Way OT: interactions with a neighbor (who is licensed to carry)

Being a good neighbor takes work but as you imply, it can be fun!

During a windstorm a few years back, a lady on the next block lost a branch off a front yard tree. One of her neighbors was attacking the downed branch with a bow saw. Clearly, he wasn't making much headway and appeared exhausted about 20% into the first cut. He and I talked about it and agreed that a chainsaw would be very helpful. His face showed relief and gratitude when I got back with mine. I had the branch sectioned up into ~12" long firewood in a few minutes. I put the wood at the curb for pickup, figuring that if my neighbor wanted it, she could easily lift the little 'logettes'.

After returning home and cleaning up, SWMBO presented me with a plate of cookies the lady delivered. Does anything taste better than 'favor' cookies and a hot cup of coffee? I don't think so. :) ____

My next door neighbor noticed that the brake lights and turn signals on his daughter's car were intermittent after the car had been in for some body work. I traced the problem to a section of wire loom underneath a plastic dress panel in the trunk. The wires looked as if they had been crushed in the jaws of a largish pair of scissors. Two wires were completely broken and the rest were barely hanging on. There weren't any sharp edges within a foot of the break, so I was hard pressed to explain how that could have happened. I still don't know. I retrieved a solder station and some other tools and supplies. Neighbor grabbed all the tools and soldered all the matching colors together. He's younger than me and didn't have any problem laying in the trunk and working overhead.

A little cleanup with alcohol, some heat shrink tubing and the lights and signals returned to reliable operation. That's a happy neighbor! ___

Over the years, I've taken the opportunity to repair flat tires, move piles of tree branches and repair power tools for folks in the area. As a great philosopher once said, "I think I have good neighbors, and so do they."

Funny how that works. :)

--Winston

I think that Robert Pirsig in his book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance talked about Quality time. That is what I've always found while helping a neighbor or working with a neighbor helping me... Stu

"Stu Fields" wrote in message news:ZsidnTdCBZOBI3TXnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@linkline.com...

When I moved to Fairview Oregon the guy directly across the street came and introduced himself. We talked and got along fine. The reason He had not come over sooner is that he was stuck in his chair with a bad knee and had the joint replaced. It was later after he was healed up that we met. Anyway he was feeling pretty down because he had arthritis so bad his working days were over. I was in my early thirties at the time and he was probably old enough to be my dad. He had been the head mill wright at an aluminum plant. So he had done a lot of different things and prior to that he had worked at Freightliner running a turret lathe machining truck brake drums. So he had some machine work as well in his background. So we had some common ground to draw from. Over time I had got a welder, then a Jet mill and 14" gear head lathe. Anytime the garage door was open my neighbor took it as an invitation to come see what was going on. I pretty much did the same since he lived straight across the street. As time went on he would come and turn something or mill something and it got to where if I wasn't home Tammy would just hand him the key to the shop and he would do what ever he needed done. He slowly realized that he could still do some things, but only on his good days. His bad days limited him to his chair. Over a few years he accumulated a 13" belt drive lathe, mill/drill, 4 X 6" band saw and a real nice wire feed welder, along with some other stuff. He essentially got smaller versions of about everything I had. He would buy old pickups and sell the parts and turn it into a trailer and sell it for money to support his shop. Often on a hot summer day I would be sitting on the porch enjoying the cool evening and he would come and sit and we would talk about everything. Tammy said when she saw us out there it reminded her of two old farmers. Over time (about 9 years) we went from 1 kid to 3 and the house having only 2 bedrooms was to small, so we moved to the country. I would stop by and see him see him often. Even though it hadn't been very long since we moved. About 2 months after we moved another neighbor of ours from down the street in Fairview called to say he had died. He was really upset as he was just as close to him as I was. It was like that old man who walked with a cane connected with everyone in that small town. Always doing what he could to help everyone. For me it was like my dad had passed away. I was a wreck for about 2 weeks. Almost two decades later I look out my front door and across the street sets a field of Christmas trees. About ready to be harvested again and think of that old man.

Yes good neighbors are to be treasured.

Richard W.

Very very well told.

My respects

Gunner, taking a break from cutting down wind damaged trees on the property line

"I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I travelled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer." -- Benjamin Franklin, /The Encouragement of Idleness/, 1766

That was an excellent story. The neighbor would likely have enjoyed model engineering greatly.

Wes

You have to watch out for the select number amongst us that were endowed with the name Wesley. We tend to be precocious.

Wes(ley) ;)

Yeah, but you would have tried to shove Don's head through the hole. ;-)

I don't think Wes would do that. Not while Yukon was watching, anyway.

Wesley must have heard the expression "Two heads are better ... "

I've always been well behaved in front of witnesses ;)

Wes

-- "Additionally as a security officer, I carry a gun to protect government officials but my life isn't worth protecting at home in their eyes." Dick Anthony Heller

Some years ago, NYS had an ice storm. We've had several in the deacdes I've lived here. I think this story I'm tellling was during the 1991 stirm. My paretns were affected by the storm. Plenty of branches down. The next day, my Dad was out chatting with the neighbors. One side of my parents is Marvin and Thelma, he's a country boy from way back. The other side are Robert and Harriet, who are a pharmacist and a nursing supervisor.

So, the professionals are moaning about the tree blocking the driveway. There is simply no way to get the cars out, and they both are needed at thier hospitals where they work.

No problem! says Marvin, who pulls the rip cord on the chain saw he was holdig. Minutes later, the driveway is clear.

I havn't told Marvin, but he's one of my heros.

LOL

Sounds like that hole in the speaker enclosure could benefit from some sort of "remote blocker" like maybe a piece of coat hanger wire with its ends looped under the heads of a couple of wood screws?

Hopefully Wesley hasn't mastered the fine art of (un)screwing yet or you'll have to use security headed screws.

Just my .02,

Jeff

Amen to that in spades! It do feel good to have someone look at you with awe like you're some sort of effing genius. And those "thank you" cakes and cookies don't hurt either.

But, I do try and draw the line on loaning tools to neighbors who don't know how to use or treat them. I'd rather do the job for them myself than have to suffer the return of a damaged prized possession I've treated with TLC for twenty plus years.

And in addition, I'm willing to give a not-so-nice neighbor lots more slack than I would if they weren't living right next to me.

Because, I can't think of anything less comfortable than I and my family having to live for years next door to someone we're on bad terms with....and having to see them several times a week. (Well, maybe preping for a colostomy is less comfortable, but I only have to do that for one day every 5 years. )

Jeff

(...)

I repaired a flat tire for the neighbors across the street. They reacted as if I'd performed some kind of miracle. Strange, but gratifying. They were kind of freaked when I filled the tire with nitrogen though. Neither one believed me when I told them that it was the same gas as in 80% of the air they were breathing!

Yummy!

Yup! After a while, you get a sense of when intervention is necessary, too.

Neighbor showed up asking for some pliers to 'fix his garage door opener'. Instead, I visited and had a look for myself. The opener was binding during the opening cycle. I sighted down the rail and it became clear that the axis of the opener worm had very little to do with the axis of the door tracks. Grabbed my socket set and moved the anchor on the door jamb so that it brought the worm drive in alignment with the door tracks and the arm that pivots on the top of the door. It worked fast and smooth after that. Guy was practically jumping up and down with delight.

Don't ask me what he planned to do with the pliers! :)

Hey as long as I don't go into 'doormat' mode, I'm willing to be cordial to practically anyone.

Sounds very UN-fun.

--Winston

Shortly after we moved here (1984), we were playing cards one evening when neighbour came to borrow a saw and SWMBO sent him home with our electric stove! Their stove had died beyond economic repair and he wanted to trim the counter top to accommodate a larger and somewhat older stove. In the meantime, we had brought the small stove from our tiny former kitchen with us, intending to replace it once we got fully settled in. A trade was arranged on the spot and completed in a few minutes, to everyone's satisfaction. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

Sometimes the best saw for the job, is a stove.

--Winston

Some kind of screen mesh, stapled on with Arrow staple tacker?

Good save. Very well done.