3 posts tagged “anal retentives”
Thanks to a very good and helpful friend in Japan, we've made an end run around the over-zealous/ perhaps nothing better to do on that day, customs inspectors and now have seeds and now have some very healthy-looking sprouts..
A bit late in the growing season to be sure, but hey, its better than not having any at all.
Was all set to leave the house to meet wife at the airport this evening; made a final check on-line to make certain the plane was in the air, it was.
Then about 15 minutes later, the phone rings and the caller ID indicates its from a pay phone ?????? Pick up and it's the wife calling me to tell me she missed her connecting flight to Dulles. Okay, why? Turns out she was detained at Customs as she had (gasp!!) a packet of Japanese cucumber seeds and was told she either had to go to court (in the Midwest) or pay a fine, which was $700. She paid the fine with the credit card. She thinks she was tripped up and the airport was one she/we don't normally pass through on our way back here.
Oh the horrors that would await the U.S. from a packet of Japanese cucumber seeds! Wonder where the line is between actually protecting U.S. citizens and a shakedown.
Was verbally gnashing the teeth, as particularly now $700 out the window is something we cannot afford, when son says, "Dad, it's not going to get any better by continuing to bitch like that" Humbling being told that by a teenager.
Still, Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Sound ominous, doesn't it? It's a small group of people in the HOA I am stuck in, who are the arbiters of what a person can or cannot do to their home.
Yesterday started off gloomy but the afternoon turned lovely and I was outside with the dog weeding and trimming back the lavender planted out in the front. While outside, I noticed a 60 + woman walking towards our home, not unusual as there is pedestrian traffic on weekends, but then as she was on the opposite side of the street, stopped, took out a small digital camera and started taking pictures of our house.
I immediately challenged her with a ' Can I help you with something?' and in turn I was told, in a much less than friendly manner, she was part of the HOA (that's when I remembered who she was) and that she was taking pictures of all the houses so that the architectural control committee would have a record of each house, supposedly to help them when an owner wants to make modifications.
Bullhockey! The rules clearly state that when a home owner wants to modify his/her home, they must provide drawings etc., along with the application. More likely, she was trying to gather photos to document instances of 'noncompliance' that the HOA anal retentive have been grumbling about for some time.
Now taste to me is a relative thing, especially when it comes to homes. While digging up a long-lost confederate cannon, mounting it on a carriage and then pointing it at a neighbor's door is one thing, but getting upset because a home does not have a 'conforming' garage door, front door, or paint scheme is something else.
I've railed about anal retentive HOAs, such as the one I am stuck with before and I am not going to repeat that post, but one lesson here is when house buying, if there is anything one is uncomfortable about, not how small it may seem at the time, be it the way the neighbors keep their house, the traffic, or having an HOA have control over what you may or may not do with your home, back off, for the problem will not go away and you will be living with it day in and day out.
All in all though, while the encounter with the HOA architectural control cabal was unpleasant, I do feel sorry for her. To have a day yesterday which started out so dark and ugly, turn so beautiful in the afternoon and to have nothing better to do than to walk around the neighborhood to take pictures of your neighbor's homes is sad.
