Good Neighbors

[pineywoods]

We all take good neighbors for granted, just wanted to tell about some of mine...

Local cops drove by my house one night and saw moving lights in the back yard, he knew I was out of town.
Thinking house burglary, he pulls in the driveway, finds my neighbor from half a mile down the road mowing my grass. "I knew they were out of town and the yard needed mowing"

Another neighbor has been diagnosed with alzheimers disease. Called me up, come up here, I need you. When I got there, he hands me 2 nice stihl chainsaws, 012, and 029 with bar, chain, and case. He said, I'll never be able to use these again and I want you to have them now while I still know where they went and that they will be used and cared for.

I cut a big old sweetgum tree that was leaning over my barn. I'm busy cutting off limbs and hauling the mess off with a forklift, look up and there's a neighbor with his chainsaw, cutting and piling limbs. He had driven by on his way home from work, went on home, got his chainsaw and came back. "I figured both of us working we could get this done before dark".

I sawed up a big ole pecan yard tree, stickered and stacked it in the barn. Neighbor asks,"what you gonna do with all that pecan lumber?" Nothin, I just couldn't let the lady burn it.. "What if I build 2 gun cabinets, one for you and one for me ?" He delivered mine yesterday, it's beautiful, I'll put pics in the woodworking forum..

I truely am blessed.

[bmill]

Blessed indeed. Everybody should have stories like this.

[beenthere]

Yes, good neighbors are great.
I am very happy that I don't have any bad neighbors. A couple of them are gone and I miss them a lot. But over the years, I learned a lot from them too.

Glad you have such helpful ones, and I expect you have earned it.   

[rbhunter]

There are good nieghbors and than there are those like you have.

I have good nieghbors but not like yours. Where I used to live I had nieghbors like yours. You would be doing something outside and they would come over and start helping.

One time some friends of ours were over to our house and we were getting ready for a garage sale. After I cleaned out the garage the wives started getting it ready for the garage sale. While they were doing this I started to replace the water pump on my old truck. My friend was watching. The nieghbor across the street comes over and asks what I am doing and I let him know I am replacing the water pump. I reach over for a different tool and he jumps in and starts helping. I don't think anything of it. Later I have to make a run to pick up something and my friend asks me "Are your nieghbors always like that?" At first I was stumped so he explained. I told him yes we always stop and help each other when we see them doing something in which they may need help.

The same nieghbor had a couple of teenagers in high school. They would play basketball out in the driveway. They would hollar and have a great time. At 10:00pm you would hear him hollar out and tell them they needed to settle down. After that you would not hear anymore out of them. If you looked out the window they would still be there talking but you would hear nothing.

[Trax]

I'll bet for each story you told they could tell 2 about you. The key to having good neighbors is to be one yourself.

[Warbird]

I'll bet for each story you told they could tell 2 about you. The key to having good neighbors is to be one yourself.

Amen.

[Tom]

It does my heart good to hear stories like this.  We gave so much greed and selfishness around that we, sometimes, don't appreciate the good folks, nor act the good neighbor ourselves.  Being a good neighbor is an art.  So many will say, "If you need any help, just holler".  Not considering that the pride of the man would keep him from asking for help.

I was told a good rule, when I was a kid.  "A good neighbor doesn't make a nuisance of himself nor impose himself and his wants on his neighbors, but he does watch his neighbor and know when to volunteer his assistance before he is asked.  It is welcomed and saves face."

[Dodgy Loner]

Sounds like you've been blessed with some good neighbors, pineywoods.  I can't complain about my own.  Last weekend I was cleaning up brush beside my driveway and hauling it to a chipper.  One of my neighbors who was out for a walk stopped and asked if I needed help.  He helped me haul the brush to the chipper for about half an hour before he had to be on his way.  Last week, when I was replacing the ball joints on my truck, another neighbor saw me jacking up my front end with a cruddy bottle jack, so he brought over his floor jack and let me use it all week.  He also came over to help me for two hourse the next night (in the freezing cold, I might add), and his wife let me borrow her car for four days while I was trying to get my truck fixed.  A couple of weeks ago, another neighbor heard me nailing up paneling in my shop.  It was about 9 PM, so I assumed she was coming over to ask if I could keep the noise down.  She had actually brought me supper, because she felt so sorry for me working outside in the 20^oF cold.  Good neighbors are one of the best things in life.

[Dan_Shade]

hmm, i need to move into your neighborhood, Dodgy!

[ErikC]

  We have great neighbors here. 1 example, the road is gravel and we have to maintain it. One neighbor hired a truck for about 10 loads of rock. The first couple hundred yards is mine, should be my responsibility. Anyway they never told me because I have the backhoe and I plow the snow. They hoped I would spread it though, more than covering my share. I did of course. Then the other neighbor bought 4 loads a week later because he felt left out. These were put on the 1/4 mile spur to my place and his, not the common road. No one complained they were doing more than their share, a common problem on private roads. I went and dug a couple culverts and some gutter down the way to even things up.
  The parcels are big enough you can't see what each other is up to, but many times if someone hears a chainsaw or tractor they will wander over with gloves on or a shovel just to see if you need a hand. At the same time no one is nosy or pesky.  It works out about right.

[SwampDonkey]

We have good neighbor's here for the most part.

[Woodwalker]

Bout 12:05 A.  M., April 1st. one neighbor gets a phone call “This is the Sheriff’s Dept., need you to go over to your pasture out on FM2693 and get your cattle off the highway.”  Guy gets up, drives out there to find a big sign on his pasture gate that reads “April Fool”
He never said anything about it all year. Guess he figured the guilty party would let something slip. One year later, bout the same time of night,  he gets another call “Mr. Smith, this is the Dept. of Public Safety, we have an officer on the scene where a car has run through your fence. Need you to come out and repair it”.  Drives out there again, yep, this sign reads “April Fool, ..........again”.
This time it was too good to keep quite about, some folks have made a few remarks about gates, signs and such.  Mr. Smith just laughs and goes on bout his business.
Funny thing, another fella was in his pasture one day and the lock off  another gate a couple miles away somehow made it’s way down the road and locked the guy in.  He had to call home for a pair of bolt cutters.
Another guy found his gate tied shut. Tied with about half a roll of binder twine and duct tape.
Another found a wind chime tied way up out of reach in a tree near his deer stand. Ended up shooting it down with a shotgun.
One guy’s truck left him at a local watering hole and went home without him.
Another guy’s wife found some frilly underwear in his truck. That one almost turned out bad.
Beer coolers ain’t safe no where.
Neighbors, friends and best enemies, gotta love em.

[Wudman]

Good deeds have a way of paying for themselves.  I can relate a little story from my younger days that paid dividends for me.  It was my senior year of high school.  One Saturday evening I was headed out for a "first date" with one of my classmates.  I did not know her family as they lived about 30 miles from us. 

A few miles from her house, I came up on a truck and trailer that had dropped half a load of square baled hay in the middle of the state highway.  There was one man there trying to clear the road and reload the hay.  Having been in that situation myself, I stopped to help.  We cleared the roadway and put the hay back on the trailer.  I went on my merry way to pick up my date.

I pulled up to the house and knocked on the door.  She answered and asked me inside to meet her Mom.  In a few minutes I heard a vehicle outside.  She said that it must be her Dad.  As he came inside, I saw a grin on his face.  Guess who......the gentleman that I just helped up the road with the hay.  She went to introduce me.  He told her that we met up the road.   

Wudman

 

[easymoney]

i have some good and some bad neighbors. i thought i was doing a good deed for one neighbor a year ago, he wound up cheating me out of over $200.00 for trying to help him.  another neighbor is in the roofing business. i was building a new garage last summer and asked him to come and help me with the roof. he helped a few hours putting the roof tin down when finished he would not take any pay so i took him a 50 lb box of nails i did not need. 

[Warbird]

Wudman, that is classic and made my day.  Actually, this entire thread makes me smile.  Thanks for sharing the good stories, everyone.

[pigman]

All my neighbors are good, but they are somewhat lazy. Last summer I wanted to go fishing and I couldn't find a single neighbor to come and dig the worms for me. They all had some excuse about baling hay, fixing fence or some other job that I am sure they could have put off to help out a neighbor in need.

[Radar67]

Pigman, I got plenty of worms, a new boat motor and an itch to go fishing. Come on down!

[SwampDonkey]

Pigman, my grandfather would have dropped the buck saw to go, but you'd have to carry and clean all the fish.

[Polly]

speeking of good neighbors does anyone know what the old dinner bell was used for just wondering

[SwampDonkey]

My grandmother had one up by the barn, then later down beside the house and finally in the attic. Used to ring it when dinner was ready or when looking for one of the family who might be back in the woods working or mostly goofing off. Sometimes someone has to haul in the wood and water before dark.

But as to the question, it was used in olden times here when there was a death. And the parlour (today's living room) was where they laid out the dead and there was no funeral parlours then. Mom's uncle 'laid out' his own father when he died, that was 65 years ago.

[beenthere]

.......does anyone know what the old dinner bell was used for just wondering

dinner ?   

[Tom]

Our dinner bell wasn't the farm bell.  The dinner bell was a hand shook thing with a handle.  It sat on the cabinet in the dining room.  It was used to call children.  You could hear it for 1/4-1/2 of a mile and you better come running. Each family's bell had a different sound.  An excuse of "I didn't hear it" might as well have been an admittance that you were further from home than you were supposed to be.  A switching usually ensued.

 I have a Cast Iron Farm Bell.  It is a #4 and was used, other than for looks, to call me from the swamp.  It has never tolled and I hope that I never hear it do so.  A #4 is about 16 inches across and sits in a cradle mounted to a pole.  A rope is used to move the bell against the clapper.  Mine has a throaty baritone ring.

[Karl_N.]

I've been doing some odd jobs for my neighbor who became a widow two years ago or so. She always insisted that she pay me though I always felt funny about taking any money for the little that I did, it always just felt good to help out. Anyway, my old plow truck kicked the bucket just before winter and suddenly I'm out of luck. My driveway is 1/4 mile long and it tends to snow up here in the winter. I don't have the money to pay anyone to do it and certainly no money to get another plow truck. To make a long story short, my neighbor noticed that I hadn't plowed yet and offered me her husband's old plow truck in trade for doing some work for her every now and then. I am still so touched by the generosity and the understanding and my driveway is still open. A good neighbor is worth twice their weight in gold.

[Polly]

you are right swamp donkey  also before country people had telephones it was rung to call your good neighbors in case of fire or any emergency that might arise also mom used it to call us in for dinner but we were not,  allowed to ring it for the fun of it if we did serious results would happen

[Frickman]

A neighbor gets a magazine called "CountrySide" or something along those lines. It's similar to "Mother Earth News." It's a general back-to-the-land guide for city folks escaping urban areas and moving out to the sticks. Anyway, there are usually little articles or stories about how different rural folks are and the culture shock many city folks endure when they first move to the country.

The last isue had a humorous story about folks who moved out to a small property but never got acquainted with the locals. They kept to themselves like they did in the city. All their visitors had out of state liscense plates on their cars, and they never patronized the local businesses. People started speculating and soon the story going around was they were drug dealers. They said it took a long time to clear up that mess.

[ErikC]

  I haven't moved but a few times in my life, and in the same small town on top of that. Whenever I got settled in though, I met all the neighbors by either driving to their house or if I saw the same person on the road several times I'd stop and talk to them. (By neighbor I mean about a mile or so in every direction) They know who you are, you know who they are and strangers can be easily identified this way. Even In a small town it's amazing how many people don't know who each other is until you're introduced. Every time it has been a good experience, even the less friendly are glad to know who you are and all that if you live nearby. It seems like everyone should live that way, but most don't.

[WH_Conley]

Just got our electric back on from high winds. Was passing the home of the guy that owns the little country store below my house, large pine tree blew hitting his house. I stopped at the store and told him then came on home. The boy that helps me was still here, I told him to come on and grabbed a saw and went back. The tree just tore up some gutter and drip edge. We figured we would cut it away from the house, at least where you could walk. In a few minutes the owner showed up with the same idea in mind. Few more minutes a couple of more guys show up, then more. I can remember twelve people, not counting the owner and his parents being there. The tree didn't last long til it was out of the yard. Ground too soft to do more. If somebody is in distress, like the tree, when word hits the store John or his wife tell people when they come in, this example is the rule, not the exception.