Dirt Wars

Ok let me start this tale with a disclaimer:

The story you are about to read is true, the names have been changed to protect the innocent...and the guilty, mostly the guilty I suppose, because the only innocent bystanders in this whole story is Cindy and I, we are definitely not involved and plan to keep it that way. If you happen to feel this post is about you, then just think it could possibly be! You may be guilty of something so Grow Up and stop being a bad example for how to get along with your neighbors!

Our neighborhood is a rural area with houses spaced a decent distance from one another, most people have animals, anything from chickens and horses, to goats and sheep, or a mixture of them all. We all have been known to jump in and help out one another when needed just like neighbors should.

Just like kids fighting (Image Source)

That is until it all went to hell in a hand basket up the street:

Ole Wishbone and his family has lived on five acres of land since back before dirt was invented. Wishbone is now all grown up and in possession of said property, he keeps it really nice in spite of having a whole herd of horses, kids, dogs, and cars. In other words Wishbone and his family are excellent members of our neighborhood.

Now add in Festus and his cast of characters who moved in next door to Wishbone, they have been there several years now and mostly keep to themselves and stay really quiet. They do have an occasional weekend gathering of the full cast and crew, but to the whole neighborhood's surprise they have never been too loud nor have there ever been any problems whatsoever from these gatherings of the cast.

Ok suddenly Festus decided to build himself another house on the backside of his property, the only problem with this is there is a low spot right where he wants to build, and there are no utilities for that area.

Festus brought in a backhoe and commenced to dig a hole for a septic tank, this was early one morning and right on the property line with Wishbone's land which ended up being right on Wishbone's property, the backhoe scared one of Wishbone's  horses running him through a gate and setting him free...this is where Festus should have shut down the tractor and helped to round up the injured horse, but he didn't, he just continued to dig. That is until Wishbone stepped in and stopped the whole shebang. As far as I know an apology still hasn't even been offered either.

That very weekend Festus had a gathering of the cast and crew, which is never a problem, but...yes you all know there is always a but and most times a butt!

Festus's crew started anchoring banners and signs to fence posts with string, they always do this but the posts are on Wishbone's property. Wishbone immediately requested that they untie the signs and to stay off of his property, knowing Wishbone this wasn't a request either and I am sure he was rude about it. This lead to a screaming match, insults, and a statement from Festus that Wishbone didn't even have a proper fence!

Good fences make good neighbors.(Image Source)

Cutting to the chase Wishbone has now installed a 6 ft picket fence on the property line, and not a new picket fence either, a used one that someone was taking down and disposing of, he installed this rickety looking fence, ugly side toward Festus's place and if that's not bad enough, yesterday large dump trucks began dumping loads of dirt next to the fence on Wishbone's property. Wishbones's wife said the dirt was free from a construction project and "All we are doing is building up our property to keep it from flooding our side when it rains."

OK to retaliate Festus stopped one of the dump trucks and had a talk with the driver, and for the rest of the day dump trucks hauled in dirt first to Wishbone and then to Festus, back and forth all day long. I'm telling you this is getting really deep and it has been a bit entertaining watching the trucks alternate from property to property dumping dirt.

Later on Ole Red our neighbor that gave Cindy her chickens and Little Joe who lives on the other side of Festus, were standing on side of the road watching the action. You need to know that with all of the dumping of the dirt on the other side of Little Joe's that if we ever get a big rain then Little Joe's back yard will be flooded immediately.

Little Joe then stops the dump truck for a little talk, which isn't always a bad thing because we always talk to most anybody in our neighborhood, but next thing I know Little Joe opens up his gates and in comes dump trucks dumping dirt...

They asked if we needed any dirt to which we politely declined!

Seriously if you have a problem with your neighbor it is easier to talk it out in a normal voice and try your best to eliminate any potential problems. You don't have to allow anyone digging a septic tank on your property and if you scare someones kids or animals, stop what you are doing and let your neighbors know so they can take care of their kids or pets. I had a tree trimmer who shut down their machinery and came to knock on our door, simply to let me know that he was scaring our horse. I moved the horse to another part of the property so he wouldn't be frightened and the tree trimmer finished his job. This is how responsible people act in my opinion.

Apologize especially when you are at fault, take responsibility for your actions, and keep your cool when approaching a difficult subject.

One upping someone does nothing but make you look bad, if they are doing something stupid then you try to one up that, just how smart are you really being.

Dumping dirt.(Image Source)

Once you start gathering dirt and continually try to make your pile bigger than the other guy's, just remember you really aren't solving anything and all that you are going to end up with is a big ole pile of dirt.