And then there were the OTHER neighbors...

On the other side of us, two spaghetti lots away (on the Big Island, I suppose because the lack of roads, larger properties are often cut into narrow strips for sale: our lot is 278 ft wide and 1189 ft long), is an ohana property.  Relatively cool grandma and grandpa live in the back, crazy dude with nice kids and scared wife live in the front....

Crazy dude took exception to us moving onto our property.  Probably because he was growing marijuana on OUR land the whole time we were living on another island.  We found all his little black grow bags and dug them up and destroyed anything we found.  Once I even took pictures of the trails leading straight back to his property....

I am sure he didn't like it when I gave the police his name and number when they came inquiring after the gunshots they heard driving by (he had an illegal target range in the back of the land).  He probably, based on the foul language and screaming I heard that day, thought I called the police - but they just drove down our driveway because our gate was open....they heard the shots on their own.  In the 14 years we've lived here, I have never once had a conversation with the guy.

For several years, our daughters were best friends, but his daughter wasn't allowed to come to our house (come on, dude, you are the one with the gun and the DRUGS), and my daughter was only allowed to go when he wasn't home, and only to visit Grandma and Grandpa in the back house.  I actually have to say, Grandma and Grandpa treated my daughter like another grandkid - every thing they bought their grand daughters, they also bought my daughter.  She has a beautiful collection of porcelain dolls from that era, as a matter of fact.

I do have to say, I am not the best neighbor, either - or at least not at first.  I had a wandering mare who LOVED their grass.  She would get over, under, and around my fences and make a beeline.  I bought several make peace rose bushes and other plants to make up for round horse hoof puka (holes).....I still have a dog which visits regularly (mostly because when she was a puppy, Grandpa used to feed her and play with her) - even after crazy dude shot her.  Bullet went straight through her body; I gave her antibiotics and moved on from there.

One New Year's Eve, our neighbor decided to butcher a cow to imu (cook in an underground oven).  Instead of restraining the cow and shooting it between the eyes (instant death), he apparently let it run around and shot at it in the pasture.  It took awhile, which is awful in itself...but somewhat equally awful, my dog would sneak over there over the next few weeks and bring home bits.  A horn, a hoof....one morning, I nearly had a heart attack when going out to feed the horse. I saw what looked like an arm. I really thought that Dino had gone out and found a murdered guy. After looking at it a bit, I realized that the bones where huge and thick and it was a bit of cow....phew.