UNEX What are my neighbors up to?

[Sozo]

Okay, so I live in a rural area on a dead end dirt road with a dozen homes.
Three years ago, the neighbor at the end of the road sold the property and I haven't met the new occupants.
Everyone else knows each other, but the new people seem to be very private, and you rarely see them drive up the road.

Shortly after they moved in, they started getting dump truck loads of dirt. Here we are three years later, and they have been getting about four dump truck loads a week every week for almost 3 years now.
The property has a long private driveway and is completely surrounded by woods, so there's no way to drive by and see anything.
They are on 30 acres of level land, and I just can't imagine where all that dirt is going!

I'm curious, not nosey; And not curious enough to ask what they're doing with all that dirt. Just thought I'd bounce the idea off some heads here and see if anyone has any ideas.

 

[bw]

Building a raised pad for a house? How level is the land, how prone to flooding? How rich is the soil - are they trucking in to make a big garden?

 

[WalknTrot]

Building a road. Building an earth-berm house. Filling in a low spot. Damming up a pond.
Meh. I don't care what my neighbors do unless they directly conflict with and trespass upon my interests.

 

[pymaf]

Dirt mound fence

 

[Old Greek]

Maybe they are sandlappers!

 

[kyrsyan]

Fill in washout areas, create swales, raised beds. I'm on 1/4 acre and I can think of lots of things I could do with a load or two of generic top soil.
Or an earth berm home.

 

[winston]

Perfect mission for a drone

 

[Bps1691]

Is your soil bad? Could be they are enriching plots for gardens.

The second thought is they are putting in a big berm around their property

Did you notice the names on the trucks hauling the dirt? If so maybe you or a neighbor knows one of the drivers

 

[BUBBAHOTEPT]

4 Truckloads a week for 3 years? Wow, that is a little more than gardening. I'd be interested just because...

 

[Meemur]

I'd be of two minds: on the one hand, it's none of my business. On the other, I keep an eye out in case some dummy is doing something stupid that can impact the neighborhood.

I agree about checking around -- does anyone know the drivers?

 

[Doc1]

Why don't you make it a point to meet them and introduce yourself? Then, later, you might casually mention the loads of dirt in conversation. Three years is an awfully long time not to meet your neighbors.

If you can't seem to meet them on the road, you might consider sending them a (pleasant) lunch or dinner invitation.

Best
Doc

 

[Sozo]

The second thought is they are putting in a big berm around their property

That's the only thing I could come up with. That's a LOT of dirt, and no ponds or gully's to fill in.
I figure maybe they're prepping the property by surrounding the entire 30 acres with a wall of dirt.

 

[ktrapper]

One year we went to Moundville AL for a Native American POW POW. We listened to one of the park people there talking about the area and how they have never figured out why the natives built the mounds. I raised my hand, person talking said yes? I said uh, right here on the Warrior River, Flooding protection you think? It ain’t like they had FEMA and the Cajun navy back then, other thing could be elevated fighting position. Person talking was clearly disgruntled with me then. I think messed up their mystical twist on things. Can’t believe they never thought of that. The mounds are mostly rectangular.

 

[colonel holman]

google maps gets updated pics every few yrs. how current is view of your area?

 

[raven]

Roast a pig
Make 5 gallon bucket of potato salad
Make 5 gallon of pea salad
Bring in a keg

Send invitations to all the neighbors including the new guy.
(being nosey isn't supposed to be cheap)

 

[Countrymouse]

google maps gets updated pics every few yrs. how current is view of your area?

THIS.

Or just a real-estate search page--they usually have a picture of the home.

OR--on our own county tax assessor's GIS search page, you can type in the address of ANY property in the county, and it will bring up multitudes of info--including owner name, sale price, description of home, parcel map, and -- sometimes-- an AERIAL MAP of the property.

It's free and open to the public.

 

[packyderms_wife]

One year we went to Moundville AL for a Native American POW POW. We listened to one of the park people there talking about the area and how they have never figured out why the natives built the mounds. I raised my hand, person talking said yes? I said uh, right here on the Warrior River, Flooding protection you think? It ain’t like they had FEMA and the Cajun navy back then, other thing could be elevated fighting position. Person talking was clearly disgruntled with me then. I think messed up their mystical twist on things. Can’t believe they never thought of that. The mounds are mostly rectangular.

This is what I said about the Cahokia Mounds and was repeatedly shot down. Funny thing I lived in the area during the flood of 1993 and guess what those mounds were never under water when everything else in the area 'was' under water!

 

[packyderms_wife]

Roast a pig
Make 5 gallon bucket of potato salad
Make 5 gallon of pea salad
Bring in a keg

Send invitations to all the neighbors including the new guy.
(being nosey isn't supposed to be cheap)

If you're real neighborly also add in some baked beans and homemade banana pudding!

 

[Phelan]

if they have enough tires handy that's a lot of rammed earth buildings

 

[Griz3752]

Building a road. Building an earth-berm house. Filling in a low spot. Damming up a pond.
Meh. I don't care what my neighbors do unless they directly conflict with and trespass upon my interests.

OR
Berming a range!!!

 

[Countrymouse]

Do you know anything about the identity of the "couple" who bought the house?

Sorry to be suspicious, but--Muslim, by any chance?

You wouldn't believe how many Muslim "training camps" have been built out in the boonies here in Georgia...........

 

[colonel holman]

THIS.

Or just a real-estate search page--they usually have a picture of the home.

OR--on our own county tax assessor's GIS search page, you can type in the address of ANY property in the county, and it will bring up multitudes of info--including owner name, sale price, description of home, parcel map, and -- sometimes-- an AERIAL MAP of the property.

It's free and open to the public.

I have two hunting apps hunters use to identify property owners to allow us to contact for access permission. OnX Hunt and HuntStand.

 

[raven]

I forgot . . .
I bought 4 acres in 1996. Got it really cheap - in Allen TX. I bought it in the summer.
And then Winter rolled around. And it rained. and rained. and rained some more.
And I drove out to "the land" as we called it and it was underwater and was flowing across the road.

I panicked a little. No. It was a lot.

And my buddy waved his hand and said not to worry. And we drove up to where they were building a shopping mall.
The scrape off the topsoil and hauled it about 20 miles away. So, I told the driver, I would give him $20 a load to bring it to my property. And then every other wise guy in the county started dumping on my lot.
I had to put up a sign - No Dumping.

Dug it in with a cat. And let it sit for a year. Built a house on it.
It rained. The water went around the house into the culvert and then across the road.
Neighbors complained. I said, "I did not change the water shed, I built an Island"
And they say "No man has an Island" hah!

Lost it in the divorce.

It is still there. Zillow estimate $1,125,000

Or it could be a Muslim training camp

 

[hammerhead]

Private BMX track?

Not kidding. We have a bike park here where all they did was bring in dump trucks of dirt and leave them around in piles. The bikers built the track and jumps the way they wanted it. If they're getting that dirt free, it's just sweat equity.

 

[changed]

Its good that you are minding your own business.

 

[Capt. Eddie]

Three years is an awfully long time not to meet your neighbors.

Three weeks is an awfully long time not to meet your neighbors In our neck of the woods.

 

[Macgyver]

Id start getting a little curious.

There was something like this in NJ a few years ago.
Guy bought land.
Then truck load after truck load.
Turned out the dirt he was dumping was contaminated with something.
He just needed a cheap place to get rid of it.
I think they tried arresting someone but don't think it worked out.
Owner wasn't the dumper. Claim he was allowing "clean" fill to be dumped.
Guy doing the dumping disappeared.

It's all still there. I think the EPA just tarped it to prevent leaching.

 

[Dennis Olson]

I'm curious, not nosey

No, you’re nosy. It’s none of your business.

 

[Grumphau]

Get on Google Maps or Bing Maps and check the satellite image. They update the maps every so often so you should be able to see something. All that dirt is gonna be hard to hide.

 

[Dennis Olson]

Check with the agency that issues building permits. One can’t bring in that much dirt without a permit.

I can’t believe I actually had to tell someone this….

 

[hiwall]

They are using dirt to cover their above-ground fallout shelter.
I hope they have it just about done.

 

[dstraito]

Target Range?

 

[greysage]

I'm curious, not nosey; And not curious enough to ask what they're doing with all that dirt. Just thought I'd bounce the idea off some heads here and see if anyone has any ideas.

Walk right down their driveway and look for yourself. If you see them or they say anything, just tell them, 'I'm nosey and wanted to see who my neighbors were. Plus I'm curious about all that dirt. Do you guys know something I should know? LOL'

 

[Sozo]

No, you’re nosy. It’s none of your business.

No, it's not my business. That's why I asked the thinking heads instead of being nosey and poking around someone's house asking questions, flying drones, or contacting a permit agency like some grumpy old curmudgeon suggested.

It's been 3 years. If I really wanted to know that bad, I would simply pull up the driveway and look for myself.

 

[raven]

Quad copter with a gopro

 

[day late]

if they have enough tires handy that's a lot of rammed earth buildings

Replacement soil. After the war a lot of ground is going to be contaminated with radiation. So, they take up the bad soil and put it somewhere. Take off about the first 6 or 8 inches off the mound and what is under it should be usable for planting.

 

[Firebird]

There has to be a kid somewhere nearby, maybe one has a drone? Give him $20 to fly it over the property

 

[DryCreek]

Lucky you.

I suspect my neighbors are meth manufacturing central. All the signs (and smells) point to that.

On the good side, they try to be good neighbors since the one time I threatened to call the Sherriff's Office and tell them that there is a woman screaming for help and children crying. I explained that they would roll right up on them with no-knock entry.
That party shut right down, and it's been very quiet over there since then.

 

[greysage]

Maybe they're raising giant earthworms.

 

[hiwall]

Bake some cookies and take over to them