Saturday, November 15, 2008

a little rough

first we are being encroached upon. one offender is our neighbor with whom there is no love-loss. he is our closest neighbor and is the most obnoxious. tabith calls him two stroke man. he has a two stroke engine for every menial yard task. they are constantly running--there are never more than a nights worth of leaves on his yard on any given day. last year he took issue with our chickens and made several death threats in their direction. after several months worth of spilled milk under the bridge the feudal fires quelled.

then the other day big-digs were moving dirt around and making a pad or something. then this appeared.


a single wide trailer--my favorite. it over looks our backyard. we were frightened that he was carving out a little nook for his daughter and her certified pervert of a husband. we did a little calling around and found out that he has sold the back portion of his property to a different neighbor whom also happens to be of verifiable questionable character.

anyway we are planning a series of plantings of some sort of screen evergreen trees, giant bamboo and privet. the other concern is what they plan to do with their septic and lateral lines. there doesn't appear to be enough room to properly dispose of the waste water. the ravine that runs onto our property will likely be the recipient of their liquid refuse. we are making all the proper calls and inquires. maybe we can put the kibosh on this encroacher.

then tabitha took toly to the doctor and he told her he believes toly to fall within the autistic spectrum. we are still in shock and disbelief. although if it were true it would answer a ton of questions.



on a lighter note we did get the kids a set of bunk beds. they love them they are like having a jungle gym in the house. we'll see if they actually sleep there. imagine tabitha and i sleeping in the same bed without a pile of omelays on top of us.

i did contract the cold that the rest of the family had and now have recovered. the weather is finally wintry and very cold. i have the wood stove cranked up and the house is nice and cozy. i sold that extra wood that i had to a neighbor. she was extremely interested in my root cellar construction. she got a great deal, almost a cord of seasoned wood for fifty dollars.

henry is doing great. he is the best dog i have ever had. such a pleasant creature to be around. he looks after the farm and we feel secure with him doing so. those stupid pullets still aren't laying yet. arrgh

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Leland Cypress trees grow VERY fast. We bought a bunch from home depot 6ft tall for $20 each.They grow about 3ft a year....a perfect screen for annoying neighbors.

Robbyn said...

Hope the neighbors keep to themselves...
I used to have some poplars in the backyard that I planted as 12" whips...grew 10 feet a year, but you have to plant them close together. I think they can be gotten cheap from state forestry, etc

MamaHen said...

I don't know what Missouri requires, although I think most states are going with this, but in AL everyone must have an inspected septic system. In a lot of cases you can't get your power hook up without it. No emptying out on the ground etc. I don't know if that will help you or not.
On the subject of Toly, a lot of people told my parents that I was autistic when I was a child and I remember, for my first couple of years in school, being tested all the time. I was never officially diagnosed but it would have explained a lot for me too! But, anyway, I came out fine! OK, maybe I'm still a little weird but I do OK. ;) As I'm sure you are aware, there is a huge spectrum of syndromes that they consider 'autistic' and in many cases the children are actually way above in IQ levels and many of the symptoms fade as the child gets older. I have done a lot of reading on the subject lately and there is a whole school of thought now that autism may have some relation to diet; didn't you write a while back that Toly was having some problems digesting some foods? Anyway, just some thoughts. Maybe that's why I have always been drawn to Toly the most; I just see something special in his little face.

Woody said...

Karl..I'm pretty sure that Missouri regs are set at 3.1 acres for septic that doesn't need permit or inspection. Hope that helps some.

The Polar Bear said...

I agree with E.R., there is certainly something special about Toly. The diet/metabolic idea seems really interesting to me. I hope you find helpful, kind, knowledgeable people (docs and therapists, etc...)to work with. that makes such a difference- to feel that you are heard and are on the same team.
Ack, a single wide right in your backyard (nothing against trailers- they can be really nice), but not right in your yard. it sounds like they don't have a leg to stand on. hopefully you can get it taken care of without them knowing that you had anything to do with it. take care and be well!

Anonymous said...

Karl,
My Three Year old son too has been pegged with the "autistic spectrum" diagnois. Just like toly, a beautiful little boy who also has digestion problems. My Chase's symptoms are wheat, milk, glutten allergies. He has an issue with liquid Poo if he eats the wrong foods. We are still trying to figure out the issue. Chase is advanced is some areas but slightly behind in speach. He new his abc's at age two he loves puzzles and Thomas the Train. The autistic spectrum is very wide now days, i believe even Enstien was Autistic.
Mobile homes within view is very frustrating to me as well, especially if this will be a perminent homestead for you.

Anonymous said...

I hope you find something to discourage this encroachment... bamboo -- if you can find some that will grow there (and maybe even be the building material type) would be great!

Maybe the rules are here:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/6chd7k
(page 13)

Danielle said...

Everyone else has said it all with the trailer home situation. Keep calling to make sure they have been inspected if you see any digging.
Our pullets aren't laying yet either but we are about 8 weeks behind you guys.
Woot! Concerning two adults in a bed alone!!! Gotta love that!

Anonymous said...

Found some good info and sources for bamboo that grows in cold regions AND is large/architectural:
http://www.bamboogrove.com
http://www.jmbamboo.com/cold_hardy_bamboo.php

There are some fantastic ones!

Ron said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ron said...

I'm sorry that you are having a rough time. I hope that the neighbors prove to be more decent than first appearances seem.

Ron

Anonymous said...

In case you're interested, the Missouri Conservation Department seedling order form is now online at the site. You might be able to get all of your trees and shrubs (except bamboo) from them very cheap. They won't be available till the spring, but you can have them delivered to your house or you can go get them.

Also in case you're interested. I have a super sturdy set of bunk beds (and a matching youth desk) that I'd sell very cheap. I count four kids in your family. Of course you'd have to come to KC to get them.

Anonymous said...

Also, you might want to reconsider the bamboo. It's tremendously invasive, and its non-native.

My nephew is believed to have Asperger's Syndrome, and it looks like he's headed for the University of Chicago.

tansy said...

i sent tabitha some links on the autism/diet connection. hopefully that can help figure out something. toly is such a great little guy, i know he's going to find his place in this world and excel.

Shannon said...

Oh, I soooo identify. The white trash who live next to us - well, we're doing everything (legally) possible to run them off. For now, 20 evergreens newly planted from Musser Forests to hide the junk cars and trailer.

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry to hear about your neighbor issues... seems all too common unfortunately. I thought that most county/state regs support 3+ acres per home/septic, etc. We had some relatives who worked with the county to change a neighbors plans for a drainfield that led into their pond- the county required much greater setback and inpections.

Wendy said...

Wow! I wish I was your neighbor. Seasoned wood is going for $300/cord up here. It's crazy! We're really glad we planned ahead and ordered early ;).

I'm glad to hear you're making all of the proper inquiries, and I sincerely hope your new neighbors don't give you any grief. That trailer would be hard to look at.

If you go with bamboo, don't forget that it's incredibly invasive ... but it's also edible ;).

Omelay said...

anon, thanks for the tip

robbyn, i'll check them out

annie, thanks for the support. we are in the system. in the interim we are educating ourselves. tesla, einstein, gates and many others were diagnosed with autism. not necessarily a handicap.

woody they said two acres here in this area????

pbatd, yes we are leaning toward diet at this point.

nathan, thanks whatever it is we'll prevail. we have good examples to follow and somehow manage to educate ourselves.

donna, still contemplating the bamboo.

danielle, the two adults alone in bed seems to still be a ways off.

ron i agree with both of your comments. the compelling forces over ride standard logic. the guy is already our neighbor and creepy. he lurks at my wife and kids when he walks by every day. his story is too long to go into here. trust me, you'd do whatever it took if this guy were to perch his trailer above your backyard.

pablo, we are considering the bamboo because the cows will eat it on our property and not theirs. a little environmental warfare. we probably won't though.

tansy, thanks we are in the depths of educating ourselves on every aspect and contributing factor. any links or suggestions are very welcome.

shannon, i'd welcome any white, purple, grey or otherwise trash over these people. they are creepy and not the kind of neighbors anyone would want.

beau, thanks for the support.

wendy, i wish you were our neighbor too. two years ago i gave our neighbor 20% of the chickens and a rick of wood for helping butcher.

i like bamboo shoots.

Anonymous said...

I'm late to this post, but MO DNR and your county's health department should monitor septic effluent. If it flows above ground and onto your property, it becomes a nuisance and my be enjoined by court order. This could be one of those things which the state or county takes up on your behalf thereby saving you the costs of hiring a lawyer. In my county, our health department regularly gets involved in failing septic systems on anything less than five acres.

Rurality said...

Feeling your pain! One of our neighbors put up TWO trailers ONE FOOT from our property line. Oh the joy... I will say that the health dept here does a great job at getting rid of people not playing by the rules (another neighbor with a bunch of trailers - septic overflowing into our ditch). We got our mailbox smashed in but it was worth it. :)

Gina said...

I feel for you on the neighbor issues. We've definitely had our share and it is not fun! Ours lead us to move two counties away due to the stress I was feeling over the bad relationship. Only for us it was that they hated our livestock (even tho we were zoned ag). I laughed at the Two Stroke nickname because it fit these neighbors to a "T" too!

I wish you hope in getting Toly's well.

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