I Once Heard A Saying.."I Will Choose Where I Live"

    But God Will Choose Your Neighbors

   I thought of that saying as I thought about what has happened to Carolyn and I over the past few months, especially the last week or so. It has been a time when neighbors have jumped to lend a hand when we needed help.

   It all began last Monday, when we woke up to find one sweet gum tree lying in the flat below the house. A wind must have snapped the tree about twenty feet up, and the top of the tree came crashing down. No damage to anything, but we wondered what we could do with all the debris from several big limbs, and a big section from the breaking trunk that was just too big to handle.

   Realizing that I needed to start clearing the affected area, I devised a small effort where I could use my small chain saw to cut the smaller limbs and pile them away from the large trunk. Then I would cut the larger limbs into logs for the fireplace and pile them also. My relief from all the cutting and piling was loading logs on the bottom of my small trailer then laying the smaller stuff on top of the logs. 

   After loading the trailer to the brim, I carried the small stuff to the burn pile and the logs to the wood storage shed to let those dry out for use when cold weather hit. Each small load made a dent in the storm's waste, but it was progress.

   Then I heard the voice of my neighbor.Paul, calling from the shared fence line, He had noticed my efforts and wanted to help. After telling me he had a larger saw for the big stuff, he volunteered to help me clear up the big mess. He could come with his saw and tractor that afternoon, and he did just that. Not only did he bring the equipment, he brought his wife Linda and her mother. 

   (Paul, front end loader, Happy Homeowner, Linda's Mom, Linda)

   We worked that afternoon for a couple of hours, making progress that we could see. As I thanked them for helping, Linda said they would be back the next morning and would work until we rid the area of all the damaged tree. I did not argue.

   They did, and we did and by lunch, they had done the job. Willing hands, the right equipment and time had cleared the mess and removed it to a new burn pile in the flat, and logs to be split next to the back fence.

   This whole project reminded me that good neighbors are all around us. 

   Sure there was Paul and his family. They lived north of us past the new burn pile and behind our common fence. 

   But they were not the only ones who gave their help this year of 2023. 

   Will and Deana, who lived to our southwest, down past our wood rack, were there with advice, vegetables from the garden, and keeping me from killing myself with a project involving dirt.

   For the past few years, I mowed the grass and weeds all summer long. We had a lot of open area, which in earlier times had been filled by pines planted by the CCC way back when. These had all been cut down over the years, leaving stump holes which decayed and sank. It was "rough" territory to say the least. Every time the mower dropped into one of these holes, the impact would rattle my teeth, and cause the mower to cease mowing.

   The answer to this problem seemed to be "Fill the holes with dirt and level the ground". This sounded simple and could be done with a wheelbarrow and shovel and time. It was true that this route could be used, but with an 87 year old man behind the wheelbarrow, he would never catch up with the new holes as they appeared, but would lose ground to all that already existed.

   Will suggested that we use his tractor with its front end loader to move a pile of dirt from a neighbor's yard, make a couple of piles to work from in our yard, and then use the tractor to distribute the dirt around the yard. Forget the wheelbarrow, the front end loader saved the day, and the back also.

   With Will's help a lot of holes were filled, and hours of back-breaking shoveling and transporting were eliminated. 

   Will and I were talking a few weeks back about the wood storage rack. I'm not sure when it was built, but over the years weather had taken its toll. The plywood under the roof was rotting out and threatening the integrity of the whole roof area. Shingles on the roof were falling off we knew the whole roof needed to be replaced. Will volunteer to help me build and even made out a list of wood and supplies that we would need.

   Before we could get to it, Rush, Carolyn's youngest heard about the plans and volunteered to come down from Nashville and redo the whole roof. He came last Saturday. We used Will's list of material and got the job done in part of one afternoon.

   Thanks, Will for all your help and advice.

   But there is at least one more good neighbor family. Talbert and Karen, with their two daughters, moved in toward the end of 2022 occupying the house to the southeast of ours. They came from California, and quickly Talbert became our go to guy, ready and willing to advise and fix. The first was a frozen water line from the kitchen sink. 

   But here was a man, who, if we asked him about something, just came over and looked, suggested how the problem could be remedied, then fixed it himself. Plumber, Electrician General Handyman, we called, he came.

   There was no doubt that we had nothing to do with why people lived where they did. We were courteous and waved, and spoke on occasion, but did not contribute much to their lives.

   God's Grace had provided"hands on" neighbors, who volunteered to help when they saw a need.

   And we thank God for each one.