We have a few families boarding their horses here.

[EFerrari]

They come once or twice a day to ride or to otherwise tend to their horses. Today, I heard a funny motor, look out the door and see a little dune buggy full of kids go by. It looked just like that old PlaySchool bus, full of kids, only it was a dune buggy. Being driven by a kid who turns out to be 11.

When I went out to run interference, I counted 10 kids, the youngest two, and zero adults. They weren't even in earshot of their dad, let alone, in his sight. On top of everything else, it was getting DARK. I wanted to deck the idiot, badly.

So I had the driver park the thing and we all walked back up and over the hill to the area where the father keeps his animals. I let them walk down on their own because I was too angry to talk to the guy at that moment.

Who does things like this. Seriously, ten kids, the oldest one eleven, driving alone on hills at dusk in an overloaded dune buggy with no adult supervision.

[virgogal]

1. Casual parenting. We had them in our neighborhood and the

kids survived and did quite well,much to my surprise.

I was the cautious type and never could understand it.

[EFerrari]

6. My mom was one of those.

And, that's cool, we grew up. I started babysitting at 11, too. CPS wasn't as active then, either. lol

[virgogal]

10. It's funny,isn't it? There is really no right way to raise kids. You love them

and do your best and keep your fingers crossed for years.

[elleng]

2. No sane person, that's fer sure.

Catch any bumper-stickers?

:sarcasm:

[EFerrari]

4. They didn't even all belong to that one dad.

He rounded up some kids to come out here, which is fine. Not fine to pack them all into a dune buggy and wave 'em off.

Good googly moogly.

lol

[WhiteTara]

3. something similar happened where I used to live

one child died and one was paralyzed forever. The kids in our area were on an atv. The parents of course were shattered, but that didn't change a thing

[EFerrari]

5. Omg. That's exactly what I was afraid of when I saw them.

Kids get hurt all the time playing. I think I spent every Sunday in 1987 in the Kaiser ER with one of my boys and their noses and knees and arms and ears. But this was just flat out spitting at the sky.

[Tansy_Gold]

7. Years ago where I used to live, three accidents

1. Father and his two kids out on ATVs. Father was drunk, two kids were maybe 8 and 11. No helmets, riding like morons. Father flipped his and rolled down a ravine. Broke his neck, died instantly. Kids had to haul the body out and take it home because they didn't think they could find their way back to the ravine.

2. 22-year-old in an old Ford Bronco goin' down the freeway, 75 mph. Just about this time of the year, right before Thanksgiving. Blew a tire and rolled a couple times. No seat belt. Did not survive.

3. A few weeks later, between Thanksgiving and Christmas. 18-year-old in an old Ford Bronco goin' down the freeway, 65 mph. Blew a tire and rolled a couple times. Had his seat belt on. Walked away with scratches on his shoulder from broken windshield glass. My son.



TG

[EFerrari]

8. Oh, lord.

It's good when they come back in one piece. :grouphug:

[Tansy_Gold]

9. One piece

and breathing.

[tularetom]

11. I cannot begin to tell you how much I despise those things

There is a small creek running along the northwest side of our porperty. It is dry most of the year and in the summer the creek bed has become a trail for kids(?) riding ATV's. The creek is not on our property but the bank is and several years they have pretty much trashed the bank by riding their machines up and over it. Our fence is set back from the bank so they can't get into our pasture but they have caused bank erosion which resulted in flooding the following winter when the creek rose after heavy rains. In 1997 or 98 (can't remember which) we got $2500 or so from FEMA to rip rap the creek bank and build a small levee to protect the lower pasture.

That pretty much ended the bank erosion but we still have to put up with the noise and the dust and exhaust. We have horses too and the effing things scare the crap out of them. The jerks get into the creek about a mile and a half down our road where there is a large culvert. A lot of the property owners around here have been complaining to the county for years about blocking access to the creek but we've been met by a stone wall of resistance. Eventually somebody will get hurt or killed and they will take action after they get sued.

They aren't all kids either, although I've seen kids as small as the ones you describe riding down there. Most of them are city people but I've seen a few I recognized as our home grown rednecks as well. I chase them away every chance I get and I've never really had any confrontations. I'm actually kind of a wuss but I'm a big guy with a deep voice.

I seriously think when you buy one of those things your IQ drops by 30 points.

[EFerrari]

12. The noise alone should be grounds to block off that creek bed.

Isn't "quiet enjoyment" of your property a right in our state law?

[triguy46]

13. 4 wheelers are out of control in rural OK.

Generally 2-3 kids of young age, no helmets, driving batshit fast on rural roads.

I got out of the horse boarding business in 1982 after a few years of having to put up with the owners assuming that since their horse was on the farm, "they" owned the farm. Wasn't worth the constant irritation.

[EFerrari]

15. They're driving me crazy.

They let their dogs run out of control, they speed, they bring kids here and don't mind them. Last month, our light bill was $100 up and it turns out, one of them -- it was 4Wheeler daddy-- brought a REFRIGERATOR up here. Why not just bring a cooler with your beer and food or whatever? That guy is going to be trouble. I may have to buy a gun over him.

But, the income is needed right now so I can't eat them. lol

[newfie11]

14. As an x-ray tech the ATV idiots gave me lots of work.

I remember when working in MI a guy came up over a hill, spooked a deer. The deer jumped on the ATV with him, he crashed into a tree. The deer, unhurt, left the scene. The man was left with a broken neck, survived but as a quad. That was a level 1 trauma center and had lots of 4 and 3 wheeler accidents. Some fatal.

Having said that we do own a 4 wheeler but it is used on the farm and with care. No kids allowed to use it.

[EFerrari]

16. And see, that's when people seem to get hurt.

When something happens that is out of their routine and they don't have a good enough response to deal with it. And up here, that can be a deer, too, jumping out in front of your vehicle. Or a rabbit or the chickens or the horses moving to the next pasture or 4WheelDaddy's kid that no one is watching.

Today, that same idiot was BURNING something at his space. Today was a no burn day. I can't figure out if this guy is a rule breaker or if his brain is wet or what.

After this unauthorized burn, my mom and our helper on board. The next time he does something stupid, he's history. He's a bully and I think Mom and Rick are a little afraid of giving him notice. I'm more afraid that he's going to get someone hurt. Times like this I miss having Doug to stand his 280 lbs next to my 120 looking mean, lol. But, when you deal with the public, stuff happens.