The Other Kind of Neighbors

And on the horizon, amidst the gunshots we hoped were target practice, there arose ten or more sets of these...

We officially have no neighbors other than one family a couple miles down the dirt road, and a few folks who are periodically stopping in to do this or that to their properties nearby, much like us, as they can.  All our real neighbors stop anytime they pass, or wave.  We catch up briefly, swap names or updates or scribble phone numbers for clearing/fill dirt/ etc work referrals.  For Florida, we have a fairly remote location.  You hear no unnatural noises unless it's an occasional semi gunning it on the highway or a tractor somewhere unspecific as-the-crow-flies. 

But then there was the weekend of Thanksgiving.  Our lazy idyllic swamp and palmetto backwater became The Four Wheel and ATV Convention Arena.  A large truck and trailer were parked cattywhompus at the head of the road.  The ten acre undeveloped property just next to our five is show above...the pic doesn't do it justice.  Off to the right on the boundary of our land was the shooting range.  And over the tops of the really wild land bounced along the topside of a huge swamp buggy, crisscrossing private lands with not a care, probably hunting wild hogs.  The ATVs were tearing up and down the roads, and all over the private lands that were unfenced.  Our property had been crisscrossed as well.

I get it.  It's rural, it's remote, it's prime for all that.

I DON'T get being passed by all these people multiple times, sometimes in a not so friendly way, without even a nod of the head or stopping to chew the fat.  The camping and RV convention that seemed to be underway next door, with big obvious tracks through our ditch and land to theirs despite their well graded entry road to theirs went on strong without a single acknowledgement of our very obvious presence.

It kind of chapped me.  It seemed pretty blatant. 

At least they know we're there now.  And IF we ever get the REAL fence up and post the trespassing signs, hopefully their gun range will be a little less cozied up to us and we won't have to worry about getting accidentally blown away.   Gunshots and whining engines are fun and fine.  Having a ton of them descending on the general area without so much as a howdy or a tip of the cap...not so friendly to me. 

And there are the big dogs.  When we have livestock out there, I'm not too happy about free roaming big dogs they brought in with them and didn't keep close by.  I've read too many accounts of the killing dogs can do when not supervised.

Jack says good fences make good neighbors.  I hope we get that (blinkin blankin) fence up soon.  I like our real neighbors, the ones who have animals in their fields, or crops or trees or are slowly clearing some space for their families.  The vote's still out about weekend people who hunt hogs on unfenced private lands (ours, and everyone else's), and tear by a dozen feet from you on the road in the middle of nowhere and don't even give a nod.

Maybe it's seasonal.  The next week, they were gone.  Till...the next holiday weekend?