Be Ye Separate

When east meets west

Blessings!

   Well, when east meets west it can sure be a bit of a whirlwind:P

   You see, we are on the west side of the road and our next door neighbor is on the east. We haven't even met those neighbors except for an occasional brief moment where they shout some expletives our way:( Our road is a series of 3 acre parcels. All are 1 acre x 3 acres so the houses are close together. We all have perimeter fencing of all sorts. In our front we are separated by a 6 foot wooden privacy fence and the back of ours is chainlink, electric and barbedwire depending on where you are standing:P

   Having just moved here in November we don't know a lot of folks for varying reasons. Some neighbors we would just as soon NOT know at all:s We keep to ourselves and try to be good and quiet neighbors.

   Almost all the folks around here have animals of all kinds. There are chickens, ducks, geese, peacocks, horses, goats, pigs, dogs, cats and anything else I might have forgotten. It's really a lovely place and it's so wonderful to hear all the roosters up and down the road competing:P

   A couple months ago one of her dogs broke it's chain and came after my daughter and I and then went around back, jumped and crawled under fencing and went after our livestock. We chased it off but I phoned the animal control and told them what was happening and we weren't able to find the neighbors since we had just moved here. I also let them know that if it went into any of the animal pens again I would have to shoot the dog. Thankfully it didn't come to that.

Anyway, a month ago one of our little Nigerian Dwarfs got out (she was the escape artist that had no respect for electric fences) and wandered to the east neighbor. At 6am one morning she drives up to the house and pounds the door while screaming obscenities. Our daughter opens the door and she literally threw the goat into the door and screamed to keep our *&^$ goats out of her property.:s Needless to say we went down that day and purchased hog fencing for them. She CAN'T get out now:)

   Then today, their pigs are out and snarling through my fencing trying to attack our dog. It ran to the back and tried to get through the fencing where the Nigerians are. If you know about pigs, they don't respect electric fencing or barbed wire fencing either, so we herded the Nubians into the Niger pen to keep them safe, just in case.

   No sooner do we put them away than someone drives up to thier house, gets out of the car, walks to the back of the house and shoots their rooster and leaves! We never saw the person or the car and no one was home:s

   Not knowing what to do I phoned the animal control to report the pigs being out and the rooster being shot by a possible stranger. Now I know this is going to cause another problem with these neighbors as they were furious with me for calling animal control over their dog several months ago.

   This is making me so glad we are having to move soon:s (I really wish I didn't feel this way) I just keep praying for them to soften their hearts and not to see us as an enemy. If they would only give us ways of contacting them if something happens then I wouldn't necessarily have to phone the police each time. I don't want to be "one of those neighbors" if you know what I mean:s

   And I don't have a problem with someone "dispatching" their own livestock, in a safe manner. Some folks will shoot their animals before butchering, some will take less noisy ways of doing it. If we have to put an of our animals down for whatever reasons, we make sure that it's done far from other dwellings. This one was dispatched not a foot from our back fenceline. Sarah was down with the Nigers and Nubians at the time and was in direct line of where the animals was shot.

   The police were just here and I made sure that he knows we don't want the neighbors angry with us for calling them but if it wasn't their doing, then we are concerned for them and their animals just as much as we are concerned for our own. He was really quite nice about it and said he would assure then that we meant no harm.

   Well, that was our moment of the day and the excitment of it is dwindling (Thank you Lord). Time to being getting supper started:)

   Have a blessed and VERY safe day!

God be with thee!

Sister Lori

Hello!

{ 23:09, Thursday, September 27, 2007 } { Posted by addiema }

I am new to homestead blogger. I found you thru Rashel's blog and am enjoying yours as well. I have added you to my friends list if that is alright. Thank You.
Andrea

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{ 08:01, Friday, September 28, 2007 } { Posted by Kitty }

We have a neighbor across the street who breeds dogs. He has at least 7 or 8 different breeds that he keeps. He does keep them fed, clean, and locked up. Occaisionally one or two gets out and runs the street. These are big dogs so no one trys to get it. He works right down the street and is usually called to the scene right away and catches the animal. No one has ever tryed to harm any of his animals. He also raises chickens and rabbits.
I have several cats that as most cats do wonder into his yard from time to time. I hear gun shots and sure enough I'm always one cat short. He gets rid of the body so I have no evidence but I know it's him.
Some people.
Kitty

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{ 20:59, Friday, September 28, 2007 } { Posted by chimicole }

You HAVE had quite a time, haven't you?
Sounds like our neighbor. He continually calls animal control or whoever on us. We have a Great Dane that he doesn't like, so whenever the chance is offered, he calls. There are 3 fences between him and our Dane at all times....
We HAD 3 little laying hens. He called animal control. When they said they saw nothing wrong, he called the zoning commision... we had to get rid of our hens...
I know what you are going thru...
God bless!