Tell me about your favorite neighbors.

We are freindly with all of our neighbors, but we are also 2 generations younger than them all, so that's about where it ends. 

Growing up we had John and Denise, though.  My family was dirt-ass poor growing up, I honestly don't even remember ever going out to eat in my childhood.  Our neighbors owned a very successful excavation company though, and had tons of land that he'd fix up with heavy equipment on the weekends.  They had similar aged kids as my sister and I, and we all got along, so we pretty much lived there whenever we weren't in school.  They had an in-ground pool, a full dirtbike/atv/snowmobile track with bikes/sleds to use, and a massive pole barn full of cars.  He also taught me how to run heavy quipment. He was an old Ford guy, so he had an original shelby Cobra, and also built up a Factory 5 Roadster with a Rousch Racing big block for his son when we were teenagers.  I always joke that my dad taught me how to keep cars running, and John taught me how to build things right, haha.  

They still live next to my parents, and we still keep in touch with their kids, who now have our own kids... and once a summer or so, we will all find ourselves back at the Neville Compound at the same time, swim and race dirtbikes and drink beers in the barn while staring at his car collection, and it brings me back to my childhood and I get nostalgic and thankful for them...  

They are tremendous people.  I don't think they knew how much they taught me by just being welcoming and inclusive into their own family activites.

Half the reason I moved out of Covington KY back to Ohio was my redneck section 8 meth dealing neighbors.  One time the idiots next door were arguing with a lady across the street, I see him holding a pipe like a club getting ready to cross the street.  Called the cops (who are literally 0.5 miles around the corner) and they showed up 45min later on my doorstep yelling "YOU CALLED THE POLICE?"  Thanks guys, I didn't want my tires to hold air anymore.

But, the neighbor before him was awesome.  Older black gentleman with 2-3 kids, he made them be decent humans, my only complaint was when he ran his smoker and it made me really hungry.  He even started trimming my hedges when he found out they had poison ivy mixed in & kept giving me issues.  In return I mowed his front lawn when I did mine, both our lawns were pretty small so it wasn't a big deal.  I was sad when he moved.

just moved so I haven't met many of them yet, but there's one guy  that's always drinking a beer in his front lawn and he waved me over to chat about the europa when I was test driving it the other day. 

At my last house my neighbor was a semi-retired machinist that gave me some cabinets and shelves he didn't need in his home shop, along with some metal stock, which is always a solid gift idea for any GRM member

As a kid:

• Looking at my childhood home from the street, the house to the left was a family with two kids probably both about 10 years older than I am. At some point the parents divorced but the dad stayed in the house with his daughter, Adrian. I think Adrian has Asperger's. To this day she is one of the friendliest, most kind people I have ever met. She hand delivered holiday cards to our front door for just about every possible holiday and totally adored our Beagle, Belle. 
• To the right was a nice family, again, kids 5-10 years older than I am. The dad was totally obsessed with penguins. His license plate was "A PENG 1" and they had a 4ft tall emperor penguin statue on their back patio. 
• Directly across the street was "Joe Poochie". Joe was the human's name. Poochie was his dog. Joe was one of those smokers where his mustache was permanently stained. He came across as a very crotchety old guy but was actually really nice.

First Adult House

• A family to the right with middle school-aged kids that were always bitching, crying and complaining really loudly. They moved away which did not disappoint me and two sisters moved in after. They were very nice. 
• To the left is a woman who seemed nice enough but was very much a hermit. One day I saw a squirrel go into her open attic window. I knew she was home, went over to tell her and she never came to the door. I came to the conclusion that she wanted the squirrel there. 

Current House

• To the right is a retired couple. Nice enough, a little intrusive in the beginning just walking through our backyard while we were out on the patio having dinner or something but the fence has fixed that. Now the most I interact with them is a wave while the husband and I are both mowing the lawn. 
• To the left is a couple, probably in their mid-50's or early 60's. Empty nesters. Our driveways are immediately next to each other so we chat here and there but nothing of much substance. He bow hunts in the woods behind our houses and has trail cams up so he updates me on the number of coyotes he sees out there. They've also got an outdoor cat that our kids love to point out. 
• Three houses down has an enormous garage in the back - probably 40x60. The husband and his brother restored cars back there for quite some time as a hobby. We moved onto this street during the middle of Covid and I always heard he was dealing with other significant health issues so I never wanted to intrude. He passed away before I had a chance to meet him. 

We had awesome neighbors move in to the unit next door about six months after we did. We didn't agree on politics, religion, lifestyle, blah blah. 
 

Super awesome folks. They recently moved to Portland. We keep in touch, and are trying to plan a big trip to Disney later this year with them. I hope we can pull it off. 
 

New neighbors are very nice. Younger couple, three kids under 7. Haven't had too much time to get to know them yet. 
 

Other bordering units are all pretty quiet. Upstairs has a couple dogs that occasionally make noise, but it's not bad. 
 

Our new place is going up and we're moving in likely in September. So it'll be all new again. New development, priced pretty low for the area and it seems to be about 80% young families so that should be good. Two houses down is a gal I went to hs with and whose dad officiated my wedding, and I think they have 3? Idk. We were friendly and he seems like a nice guy. I have high hopes for the area, but none of the neighbors know that I'm bringing a drum set yet, so...

Growing we moved a lot, so I never really got to know any of my neighbors that well unless they had kids close to my age.

Of the neighbors on my street, I'll talk to the guys next door to me as they are also car-guys and DIYers.  Two brothers who have lived in the house a few years longer than I have.  I was friendly with the neighbor across from me as he was also a car guy/pro mechanic and would offer free advice and I helped him with stuff once in awhile.  Unfortunately, he moved last year to be closer to family for raising his two young kids. 

My neighbor to the other side own the Chinese take-out in a strip shopping center across the main road from our street. Multi-generation family and have always been decent neighbors. 

Otherwise, everyone on the street seems friendly enough, but we don't interact. 

Let me just say that if you're going to be good enough friends with your neighbors that you're swapping leftovers, I highly recommend having Cajuns for neighbors.

Karacticus said:

Let me just say that if you're going to be good enough friends with your neighbors that you're swapping leftovers, I highly recommend having Cajuns for neighbors.

Or Basque Spaniards... One of our current neighbors is from Spain, and they cook paella for the entire block occasionally.  They even have the comically massive paella pan and everything.  It's an experience for sure.  Hnnggggggggggg.  So flipping good

I have neighbors now. Mostly, they're perfectly nice people. And that's about all I know about most of them. We tend to keep to ourselves and apparently most of them do as well.

Growing up, there was a little old man who lived across the street in a great big old house. Mr. Varney was a retired confectioner who was never without a big grin and a friendly word or two. At Christmas time he used to open his house to local kids and help them make handmade candy canes. Though Mr. Varney wasn't a car guy, he drove a showroom-fresh dark grey '57 GMC stepside that I'm pretty sure he bought brand new. Later he bought a big-block Chevy squarebody dually for fifth wheel duty. I wish I knew where that GMC went.

Wife was born a block away and I have been in this house for 32 years and counting. As you can imagine neighbors have come and gone with only one original remaining two doors down. Socially, we don't have much to do with any of them.

Across the street, there is a family with ?? number of young kids  and their friends who are into all kinds of motorized things. Not that I have ever seen any of them spin a wrench, just based on the variety of rides that roll up. In almost ten years, none of them has so much as said "Hello".

I have great neighbors.

Left side:  Kathi.  She's quadriplegic and lives alone with 24hr nurse care.  She says she doesn't need a man because her boyfriend is Jesus.  I help her out with things and she is the most grateful person I know.  I hung a wall mount for her TV last week and she had her nurse leave a 6-pack on my front porch with a card.  She had two maples on our fence line that were threatening to fall on both of our houses, so I didn't hesitate to fire up a go fund me page to pay for taking them down.  My friends blew past my goal so I had some cash left over to give her.  She cried for days over that, and used some of the extra cash to fix her roof and then gave me a little beaver carving that a friend made for her.  The lady has no money and can't hold a job despite wanting one, but she gives so much of herself.

Right side:  Laura.  She is the happiest person I know.  She struggles with yard work because she never did it before owning this house, but she tries.   We have teamed up on some landscaping projects and learned how to fail brilliantly.  Her parents come over and help her, and they're both like little Irish Leprechauns.  Laura is deathly afraid of snakes, so her dad and I played a prank on her with a rubber snake.

Back left:  Dave and Deb.  Dave is a fellow car nut.  He has a wickedly turned-up newer GTO and a Harley, so we get along great.  Deb and I share stories about our dogs and have dog play dates where her Dachsund beats the crap out of my Pit Bull.  Dave and his son mow my lawn when I'm gone in the summer.  I always leave an envelope with a wad of cash on the mower when I leave, and when I come back a month later, it's still there with like $20 missing.

Back:  Mike and Tina.  Mike is retired military and Tina is eye candy.  She's this saucy minx about 20 years younger than he is, but she's a heap of fun.  Always laughing and getting into mischief after a few martinis.  They had one of those inflatable pools and she overfilled it.  It collapsed and flooded their house (which Mike has recorded on their security camera... it's hilarious.)  He didn't get mad, he just laughed and gave her a kiss.  I keep a bottle of tequila in their basement for when I go visit.

Across the street:  Bruce and Donna.  They're quiet and keep to themselves, but they keep their property FLAWLESS.  Their lawn looks like a golf putting green, and their flowerbeds are perfect.

Down the street:  Pam.  She always makes baked goods for everyone on the street for the smallest of holidays.  I got Chocolate Chex mix on Memorial day.  She's the neighborhood gossip, but not in a bad way.  She keeps us informed of events, who is moving or needs healing thoughts for an illness.

Around the corner:  I don't know their names yet.  They moved in a couple years ago and they speak Spanish.  The wife speaks a little English.  He makes his living by finding busted cars and fixing them to sell, so he's the neighborhood decoy.  Nobody complains about the engine sitting in my driveway when he has three minivans torn apart in his driveway.  They always wave and smile.  This thread reminds me to dust off my Spanish and go pay them a visit.

The other day, I saw a car drive past the house with a “Read banned books” bumper sticker.

They must be lost or from out of town, I figured.

Last night, I met them. They live down the street and own the local indie bookstore. 

Added bonus to meeting our down-the-street neighbors: I now have a copy of Kathleen Hanna’s new book. :)