Found the markers and solved the problem with the neighbor, I hope
.
I drove to the house last Tuesday
sans the women folk. I was near the front corner of our property adjacent to his looking for the steel pins which I finally found. The old fence is gone there and the children were out playing. Papa come over and introduced himself as Igor. I reciprocated and told him that I will be building a fence. I asked him if there would be any problems with tearing down the rest of the old fence. He said no and then asked if he could do some work for me. I thought for a second and told him to come with me. I figured I'd give him the benefit of the doubt since he didn't take the bait after getting caught the first time.
I told him the old toilet and the strange makeshift closet next to it that was filled with an old tv and trash needed to be torn down and removed. I also wanted him to tear down the rest of the old fence and to organize the wood in the barn into two stacks; usable and for burning. In addition, I wanted every last piece of garbage removed from my property and for all of the remaining grass and weeds to be cut. I offered a generous wage and told him that I wanted it finished in 4 days. He agreed.
The children had followed us onto my property while I was showing the jobs and I asked him if we could have a private conversation. He sent them back to the house and I told him what Babushka had told me she saw and heard regarding our baby stroller. He looked down and fidgeted. I told him that I don't want any problems and that if I have any problems with him that I have much more money( a bluff but he didn't know) and more resources than he and that I could make serious problems for him. He understood. He wanted to do more but I told him that if he did as I asked than I would have more work for him. I told him that I don't need his friends and he volunteered, "ne vodka" . sure, ok.
I decided to go two days later to check on the progress. He had finished nearly everything to my absolute $$%^ing surprise.
Over the weekend we had a gathering of our friends. He cut down 6 trees with his chain saw and over the next two weeks he is going to be cutting the apple wood into 30 cm logs and stacking it against the barn. I had him cut a stump for splitting the logs and I'll be doing that at my leisure. He's also repairing the door on the barn, putting up a new outhouse out of sight behind the house and breaking all the dead wood into small pieces for cooking fires.
My wife fed him and he talked with her and Babushka. It turns out the children are actually his grandchildren. Their father (Igor's wife's son) is in prison. The oldest is going to a summer camp and my wife tells me their situation is not as bad as it looks. I'm not sure what she meant.
He assures me that he is "dobre mushina"
He, his wife and the children are all quite respectful of us now. Let's hope it lasts. I had another private conversation with him on Monday and he agreed to clean the garbage on his property as well. I told him that I know the wage I gave him is quite generous and that it was because of the children. I think he understood.
He is working at another property and building a fence he told us. I'm going to check out his work and may have him help put up the fence if my wife can ever decide on what she wants.
