Trees, View and Shovels..

I am taking donations so that I can buy heavy duty "you know what" shovels for the entire neighborhood. Or maybe if I get enough donations, I can convince that guy on the cable TV show "The World's Dirtiest Jobs" to come and do the work for us.

Trees and Views

We are still trying to go with trees here. But, decided that we should remove a couple of trees that the Nimbys were complaining about. Today some very efficient tree guys came and took them away as well as moved another one. Luckily, it didn't cost a fortune.

We have a wonderful large space on our uphill property line where these two trees stood. I am SO happy the Nimbys now have an unobstructed view....of our family room and breakfast area, as well as the previously mentioned roof. I will have to be sure I'm fully clothed all the time, OR NOT!

On a cheerier note, the Nimbys have also submitted a proposed amendment to our HOA CCRs regarding tree height, views, blah, blah, blah....too complicated to go into here. So I have spent the last couple of days commiserating with my next door neighbors about a couple of statements we will read at our HOA meeting in November. You know, "united we stand, divided we fall". We've decided to take no prisoners and are ready for battle. Even though the Nimbys "you know what" (thanks Al for that great comment) has been rolling down hill for quite some time, we are trying our darndest to shove as much of it as possible back up their way.

Which leads me to a "shoving it your way" action I took today. The Nimbys delight in letting their light shine forth - so to speak. They have 2 non-conforming motion activating flood lights on the rear of their home (which just happen to activate just about every time a microscopic spec floats by and consequently flash on and off in our bedroom windows all night), they also have non conforming colored globe string lights across their rear lot line pergola and numerous solar powered stake lights around the perimeter of their yard. Even though we have no way of getting any screening from all this light shining forth, we've tried to ignore it. Oh and they also have 2 pink flamingos perched in a tree - been there all summer.

But today I decided that I had nothing to lose and sent an email to the poor guy on the HOA board who gets all the "rat on your neighbor" emails. I ratted on the Nimbys lights and flamingos.

You be the judge

A year ago the house uphill from us was sold. It didn't take long for the new owners to start to make major renovations both inside and outside the house. We came home from a 2 week trip last fall to find that all of the landscaping in the rear yard (that borders our rear yard) had been taken out, a fence put in and a construction on a swimming pool had started. It was a surprise to say the least. Since we live in an area with an HOA, I figured everything had been approved by the HOA. It was not that big of a deal.

Last Spring, the new owners (I'll now refer to them as the "Nimbys" as in "not in my backyard") started on the new landscaping. The HOA CC&R guidelines, among other things, require that fences be screened. The Nimbys new landscaping didn't quite provide enough screening given the fact that they now had a pool, huge kid's swing/climbing set. So we planted some trees across our back lot line to give a little more screening. We were careful to follow HOA guidelines as to mature height of the trees. We also did not plant the trees in our uphill neighbors "view corridor".

You'd think that most people would like some trees - you know, a little contribution to combat global warming. But the Nimbys seem to think that they had a home on a VIEW lot and made a complaint about trees in our yard, and in our next door neighbor's yard, blocking their view. They demanded that all of the trees in these two yards (32 in all) be removed. Most of the trees have been around for 5 years or more!

Here's the view the Nimbys have from their yard:



And these views:



Yep. I agree. Our trees are blocking their view......OF THE BACK OF OUR HOUSE!!!

However, our trees provide screening for us and from the views into the Nimbys yard. Here's a "view" we've had this summer of the Nimbys yard.

A flock of pink flamingos took roost for about two weeks. They'd probably still be there if I hadn't made a complaint to the HOA.

And this one is really special:


When I first saw this on the Nimby's back deck on a Sunday morning, I thought that someone didn't quite make it back into the house after a pool party the night before. But on closer inspection, I realized it was a blow up doll wearing a t-shirt with a message just for us. The poor thing hung out on the deck in the blazing sun for almost a week.

Anyway, because the Nimbys didn't like the idea that the HOA Board said no trees had to be removed, they've hired an attorney. That means that the HOA Board has had to hire an attorney. This is where the whole thing gets ridiculous. Every homeowner in our subdivision, INCLUDING THE NIMBYS, will have to a pay a special assessment to the tune of about $1000 per homeowner so that the HOA Board can have legal representation. So the Nimbys are technically suing themselves.

This whole situation is really gathering steam. A meeting with the HOA Board, the Nimbys, us and our neighbors, and attorneys for both sides, will be held in the near future. I just can't wait.

In the meantime, you be the judge. Trees or views?

P.S.

The Nielsen Ratings people never called back. They probably figured out that I wasn't the best person to call about TV watching.

Getting Caught Up....

I emailed my brother today asking him why he hadn't posted to his blog for a week. He's a fairly regular poster. So to have nothing from him in a week was a little out of the norm. I wanted to be sure he hadn't fallen off the planet. He emailed me back and reminded me that it been several weeks since I had posted. Guess I better get caught up. These are all random thoughts.

I realized today as I was pulling into a shopping mall parking lot that the city where I live has come of age. A "Cheesecake Factory" will soon open at the mall. Along with an IKEA that opened last August, we are just like the big folks. Word is that when the big new downtown shopping center is finished in 2011 that some really big high end retailers will be moving to town. Then this little old town will really be grown up.

Last Saturday it was wet, rainy and cold. After spending part of the day at the cinema, my husband and I headed to a local cafe for a late lunch. We had some time on our hands with a decaf and hot chocolate to nurse. Our conversation turned to getting older. Now, it's amazing that my husband would even talk about getting older because he's been in a state of denial for years that he is over 50. He made the comment that there seemed to be so many younger people around these days!

My husband and I have been talking about "downsizing". We live in almost a 4000 sq ft home. That's going to be too much room in a few years. So how's this for downsizing? We looked at a home for sale this weekend that is 106 years old. It meets a lot of our criteria (despite it's age and need for some work) - family gathering space, a yard for grandkids to play, close to downtown. But it is almost 5500 sq ft. Guess we have it a little backwards.

It's no longer summer, or even Indian summer, where I live. For the last few weeks, it's been raining or snowing - generally on the weekend. There's been a few good days, but not many. The patio furniture is covered for the winter or put away. The sprinkling system has been shut down and the flowers beds readied for winter. And most likely, the motorcycle won't be out of the garage until next Spring. Now that's sad.

My husband asked me Saturday if I would ski with him this winter. I have a very nice pair of skis and boots that have probably only seen snow about 6 times since I got them over 8 years ago. Maybe I'll have to find out if I can even get down the ski hill anymore. The last time I went skiing, it was at a resort with lots of snowboarders. I hated it. If I'm going to ski at all, we'll have to find a resort with NO SNOWBOARDERS! (No offense to any of you who may snowboard. But I didn't like the way snowboarders carved up the hill.) There's only one place to ski around here that's within an hour of my home. Guess we'll be heading up to Deer Valley.

Why me?

I don't know why we seem to get the "taking a survey" phone calls at our house. But we get quite a few of them. I answered the phone recently (made the mistake of not putting on my glasses so that I could read the caller ID - hate having "old eyes") when the caller said they were calling for the Nielsen ratings. I told the young lady that I really didn't have time to answer her few questions for a couple minutes (a few questions always turns into many and a couple of minutes usually turns into 5 or 10). Anyway, I really was in the middle of something that I couldn't interrupt. She probably wondered why I answered the phone, if I was so busy. She asked if she could call back at another time.

You know, I'm probably not the best person to ask questions about TV viewing. I don't watch alot of TV. First of all, because I wear hearing aids in both ears, I just can't understand the dialogue on most shows to follow the story line. It's frustrating. Please, don't suggest that I get those "TV Ears" things!! The few shows that I can follow because there isn't much in the way of dialogue that matters, (Survivor, Dancing with the Stars, House Hunters, Designed to Sell - I know none of them are really worth the time anyway) my husband can't stand and he "controls" the remote.

Now if someone is taking a survey about how people spend time playing internet games, reading blogs, checking favorite websites, I could probably give some decent answers. If the Nielsen Ratings gal ever calls back, she'd be better off talking to one of the other people who live at this address who actually watch television.

Kelly Update

Kelly was released from the hospital today and doing well. Prognosis is good. She is now "holding court" with friends in our living room.