You may have heard of The Long Long Long Driveway.
It’s the almost mile-long unpaved easement we share with our neighbors to get to our landlocked properties. The stretch of gravel and dirt resembles a stream bed in places and a mud-bogging race track in others, depending on the season.
The legal agreement says it’s for “ingress and egress” only, but it’s become oh-so-much more – including a nifty place to display one’s trophies for all to see; in this case, the head of a freshly slaughtered bull.
Our newest neighbors have placed this lovely item on top of a fence post right next to the shared entrance to our property. I’ve put the photo at the end of this post, far far down so those who don’t want to see it don’t have to.
Who does this and why? Is this what farmers do after a slaughter or could it be because someone is pissed because I yelled at them about the snowmobiles and they want to send us a message?
There’s a history with the snowmobiles.
Shortly after we moved in, one family took it upon themselves to ride their mobiles all over the property that surrounded and spanned the driveway, tearing it and the road up pretty badly.
When I confronted them, the matriarch of the clan claimed they’d just bought the lot. I found out differently the next day and the not-very-happy realtor sent someone up to straighten things out. Turns out they’d made an offer then weren’t able to “perform” or fulfill their end of the deal. It wasn’t their property.
The next year, after another of their family members bought one of the remaining lots, they resumed their riding only this time, in large circles around the surrounding properties, essentially turning the barely snow covered road into a racetrack.
Out went a letter from our attorney and all was quiet until a couple of months ago, when there they went again. We gathered evidence via surveillance cameras just in case, and I finally yelled at the top of my lungs for them to stay the hell off of the easement as they drove by.
They had a pow wow about it after driving the machines up onto someone else’s private property and rallied for one last stand or drive. I could hear every word they said as they plotted from their secret place atop the hill. I had to resist the urge to yell out “I can hear you” from the darkness. I believe there may be some discontent.
By the way, one of them stole a UPS package from us a couple of months ago. We have good reason to be out there standing our ground. It’s a shame but we have not picked the fights.
Back to the bull. Is this a thing in rural America; the displaying of your leftovers from the slaughter? What’s gonna happen when it warms up? Is this thing going to sit atop it’s post and rot into the summer?
Will we break down and leave a note in their mailbox or go up to their door and tell them to please put it away with the rest of the Halloween decorations until next year? Does anyone know this to be a custom of farmers and won’t it attract predators?
I love Halloween, but please.
Photo way below – off screen. 🙂
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It’s sad that people are like that. 😦
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Do you know of this being a custom?
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I can’t see ‘that’ being a custom.
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I haven’t been able to find anything about such a “custom” on the internet either. This leaves me with questions about how do we handle this? They have young kids, too. What did the parents tell them?
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My guess would be that they are teaching their children that this behavior is okay.
You could involve the authorities – wouldn’t this be a form of harassment? I think so anyway.
But at the end of the day – involving authorities may just bring more ‘harassment’ your way. 😦
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I actually called the sheriff and we discussed it and whether or not it rose to the level of being a complaint. We agreed that we’d leave it as a report and let it rest for the time being so yes, the authorities know. It made me feel better.
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I wrote to the Department of Agriculture as this is a violation of state law for disposing of dead livestock. It was my compromise.
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Nice!
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That just seems sick. I can understand animals for food but that is twisted and shows disrespect for you and the poor beast. I did see the picture by accident…it had a sweet cow face 😦
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I need other perspectives such as yours as I sometimes second-guess my own reactions. I’m relieved that my feelings of revulsion and inappropriateness are validated. I agree about the lack of respect also. Thank you so much for your comment!
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