Being Neighborly

We are fairly close to our neighbors in proximity here. We can see their homes,and one of them we could hit with a rock if we threw it hard enough. Personally,I would love to have a home where we saw no one,but that's OK.

We have had neighbors come and go. We had one young couple and their little girl leave and we all breathed a sigh of relief. He would drink,she would pop pills,and the cops were there many times.Both were arrested for domestic violence at one point or another. We always felt so bad for their little girl. He would work on cars in his garage until four in the morning and we could hear her screaming at him. She also,for whatever reason,wound up hating us. It made for a very uncomfortable situation,but they lost their house and moved. Good riddance. 

Right now,all our neighbors are good people. The Evil Couple had their house bought by a gentleman who wound up putting in our kitchen floor. He rented out the house to a guy we know from Cub Scouts! Then,our neighbor across the dirt road moved,and the new owner rented out his house-to a lady we also knew from Scouting. Small world!! Our good friends,Kelly and Darlene,still live behind us,thankfully.At the end of the dirt road still live Ron and Jean,an older couple whom we are also friends with. Across from them is a single gentleman who is rarely home because of his job,and we have a typical neighbor relationship-small talk,a smile and wave in passing-your basic cordial interaction.

We always try to help our neighbors if they need it,and if we have the capability to do so. More so Kelly and Darlene,and Ron and Jean. If we need something for a recipe,some coffee,or whatnot,they are there,and vise versa. Need help with a vehicle? Brother B,who was a mechanic in the National Guard,is your man. Truck stuck in the snow? Rick can pull you out with his 4 wheel drive truck. It works both ways. We have had neighbors help with landscaping,working on the driveway,give us wood chips,etc. We have borrowed tools and had tools borrowed. Our neighbors are very responsible folks.

Then we have our other neighbors,who live next door to us.Our properties are side by side.Now,they are nice folks,don't get me wrong,but they don't help themselves and truthfully,seem to lack basic common sense. The father does have health issues (bad heart). But there are many able bodied people living there.(His girlfriend,his son,and his son's ex girlfriend who is the mother of his baby and the daughter of the father's girlfriend-got all that? There is also a young man who lives there).Their yard is a junkyard,trash is all over the front yard from garbage bags getting ripped open,and...well...you get the jist. Now, my yard is not perfect-our tree line has old lumber,pallets,etc in it that we are in the process of cleaning up-but theirs is a bit much. Every once in a while,they will get out there and putter around. The problem is they ruin every tool they have,or misuse them so they don't work properly. They had a  brand new riding lawn mower that they were cutting the grass with last year.Bear in mind the grass was at least three feet high. Instead of weed wacking it down to a reasonable height so they could see what was hiding the grass,they went ahead with the mower-and proceeded to ruin the blades.They got stuck on a rock and tried to get off it instead of shutting the mower down. We were outside and just shook our heads.The mower sat there for months before they fixed the blades.

The other day,we were outside and the Neighbor Son came over wondering if he could borrow our wheelbarrow. He broke the handle on theirs. Rick,knowing how careless they are,asked what he needed it for. "I just need to move a few small rocks," he replied. I could tell that Rick really wanted to say no,but he also wanted to be a good neighbor. "How long do you need it for?" Rick inquired. "Just a little while,we'll bring it right back," Neighbor Son assured him."Well,alright,but don't overload it," Rick told him. "Are you sure you want to lend him anything? That wheelbarrow wasn't cheap. If he breaks it,I will be pissed," I said to  Rick as I watched Neighbor Son push the wheelbarrow into their yard."I"m going to sit right here and watch him,"Rick assured me."If he overloads it I'm going over there and getting it back." I'm not sure what they were doing,but it involved,like Neighbor Son said,moving rocks. And,apparently,concrete. And not small rocks and concrete. Rick saw the other boy who lives there trying in vain to push the wheelbarrow. It was filled to the brim,and was so heavy he couldn't even move it!!! So that's how they broke their handle. Rick was over there in a split second. He came back with the wheel barrow shaking his head. "I told them not overload it! They had huge pieces of concrete in it. Damn kid couldn't even move it!" Total time they had the wheelbarrow:10 minutes.

Have a fabulous day on this fabulous planet!