Update on the Property - Part II
April 9, 2008
Written by: Katie
Once upon a time there was this BIG family that wanted to build a little house, by a little creek and have a little life. They didn’t want to hurt anyone and they didn’t want any trouble. So they bought a bit of property that was as close to heaven as they had ever seen and proceeded to live their dream.
Unfortunately, someone didn’t share in their dream and wasn’t too thrilled about the area that has been their stomping ground being used for someone’s permanent residence. Not to mention the property line dispute with the neighbors.
This is what Jeff encountered when he went back to check on the footer that had been poured. That is $300 worth of gate that just got pushed over.
Someone took their bumper and just gave it a little shove.
This side got a bigger shove.
Now let’s check on the footer. It is 24′x40′.
Now you have some perspective.
Nice. Someone decided to be a creep.
They scraped the cement with rocks and pushed rocks into the cement to create craters.
They tried to dig part of the footer out (with their hand?) and remove the forms.
We did fix the footer and the gate. The Sheriff’s Department was called and they are doing a thorough investigation so hopefully we will get to the bottom of this. I am told that the neighbors with whom we have the line dispute were not too happy to see the deputy. I am tempted to give you their phone number so you can call them and tell them what big meanies they are being. These are grown men. DUH!!
Now our prayer is that no more damage has been done since we were last there. In the future, Jeff and the boys will stay at the property for the rest of the building. We are hoping that just having the Sheriff’s Dept. snoop around will deter the vandals and we get back to the business of building.
April 9th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Whaaa???
I’ll be praying for your safety when ever the Holy Spirit prompts me to.
Crazies…
I’m sorry!
April 9th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Have you had the property line surveyed? We did that when buying our house in town, just to be sure everything matched up with the records. They can’t argue with city hall. Well, they can, but the law will be on your side if you are sure of the boundary.
April 9th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
I’m sorry that’s happening! It must be very discouraging. I think Jeff is wise to stay out there for the duration. You all need to buy a camper, sounds like! :)
April 9th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Terrible, just terrible.
April 9th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
How awful! I hope you guys don’t have anymore problems. That’s just ridiculous.
April 9th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
How sad!!! Looks like you need to get some dogs. Big ones.
April 9th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Oh how horrible! I doubt dogs would be a deterrant - most folks like that won’t hesitate to use a shotgun on one…
April 9th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
So lame. We had issues here when we first moved in due to the last residents (who uh.. only paid $300 a month and never paid their rent!) having to move out. They vandalized the house and they had kids. What fine examples they were to their children.
Honestly though while there are some people that shoot dogs, most ignorant people like that are afraid of dogs. We have always had big dogs and it is a huge deterrent in the country to people like that.
It’ll be great fun for the boys to get to be out there with Dad! And they get to be the big bad property protectors.
April 9th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Oh my goodness… that stinks!!!
I am so sorry this happened.
I will pray that they will grow up and leave everything else along.
Love,
Chas
April 9th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Man….I can almost hear the banjos….
‘Round here they call river dwellers River Rats.
Its a different mentality. Maybe the vandals are miffed that your daily lives on the river will mess up their meth production.
Of course when the house is done you all will be the exception to the River Rat rule. ;)
You can post no trespassing signs on the trees closest to the gate and I think you can get something from City Hall that has the ordinance referenced on it….
I hope its not worse with the floaters this summer…
April 9th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Whoops, I meant to say they call DESTRUCTIVE, YUCKKY people River Rats…not the law abiding folks who merely live on the river.
Sorry if I offended anyone!
April 9th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
I cannot (or can) believe people would do something like that. How terrible. You all seem to be handling it so well. I hope it wasn’t your neighbors for the simple fact it would be terrible to live close to someone like that.
I hope everything is good for you all from here on out. Glad to hear the footers and the gate have already been repaired.
Is that a 960 sq. ft. house for you all? Please tell me it’s going to be a three story house or something : )
Take Care
~Gretchen
April 9th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Oh Katie I can’t believe someone did that! Why do people not get it that they can’t just do whatever they want whenever they want to things that don’t belong to them???
I’m very sorry you all have been treated in such a way. I’ll be praying for your family’s safety and that these people will get over it and leave you all alone.
April 9th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
You can do what my parent’s neighbor did and put nice nail spikes in a piece of wood by the corner of her yard where people were driving through. Put it right at the base of the gate and they won’t see it until they try to ram your gate. Then it is too late. :) Just don’t forget to remove them when you want to go through. :)
April 9th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
I did the math too and was wondering about the size of the house! We lived in 850 sq ft, but we only had 2 kids!
Ditto on the survey. If it matches the deed, you are in the clear….but it’s a hollow victory if you don’t have law abiding citizens around you!
April 9th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
That is just awful! I feel angry just looking at your pictures. I can’t imagine how y’all must feel about it. I hope the Sherriff’s dept. gets to the bottom of it and stays on top of keeping an eye out for y’all.
What is the estimated time for the house to be up?
I’m sorry this has happened to you guys. I hope nothing more will come of it.
April 9th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Oh Katie, I can’t believe that they did that! And I agree with the other commenter that asked if you have had the land surveyed, and taken it to the county office to figure it all out?
Also, the vandalism looks more like something that kids would do….do your neighbors have teens? That’s what it looks like to me, is teens that are trying to do their disgruntled parents’ dirty work.
Praying for you all!
Blessings,
Lori4squaremom
April 9th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Incredible. Absolutely incredible what some idiots will do. Is that supposed to scare you off from building your house on your property? They don’t know your God, do they?
April 9th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
That is just terrible and so disheartening!
I really hope that they are able to catch the people who did that.
(If it were me, I’d be hiding out nearby with a video camera!)
But I agree… big dogs would be a bonus, too.
Praying for you!
Michelle
April 9th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
This is disgracefull!!! Will be praying for protection for all of you but especially Jeff and the boys!
April 9th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
I’m so sad for you that that happened! Vandalism is such a foolish, childish thing to do. We’ll be praying that no more damage is done. Maybe a nice thick decorative brick wall with a big iron gate is in order…
April 9th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
I am so sorry. I will be praying.
April 9th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
You do mean “Jeff, the boys and a BIG gun”, right?!? These people sound very dangerous. Yucko. Praying for it to be resolved.
April 9th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
that’s just terrible. I’m sorry that happened.
April 9th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Katie,
I am truly sorry that this happened.
I too am wondering about the size of your new home. We currently live in 982sq ft and with only 7 children it is very tight, we are planning on adding a 30×40 two story steel building in the next month or so. It will take me the rest of the year to get the inside finished though.
Anyway, get yourselves a farm gate and some railroad ties as your posts, they shouldn’t be able to push that down. Oh and I also agree with the nail board before the gate.
April 9th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
Gretchen,
The house will be 3-stories… plus, there will be a 560 sf addition on the middle floor. 960 sf would be very tight! So, we will have about 3300 sf once you take into consideration the exterior wall thickness.
Lori,
The person we suspect is in his mid 20’s - he does act like a teenager!
Jana,
Yes, I will have a big shotgun with me and I am not be afraid to use it.
April 10th, 2008 at 3:41 am
Wow! Trespassing has no meaning to these people? Incredible. I wonder how they’d feel if someone did these things to their property. They’d call the law in a heartbeat, yet they feel free to do it to you.
Now the 2nd Amendment is starting to make a lot more sense, isn’t it?
April 10th, 2008 at 6:40 am
How discouraging! Ugh. Motion sensing cameras are not too expensive. You could put two or three and see if you can catch the person in action.
April 10th, 2008 at 6:50 am
Katie,
I am so sorry that somebody was so mean. I’ve often looked at your pictures of the property and thought about what a wonderful place it would be to raise children. ~Kari