nice neighbor

[Lisann]

I asked my neighbor yesterday if he would brush hog a couple of my pastures. 90 min later, one was done & he said he'd do the other one next weekend. We did pay him, but still - so quick!

Plus, he said he'd be happy to look at our tractor for us (the reason the weeds got away from us - they were waist high). It won't stay running and the hydraulics need work. He works for a John Deere dealer. Pretty handy!

[winds]

That's the way neighbors are supposed to be. At least that's the way it was when I was growing up, now days, forget it. You are lucky.......

winds

[KBEquine]

That's the way neighbors are supposed to be. At least that's the way it was when I was growing up, now days, forget it. You are lucky.......

winds

Hi Winds!

I have to disagree.

Semi-short story:

I sent my husband from PA to AL to buy a palomino TB stallion in early January, when there was a driving rain (that literally peeled the paint off our horse trailer). He made it to AL, picked up the horse, made it back in what was now a freezing rain, no problems --

Slipped on the ice getting out of the truck in our own backyard, fractured his ankle in several places & once the ambulances had carted him to the hospital & emergency surgery to put in the plate & 7 screws --

One friend helped unload the stallion (Husband & stallion had arrived at 4:30 a.m., in the dark of winter, so once the ambulances scream down the driveway, I'm all alone in a freezing rain & wondering if this stallion I've never laid eyes on really DOES have the great personality we were hoping for - he did, but I wasn't leaving it to chance & a neighbor came over in that freezing rain to help unload him) and another neighbor faithfully showed up every day for 2 months in the coldest part of winter to help care for the horses until my husband was back on his feet.

Would I have paid BOTH of them? Of course I would.

Did I? No. Neither would hear of it. And got kinda cranky when I offered.

Good neighbors really ARE still out there!

[Tbird]

After the ice storm of '07 which left many farms and communities without power for weeks I called my neighbor, a Saddlebred farm up the road from me, and asked her if she had electricity yet (on rural coops around here one side of the road might have it while the other doesn't). She said that, yes, her power was back on and when I told her mine wasn't yet, she offered to run an extension cord from her place to mine so I could water my horses.
Her place is about a mile and half from mine!
We ended up not doing that but she was all set to have her crew get how ever many cords it would take and string them together all the way to my barn.

[winds]

I guess that's the difference between country neighbors and city neighbors. Don't see that happening here at all.

winds

[Skipitgirl]

My neighbor had 2 OLD (the 33 yr old died recently) horses for years. We bushhog her 5 acre pasture as they rarely made a dent in it! About a month ago her living old guy (he is 22) foundered and was banished to a 1/2 acre lot. Imagine our surprise after bushhogging for her last week when she told us to put a gate in our joint fence line so our mares can run out in the remaining 4 acres with their foals. WE never charged her for bushing and she said we can use it as long as we want. No charge.

[walaa]

I live in the country and my neighbors are POS's, for sure. Rude unfriendly, just call on the house phone when they want to use something, I could go on and on the things they have done. When I finally told the girl (21 yr old) that she couldnt be in my barn without me there, (after driving 8 hours to get home from FL, where she immediately came over, when I hadnt been home 5 minutes, I told her I was tired and going inside, meaning maybe we'll groom horses another time , she says thats okay, as I go into the house she goes in my barn turns lights on, puts horse in washrack and starts grooming!!) That was the last straw, then I went out and told her she couldnt be in my barn using stuff unless I was there too, she says, well, I could understand if I was messing with your horses, but Im just in here brushing mine!! She left, (after her horse dumped her spooking at her dog in the grass, he he) and I havent heard from them since. I hated to have to be like that, and now I basically have them hating me, but they are users, and never help in an emergency, even though I lent them a stall for 3 days when we had subzero temps. the girl never even came over the last day to get her horse at all!! Didnt call nothing. I put her horse up for 3 days , fed it with my feed and hay, cleaned its stall, everything, she came over 3 days later, said thanks, I thought you must know about the broken pipes when I came to feed her ( at 12 pm!) so I just went on home. My tackroom and barn completely flooded, stuff ruined, a geyser going off and she just says I didint want to wake your mom so I called on your cell phones, which of course dont work till you get to town, and she knows that, so I just thought you already knew and went on home!!! UUGGHH, Ill stop, but just for the record, living in the country does not mean you will get good neighbors, horse people or not.

[madelyn]

Sorry, walaa, yours just sound plain stupid so they are probably Oblivious to how Obnoxious they are. You might start locking your gate.

We live at the end of an easement (which we own, being the last property - the road is in my deed) and have two wonderful neighbors and one complete, total a$$hole. However the a$$hole's wife is actually very nice. But she is the only one in the family who is employed - no surprise there, I couldn't imagine anyone putting up with her husband - so is not really ever home to witness how awful he is.

[Toccet02]

we live on the second floor of a big house in the Bronx, which is part of NYC, but way north so we get both benefits of city (transportation ease) and small town life. Our landlords own and live in the house: Parents & two 20's kids on 1st floor, brother in the basement, and elderly parents on the third floor. So we are the only non-family in this house, but they treat us like family. We take excellent care of the place, watch over the grandparents when the landlord goes to Greece for 2 months every summer, cut the grass, etc. In return they let us rent a parking space in the driveway for dirt cheap, occasionally feed us, fix things promptly and cheerfully, and they haven't raised the rent in 6 years.
A little extra care and consideration on both sides works out great for everyone, and makes for an especially nice and relaxed relationship. Yes, even with the landlords!!(or with the tennants if you're a landlord )

[docjocoy]

we live on the second floor of a big house in the Bronx, which is part of NYC, but way north so we get both benefits of city (transportation ease) and small town life. Our landlords own and live in the house: Parents & two 20's kids on 1st floor, brother in the basement, and elderly parents on the third floor. So we are the only non-family in this house, but they treat us like family. We take excellent care of the place, watch over the grandparents when the landlord goes to Greece for 2 months every summer, cut the grass, etc. In return they let us rent a parking space in the driveway for dirt cheap, occasionally feed us, fix things promptly and cheerfully, and they haven't raised the rent in 6 years.
A little extra care and consideration on both sides works out great for everyone, and makes for an especially nice and relaxed relationship. Yes, even with the landlords!!(or with the tennants if you're a landlord )

They sound nice. Maybe they will give you help when the twins come.

[Bondama]

I have to agree, living in the country doesn't mean squat. I only have two neighbors whose houses I can see from mine. On one side we have a middle aged couple who don't work, but who derive income from warehousing foster kids. They called Animal Control on ME after THEIR dog came onto my property and went after my barn cats. I let my dog loose and he attacked their dog, yet I got a citation. Set it for hearing so I could explain to the magistrate what happened. I act nice and polite like you're supposed to in court - neighbor acts like it's a Jerry Springer episode. (He is from New Jersey, btw if that means anything)

The other house is an elderly man who must surely belong to the KKK or some such organization. He has killed or otherwise "disposed" of at least a dozen of my barn cats, poisoned two mares, shot a mare in the neck and shot my stallion in the chest. He has called every county agency we have and made bogus complaints which were all dropped. He threatened to drown my children and has made a number of seriously ugly racial slurs toward them. My water softener somehow got disconnected. My a/c ducts somehow got cut up. The list of harrassment tactics goes on and on....

So, my stint in the country hasn't been a great one either. I left 13 years of anonymity in the city, NEVER had an issue with any city neighbor, and moved next door to two of the biggest assholes I've ever encountered.

But, all I can say is God is good, all the time, he don't like ugly, and he aint too fond of purty either.

[Toccet02]

possibly, although anyone that knows me knows I hate asking for help...but they would if they could! One thing's for sure, someone is always at home, plus there's a great watchdog.

[lindsay_aggie]

I have both kinds of neighbors and they fall into two categories.

1. People who realize that they live in the country and have the "I help you, you help me" mentality. Like the neighbor that I found one day cutting one of my mares out of the fence (she kicked through the mesh wire and was just standing there letting them work!). Not only did he free her, but by the time I arrived he was already repairing the fence with his own tools and materials. Wouldn't hear of being paid in any way.

2. The recent influx of "we want the quiet country life" neighbors that have migrated from the city. The kind that look at you like you are crazy for riding horses down the county road (which, mind you, is bordered by miles of cornfields on one side). One lady actually runs outside and takes her kids inside like my horse is going to attack them or I am some kind of kidnapper on horseback. I don't ride in their yard or even on that side of the road. Then she is worried that my horse will hurt her dog that runs across the road (no fence) to chase me. She is not worried that her dog will be hit by a car. I assure her that my horses are ok with dogs but she still freaks out every time.

[Tbird]

I have a neighbor like Lindsay's #2. They moved to "the country" so their dog could run lose (they've lost about 5 of them to coyotes and cars), so they can have loud raucus parties in their front yard, so their friends and relatives can come out and park on the road, so they could set off fireworks in the road for a week around the 4th of July, and they never wave or say hi.

[majxmom]

and they never wave or say hi.

I think that is the most reliable indicator of the neighbor's potential personality. All of the whack job neighbors I have or have had all had one thing in common: when you drive down the road, they studiously avoid looking at you.