Good neighbor stories

Joshie · #1 07/13/13, 10:00 PM

All too often we hear stories of horrible neighbors. Anybody want to share good neighbor stories? I'll start.

I heard what sounded like the engine of an ATV and some hoopin' and hollerin' that sounded like it was coming from our hay field. Our neighbor has a bunch of visitors this weekend and figured it was them. I told DD I hoped they didn't go through the hay itself as it's just about ready to cut again. Well, it was our neighbor and a friend of his. Even though our neighbor has guests he took a good 30 to 60 minutes out of his time to chase another neighbor's seven calves out of our hay field. He has chased them out several times. The only reason we ever know he's done it is if we see him. He's a nice young guy who is a very hard worker. Honestly, I don't know what we'd have done out here without him.

deaconjim · #2 07/13/13, 10:11 PM

Shortly after I bought a great piece of mountain property, a member of my church approached me one Sunday. He said that he had heard that I was planning to build a cabin on my property, and that he had a number of pine trees on his property that he wanted to take down to eliminate any danger to his house. He told me that he would let me have them if I would pay someone to cut them.

After the 35 mature pines were cut, he helped me cut the logs and haul them to my land. He (and a few others) showed up failthfully to help with the sawmilling. Once the lumber had been stacked and dried, he and two of his brothers (who had been building houses for 30+ years) showed up every day to help me as I built our cabin. With their help, I was able to use that lumber to frame in the cabin, saw lap siding for the exterior, make panelling for the interior, and to even build my own doors. Another neighbor helped me find a source of windows. All of them were there to help me put the metal on the roof ( and taught me a lot in the process).

All I can say is that no finer group of people live in such a small geographic area as existed in that community.

Coco · #3 07/13/13, 10:12 PM

my neighbor dan and katie are the best we could have, I buy her eggs for 2 to 3 $ per dozen, He does tree work for us and I give them stuff like a coop, T posts we don't use and I always make a meal for them at least 1 a week . will be giving them a run in for goats or sheep.
They are a great young family, with 3 children and we are considered a G ma and Gpa.

soulsurvivor · #4 07/13/13, 10:51 PM

We're so blessed to have lived here with the same neighbors over the past 30 plus years. They are close but not too close, if that makes any sense. Everyone respects personal privacy and each other, yet always know when to show up to help and/or provide support.

We have a young couple next door. We know the young man well because he's the youngest son of friends that have a dairy farm on the next road over from here. He and DH are doing a shared garden this year. DH provided the plants and tiller and Chris is doing the labor needed for the garden. All we need is a few tomatoes to put up as juice and the rest is for Chris and his young family. We're certainly having good rain and weather for it.

emdeengee · #5 07/13/13, 10:55 PM

We have been extraordinarily fortunate in our neighbours. We have lived all over the country - in the city, in suburbs, in the country and in the wilderness - and we have only ever had one bad neighbour.

We have had neighbours who are still friends decades later although we live hundreds or thousands of miles apart. We have had neighbours who were as private and independent as we were but understood what it meant to be a neighbour without intruding.

We have had some discussions and disagreements with neighbours but we always worked it out.

When I was ill and my husband was spending days and most nights with me in hospital he always came home on his daily break to a shovelled driveway, the animals all taken care of, a meal waiting and the house cleaned. The first time he was completely surprised and wondered how they got into the house - for he knew who it had to be - forgetting that we had exchanged keys in case of emergency.

It has given me great pleasure to be able to reciprocate when they have needed help and to know that we are good neighbours as well.

deaconjim · #6 07/13/13, 11:03 PM

You know you have been truly blessed when you realize your neighbors have done things for you that you can never hope to repay, and that they have no expectation that you should even try.

rhaige9 · #7 07/13/13, 11:45 PM

I actually have my property and the critters because of the neighbors. They were DH friends and we were visiting them and comment about looking to buy a house soon. The five acres next to them were for sale. Their landlord owned it. He let us write a $50,000 I.O.U. and give that money to the builder to get started building. Last year we raised two pigs, one for us and one for them. They raised two jersey steers. She got me all set up to do my own calf this year, and even got the calf for me, and we're almost ready to put both of last year's calves out on my front pasture. She started me in chickens and hooked me up with a friend looking to get rid of a huge rabbits hutch. She bought a three horse trailer we can use any time, and she uses our truck to pull it. When we go out of town she takes care of our farm and actually this week I'm doing her irrigation, and feeding all her animals. They did it for us when I went in June to Vegas to watch my oldest graduate high school.

Country Lady · #8 07/14/13, 12:14 AM

We live in a wooded area about 1300' off the main road. When Hurricane Katrina hit, we had 20 trees, ranging from small to large, across our drive. It was almost dark whenever the weather settled down for us to get outside to assess the damage. So, we went to bed that night knowing the next morning we were facing a big problem. Although DH had recently gone through a heart transplant, he was out early with his chain saw and tractor. As he started at our house cutting and pushing trees off the drive, we heard chain saws going at our drive entrance. Our neighbor and his two SIL's had their chain saws and tractor doing the same there. Of course, they met in the middle and we had access to drive our vehicles out. What a relief! I don't feel that we can ever repay them.

mzgarden · #9 07/14/13, 04:43 AM

Good thread to start - always can use some good stories. We have good neighbors - chat over the fence, don't intrude, like our animals, etc. Hopefully they can say the same about us.

Alice In TX/MO · #10 07/14/13, 06:52 AM

I love my neighbors, both here in Missouri, and in Texas in the winter!!

I have dairy goats that travel with me, and in both places, my next door neighbor is my substitute milker!

MushCreek · #11 07/14/13, 07:28 AM

We have great neighbors where we are building in SC. I'm there alone most of the time, and they think I'm starving, I guess. Every so often there will be a knock at the door, and they'll have a hot plate of food right off of their dinner table. The other day, it was half of a watermelon, ice cold. I reciprocate when I can, having brought them a smoked chicken I cooked along with my own. I don't dare admire any of the beautiful plants in their yard; they'll dig one up immediately and give it to me!

Although he's pretty old, Tab will never ask my help, so if I see him out there with something heavy, I just run over and help him out. Good neighbors are pure gold!

Wanda · #12 07/14/13, 08:38 AM

This world is filled with very good people. Sometimes we are so busy with our lives we do not give them a chance to show us. If we would ALL take the time to just stop and visit a few minutes with our neighbors we would find that most are just like us only different!

MoTightwad · #13 07/14/13, 09:09 AM

We have lived here almost 50 years. We have had some wonderful neighbors in the past. Now property is vacant close to us and no one visits any more. We are a long way off the road and I guess the younger neighbors don;t realize there is any one here as we never see them. I really miss our old neighbors and like it was mentioned in one of the posts, there are such wonderful people in the world, they just don;t get recognized. This is a great thread. Brightens the day of reading on here. Thanks for starting it.

Old John · #14 07/14/13, 09:14 AM

When we moved out here, the culvert that runs across our driveway, would flood over, every time we had over an inch of rain. And you could not get in or out the driveway. The culvert pipe itself was only about a 12 inch pipe. Not nearly big enough. And, it plugged up too easily. We priced replacing it with 2 Contractors and the lowest was $1500.

Our neighbor has a big Case mounted Backhoe & front end loader. I was telling him about needing that Culvert fixed. He said that if we got the bigger pipe he'd put it in for us, pretty cheap. So we ordered a 20 foot, 30 inch pipe. And we ordered a big tri-axle load of #8's I think. I kinda wish we had ordered a 22 or 24' pipe. But, we didn't.

Good neighbor came down with his big Case. He dug out the small pipe. And he made the hole wide & deep enough for the 30 inch pipe. He put a chain around the 30" pipe and lowered it down into the hole. And he backfilled the hole with # 8's & sand. And he went back & forth to pack it down. We stacked rocks up around both ends of that big pipe.
We have had some really heavy rains in the last 10 years since our neighbor put in the new Culvert. We had near 10" one time. It has never run over, or washed out.
I have shown my gratitude to Good Neighbor a few times with a case of good Homebrewed Ale or Sweet Homebrewed Mead. We have shared a Helping Hand with each other several times over the years.

Ravenlost · #15 07/14/13, 10:59 AM

When we moved into our house nine years ago the neighbors who own the property behind our house proved to be the most wonderful neighbors anyone could have. Mr. Bizzle would bush hog our place while he was doing his own (he loved to bush hog). His wife was always dropping in with extra garden stuff...tomatoes, etc. When we planted the hardwoods in our side field Mr. Bizzle spent all weekend with hubby teaching him how to drive an old tractor and use the sprayer on it to keep the kudzu out of the trees. He helped hubby build a fence and even supplied materials. He was always finiding old things in his barn and giving them to me if he thought I could use them (items for my chicken pen, etc.).

We often had them over for supper and they did the same for us. One time when I was in town my truck wouldn't start and I couldn't get in touch with hubby. Mr. Bizzle came and got me.

I could go on and on and on about what great neighbors they were...truly dear, good people that I feel blessed us in so many ways.

Sadly, he passed away in March from lung cancer and Mrs. Doris has slipped into the horrible depths of Alzheimers.

Ravenlost · #16 07/14/13, 11:03 AM

I remember back in the early 90s when my Daddy had his first bout of cancer. He was ill from chemo and the house needed a new roof. He was trying to do it himself (he always did stuff like that himself...I can't remember him ever hiring out a job) and the roof was torn off. Rain was about to start when all these neighbors just started showing up out of the blue. They got that roof shingled just as the first rain drops started to fall. I can't begin to tell you how that made my Daddy feel knowing so many neighbors cared so much about him.

backwoods · #17 07/14/13, 11:28 AM

Great thread!
I could give many examples of what great neighbors we have, but I'll start with where we went last night.
A young neighbor of ours, 26, was on his way to work in a nearby town, when a car hit him head on. The young driver who crossed into on coming traffic, had fallen asleep after working all night. The two boys had gone to school together and were friends.
Our neighbor was paralyzed from the waist down. It broke all of our hearts, this is a very active, outdoorsy young man, always in the woods when he's not working, riding 4 wheelers, etc. and he's also a friend of my son's, since the age of 9.
The young fella who caused the accident only had minimal insurance, $25,000. The helicopter ride alone, to the hospital was over $30,000. Our young friend has no medical insurance, and now can't get physical therapy, due to that. The community held an auction of donated items, a dinner, raffled off some guns, quilts, etc last night to help raise money to pay for his physical therapy. There was a HUGE turn out, so am hoping they raised enough to help pay for some therapy for this young man.

This is the same young man who a few years ago alerted us to a man climbing over our locked gate to our driveway out on the road. He even confronted the man, a well known "druggie" and the man took off on him back into our property, which was when he called us. I'm really praying this kid gets the use of his legs back, at least some, but the doctor's don't give him much chance. He was actually paralyzed by a blood clot from the surgery, NOT the wreck. He's already back on a 4 wheeler though, thank goodness it's an automatic and he's still motivated to get around! He has a good attitude, and hasn't given up.

chewie · #18 07/14/13, 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deaconjim

You know you have been truly blessed when you realize your neighbors have done things for you that you can never hope to repay, and that they have no expectation that you should even try.

this^^^^ when my chey passed, ppl came out of the woodwork, some fixed meals, some did errands, some just sat with us. there is no humanly way I'll ever be close to repaying even half these ppl, and they dont' even expect it either.

sss3 · #19 07/14/13, 11:49 AM

I have really good neighbors. I live on a Cul De Sac. I've been sick almost 2 yrs. Nothing serious, but it really sets me back. One of my neighbors, mows my lawn. I never asked him to. He just does it. He;s going to cut branches off a tree. I fall a lot. Neighbors on both sides have been here; leaving their phone number. They've invited me for meals. I don't go because I'm on a restricted diet. I have gout. A lot of people don't understand, what beef, seafood, etc, does to me.

nehimama · #20 07/14/13, 04:16 PM

I had a debilitating stroke Jan 31, 2012. It hospitalized me for a month, and, once home, I could not move freely about my farm for 2 more months. My dear neighbor and friend, without being asked, came down twice a day, FOR THREE MONTHS, to take care of milking & feeding/watering chores for me - to say nothing of keeping a watchful eye on the pregnant does, and assisting them while kidding! AND, a dear lady from right here at HT sent $500.00 to my feed store account!

You just can't beat that sort of neighbor & friend!