Survey Says...

The survey is complete and verifies what we suspected. The neighbor to the west of us has encroached about 35 feet onto our land. The picture shows the tip of a survey stake and the brown sided building behind the pine tree which is on the lot line. Everyting to the right of it is on our land including a picnic table, stacks of lumber, tires, garbage, several boats and broken windows.

The survey was completed Thursday and we immediately began installing metal fence posts along the two north/south lines on either side of his 100x200 foot lot. About half way through his west boundary Sweetie began to sweat and feel weak. We took a break and he complained of a sore throat. By 4 p.m. he was in bed. He slept until 6 a.m. and woke up with the symptoms he's had the last two times he's had pneumonia. So off to the doctors we went. Three hours later we returned with two new medications and a refill.

That afternoon I went out to finish installing fence posts. As I approached the first north/south line (neighbor's easterly boundary) I saw the fence post were down and thrown into the brush. I'd come prepared with sledgehammer, twine, tape measure, orange flagging tape, etc. so I began re-installing the posts. A few minutes later here comes the neighbor - who we thought had gone to Texas for the winter.

"What are you doing? Keeping me in or out?" I said the survey had been completed and we'd begun installing the fence posts. I asked about his stuff on our land and he said he'd remove it "when he got around to it." He claimed he had run into the fence posts when he pulled in his drive the previous evening.

Hmmmm...kind of hard to run into eight fence posts with one pickup - unless you intended to take them all out.

During our conversation he said he knew he'd always parked on our land and had his wood supply dumped on our land. But, he felt sure his NORTH line was not correct and WE need to have the survey re-done.

He's here for our two week firearm deer season. I asked where he planned to hunt and he said, "On your land behind me, like I always have. Besides, you don't have it posted." We had planned to post once we knew for certain where the lines were. So this year we'll let his tradition continue and hope we're not shot by an angry drunk.

I continued to install fence posts - adding four additional ones to the line he had removed - and flagged the twine between the posts. As I was leaving his wood was delivered. Very loudly, he told the driver: "I have no where to put the wood because the neighbor's blocked my spot."

His spot?

I ignored the remark because I won't be baited by someone who has no respect for other people's land. The guy drinks every day and by 6p.m. if he's not incapable of standing and talking coherently, he's close to it. The next day he recalls nothing of what he's said.

Last night this neighborhood sounded like a Fourth of July celebration. Firecrackers, gunshots, yelling, tires squealing and door slamming when on until 4 a.m. With the leaves off the trees we and the neighbors can see one another and voices seem to carry further. There's been lots of activity behind us and to our south and plenty of inspections of the new fence line.

As Sweetie said, once again, the good old boys are not happy with us. If we'd had the survey done sooner the fence would have been up awhile so people could get used to the idea. I realize it was a shock for the neighbor to come barreling into this camp and discover we had made changes - mainly that he (and all his guests) could no longer park - or litter - on our land.

In this state you cannot discharge a firearm within 500 feet (I think) of an occupied residence but everyone in this neighborhood ignores it. NO ONE in the neighborhood is 500 feet from another dwelling. In fact, today, someone on the second road past us stepped out their door and shot a deer across the road from him - in the yard of a summer home. The road is a two track about 18 feet wide and most lots here (except our land) are 100x100 feet and most people own two lots.

So...we occupied ourselves by cleaning in the pole barn and planting 18 more red pine in the front yard. The Z-pac and Prednisone seem to have done the trick for Sweetie and the the temps have been 49-52 with no wind.

To some people we seem unreasonable. To us we're simply respecting our boundaries; caring for and nurturing our land and keeping it free of litter and junk.