"animaux" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 03 Jun 2003 01:19:50 GMT, Diane
wrote:


by the HOA rules and regulations. They gave him a list of paint colors
that
were "acceptable" for his home. So.....he mixed them all up, and painted
his home a lovely shade of light peptobismol pink! They took him to
court
and lost. He had lived by the letter of the law.

Bravo! I hope someone gave him a medal.


Diane

o you honestly find that to be fair to the rest of the homeowners? Why
didn't
:the guy, or any number of people move to the country where they can do
whatever
:they want? I never did understand why people do such spiteful things. I
:complain, but I've never once did anything to bother my neighbors. We are
to
urselves, and take care to be as compliant as necessary to respect others.

Apparently you didn't read the whole thing. HE had lived there all his 60
plus years. It WAS the country. The property around him had been sold over
the years...either by him or others. (My husband tells me other landowners
around him had sold their property over the years as well.)

Some 60 years later, the NEW DEVELOPMENT HOME OWNERS told this guy, whose
home had been there 60 years, that HE had to change to THEIR specifications.

Excuse my bad language, but screw that.

I think what he did was ingenious.


Blessings,
Tammy

--
The mother's heart is the child's schoolroom.
Henry Ward Beecher


Thank goodness I was never sent to school; it would have rubbed off some of
the originality.
Beatrix Potter

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.
William Butler Yeats

www.pictureparables.com



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In article ,
animaux wrote:

On Tue, 03 Jun 2003 01:19:50 GMT, Diane
wrote:


by the HOA rules and regulations. They gave him a list of paint colors
that
were "acceptable" for his home. So.....he mixed them all up, and painted
his home a lovely shade of light peptobismol pink! They took him to court
and lost. He had lived by the letter of the law.

Bravo! I hope someone gave him a medal.


Diane

Do you honestly find that to be fair to the rest of the homeowners? Why
didn't
the guy, or any number of people move to the country where they can do
whatever
they want? I never did understand why people do such spiteful things. I
complain, but I've never once did anything to bother my neighbors. We are to
ourselves, and take care to be as compliant as necessary to respect others.

In my particular case, I've asked this moron to please move the trailer for a
few years now. I asked him very nicely. I do nothing to get his hackles
up.
He's a nutcase. I treat him as such. I'd still never do something to spite
him.


You missed the gist of the post. This particular guy was the farmer who
lived in the country, who, after the developments moved in, was told he
had to abide by their rules (even though he lived there for 60+ years).
so he followed their rules and they didn't like it.


Diane

In article ,
zxcvbob wrote:

wrote:
[snip] ...but to avoid conflict we slowly, little by little started
down the drive cutting back the brush and put up a fine gauge 3' fence
on the lot line so we wouldnt whack her brush. It wasnt a chain link
fence. Now she couldnt see the fence unless she walked up ON my mothers
private drive to see it.... [snip]


An elderly woman calls the police. "Help!" she says. "There's a naked man
parading around in the apartment opposite mine!"
When the police arrive, there is indeed a man standing in an open window
across the way, bare-chested, though the lower half of his body is obscured
by the window ledge.

There is a old guy who lives above a local hardware store. I often see
him on warm days sitting in front of a window. Can't tell if he's on a
computer, watching TV or maybe eating but he's bare-chested, and yet, it
gives the impression he's naked. lol


Diane

In article , Diane
wrote:

by the HOA rules and regulations. They gave him a list of paint colors that
were "acceptable" for his home. So.....he mixed them all up, and painted
his home a lovely shade of light peptobismol pink! They took him to court
and lost. He had lived by the letter of the law.

Bravo! I hope someone gave him a medal.

Diane

I'd say bravo too, supposing HE liked living in a peptobismol pink house.
There used to be a house on Capitol Hill in Seattle, at John & 23rd, since
torn down. It had had nailed all over the outside as decoations TOILET
SEATS with protest-messages written all over it. Vast numbers of busses
passedthis house coming all the way from West Seattle, from downtown, from
Ballard, it was a major bus pathway corner. So the house & its protest
messages were famous, & well-liked by bus passengers. The city, however,
dragged the owner into court repeatedly as a public nuisance, & he kept
winning on the cases on the basis of free speech. No doubt he was a crazy
dude -- his neighbors sure thought so -- but he entertained the public &
caused no real harm.

Personally I find those tin automatic garage doors ugly as hell, but
walking through the alleys of the city looking at old worn-out cracked &
broken wooden garage doors, they are aesthetic & beautiful. I once planned
to put together a book of photographs of old alleyway garage doors -- but
to my great surprise some well-known photographer beat me to it! So, if I
thought the way the Neighborhood Association Nazis thought, I'd ban their
dumbass tin automatic doors & make them restore the beautifully broken &
scarred wooden doors that were so pretty. I'd also force them to stop
mowing their lawns so that wildlife could survive more easily, & so there
wouldn't be the noise pollution & air pollution & danger to children &
pets that lawnmowers pose. And if homeowners concreted over anything, I'd
have them put in jail. Also, if they put up any gaudy fire hazard
christmas lights, I'd fine them a thousand dollars per bulb. All these
possibilities would of coruse be draconian & offensive, but far less so
than what actually gets legislated to require polluting lawnmowers,
redefining all wildlife as vermin, turning houses into advertising
billboards for christianity.

Such retched things as pass for normal in a this strange would should be
complained about by writing them all down on toilet seat covers & nailing
those to the front of the house.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

In article , Diane
wrote:

Ingrid,

Sorry about your mom's neighbors. As you know I have Neighbor Dick and
Mrs. Dick. So far they haven't sued us and we only "almost" ended in
court. Doesn't matter, still seems like no matter how little their
infraction on our life (and speaking in the sense of your mom as well)
it still sucks. It is a tiring war, I hate it. I just hope one of us
moves soon.

I'll buy you a flamingo for your collection.


Diane

I have a whole lot of wonderful neigbhors, plus one crazy neighbor. The
first time he yelled at me it was because while I was watering the lawn, I
got the concrete of his parking pad damp. A stupid reason for him to be
mad, but what the hell, I have ever since been careful not to get his
parking pad damp. He cusses at his dog a couple times a week, the worst
kind of cussing, "**** you stupid ****ing ****-**** god damn ****ing dog!"
and even broke his own door slamming it. Dog loves him though, dogs are
like that. I hear he had a wife twenty years ago, she left him cuz he was
a short-tempered *******. The previous owners put up the big (but
pleasant) wooden fence to protect their children from his purposeless
rages, born I have to assume of deep loneliness & despair.

He got a fungus in his yard that killed grass patches & a tomato plant, &
he became paranoid & said I was sneaking into his yard at night & killing
his grass & his tomatos. First he told my partner Granny Artemis I'd been
doing this & got her all upset. I knocked on his door & confronted him on
the silly accusation & he held to his guns, said he knew I was doing it,
nothing like that ever happened before I lived next door, & if I wasn't
careful, "I'm going to sneak into your yard at night & kill your plants!"


Then he called the cops on me for the imaginary crime. The cops dropped by
-- I told them exactly what had happened. Though they're not supposed to
comment on who phones in complaints, they couldn't help themselves, they
said that my neighbor is on on a special "list" of people whose phone
calls aren't to be taken too seriously.

So what did I do about this annoyingly crazy old geezer? Well, he'd
threatened to trespass & destroy my garden, so I'm sure I could've played
his game & "won" on his level of nasty behavior & reporting him to the
police every time he's outside screaming dirty words for the whole
neighborhood to hear. Instead, I went over one day & gave him a big hug. I
worked up a teary-eyed expression of sympathy & said to him, "You're a
crazy old cuss swearing at your dog & getting paranoid about your
neighbors. But I like eccentric people because I'm eccentric myself, & I
think we should be friends." He said, "Damn right I'm a crazy old cuss, so
you just better watch out for me." But within a week he had hung a plastic
sack of tomatos on my back door with a little note saying he had too many
& needed to give some of them away. A couple weeks ago he asked if he
could help me cut the tent caterpillars out of a hawthorn tree, so I let
him help. His idea of helping was to take hold of my hand & guide the
tree-clippers to the right spots overhead. Hardly helpful, but it was
oddly sweet.

He's still a crazy old cuss who rants at his dog & probably still has
paranoid delusions about most of his neighbors, & I have no actual desire
to be his friend. And who knows, he could in some future month get it in
his head I'm watching him through his television or something. But he
begrudingly likes us for now, because I did nothing to escalate his
craziness, & went out of my way to undermine his paranoia & assure him
he's not nearly as hated as he might deserve to be. And I succeeded at
winning him over even while calling him crazy & paranoid to his face.

I'd heard too many stories about "neighbor wars" & just figured I could be
right & fight him on his level whenever he gets unreasonable, or I could
be at ease & cater to him a bit. In this case, being personally at ease
seemed seemed more reasonable than wasting energy attempting to impose
some level of punishment on a sad soul.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

I have never understood WHY someone else has to stick their nose into someone
else's way of living. I for one would NEVER buy a home or even RENT in an area
where I couldn't plant the plats I wanted or paint the house as I wanted. I live
in a trailer park and I have a vast garden in the field next door to it and I
have a big telescope sitting out front of my trailer and I have many plants
growing here too. Why can't people just let other people live the way they want
and not bother them a lot?


--
In This Universe The Night was Falling,The Shadows were lenghtening
towards an east that would not know another dawn.
But elsewhere the Stars were still young and the light of morning lingered: and
along the path he once had followed, Man would one day go again.

Arthur C. Clarke "The City & The Stars"

SIAR
www.starlords.org
Telescope Buyers FAQ
http://home.inreach.com/starlord
Bishop's Car Fund
http://www.bishopcarfund.Netfirms.com/
Starlord's Personal Page
http://starlord-personal.netfirms.com
Freelance Writers Shop
http://www.freelancewrittersshop.netfirms.com


"animaux" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 03 Jun 2003 01:19:50 GMT, Diane
wrote:


by the HOA rules and regulations. They gave him a list of paint colors
that
were "acceptable" for his home. So.....he mixed them all up, and painted
his home a lovely shade of light peptobismol pink! They took him to court
and lost. He had lived by the letter of the law.

Bravo! I hope someone gave him a medal.


Diane

Do you honestly find that to be fair to the rest of the homeowners? Why
didn't
the guy, or any number of people move to the country where they can do
whatever
they want? I never did understand why people do such spiteful things. I
complain, but I've never once did anything to bother my neighbors. We are to
ourselves, and take care to be as compliant as necessary to respect others.

In my particular case, I've asked this moron to please move the trailer for a
few years now. I asked him very nicely. I do nothing to get his hackles up.
He's a nutcase. I treat him as such. I'd still never do something to spite
him.


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Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
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There was one guy who beat those same kind of people and even the court wouldn't
touch his home, not after he painted it so that it became a U.S.Flag!



--
In This Universe The Night was Falling,The Shadows were lenghtening
towards an east that would not know another dawn.
But elsewhere the Stars were still young and the light of morning lingered: and
along the path he once had followed, Man would one day go again.

Arthur C. Clarke "The City & The Stars"

SIAR
www.starlords.org
Telescope Buyers FAQ
http://home.inreach.com/starlord
Bishop's Car Fund
http://www.bishopcarfund.Netfirms.com/
Starlord's Personal Page
http://starlord-personal.netfirms.com
Freelance Writers Shop
http://www.freelancewrittersshop.netfirms.com


"susabean" wrote in message
...


"animaux" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 03 Jun 2003 01:19:50 GMT, Diane
wrote:


by the HOA rules and regulations. They gave him a list of paint colors
that
were "acceptable" for his home. So.....he mixed them all up, and painted
his home a lovely shade of light peptobismol pink! They took him to
court
and lost. He had lived by the letter of the law.

Bravo! I hope someone gave him a medal.


Diane

o you honestly find that to be fair to the rest of the homeowners? Why
didn't
:the guy, or any number of people move to the country where they can do
whatever
:they want? I never did understand why people do such spiteful things. I
:complain, but I've never once did anything to bother my neighbors. We are
to
urselves, and take care to be as compliant as necessary to respect others.

Apparently you didn't read the whole thing. HE had lived there all his 60
plus years. It WAS the country. The property around him had been sold over
the years...either by him or others. (My husband tells me other landowners
around him had sold their property over the years as well.)

Some 60 years later, the NEW DEVELOPMENT HOME OWNERS told this guy, whose
home had been there 60 years, that HE had to change to THEIR specifications.

Excuse my bad language, but screw that.

I think what he did was ingenious.


Blessings,
Tammy

--
The mother's heart is the child's schoolroom.
Henry Ward Beecher


Thank goodness I was never sent to school; it would have rubbed off some of
the originality.
Beatrix Potter

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.
William Butler Yeats

www.pictureparables.com



---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.487 / Virus Database: 286 - Release Date: 06/01/2003



---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
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"susabean" expounded:

I think a lot of people would do well to MTOB.

Absolutely.

--
Ann, Gardening in zone 6a
Just south of Boston, MA
********************************

animaux expounded:

Do you honestly find that to be fair to the rest of the homeowners?

Those homeowners moved into *his* neighborhood, and then tried to tell
him what to do with his land. Tough shit!. He was there first. Their
HOA applied to them, not to the original owner. Do you really think
just because you move into a neighborhood you can tell everyone who
was already there what they can do? Thank god I don't live near
anyone who thinks like that!

--
Ann, Gardening in zone 6a
Just south of Boston, MA
********************************

Ann wrote:
...Do you really think just because you move into a neighborhood you can
tell everyone who was already there what they can do? Thank god I don't
live near anyone who thinks like that!


You probably do live near people who think like that. They just haven't
organized yet.

Best regards,
Bob

On Tue, 03 Jun 2003 03:15:50 GMT, Diane
wrote:


You missed the gist of the post. This particular guy was the farmer who
lived in the country, who, after the developments moved in, was told he
had to abide by their rules (even though he lived there for 60+ years).
so he followed their rules and they didn't like it.


Diane

You edited that part of the post out. I didn't see the part where he lived
there for 60+ years. That's a different story.

There is no problem with that. My point is we have deed restrictions which are
documented and when you buy in here, you sign that document. It's legal and
binding in civil court.

As for trailers, we plan to live in one when we travel across country for three
years. I have nothing against them. I am not talking about travel trailers or
fifth wheel trailers. I'm talking about hay bale trailer. Rock hauler trailer.
One of those open hunks of crap.

It annoys everyone in here. I'm the only one posting to this newsgroup from
here which is why you haven't heard the other 29 families complaining.


On Mon, 2 Jun 2003 23:26:53 -0700, "Starlord" wrote:

I have never understood WHY someone else has to stick their nose into someone
else's way of living. I for one would NEVER buy a home or even RENT in an area
where I couldn't plant the plats I wanted or paint the house as I wanted. I live
in a trailer park and I have a vast garden in the field next door to it and I
have a big telescope sitting out front of my trailer and I have many plants
growing here too. Why can't people just let other people live the way they want
and not bother them a lot?

On Tue, 03 Jun 2003 06:18:22 -0400, Ann wrote:

animaux expounded:

Do you honestly find that to be fair to the rest of the homeowners?

Those homeowners moved into *his* neighborhood, and then tried to tell
him what to do with his land. Tough shit!. He was there first. Their
HOA applied to them, not to the original owner. Do you really think
just because you move into a neighborhood you can tell everyone who
was already there what they can do? Thank god I don't live near
anyone who thinks like that!

That part of the post was edited out. I never saw the original post, for some
reason. In that case, the man has every right to do as he pleases, and the
court proved that by the verdict on his side.

"Diane" wrote in message
...

You missed the gist of the post. This particular guy was the farmer who
lived in the country, who, after the developments moved in, was told he
had to abide by their rules (even though he lived there for 60+ years).
so he followed their rules and they didn't like it.


That doesn't sound credible to me. Unless the farmer was part of a
subdivision with a homeowner's association they would have no jurisdiction
over him. Their rules and demands would be meaningless. For example, I
live in a newer subdivision with a HOA. My lot is on a ravine with a creek.
I have neighbors in an older subdivision without a HOA several hundred
yards away, across the ravine. They would be free to put up a chain link
fence across the back of my property and our HOA rules wouldn't apply. On
the other hand, the farmer would be subject to zoning regulations
established by the local jurisdiction (city, county, township, etc.). So if
the farmer has a problem, it isn't with the new subdivisions, it is with his
local code enforcement and zoning boards. It is extremely unlikely that the
zoning regulation would have been enacted without a number of public
hearings. There is usually a requirement to publish notice of such meeting
several times. The hearing are generally held at a variety of times and
places so the public has a chance to participate in the discussion. There
are established ways to appeal zoning regulation and an opportunity to apply
for a variance.

"Diane" wrote in message
...

by the HOA rules and regulations. They gave him a list of paint colors
that
were "acceptable" for his home. So.....he mixed them all up, and
painted
his home a lovely shade of light peptobismol pink! They took him to
court
and lost. He had lived by the letter of the law.

Honestly, that sounds like some urban legend. Just look at what you wrote:
" They gave him a list of paint colors that were "acceptable" for his home.
" They specified colors and then he mixed a completely different color.
Unless the wording in the covenants and restrictions was so vague that it
was meaningless, I don't believe that mixing a new color from a list of
acceptable colors would hold up in court. We had a case in our subdivision
where a homeowner stenciled his house. He argued that he didn't change the
color, but only "augmented" it by apply a variety of colors over the
acceptable base color. It didn't fly and he had to paint it out. The
bottom line is that HOAs usually have to approve any changes to the exterior
of your home. I would be very interested in seeing an article or some other
citation that discusses the case you mention. I question if you really
think that this would be acceptable and laudable? If you gave your spouse a
list of acceptable colors to paint your living room - a choice from a list
that he agreed to prior to painting, and then he mixed them together to come
up with a completely new color, would you be holding a celebration? Would
you feel that his disregard for his promise to you was valiant display of
rugged individualism? Would you really think that was living by the letter
of the law and honoring word?