I've got a neighbor named Bob. That's not his actual name cuz I've never actually talked to him, besides a couple words. Bob has signs in his yard that make it plain he doesn't want anyone coming around.
But I like Bob.
You see, he's got about a 15 acre property just down the road from me. On that property he's got a big new barn. He doesn't keep cows or sheep or any other animals that I know of, aside from a few chickens and a coop beside his house.
What Bob has in that barn is a caterpillar road grader
.
When we get heavy snow, you'll hear the beep beep beep of Bob backing out of his barn at 5:00 in the morning. By 7:00 a.m. there's no snow left anywhere on our county road.
Today Bob was out at 9:00 a.m. smoothing the road after the heavy storms caused tons of potholes. He waited for all the school buses to be gone, and everybody to be at work, and then beep beep beep'd his way out of his barn and onto the road.
Some people might say "why does a lonely 50-year-old man have a quarter million dollars of road equipment in his barn?" But I don't. All I say is "thank you".
That's all I've ever said to him. Slowed down just enough today to shout thank you over the roar of his engine as he paused for me to drive by. Bob gave me a smile and a nod and went back to work.
In a world where you can be anything, some of us need to be Bob.
by claevyan
12 Comments
A lot of folks on this sub are pursuing very minimalist homesteads. And that’s totally fine–everyone is free to pursue their dream, and virtually everyone’s dream is different. There’s no one “right” way to do it. But I’ve always been spoiled, because our homestead is also a commercial operation, by having large and capable equipment on hand. And I’ve said before, and will now say again, having some big steel around really makes the job a lot easier. I’m waiting for one of the local auction houses to get a snowblower attachment for a Bobcat in, because snowblowing the several-hundred-foot driveway from inside the cab will be a ton of fun. Do I *need* one? Absolutely not, the homestead has survived over a century without anything like that. But I sure do *want* one.
I have a neighbor who does the same thing with maintaining our nearby roads. I noticed he has a BBQ sticker on the back of his truck last week, so my LocalBob is gonna get a pile of his favorite smoked meats all winter.
Part of me wants to believe Bob is an anarchist who was tired of the state not maintaining a road it should be maintaining, and somewhere, the state is still investigating the loss of a quarter million dollar piece of DOT equipment. 😂
Bob is awesome.
Id send a yearly thank you care package around the holidays.
I’m Bob. Thanks and a wave with some patience and understanding about loud equipment goes a long way.
So does a home cooked pie and offering a sane amount of money to help for fuel. Chances are the fuel money will be denied, but the pie plate will be returned clean in about 5 days.
Every country roads needs a Bob. Most country roads have a Bob actually. The problem surfaces when one country road has two Bobs. Shit gets hairy in a 2 bob environment.
Bob is the neighbor everyone needs but doesn’t realize it. He is probably pretty damn friendly, just doesn’t want strangers bothering him. Neighbors aren’t strangers though. Go bring him a home made pie or cookies and he will probably offer you a beer.
Us Bobs are lonely, true, but it’s the price we pay for the solitude we achieved when we escaped the rat-race and chaos of society. Once you get unconditioned from the social stimuli, it’s hard to ever go back.
GO BOB!!!
I live 5 miles up a BLM dirt road in the mountains of Colorado along with 4 other full-time homesteaders, all of us off-grid. We have a contract with BLM that allows us to do maintenance on the road. I have a 50hp TYM tractor with a front end loader as well as a backhoe attachment, box blade and grader blade. I moved up here 2 years ago as well as two of the other property owners. The other two had been living up here for 20 and 25 years.
Me having my tractor has been greatly appreciated by my neighbors. It has been very rewarding to be able to finish grade our road when it has gotten rough. BLM does nothing. We had a very heavy rainfall a couple of months ago. A “Once-every-15-years” type of rain. It washed out our road really bad. Had 2′ deep ruts in some areas and large boulders that had been pushed into the road. I could have repaired the road with my tractor but it would have taken a couple of weeks. It was only passable with a 4-wheeler. Luckily I had a friend that had a 100hp Skidsteer on tracks and he was able to doze out a passable road for us. I have been able to do the finish grading. Would love to have “Bob”s grader. We’ve got some areas where bedrock has been exposed and is real rough to drive over. I’m about to go down the road with my jackhammer and a portable generator to bust up the worst parts so we don’t bend a tire rim next time snow covers up those obstacles.
BTW, my other neighbors also do plenty of work on the road so it’s just not me by myself. I just happen to have the biggest piece of functioning equipment. One neighbor who is not full time, but his dad who passed away last year was full time, has an old DC3 Dozer but the clutch has gone out on the left track. so it only turns right. You have to back up in order to run left. It works but none of us are operators – yet.
Lol I am a Bob.
3 tractors, 2 excavators, and a dump truck. Help any neighbor that needs it.