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WetBehindtheEar

WetBehindtheEar

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So there have been many threads on here about unruly neighbors and there's the Famed Craigslist Laughs sticky thread...

So today I've succeeded in combining the two.

There's been a recurring ad on Craigslist for a week or so for Free Firewood - access is tough. It's down into a wash between two city blocks - I assume it was traditionaly (100years ago) a springtime and heavy rains/flood stream - but there's a public e-way that gets access to it.

The ad has stated that there is driveable access & a homeowner is also bringing the firewood up to the curb.

I get there this morning and a guy is already there throwing the last of the curbside stuff into his pickup - oh well. I walk down to the pile & see quite a bit left - a lot of it is punky but what the hey, you know? So I go to back my Subaru down the hard-packed path that (obviously) others have used & then the guy who's property runs right next to the e-way says I can't drive down the path...

OKAyyyy.... hmmm... Well, I don't want to piss anyone off so I go back up to the road & he offers to help haul wood up to the roadside - AWESOME! no worries.

Then, some other woman comes out of her house & says, I CAN drive down there - it's public property & the aforementioned helper can't tell me not to...
:dizzy::dizzy:

Oh. crap.. She gives me her wheelbarrow and starts yelling at the dude about how the e-way is public property and not his...:popcorn:

Now, it's JUST free firewood (and not very high quality) so I'm not about to get into a throwdown over property rights...

BUT!!!

If it's public property, the neighbor really has no right to tell me that I can't drive there. Right? I pay the same city taxes that maintains that green space...:chainsaw:

I think part of the 'friction' going on here is that the house adjoining the e-way is HUGE... I mean it's a monstrous Frank-Lloyd-Wright-looking, flat roofed, glass enclosed monstrosity... compared to the other houses on the block which, while very nice, are MUCH more modest.

Anybody else get caught between two neighbors over something like this?
 
Yeah, one of my neighbors gave me a 16 foot trailer, while the same day his wife gave the trailer to another one of our neighbors, needless to say we both showed up at 6pm to pick it up. I thought he was just kidding me when he said he was there to pick up this trailer. We talk for a little bit, and low and behold the husband and wife that gave the trailer away are now pulling into the driveway. They were furious at each other since one superceeded the other in giving this trailer away, they were starting to get into a pretty heated arguement, when finally I approached them and told them. Hey, I just came to look at it, I don't want it. I proceeded home, about 10 minutes later, I see the other neighbor leaving also without the trailer. Trailer is STILL sitting behind their barn rotting away, this took place 12 years ago!
 
Green(t)horn said:
Yeah, one of my neighbors gave me a 16 foot trailer, while the same day his wife gave the trailer to another one of our neighbors, needless to say we both showed up at 6pm to pick it up. I thought he was just kidding me when he said he was there to pick up this trailer. We talk for a little bit, and low and behold the husband and wife that gave the trailer away are now pulling into the driveway. They were furious at each other since one superceeded the other in giving this trailer away, they were starting to get into a pretty heated arguement, when finally I approached them and told them. Hey, I just came to look at it, I don't want it. I proceeded home, about 10 minutes later, I see the other neighbor leaving also without the trailer. Trailer is STILL sitting behind their barn rotting away, this took place 12 years ago!
Click to expand...

Ummmm. . . 12 years? Rotting away? I'd be for going and getting the trailer. Time heals wounds, bet ya could get it now. :)
 
WetBehindtheEar said:
So there have been many threads on here about unruly neighbors and there's the Famed Craigslist Laughs sticky thread...

So today I've succeeded in combining the two.

There's been a recurring ad on Craigslist for a week or so for Free Firewood - access is tough. It's down into a wash between two city blocks - I assume it was traditionaly (100years ago) a springtime and heavy rains/flood stream - but there's a public e-way that gets access to it.

The ad has stated that there is driveable access & a homeowner is also bringing the firewood up to the curb.

I get there this morning and a guy is already there throwing the last of the curbside stuff into his pickup - oh well. I walk down to the pile & see quite a bit left - a lot of it is punky but what the hey, you know? So I go to back my Subaru down the hard-packed path that (obviously) others have used & then the guy who's property runs right next to the e-way says I can't drive down the path...

OKAyyyy.... hmmm... Well, I don't want to piss anyone off so I go back up to the road & he offers to help haul wood up to the roadside - AWESOME! no worries.

Then, some other woman comes out of her house & says, I CAN drive down there - it's public property & the aforementioned helper can't tell me not to...
:dizzy::dizzy:

Oh. crap.. She gives me her wheelbarrow and starts yelling at the dude about how the e-way is public property and not his...:popcorn:

Now, it's JUST free firewood (and not very high quality) so I'm not about to get into a throwdown over property rights...

BUT!!!

If it's public property, the neighbor really has no right to tell me that I can't drive there. Right? I pay the same city taxes that maintains that green space...:chainsaw:

I think part of the 'friction' going on here is that the house adjoining the e-way is HUGE... I mean it's a monstrous Frank-Lloyd-Wright-looking, flat roofed, glass enclosed monstrosity... compared to the other houses on the block which, while very nice, are MUCH more modest.

Anybody else get caught between two neighbors over something like this?
Click to expand...
I will keep you in mind if I find a free/clean up wood down this way. I am south west of madtown about a hr away.
Bob
 
Madsaw said:
I will keep you in mind if I find a free/clean up wood down this way. I am south west of madtown about a hr away.
Bob
Click to expand...

Hey Bob,

Thanks - I'm guessing somewhere around Platteville?

My in-laws are farming in Casville. I have it in my head that I should be taking two big rounds from there every time we go visit. :)

Lemme know about any kind of free/cleanup, though. I love running my saw.
 
MNGuns said:
I'm sure there in Wi, there has to be some free firewood that doesn't involve "path", "wheelbarrow", "punky" or "neighbors".. I would quickly find a new site to pick from.
Click to expand...

Ohh.. I won't be back any time soon. I got a Forester trunkload full - the best stuff I could pick off the pile.

In October, The city is supposedly taking out 30(?)trees including dead-standing cherry & some hackberry. Maybe I'll get some before it starts growing mushrooms.

But I'm still a little confused/frosted about a guy blocking off public access - he should put a fence along his property if he's concerned about trespassers. He's the one who bought a large home adjacent to a public green space...
 
WetBehindtheEar said:
Hey Bob,

Thanks - I'm guessing somewhere around Platteville?

My in-laws are farming in Casville. I have it in my head that I should be taking two big rounds from there every time we go visit. :)

Lemme know about any kind of free/cleanup, though. I love running my saw.
Click to expand...

I am east of platteville in darlington. I was just down to cassville a week ago. Had to take a trip out on the wing dam road just to see what it was still like out there. Was suprised at a amish buggie out there.
Yeah I got to get playin with my saws too. Got a few dead trees here that need to get ready for this winter. I am tired of dragin in wood when the snow is 2 feet deep. Got a nice huge burr oak I need to take down to get milled in september. My guess is about 40 -45 feet of good log in it. Base is about 30"
Later
Bob
 
Yeah, I've had something similar happen during a CL deal. I was giving away a couch that we needed to unload before moving. It was free with the option to deliver for a small fee. So we get it loaded in my Jeep and head out. Pull into the block and before I'm parked the people I'm with get into a screaming match with their neighbor, just a flurry of swearing and gestures. All of a sudden the neighbor goes running for the house. I offer to help get this thing unloaded and their response is that I should leave soon as the neighbor was calling the police. So I drop the couch in the street and take off. I don't get two blocks away before there is a police car pulling in the block. While there wasn't anything for me to get in trouble over, I was always taught to not be around cause everyone goes when the paddy wagon comes.....
 
WetBehindtheEar said:
Ohh.. I won't be back any time soon. I got a Forester trunkload full - the best stuff I could pick off the pile.

In October, The city is supposedly taking out 30(?)trees including dead-standing cherry & some hackberry. Maybe I'll get some before it starts growing mushrooms.

But I'm still a little confused/frosted about a guy blocking off public access - he should put a fence along his property if he's concerned about trespassers. He's the one who bought a large home adjacent to a public green space...
Click to expand...

If you really want to know about the access, City Hall would have the answer. I wouldn't bother, though -- once you build a network of people for whom you've removed wood you'll have more than you can handle. If you make wood go away and are courteous, take care of the property and don't look like you're there to case the joint, those people will recommend you to their friends.

If you're committed to the scrounging lifestyle and burn wood for heat, you might keep an eye out for a cheap truck. It could be cheaper in the end than overloading your Subaru or making a million trips. I bought a 4-cyl/2wd 99 Ranger for 1500 bucks as wood hauler, but it's become my daily driver. Usually gets 25mpg on the ethanol swill around Pittsburgh, just got 31.5 mpg on a tank of what must have been non-ethanol gas coming back from Topeka.

Jack
 
I've had a few scores that were posted by wives without the husbands knowing. Felt like I was cheating on their wives when they showed up and noticed what I was doing.
 
This didn't hapen on Craigs list, but an uncomfortable situation. A lady called and ask me for a price to make a drive way on some property she owned. I gave her a price quote and she was fine with it. Wanted it done by the following weekend. I went out and unloaded my tractor and saws and got to work. About an hour into the project a man pulled up and wanted to know what the hell I was doing. I explained about the woman contacting me about this job. He said he owned the land and knew nothing about a woman doing this. The guy actually got a quite irate and started making threats. I said I was sorry and quit and loaded up and left. Come to find out it was her husband and she was doing this for him as a susprise birthday gift. I never finished the job.
 
blackoak said:
This didn't hapen on Craigs list, but an uncomfortable situation. A lady called and ask me for a price to make a drive way on some property she owned. I gave her a price quote and she was fine with it. Wanted it done by the following weekend. I went out and unloaded my tractor and saws and got to work. About an hour into the project a man pulled up and wanted to know what the hell I was doing. I explained about the woman contacting me about this job. He said he owned the land and knew nothing about a woman doing this. The guy actually got a quite irate and started making threats. I said I was sorry and quit and loaded up and left. Come to find out it was her husband and she was doing this for him as a susprise birthday gift. I never finished the job.
Click to expand...

:jawdrop::jawdrop:
 

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