Are you a good neighbor?

When I first moved to Lovell and started to get to know my neighbors, I would put on my leg braces, grab my cane and go help my neighbor if they needed help.

I was told they didn’t want to be beholden to me. What? I told them that I grew up helping my neighbors because that is what we are supposed to do, and not for reward or so I thought. WOW!

I was going to write about storage space from an earlier article, but I decided to put the Town of Lovell to a test. How good of a neighbor are you? Up to 20 or more pick-up trucks and trailers pass my house each day going to the vegetative site. I just had my 12-year-old apple tree die. I killed it. I was flushing out a toilet tank as some weird fungi are growing in the freshwater tank for some reason, so I poured some hydrochloric acid into the tank, set and flush.

It cleaned out the gunk, which keeps growing back, but I noticed my tree was dying. It was. It was because it had gotten its roots into the septic line, so I worked fast. I trimmed the tree branches. My neighbors stopped over and trimmed the branches to manageable size, and yes, we could have taken the branches out to the veggie site. But, Chase said, it would be something to write about. I said, “I think you are right” so I put a sign on the branches – “Help!” with arrow and the words “veggie site.”

Let’s see how long, if ever, someone helps out and adds the branches to their load. But Lovell is already starting or past starting to fail another test. Aren’t you glad you didn’t know about these tests?

What test is Lovell, or better yet, all of Big Horn County and Park County and Wyoming  failing? The “Hi Neighbor” test. The one where, with two passing pick-ups, the driver does a short wave. Semi also. Neighbors passing each other, who may never meet, whose name we may never know, yet we wave as we pass. And it is those same people who will still stop to help.

When I drive around checking out the crops and the mountains that surround us, I wave. I call it “tag.” You don’t wave back. Tag, you are it! It doesn’t mean anything, but still, you’re it! And who wants to be an it? I would say that close to 90% of pick-em-up drivers do return the wave. I stop for out-of-staters who pull over and are lost, and I will even turn around to help them out. Why no more “Hi Neighbor?” You are too busy talking on the phone.

Think about it. You no longer say hi to your neighbor. You don’t see the mountains or how well the crops are doing. That is sad. So, Lovell, all of Big Horn County, Park County, heck, Wyoming! FAILED!