Get to Know your Neighbors CHALLENGE! - Please join me! - Page 3

[~Boudicca~]

What a great thread! I actually started doing this last month when our cat was missing and we went door-to-door (or in some cases mailbox-to-mailbox) with fliers. I met more people that weekend than I have in our 4 years living here.

I live in a rural area outside of a small town and on my street everyone has long driveways and/or you can't see your neighbor next to you through the trees. And I have learned that everyone in my vicinity are gun owners (I think except us).

Like my next-door-neighbors. They are the nicest people. The husband told us when we moved in that he doesn't want to be the kind of neighbor that drops by for a cup of sugar and shoot the sh*t every day but he would be happy to help us move large furniture, lend us his ladder, drive us to the hospital, or come over with his 12-gauge if someone was invading our home. Yes that last part sounds a little nuts, but really, he's pretty cool. They pretty much keep to themselves and we only talk a few times a year.

My other next-door-neighbors. Hmm...not the friendliest people. I spoke to them when I was looking for our cat last month and I expressed my fears that a fisher cat got him. The husband said, "Nah, I doubt it. I usually shoot a few a month from my backyard so I don't think they'd get him. They're all gone." He didn't say hello or good-bye when I left and had the people skills of a stick.

And for the people across the street from me? Yeah, the lady there is quite a peach. When I saw her in the driveway I walked across the street with a flier and said, "Hi, I'm Danielle, I live across the street, just thought I'd say hello and give you this," and her reply, "Yeah, and?"

Also, her son creeps me out in a must go reread Protecting the Gift kind of way.

I have never seen my other neighbor across the street, their driveway is about a mile long and my next-door-neighbor told me not to go down there because the husband is an editor for a sports hunting magazine and tests out guns all day long on their property. Don't want to get shot, YK? And sure enough, we hear gunfire pretty much all day.

However, I met the people down the street from us and they are so nice. The wife works in a vet office in town and took a flier with her to work for me and they also own a restaurant so DH may be getting waste oil from him for biodiesal

I get raw milk from a farm around the block (around the block meaning 1.5 miles away), and we officially met the owner last week. She freaking rocks! We talked about everything from homeschooling to victory gardens to the health benefits of raw milk. And when she said that she wanted to start a community garden on her land I was in .

She said that she wants to have a block party kind of thing for all her raw milk clients as they seem to have a lot in common. Oh my god! Could you imagine? It would be like meeting MDC in real life!

[koofie]

we moved in a month ago and are planning an open house next month. We walked around to all of the neighbors and handed out invitations and met lots of people!

[Amys1st]

So, as in my previous post, I mentioned my neighborhood with all the kids etc. Some of the families who have been here for several years started a bunco group with 12 of the women. Well they are all 10 years plus older than me. As much as I enjoy them as neighbors and enjoy their company, I just dont have that much in common- all have teen or college age kids, older, etc. But they are great to talk about families, will buy the girl scout cookies, lend you whatever you need and attend you parties (did I mention this block is the party block??). Well there are several younger families and one friend approached me about this bunco group- she feels the same way I do, nice but we really dont have much in common other than geography. So she says- "Lets start our own group!!". We both wanted to include the spouses as well so we started supper club.

We all live within walking distance and our kids all know each other. So 4 couples, our kids adds up to 8 all together. We started last summer just a few of us- the kids eat, play it up for hours and the adults have fun (talk, play a game, or drink). We hired sitters for the upcoming one at my house
and DH suggested eventually we have a host of the dinner at one house, sitters and kids at another house and we all split it up. The sitters are twin girls in their freshman year who live down the street. Everyone is within walking distance so no worry about drinking and driving or having to run home which happens at least twice a time!

Also, I live sort of at the corner. My one neighbor jokes I should put a port a potty at my front yard. For some reason, everyone stops at my house for a potty break. At halloween, it will happen at least twice. Dont get it.

[Christine&men]

Last Friday a neighbor had a "Pumpkin Carving Party" and we met other families with kids. YEAH! I also met the lady with the son driving to school like my son (different school though) again. We again planned to have coffee together.

On Saturday one of the ladies came by and brought a still WARM pumpkin pie!!!!! Absolutely delicious. And somebody left us a goodie bag on the doorstep (for Halloween, but it was Swiss chocolate inside!). On Sunday we (DS and I) dropped our goodie bags at the neighbors.

And yesterday I went over to the ladie with the pumpkin pie and we went together to the playground.

YEAH, we are off to a good start (finally)!!!! I am soooo looking forward to really getting to know those ladies.

[insahmniak]

I hope you don't mind reviving this thread. I think it's a wonderful idea and I've been trying to think of ways to get our neighborhood together.

I've just found the contact for our neighborhood association and I'm excited to get in touch with them and put some energy into getting greater participation. I've been here 2 years and don't recall ever meeting or hearing about the association. I'd like to put together a free neighborhood web forum so that we can be in touch and make announcements online. Perhaps put up an online "toolshed" for people interested in sharing. A place to announce and share garden surplus, pet sitting needs/services, and neighborhood gatherings at our local park/playground. Does anyone here have an online neighborhood forum they use? Would this kind of thing fly in your area?

[missmich]

I'm quite sad b/c my neighbors just aren't friendly at all. I live in a 6-plex. The 2 neighbors at the bottom seem all right,they don't speak English but when I see them I manage a hello and they say it back and we exchange smiles. They are all a bit older and they seem friends with one another as well. The people on the 2nd floor are two single men sharing the place and I have talked to them when I've come and gone at the same time as them or when I've gone down in my jammies after midnight telling them they need to turn the music down. The girl beside them is a single mom and she's nice. We aren't friends,but I can see myself becoming friends with her. She moved in just after I did and I gave her a dresser I had no use for and just the other day I gave her a bunch of stuff I was getting rid of. I'm going to make a effort to becoming friends with her.

The couple right next to me on the top floor,we share an inner stairwell. They have been so unfriendly to me since I moved in here. When I came to look at the place they confused me in saying there was NO apartment for rent here!!! I was to meet the owner and they were standing in the door way and when I got a little confused about the address and asked if they had an apartment for rent they said NO apartment was for rent. It took a few minutes to figure they were not the owners and were wanting to look at the same place. They had just moved into where they still now about 3 months before and wanted something bigger.

Anyway they were nice enough while we waited for the owner to arrive. They said we could help each other learn French/English better and all that. However when I moved in they were so unfriendly! The woman came out to the back balcony (shared) while my friends and I were eating out there on moving day and I smiled and said "hi how are you?" and she turned and walked back in to her house. A few days later I went to the front balcony(private) and she came out to hers and I smiled,said hi and asked if she liked cats. She said NO and ran back inside! I wanted to tell her I had 2 of them and they may at some time get into her place.

It was so odd for her to react this way. Over the next few weeks she'd come over and ask me if she can use my wireless internet and pay her share for it,at first I said yeah sure when it's hooked up. Then I changed my mind b/c whenever I saw her and her husband and try to say hello and make small talk they'd ignore me and it was hurtful. I finally just said I wasn't getting wireless at all and couldn't share with them.

Now I'm annoyed with them b/c we all get junk mail,but they leave their stuff piled in the shared hallway or the shared (with everyone) landing and 2 people,including me and the single mom downstairs (with baby in arms) almost fell the other day! They also let the former tenants mail pile up and keep my hall light turned on ALL the time costing me money.

Last night I was so angry that I wrote them a note reminding them what needs to be done with the junk mail and former tenants mail. It was a nice note and I hope they start doing their share to keep the stairwell clean.