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I Forge Iron

One of my worst nightmares came true


BIGGUNDOCTOR

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I got home from work Monday to the sight of some of my cars being loaded onto wreckers, and a backhoe running around my 2 ac. Now I had known that this was a possibility for awhile, but I was hoping for a more diplomatic outcome. Over the next week my property was systematically cleared down to bare earth. The contractor ,who even said it was wrong, worked with me so that I could save what I could. In the end I figure I still lost around $15,000 by a rough estimate. Then their will be the lien on the house for the work done. 

It isn't like I had not wanted to get things cleaned up and organized, but I am a very independent person, and did not want to impose on my friends to help me move my crap around. And there was a LOT to deal with, 7 years worth. I was getting depressed about a few things, and I may have been building walls to keep others out. I would try to work on an area, and just felt overwhelmed to the point where I would just shut down. In the end, my reluctance to reach out for help cost me far more. This past week I have been mentally, physically, and financially beat up.

I was able to get a couple of concessions from the code enforcement officer concerning my smithing area. Originally it was to be removed from the property, but he allowed me to just move it to the corner behind the house. I essentially have a 2ac front yard. The drum walls made it easy. All we did was slide some pipes through the top layer, sling them with chains, and lifted the whole loaded wall with the backhoe. 

The first day I had made a posting on a local Rant and Rave Facebook page about what was happening, and that I needed any help I could get. That night I had trucks and trailers lined up in front of the property. Most were individuals I have never met, and I had three guys drive 3 hours from Caliente to help me. We got the collector cars to safe locations, as well as some machinery. When I saw those guys, I realized that I had absolutely no clue of the amount of support I had in the valley. All week I had people stopping by to help, offer encouragement, and even dropping off food.  

Yesterday, it was signed off as done. As a result of this action I learned more about my neighbors. Jay ran his tractor 3 days moving stuff for me up to 3am. Denise told me to get as much as I could to her property. Gene (90 years old) asked what he could do to help. So, that pretty well narrowed it down as to what neighbor was the one who was constantly calling my address in. That corner of my property may become my First Amendment sculpture garden...... A really large hand flipping a middle finger painted bright yellow and titled "Big Bird" may be in the works.    I also learned that I have many more in the community that I can call upon if I need some help. Some of the guys saw the smithing gear, and inquired about learning. Personally, in some ways I needed this to happen. The barriers I had built were keeping me from inviting others over. Now that those barriers have been removed I may be having some get togethers for my friends out here. One of the officers mentioned that I could have some big parties....I hadn't told him about my thoughts on starting a Moapa Man celebration for all of my "Burner" friends who can't make Burning Man.  

I will also be looking into what it would take to run for county commissioner, as I feel the process I went through is flawed in many ways, and that it eventually ends up as it did. 

So, if you get in a jam, don't be afraid to reach out for help. 

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Big Gun, I was code-enforced in 2003, 3 months after discovering that a family member had secretly embezzled me to the edge of Oblivion. I had to tear down my shop. Took me 11 years to climb back out, but it doesn't have to be that long for YOU.

Let me know if you need an ear - in spite of the struggle to recover, in which I am still engaged, I am THRIVING, "spiritually" or emotionally, if you will.

All the best to you,

Robert Taylor

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Wow Big Gun, I had no idea. I have got the old code enforcement love letters so I move stuff around and clean up a little. On rare occasion I get rid of something " usually a car or two". Then they leave me alone for a couple years.  That's a scary thought dealing with what you went through. I will agree there are many people around us all that are willing to help us if we just ask. " or plead in crisis". You Will always find out who the good guys are when you are in need. No doubt you would do the same. It's hard to lose stuff but you gained something in return. 

I'd be glad to help you with your monument :) I know where you are coming from with that. I wish I could afford a 20 foot tall privacy fence with razor wire on the top around the property without going to jail to get it. 

Everything happens for a reason weather we understand it or not. 

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I'm not rolling over despite what has happened. 5 years ago the zoning dept told me "code doesn't know what they are talking about, the semi trailers are OK, along with the cars" if that is still true, I am going after them for wanting them towed off. Luckily I was able to get them moved , instead of the tow company. It is going to cost me over a grand to get my 40' triple axle out of the tow yard. I will just write off the Saturns, and watch their auction listings. I'll have a friend try and buy them if they end up there. Luckily the 60 Windsor, 67 M715, 72 Ambulance, and the 74 Duster were blocked by my 8,000# cap Champ lift and Dodge dually.

You move to the unincorporated areas to avoid city rules, only to have a city minded neighbor. I may have to move further into the boonies, or start a new hobby of messing with the neighbor while staying well within the ordinances pertaining to noise, parties, 1st amendment, etc...

 

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Oh MAN Guns what a gut wrencher! At least you know which the good neighbors are. Before I met Deb I tended to stick to myself too much too. Sometimes it takes a traumatic event to bust you out of a shell. I was 45 when I met Deb and we got married, she was the first woman I even lived with longer than a month or so. Wanna talk about traumatic!?

We had a neighbor who was extremely hard to live next too. Her husband was a good guy and not so pleased with his choice of wife. She kept pushing and in truly stupid ways till she actually left a threatening message on our answering machine. All I would've had to do is play if for the commissioner of the State Dept she worked for but her two boys needed the income. I mentioned it to her husband the cop and asked he tell her how it WAS GOING TO BE. Not only was she stupid enough to leave the message she also claimed to be law enforcement as well. Stupid.

I was STILL sorely tempted to build the RR rail wind chimes I had planned next to the property line but Deb and I like to sleep too. Better still they moved, the new neighbors are darned nice people. All is good now.

Think a nice wind chime would do well in that corner? Hmmmm? How about a big squeaky wind generator? A good fingernail on a chalkboard squeak can be well within decibel limits and do a fine job of smoothing neighbor problems.

I can be helpful, say the word I'll start drawing. ;)

Frosty The Lucky.

 

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Hahahaha! Devious minds think alike ;) I have some sections of RR rail that I had the exact same thought. I also have plenty of squeaky items, but like you said, that would affect more than just the snotty one. 

We can have livestock, so maybe a pig(s), peacock, goat may be in my future. I still like the idea of the art pieces because that is protected by the 1st amendment. Besides the big bright yellow finger I was also thinking of a teeter totter with a red toilet, and a blue toilet with an elephant, and a donkey using them. This of course would have a title like "who is going to XXXX on you for the next 4 years?" I have a friend who is a professional foam carver, and does items for museums, and public venues, so this would not be a small project. I have a lot of artist friends who do drum circles, party, etc, so I may provide a venue for them to have some fun.

I played nice. All but one of my neighbors has my contact information with instructions of call me about anything that you have an issue with. I have also forklifted items, loaned trailers, loaned tools, and provided some muscle when asked. The one neighbor that does not have my info is the complainer, and that was due to when I would think of it, I never saw anyone home. 

I will be 52 in July.

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I remember when I lucked onto a bunch of wrought iron plate from the old Ohio Penitentiary and after having the Demo company mangling it for me: "How many pieces do you want it in?" "1 I'll do the cutting after it's on the ground"   "We've ripped it to shreds so we think you should pay us more for it"  "no and I'm only buying the stuff we can use!"

Anyway I had  cut it in flatish section and piled in my back yard, ( across the alleyway is a printing shop and a welding shop)   Code came in and complained so I had to load it into my shop---while recovering from pneumonia, out of work for month, barely standing.  No slack; move it or lose it!

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The real trick is not looking malicious, that's actionable. Chumming the waters and encouraging the annoyance to try using the legal system as a tool is perfectly acceptable.  Things like misuse and abuse of the system is looked down on by the authorities. This "win" for them is the kind of thing to make pests think they can do whatever they like. Next thing you know they're telling you what color to paint your house and what kind of flowers to plant. If they get carried away you won't even have to file suit, the agencies being used as a club will fie the heck out of them and may do so retroactively. 

Filing nuisance complaints cost our stupid neighbor a bunch. She filed a written complaint saying we were neglecting and abusing our dog. The Livestock Guardian Dog (LGD) barked. All LGDs bark it's their job to protect their charges and they make sure everybody knows they're there and on the job. She built next door to a hobby farm and Buran was there then, barked hello to everybody. 

So anyway she files a written complaint and animal control MUST respond and sent out someone to inspect our place. Abby, Deb's service dog is literally a poster dog for rescues. They have a poster of Abby in her service dog cloak thing on the wall. The inspector visits, Buran was a free feeder so we just kept his food bucket about half full all the time. Water buckets were full and fresh, barn was clean and smelled like straw and goats, not composting . . . stuff like most barns. The inspector was apologetic and showed us the notebook of complaints she'd made. It's a farm and LGD, they're allowed to bark anytime, it's not actionable and she'd been told so repeatedly.

The inspector drove around and down to their place and wrote her a citation. The fine was $500.00 for "malicious abuse of process" and she was out of strikes another one would have jail time as a penalty. I think it might have cost her her job, she was a driver for corrections and they don't like public displays of bad behavior.

Just give em rope, they'll do themselves.

Frosty The Lucky.

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Wow, I'm sorry to hear that Big Gun. What a pain in the XXX. I didn't know that kind of thing was even possible. Glad to hear you have a lot of great neighbors and got some help with it though, in spite of the one bad. If I lived nearby, I'd have been over in a flash too. Good luck with things as they move forward.

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If you post a sign "Beware of Dog" it means you know the dog is a problem, and alerts folks of a not so nice dog.

If you post the sign "Guard dog", "Guard Dog on Duty" it puts folks on notice that the premises are protected by a dog. 

Makes a difference. Consult your attorney to select the proper legal wording.

 

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Glenn has that right! You're far better off not posting any warning, especially about a dog. The last thing you want is a lawyer arguing that you KNEW you had a dangerous dog and didn't do anything about it. No, warning people isn't enough.

A fence and good quality latch on the gate is far better. Judges aren't going to rule in favor of someone who unlatched a gate and walked in with a dog barking at them on the inside. Not unless you're 6yrs. old so put the latch at the top of the gate.

Private Property KEEP OUT signs are much safer for you. Personally I don't believe in warning the bad guys ahead of time. You'd be amazed how far the sound of a 12ga. pump chambering a round carries and how unmistakable it is. That says it all. The next sound you'll hear will be St. Pete telling you to go away.

Frosty The Lucky.

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5 hours ago, BIGGUNDOCTOR said:

We can have livestock, so maybe a pig(s), peacock, goat may be in my future

get a donkey. There is one at the end of the street, and ive thought about finding out what they taste like a time or two. can really be a nuisance.

I'm so sorry to hear, I cant imagine what that would be like.

                                                                                                                              Littleblacksmith

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Nubian goats are loud and goats tend to be pretty cool critters. Generally friendly if you NEVER play head games they don't but but you need good fencing or they like standing on top of things like cars.

Frosty The Lucky.

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"While these proceedings were taking place at Veii, the Citadel and Capitol of Rome were in imminent danger. The Gauls had either noticed the footprints left by the messenger from Veii, or had themselves discovered a comparatively easy ascent up the cliff to the temple of Carmentis. Choosing a night when there was a faint glimmer of light, they sent an unarmed man in advance to try the road; then handing one another their arms where the path was difficult, and supporting each other or dragging each other up as the ground required, they finally reached the summit. So silent had their movements been that not only were they unnoticed by the sentinels, but they did not even wake the dogs, an animal peculiarly sensitive to nocturnal sounds. But they did not escape the notice of the geese, which were sacred to Juno and had been left untouched in spite of the extremely scanty supply of food. This proved the safety of the garrison, for their clamour and the noise of their wings aroused M. Manlius, the distinguished soldier, who had been consul three years before. He snatched up his weapons and ran to call the rest to arms, and while the rest hung back he struck with the boss of his shield a Gaul who had got a foothold on the summit and knocked him down. He fell on those behind and upset them, and Manlius slew others who had laid aside their weapons and were clinging to the rocks with their hands. By this time others had joined him, and they began to dislodge the enemy with volleys of stones and javelins till the whole body fell helplessly down to the bottom. When the uproar had died away, the remainder of the night was given to sleep, as far as was possible under such disturbing circumstances, whilst their peril, though past, still made them anxious."

-- Livy, "History of Rome", Book 5, chapter 47

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Guineafowl are great watch dogs. They are pretty good insect pest control too but they like to roam and thankfully the neighbors yards mine frequent are not upset about their "usual" level of loudness. Geese can be good watch dogs as well and some may even attack strangers. I wonder if anyone was ever sued because their goose bit someone. 

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Peacocks are great neighbor annoyances; their call is a scream like a woman being strangled---lots of police call outs.  However they are hard to restrain in your yard. (They taste a lot like Duck too; I once had PeaDucken   Peacock stuffed with duck stuffed with a hen and cooked.)  Donkeys are loud and obnoxious too and are easier to keep in a yard but much harder to get rid of when you decide that you are tired of hurting yourself as well as your neighbor.  I've had experience with both neighbors with Donkeys and neighbors with Peacocks.

Are they allergic to any plant or animal?

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In our hobby farm days we had geese and at one time a turkey. Geese are very territorial and LOUD. The stupid neighbor griped about them too of course. And oh BABY will geese attack you if they don't know and accept you, even then they can get tetchy. Clip their wings and it doesn't take much fence to keep them in. We have 52" high ranch panel fencing  and the only time geese got out was when they were goslings. Believe it or not the Goose calmed down and stopped screaming at the top of her lungs, Buran the Livestock Guarding Dog was on the job and had all the goslings in his arms. He'd gathered them all together and had them cuddled against his belly where he'd curled up against the fence they'd escaped through. Moma goose could almost reach through and grab the kids but they were happy.

We ate the turkey and eventually the geese. The turkey went first, it thought it was a goose and almost drowned trying to learn to swim in the wading pool. Domestic turkeys are STUPID but pretty tasty birds. Territorial and loud but stupid though the old story about them drowning themselves looking up in the rain wasn't true in Oscar's case. WE called the turkey Oscar and the Emden gander we got at the same time Felix. They really were an odd couple, that's another story though. 

Frosty The Lucky.

 

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When I was a kid we had a pair bronze turkeys. They were stupid but very friendly. If they saw you they would come running to you bumbling around and bouncing off each other. They weren't mean at all. Unfortunately a guy shot them in our yard from the bottom of our driveway during turkey season. We found out who it was and unleashed the game commission on him. 

He had some peacocks as well and what Tomas said is very true about them. We cot some calls from neighbors early off, but no police visits. 

 

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A fellow we knew would turn a goose loose in his greenhouse business after hours. The goose would let eat all the bugs it wanted. 

One evening after dark he got a call from the police asking that he come to the greenhouse immediately. Seems someone broke into the greenhouse and had a discussion with the goose over territorial rights.

Neighbors heard the racket and called the police. The police did not want to deal with the goose and called the owner who moved the goose to another part of the building. The police then arrested the fellow. Word got out and no more break ins. 

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Glenn that is a good story, but, geese are grazers as well as insect eaters.  If he had regularly turned a goose or geese loose in the greenhouse he would have come back to bare ground.

Grey Solders ( guinea hens) and peafowl make alarms but not very good watch dogs.  They make a bunch of noise if someone comes around but just stay up in the trees and holler LOOK, LOOK, LOOK!!!!!. Now geese can be a whole different story.  Yesterday on the news there was a story of where a bald eagle got to close to Canada Goose nests.  The knocked him out or the air and he was found in the lake with a broken wing.  He is at UT (University of Tennessee Animal Care Facility).  My dogs go out and lay up on the over look of the pond but don't get close.  I guess they have learned their lessons or it is genetically breed into them.

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