Wednesday, January 31, 2018

good guy with a gun?


I had an encounter with my 'new' neighbor, R, yesterday. They've lived in Frank of the Bountiful Garden's house for about two, two and a half years now (and that property is way more than they can manage). They moved from Katy, a 'small city' engulfed by the big city. This is the guy who's first response to stray or loose dogs in his yard is to shoot them. He's a bit disabled, suffers from lymphedema, can't move very fast and uses a fancy walker so apparently he keeps a gun by his side at all times (but I kinda think he probably did already before moving out here), on disability, wife still works and commutes to the city. He's also one of those people who wears a big cross and tells you to have a 'blessed' day. After the third time he shot at some poor dog I told him don't shoot my dog. Fortunately, so far, he hasn't hit or killed one. Unfortunately those bullets still keep going. I'm glad there is a vacant half acre between us.

There are two reasons dogs (or raccoons or possums or cats feral and otherwise) come into his yard. They have two outdoor cats and so they feed them outdoors in their garage which they keep open so the cats have access which also gives dogs and other critters access and sometimes those critters beat up on his cats. The other reason dogs (and raccoons and possums and hawks) come into their unfenced yard is that last spring they acquired a baker's dozen of baby chicks which have grown into mature egg laying chickens that they do not restrain at all during the day (they do lock them up in a coop at night) so these chickens wander all over the place...into the vacant half acre (I've chased them home more than once from the edge of my property plus trying to train Minnie not to chase them) and into the neighbor's yard on the other side and across the street. At one point during last summer he put up plastic orange mesh fencing, the kind contractors use to cordon off areas, on two sides of the property...my side and the back, the other side neighbor has a fence around his back yard...leaving the front open so the chickens were still able to roam out of their yard.

So yesterday, I took Minnie out so she could run around some in the empty half acre and R was taking down the orange fencing in order to use it to cordon off a large area around the old greenhouse coop for the chickens so he wouldn't have another “butt-hurt neighbor”.

Oh, yeah?, what happened?” I asked.

The neighbor on the other side took issue with R shooting at his dog that had escaped the fenced yard and I guess was chasing some chickens.

I didn't know it was his dog”. Really. He didn't recognize the dog he has lived next door to for two years?

Anyway, I supported my other neighbor and told R that guns were not always the solution (something I repeated at least twice more before the conversation ended).

I have a right to defend my property”, R says a little tightly. And, true, when he first started encountering dogs in his yard (at this time going after the cats) he called the sheriff to ask what his options were and so since there is no animal control in the county, the sheriff told R to just shoot them if they were being a nuisance. I wonder if R told the sheriff he lives in a residential neighborhood and not isolated out in the country. I wonder if it would have mattered to the sheriff).

I agreed, he did, but there were other ways to do that. I also told him this was the country and everybody in this neighborhood probably owned guns but the only time they shot them off was when they were hunting.

I'm not going argue with you about defending my property,” all up about his 'rights'.

Told him again there were other ways to do that. like fence your fucking yard

I'm glad I missed,” R said.

So am I,” I told him, “but that bullet kept going,” something I've said to him in the past when he has told me about shooting at and missing some poor dog that was probably abandoned out here.

After once again telling him guns weren't always the answer I told him I just hoped he never hurt anyone then I paused and told him I wanted to be a good neighbor so I was going in and I scooped up my dog and headed back to the house.

Have a blessed day”, he says as I walked off.




17 comments:

  1. I'm gonna' go out on a limb here and guess that maybe he's a tRUMPer...

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    1. no doubt. I absolutely do NOT talk politics with them.

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  2. dear gawd, them cuntry folk...weasel head! Would be great if a dog got into his castle , sat on the trigger and no Mr. nice guy with a gun. This is infuriating, Ellen!

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    1. both of them are kinda weird and that's saying something coming from me. he's more weird than she is.

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  3. I feel so sorry for him. Life can't be great for him when he sounds so miserable. Unhappy people tend to make those around them unhappy too. I just feel so very sorry for all the Rs in this world.

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  4. Not who you would pick for a neighbor, is he?
    I doubt seriously that you're ever going to change his mind about him "defending his property." However, if some of those gunshots get close enough to you, you have every right to call the sheriff. I would not hesitate to do that myself if I were you.

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    1. oh, I know. never thought for a minute that I would change his opinion but hopefully, if enough neighbors give him a hard time about shooting off his guns whenever he feels like it he'll be less likely to do so. if he does it again I'm calling the sheriff fer sure.

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  5. When the only solution is a gun you cannot reason with someone about other and better solutions. They are a fearful people and unable to see any view other than their own.

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  6. I wish there were a solution. There isn't. There are more guns than people in this country. And more gun-stupid people than we will ever rehabilitate. And more sheriff's, etc. I'd keep harping on "all bullets stop somewhere" and how far his type of projectile can travel.

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  7. You should look at this, it appears that what he is doing is not legal! Scaring a stray off is not personal protection.
    https://www.txcrimdefense.com/unlawful-discharge-of-a-firearm-texas-laws/

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    1. well, yes. however out in the country law enforcement is a little more lenient. the sheriff's office did advise him to just shoot the dog if it was a nuisance though if I call and complain they will send a unit out to talk to him. he generally aims low cause he's shooting at a dog but still. people born and raised out here don't even do that unless the dog repeatedly causes trouble. a dog has to come in R's yard once to get shot at. fucking city folk moving to the country thinking they can just shoot their guns off whenever they want.

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  8. Holey crapamoley's. Folks like him scare the bejesuz outta me. Then after recovering from being scared, it makes me mad......all over. Our across the street neighbor at our old house shot off his guns on New Year's eve. We kept asking him to stop before someone got hurt. Other neighbors called the police. Nothing we did had any effect for years until he celebrated New Years eve his way and the bullet went up and then came down and killed his wife. And that's the name of that tune.

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  9. Oh geez. And I thought I had an annoying neighbor! Yeah, why doesn't he just fence his property if he's so concerned about his chickens and having stray animals wander across it?

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  10. yikes. glad I don't have a neighbor like that!

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  11. I think, if he were my neighbor, I would tell him that, after some serious contemplation, I finally agree with him. So, whenever any of his chickens got into my yard, threatening my bugs, worms and plants, I would make soup out of them. Being neighborly, I would offer to share the soup with him.

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    1. he seems to be hiding out the last few days. him and his chickens. I guess he's keeping them in the coop as he hasn't erected the 'fencing' yet.

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  12. Defending his property from what? Dogs? WTF!

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I opened my big mouth, now it's your turn.