Don't see anything unusual? How about now...
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| the foreground is our planted pasture |
My jaw dropped open!! The land we purchased surrounds the previous owners current house and 5 acres. I knew he was a helicopter pilot, but never once did it occur to me that he landed it at home. He may have mentioned it, but I don't recall that conversation. The airport is not that far away. We had not even owned the land for one week, and already we have a problem! In my exhaustion, I all but had a meltdown that evening...
Horses and helicopters go together like oil and water. If you watched the video in my last post, the barn you saw is the same one pictured above. Unless you're a pilot, who wants to build a house anywhere near a landing pad? Not me! Guess we will be considering other building spots...
My poor hubby did a fine job of giving me hope that this is just a "bump in the road". The previous land owners are as nice as can be, and want this whole land thing to work out just as much as we do. I know that. We get along good and plan to be neighbors for the long haul. I've decided a hard conversation is in the future, it's the only way I'll get over this. For awareness, if nothing else. Maybe he doesn't even plan to land there once we are living on the land? or legally can't? or maybe we wait to build until they sell the current house (it's on the market) and move further away to their lot in the adjoining woods?
The whole helicopter thing is cool, and I would never ask him not to land it at his home. It would be like asking me not to ride my horse. Flying is what makes him happy. The noise lasts briefly. It's not that, personally I don't mind. I just don't want my horses scared to death - or to get hurt riding. I know our horses, and they would eventually get used to it. It's just another obstacle. My hope is we will come to some sort of agreement. I won't ride on the land, let alone live there until we do. I would hate to go to plan C...because we don't have one. However, I can certainly make one. We can sell the land just as fast as we bought it, but that was never part of our intention. Hopefully we won't have to go down that road...why can't anything ever be simple?!!
I know nothing in life is perfect, and every place has it's good & not so good qualities. Deep down I believe this land was meant to be for us, and this too shall work out.
5 comments:
Don't worry too much about the helicopter landings. I'm sure you can both work something out. We once had a small boarding business across from a small airport. The horses really did get used to all the air traffic. My horse Erik who was the spookiest horse on earth had a helicopter hover over the arena one time while I was riding and he simply stopped and looked up at it until it left. I w as more than surprised. The only thing that really spokedd them was the hot air balloons. Where we live now the neighbor down the road is a pilot (the guy who had our loose horses in his yard) and he flies over on his way home occasionally and the herd never even look up from grazing. And really how often will he be flying? I'm sure there is a compromise you can work out.
I think you will find that the horses will get used to it, it may take a few times but if your barn area isn't up against their place, they should be all right. We have helicopters fly over all the time here, as well as small aircraft that fly low; it doesn't seem to bother them. If the horses think you are bothered, they will be too.
We don't have helicopters, but we do get the hot air balloons a lot. Occasionally they spook the horses, but not usually unless they're very low and let the air psssshhh sound go off. That sends them a flying, but they're not stupid about it, they just run away and watch with wide eyes until they go away. This will be just one of many obstacles that must be overcome. Just try to relax, go with the flow, and know that in the end everything will work out alright.
Thanks so much for the encouraging words! It's helpful to hear of others interactions. Flying is his seasonal touring occupation, the potential for frequency is weekends. I am hopeful eventually it will be a non-issue. Finding land of this size/price range/general area is extremely rare these days. We are very fortunate, even with a giant red motorized mosquito buzzing around.
I think if you talk to him, he would agree not to fly over your land; helicopters can approach a landing from any direction so I'm sure he would be accommodating if you ask nice- and I'm sure you would.
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