been great. We own the first house on the cul de sac and my neighbor owns the rest of the property all the way around. I walk across the street and fish in his 3 acre pond whenever I want and we help each other all the time. I have two other neighbors that are close. One is a super guy who mows my ditch most of the summer. The other is sort of snobby from time to time but doesn’t bother me. When I first got my truck it was non running and sitting behind my shop. He asked me what year it was and what my plans were for it.

Gunfire and other noises are not uncommon on our end of the neighborhood and it’s usually me. I work from home though and keep an eye on the area.

[1976gmc20]

As some on here have probably discovered, until they finally attack or threaten you all you can do is nothing.

I've discovered that even when somebody threatens to kill you, "law enforcement" does nothing of consequence. But if I threatened somebody, I'm sure I would be in jail. I'm becoming convinced that "law enforcement" does not want to have to deal with the nasty and crazy people; they would rather write ticket$ and arrest peaceful folks.

[Liz]

Personally I am super excited that it is winter. My neighbor has stopped doing yard work half nekkid.. ghost white, enjoys food, and dislikes tops in the summer while riding the mower

['63GENIII]

Originally Posted by Liz

Personally I am super excited that it is winter. My neighbor has stopped doing yard work half nekkid.. ghost white, enjoys food, and dislikes tops in the summer while riding the mower

Haha! I have an East Coast doppelgänger!

[TwoFiftyShifter]

My neighbor is 90 years old and his yard is so immaculate if you toss a pine cone onto it before you head to work it will be gone before you get home.

[Grumpy old man]

I have one of the worst neighbors , His trash can is always full of Heineken bottles clanking around , He's always dragging home some old car or truck ,Banging and grinding until all hours of the night ,Running engines with open headers at 2:00 in the morning and blasting his stereo and I finally realized it's me ! I'm the worst neighbor !

[special-K]

I have neighbors across the road. There is a stream bottom and thicket between us. Their driveway is up the road on the bend and the house sits up from the stream about the same as mine. They have three daughters. When they moved in I got to know them by me walking my dog every morning by while they waited for the school bus. My dog came from the shelter and he was loved dearly by my family and myself. He and I were tight!

I never needed to do anything to keep my dog around. He stuck around, found a good spot to lay near where I was working. Sound carries across really well and you could hear the girls laughing and playing when outside. I guess one day he was bored, loves human company, so he decided to mosey on over. And that began a change in our relationship. What would you do the first time your neighbor's dog came across the road? Bear in mind their driveway is on that curve people come flying around and my dog had to go up the road and across. Also, he was getting old with hearing and eyesight getting bad. I had stopped walking him along the road for this reason.

My dog never ran off and he was gone. I looked everywhere, hollering for him, my wife called around, checked the pound. That evening when she was putting the girls to bed my neighbor calls and says, "I'm putting my kids to bed. Are you going to come get Buddy?". They had taken him inside, fed him, and hung out with him on the couch all evening while I was worried sick. He loves people, anyone who gives him love. But it's up to us people to guide them in the right direction in our human world.

So it got to be a problem. My dog no longer would just lay up on the front porch like a good ole country dog. I had to keep an eye on him. He would yap and yap if left on the runner while I or my son were out. So I'd let him off and keep an eye on him. He'd still manage to slip away from time to time, mostly on my son. I'd go over for him and they'd be having a cookout with friends. Everybody tossing him the fat and gristle as he lay begging. I had him trained to stay off the furniture and not to beg.

Things she did while he was over there (that I know about) were:
* The girls painted his claws with fingernail polish
* The woman took a shower with him!
* The woman would give him aspirin. Did she know if I was already doing that?

Then she started complaining because he would eat their cat's food left out or when they were done with him and put him out he would whine and bark at the door. It was awful. I had such a great relationship with that dog, which is how I got to meet these people by walking him loyally every morning no matter what the weather. She ruined that dog. I had to scold him all the time for the bad habits she gave him. He didn't know any better. I was no match for three giggly fun little girls. It was a relief when he finally got old, didn't go outside much or go far, and eventually died. We had our quality time back

When she started complaining about him barking outside her door I had to say something, after holding it all in up to that point. I said "I don't see you taking any responsibility for creating this situation. He doesn't know any better, don't you?", and from that point on things got colder between us. She's still nice to me when I see her and there isn't animosity. But that was a weird experience and in her mind I was the one with a problem.

[FleetsidePaul]

Originally Posted by Grumpy old man

I have one of the worst neighbors , His trash can is always full of Heineken bottles clanking around , He's always dragging home some old car or truck ,Banging and grinding until all hours of the night ,Running engines with open headers at 2:00 in the morning and blasting his stereo and I finally realized it's me ! I'm the worst neighbor !

Move next door to me. I won't complain. Especially if you have Heineken's.

[special-K]

That's like my neighbor Eddie's place. He is the next place along the road toward town from me. Just a meadow between us with another stream. sound would bounce off the side of his house over to me like they were talking to me. His son Chuck especially, a deep diaphragm kinda voice. He made no attempt to be friendly, didn't look as I drove by. Just seemed like somebody who already knew all the people he wanted to know. There was no Welcome Wagon.

They always had their buddy's over working on cars and bikes, talking loud, grinding, banging, cussing, and peeing around the corner (the side facing my house in plain view... but far). They'd take stuff out barely put together, open pipes, no hood, and blast on up the street clearing the valley of wildlife. They all rode Harleys. I'd see quite a few riders over there wearing 'colors' of the most prominent "bike club" on the East Coast. Turns out the son joined up.

One time I came home to my wife starting up the road toward their place and everybody else had come outside. Some clubbers were there and someone had just fired off rounds from something big and nasty across the road into the meadow next to the people across from them. I got her in the truck, parked it at home, walked over, and asked, "Somebody over here shooting something big?". One says, "Somebody was". "Well you tell somebody that's it. People here won't tolerate it", turned, and walked back home. A little while later a state Trooper pulled up and talked to the people across the road, then over there for a real brief chat with the boys. It could have gone either way, but I think they respected me for how I chose to handle it.

I ended up getting to know the son better when he was working at a bike shop I dealt with a lot. He and the owner had both been in the club and were now out of it. Very talented with the bikes. Also, my youngest son had come along and played at the stream some with Eddie's grandkids. So the interaction began. We could hear when the other was dumping trash in the can or opening the shop door, so always a look up and wave. I never hollered across, too far. But, time to time I'd wonder over and chat a bit.

They did most things I did, but it was more of them, they used less couth, and mostly never made an attempt to be friendly. Once we got to talking, after quite a few years, things did seem to get more respectable over there. Little by little I got to know Eddie and his two close buds who came over every Sunday and they did everything together. All three had red Chevy-powered street rods, a Harley, and other stuff like El Caminos and other old hot cars. Something always being built over there. I always had the option of walking over to hang out or jump in on what they were working on.

Well, then Eddie got back into 67/72 style short beds. It turned out they all used to run those years before I lived there. So once that happened we had a lot to come together on. Turned out to be a great neighbor. Just took a little work and some time to work out. He retired a few years ago and left the state. He was my neighbor since 1987. It really left an empty spot in living here when he left. There are only so many who have been here longer than me who have seen the changes. This road used to have a reputation for being a bit rough and tumble. Not just the pavement!

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

Idiots are typical Californians who can't mind their business. Meanwhile if the neighbors do A they're intent on doing B. We live in a rural area, they report kids for setting off fireworks and what have you.

They can't look me in the eye, and won't even look at my place unless they "feel it's safe". If "it's safe" they stare. They won't even exit their cars until their garage doors are closed.

The excavation here requires a lot of consideration, and the lots are big. They thought "we don't need a retaining wall", so they landscaped for cheap to the tune of 25K. It washed away of course, really crappy work. So they spent another 80K to have it done nearly right.

The rear half of the fence I built and paid for. We agreed I'd build the front half on their dime. When I finished the nasty (*^(*^ says "we didn't even want the fence" as she's writing the check. Then the first landscapers thought they'd use the front fence as a retaining wall. They used the wrong rock and just dumped em, so I insisted they re-do it. The second landscapers thought to use the rear fence to retain 8" of dirt in places. I wasn't happy, so I pulled the fence boards until they fixed it. Since then we haven't spoke, less....

They don't have to say so, I know they hate my C-20. Some might find it an eye-sore, it "doesn't suit the neighborhood". Soon after I bought it I pushed the C-10 frame into the driveway to wash it. The next day the guy comes up my driveway for the first time in 15 years and asks "how long is this going to be here". I say a few days and "eye-sore huh?". He says yes and walks away, and I burst out laughing. Then I was psst and "suggested" they return to California. He was just playing the hero role for his nasty wife, the guy is a major P.

Kicker is, he may not know this, but turns out we're distant relatives. Makes me hate him even more

Originally Posted by Grumpy old man

I have one of the worst neighbors , His trash can is always full of Heineken bottles clanking around , He's always dragging home some old car or truck ,Banging and grinding until all hours of the night ,Running engines with open headers at 2:00 in the morning and blasting his stereo and I finally realized it's me ! I'm the worst neighbor !

[67C10Step]

Man, I had to come back and post up about neighbors again. Decided Saturday afternoon to cut down a 60 foot tall pine in my back yard I had been wanting to get rid of for a few years. This is after splitting 2/3 of a chord of wood at my father in laws. I'm sort of like a mule, hard to get started but once going I don't want to stop.
The sound of a chainsaw is like a bell ringer to my neighbor. He came over and helped the wife and I pile limbs on the fire until almost dark. He wanted some of the wood for his fire pit so I cut some of the limbs into lengths and he came over with his tractor and got them. Now all I gotta do is cut up the main trunk into something small enough to handle to be rid of it.
I wouldn't make it a week close to any snooty neighbors. I don't have a trash pile, but the rear diff for my C10 has been setting outside my shop for a few weeks. That stuff drives the typical urbanite crazy. But that it the reason I don't live in town.

[1976gmc20]

That stuff drives the typical urbanite crazy. But that it the reason I don't live in town.

But then the "townies" move out here and since there is no "leash law" think they can just let their dogs (and sometimes other critters) run loose and cause havoc and then they get all butt hurt because their dog(s) get shot or taken to the shelter in town.

When we moved out here, we got informed right away in no uncertain terms that dogs killing/threatening livestock would NOT be tolerated.

There was a sweet lady that just recently moved from our neighborhood who had her own dogs (kept up) and a few years ago a couple other dogs from the 80 next door to her started hanging around. She let them know and they said "it couldn't be our dogs" so she took them to the shelter in town. Next thing those people are frothing on facebook and threatening to burn her out, and believe it or not they had a whole bunch of "friends" saying "do it, do it!" She had to call the sheriff on them.

[100%Chevy]

When we bought this place in 1988,it was in a low area,so I had to buy fill dirt to make a road in.
It became expensive real quick!
Then the county came thru and cleaned out the branch.My only access to my property.They piled the dirt on one side of the branch.On my side.
So,I bought a tractor,built my own dirt scoop and began hauling the dirt to my new road.
My neighbors began crying that it wasn't my dirt.I told them to get what they wanted,but no one showed up,so I used it all.
Still needed fill,so I bought a used back-hoe.I dug a small pond and still use dirt from it.The back-hoe is now the reason they hate me!
Neighbors called the county on me for the pond. One even said it caused them to flood!
Later,many of them wanted me to do some earthwork for them since I had the equipment. I did it for a while,then stopped.It just cost too much for operation/repairs.offering 5 gals of diesel doesn't buy fluid and hoses.They don't(or won't) understand this.
I built my own home myself.Met all the code requirements.have all the permits,etc.They stilled called the county on me.
Now,a new guy next door is questioning my fence line.We're separated by 1800' and thick woods (my woods). I mow on both sides of the fence because of fire.He thinks I'm trying to steal his property.But,he won't mow it.
He wanders around on my place at night,but denies it.My night scope says different.
There's 1500 acres to the west of me.the owner does not want anyone on it for no reason.For years I've run off hunters for trespassing across my place.They never give up.Had one arrested once.
Neighbor to the north of my (has a 20 acre pasture between us) once told my wife she couldn't plant her azaleas on the fence because he couldn't get to it to make repairs.He has never done any repairs yet. I have to do it. This is the same guy that wanted to use my road to put a mobile home on his pasture for his son.And,use my road to go to and from the trailer.I said no.I also said no to pulling off my power line.I paid an enormous amount to run it this far on my property.No trailer yet .I have a big shop building.it's steel and purling,50'x 75'.some one started the rumor that I was running a repair shop.Here comes the county again.Then, the sheriff.The cops were told I was running a chop shop.So,they wanted proof of ownership.What next?
I don't belong to the neighborhood watch.They collect a fee for being a member.I'm fenced,have a dog and gun.Oh,and the lady that runs the neighborhood watch is the aunt of the sheriff!
We mind our own business,like our privacy and don't care to get to know them.Too much b.s. and nosey people!
Mike.

[1976gmc20]

Well, after living out here on this 40 for over 16 years, I've gotten to saying that "I would like to move to the country someday"

Actually just recently we have started seriously talking about trying to find a 160 acre or larger parcel in a less scenic and more agricultural area, and sharing it with our daughter, SIL, and grandchildren and maybe the other single daughter also. That way we could put the houses and barn in the middle of the place and have enough pasture for horses for everyone.

We do have and have had some nice neighbors (I try to be one to them!) but this area just seems to be a magnet for misfits and weirdos. We've been here longer than anyone else except the guy on the north who has about a half section and his place is off of a different road. Every other place in our little corner of this rural subdivision has changed owners two or three or four times. There's a real ranch 1/4 mile south of us and we hardly ever see them anymore but they are always nice and they have let us hike and ride horses on their land since we moved out here.

[Low Elco]

Originally Posted by 1976gmc20

When we first bought this 40 acre place, there was an old guy "retired school teacher on social security" living on the 40 behind us with unfortunately a driveway easement through our new place.


After a long while things sort of settled down and the new guy was pretty decent. He had me watch his place when he was gone, and we more or less had 80 acres to ourselves 50 weeks per year. Everything was pretty peaceful, until ….

to be continued

You can't just leave us hanging!

[1976gmc20]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

You can't just leave us hanging!

Okay

Well, the guy Back East that owned the place behind us and just used it as a hunting lodge, he just up and died a few years ago!

A while after that, the other neighbor (that I mentioned about taking dogs to the shelter) contacted us about this "lady" (hardly that!) she knew from facebook that was getting divorced from her "abusive husband" and supposedly needed a safe place to stay/hide. She wanted us to contact the daughter of the fellow who died to see about this woman and her teenage daughter renting the place. I was totally against it at first, but for the wrong reason we later learned. I just selfishly didn't want to deal with the drama of this guy coming through our place to go after her.

Against my better judgement, my wife and the neighbor lady talked me into arranging for her to come look at the place. She seemed nice enough at first. She had this 100+ pound puppy of some breed I had never heard of to protect them from her "abusive" husband. She assured us that after she got settled, she would introduce her dog to us so we would not be in danger.

Things went okay for a couple months, then her big dog got loose and came over and threatened me while I was splitting wood. I'm pretty good with dogs and tried to make up to it by talking calmly but that just made it act more aggressive. Finally it got about 15' away and I fired a shot into the ground right in front of it to scare it away. Then they came driving down the driveway and the dog went to them and after some time they caught it.

So we called her and told her this has gone on long enough and she needs to introduce the dog to us so he doesn't threaten us. At that point she informs us that she has no intention of doing so because she doesn't trust us. WTF ????!!!!

Then after the snow melts, her alpacas start coming down to our place. It was sort of funny the first few dozen times, but after they started busting through our electric fence into our horse pasture (only half our place was fenced at that time) I told her that was enough and to keep them home or next time I was calling the Dept of Livestock (only cattle, mares, and geldings are legal to free range in MT). So then she says "don't threaten me" and I immediately called the range detective - to hell with next time.

So she sort of keeps them home, and then my mom had a stroke and we spent half of that summer going back and forth to Colorado. Every damn time we were gone, the damn alpacas were loose and down in our yard. So I go round and round calling the MDOL and they just give her "warnings." She starts making all kinds of absurd accusations that I have been sneaking around her place, etc. The house trailer up there is just a couple hundred feet from our pasture fence which we carefully pointed out before she moved in. It would have helped if her damn sheep and alpacas weren't breaking down the fence every few days but it is my property.

During one of the big arguments, she claims she can just let everything legally run loose. I tell her that yes you can legally let the horses run loose but not sheep and alpacas. So I immediately start building electric fence around the other half of our land where our house is, and when it is done she had to open and close gates at both ends to cross our property

So this just goes on and on and on and on and on, and in the meantime I research that breed of dog and learn they grow to 200-240 pounds and were used by the Soviets to guard the gulags because they are bred to knock down and kill anything/anyone that is not part of their family/flock.

The next spring I was out patrolling our land because the sheep/alpacas were coming through the electric fence again on a daily basis. On my way back, I look over my shoulder while crossing the easement and there is her huge dog loose right at the electric gate, maybe 150' away. All I had on me at that moment was my .357 sidearm and besides the dog is still 6" beyond my property line. So I start moseying back to our house watching constantly over my shoulder. I get about a hundred feet farther and the dog comes charging after me. I let it get to about 30-40' before I shot and killed it.

I called the sheriff because I thought she was going to come after me next after she learned her dog was dead, and I really thought I might have to shoot her. Of course she comes up with yet more absurd accusations to the point where the deputy could really see who was the crazy one. I was totally in my rights shooting her dog on my property, even if it hadn't been attacking me.

So anyway I did a little research and located her husband and called him, and he sounded like the nicest guy in the world, and just wanted rid of her. It turned out that she had gone crazy a few years before and had surgery to remove brain tumors but she was still just as crazy. I mean this woman was absolutely nuts and this long story doesn't recount but a fraction of the crazy stuff.

Finally another neighbor arranged to buy the land and trailer houses, and the owner gave her notice to leave which she did at the last possible moment. When we all got access to the property, it was absolutely fetid! The yard and house was filled with trash, there was dog **** in the house, and the garage was almost a foot deep in manure mixed with miscellaneous stuff. The son of the neighbor who bought it spent all winter and next spring cleaning it up and fixing the trailer house. He lives there now with his new bride.

[1976gmc20]

So I guess y'all are speechless or just can't top that last one!

[Ol Blue K20]

Originally Posted by 1976gmc20

So I guess y'all are speechless or just can't top that last one!

I'd say both........wow!

[special-K]

If I have a come back to top that it would be found in the "Things your ex does that bother you" thread. She didn't have tumors, just irrational behavior.

[1976gmc20]

Then there was the psycho ***** that we bought this property from, but that wasn't a "neighbor" story, but rather a "why you should never buy/sell property without a realtor" story.

I'm beginning to think that all divorced women are nut cases. My sympathy for any of their "sob stories" is now at absolute zero.