Feeling sorta stingy with my eggs....a completely pointless rant.

[luvmychicknkids]

I just wanted to rant a bit. As many here know, my husband is Military and I live alone with our three children. I have for the past 4 years, in fact. While living on Military Bases, if someone is deployed everyone rallies together to make sure that family is doing alright. Shovels snow, helps with heavy and difficult yard work, whatever needs done. It is just what I see as normal. Anyway, my neighbors consist of a couple with no children (older but the man is strong and healthy and certainly fit enough to abuse his wife), a young couple in their 20's with no children, an elderly lady with a whole slew of children and an ex husband who keep her yard looking like something out of a magazine. Then of course, other sprinkled and scattered neighbors. They all moved in after me (this is a new housing addition out in the country) and I went and greeted them with little welcome gifts and offers to come visit anytime. We are quiet, all tell me how well behaved my kids are, we don't have destructive animals running loose.....in short, we try to be good neighbors.

All have indicated how beautiful they think my chickens are and how much they would LOVE some of my fresh eggs. NICE.......I am a very generous person and normally would love to share. However, despite the fact these people KNOW I am alone, I have never had one single offer of any help. In fact, every time they mow they make sure they stay about 3 feet from my property line, leaving a strip of their yard I have to mow. When we had these ice storms they actually pushed limbs a few feet onto my property so I had to drag them (I am not small, but most outweigh me by far). One neighbor has to have their mailbox at the edge of my yard because they are on the opposite side of the street. My weed eater is broken. Instead of this young, healthy, 20 something man weed eating both, he just leaves his too so I have to hand trim around them. One neighbor's dog drags trash from all over the place and neatly deposits it in my yard.....he loves us so I guess that is why. Anyway, I could go on and on about how they actually do things to make my life harder every day. WHY would I want to share eggs with these people?????? I just can't make myself want to and I don't. Right now I have too many eggs sitting on the counter and I just can't seem to make myself offer them to these people.

Anyway, is it normal these days for neighbors to be so self centered and unconcerned with the people around them? It just kinda blows my mind! I am not saying I think they somehow owe it to me to offer a hand now and then, but I always though that is what country neighbors do.

 

[debilorrah]

$3/dozen honey - sell them - don't give them. I ONLY give to my mother. What a bunch of prissy little neighbors you have!!! How rude! I can barely see the tops of my neighbors houses and I like it that way.

 

[RubberChickenLubber]

Too bad you don't live next to us, my hubby would be over helping you. He mows his uncle's neighbors house, who is 15 minutes away, because she can't, she gives hime $20, but he's told her not to, but you know it offends some people not to take it. He helps an eldelry lady next to us with her property and pasture, she usually pays him, the same deal as the other lady, he refuses, but she insists. And we have another neighbor who are healthy, but are handy man challenged and he helps them. So he would definately help you. Now, one neighbor will throw the limbs that fall off the tree in their yard into where my hubby mows, and hubby will throw it back in thier yard when he mows. The last time the neighbor mowed, he threw the same sticks in the shared driveway. What idiots.

 

[Judy]

You're right, they don't owe you any help -- and you don't owe them any eggs. Next time it is brought up, you have enough now that you can sell them for $3 a dozen, you bring an empty carton. And put the limbs back where they came from.

Amazing that they would ask for free eggs but offer no assistance. Some people.

 

[australorpchick]

By all means, rant away. It's not stingy to not want to give away for free, what you work for. Charity is when you do something because you want to, not because you feel obligated to. Don't feel guilty.

 

[luvmychicknkids]

Wow, RubberChickenLubber, I thought I had to be the only one with limb tossers!!! I figured that was so far out not many would even think to do it!!! Your husband sounds so much like the kind of people I am used to knowing.....they try to help where they can. I can't count the number of times my husband was mowing or shoveling or dragging for someone else just to help them out a bit.

LOL Debi, I would love to see their faces if I said "Sure, you can have as many as you want for $3 a dozen".

I do have a friend I trade my eggs for her home raised beef and pork (I think I get the better end of the deal but she doesn't agree) but she and her 10 y/o daughter can only use so many eggs. I may try selling a few or I may just find needy people to give them to. Oh, and I CAN'T give mine to my mother!!! She has more chickens than I do. She is always saying "are you SURE you won't take some eggs" LOL

Thanks, everyone. I hate to feel selfish, but I felt I was very justified in this case.

 

[RubberChickenLubber]

What ticks me off with our neighbor is that he's renting from hubby's gm (he lived there since he was little with his parents, now he lives there with his gf and daughter), and thinks everyone owes him for reason, and should do everything for him. Irritates the snot out of me.

 

[pdsavage]

And dont mow that strip thats on thier property leave it for them,if anything it will make a nice short natural fence.....

 

[Blue Skys]

Your not being selfish, give those eggs to some one or ones that need them and would be greatful!

 

[calicokat]

I agree, sell the eggs to them and chuckle when you spend that $3 on yourself

When I was growing up in a single mom household, our neighbors across the back fence once raked all the leaves and dumped them back over the fence into our yard because "they were from YOUR sycamore tree!" Some people are just mean.