Neighborhood Annoyances: Final

Backing out of my driveway this morning reminded me of one of my biggest pet peeves in this neighborhood and that is people that park their (extra) cars on the street such that it makes it nearly impossible for others to either back out of their driveways (without making a zillion contortions) and/or drive safely down the street without risk of pegging a parked car. We've had issues with the people that live across from us before parking their huge SUV on the street. We asked them not to several times, they continued to do it, so we complained to the HOA and they received a violation letter. For the most part, they stopped parking out there until recently. Their oldest son got a "new" car and so now it's parked out there all of the time. I don't understand why these people don't "get it". Frankly, I think they're just stupid. So, now we have to decide whether or not to complain AGAIN. Oh, by the way, the kid wrecked his first "new" car and this one is already banged up, too. And, the rear end of his mother's SUV looks a sight. Must run in the family. Maybe they wouldn't notice if we took a sledge hammer to both of these cars? Better yet, "dad's" Caddy!

Cars makes me think of another irritating thing; people that drive WAY TOO FAST up and down the streets around here. Not just the residents, but also the contruction workers. This is, of course, an incredibly dangerous thing to do because, as mentioned before, there are a lot of pets wandering around but even more of a danger are all of the small children playing in the street. Why people think it is okay to drive 50 in a 25 zone is beyond me but it is (to borrow a tag from Mr. B) a "recipe for disaster" just waiting to happen.

More on breaking rules. Everyone is required to get approval to make any changes to the exterior of their house or to add anything to their property that is visible to one or more other houses. This basically means fences, sheds, screened in porches/sun rooms, fountains (yes, we actually do have one house that has a stone fountain outside their house), children's play equipment (swing sets, slides, etc.) and swimming pools. Also, any significant landscaping activity requires approval. Does anyone around here actually GET approval? Well, we did for our sun room, but, it's pretty obvious that most people DON'T get approval judging from some of the tacky objects around and the shoddy workman/workwoman ship. Many of the fences that were put up are already falling down/sagging in places. Again, some folks just have a "the rules don't apply to ME" attitude and they don't care that their property looks junky and thus brings down the apperance of the entire neighborhood.

Finally, and this is a biggie, there were MANY morons in this joint that were ignoring the water restrictions. I say "were" because, as far as I can tell, no one has been watering for the past several months. However, back in November or so when the restrictions were implemented (and notification of said restrictions were all over the place in the news, in the paper, in the water bills), people were STILL watering their lawns (one idiot was actually watering the open grassy area NEXT to his house). I, of course, took it as my civic duty to rat them out (this included two houses on our street). So, they likely got some sort of communication from The City of Durham about knocking it off; maybe even a fine (I hope so, anyway).

Ok, thus ends my rant (at least for now) about my neighborhood. I'm sure most people that live in a neighborhood/development have similar beefs. Which is really, really sad. Why can't people do what they are supposed to do?

I told The Kid this morning (while attempting to get out of our driveway)that I could really understand why people move to more rural environments where they only have to deal with deers and ducks.

Mrs. B

Neighborhood Annoyances: Part Two

Before I continue with this "series", I do want to point out that the people/houses that I am now complaining about only comprise a small percentage of the folks that live here. But, because everyone else are so polite and well-behaved, these idiots just stand out like sore thumbs!

My next rant concerns the people that don't seem to mind old newspapers, bits of trash and rejected recycling items laying about their property.

Seriously, there are some houses where there the newspapers (still in the plastic bag) on or around the driveway have been there so long and run over so many times by their cars going in and out of their driveway that they are now a permanent fixture of the sidewalk.

Ok, so, they didn't ASK for The Durham News to be delivered every Saturday (for whatever reason, The N&O delivers one paper per household every Saturday whether you ask for it or not; pretty annoying when you are on vacation and have put a hold on your regular deliveries and you come home to piles of these dumb papers all over the place) but STILL. Pick them up and recycle them! Don't just leave the moldering away out there. I don't understand how folks can walk by day after day and just leave them laying there. Exteme laziness, I guess. Too hard to bend over; fat gut's in the way and all.

These same people are likely the ones that continue to put un-recyclable items into their recycling bins, such as pizza boxes or plastic-coated cartons. The recycling pick-up dudes have absolutely no qualms about taking these items out of the bins and throwing them on the guilty party's lawn. Ok, live and learn you dolts! Don't keep putting them in the bins week after week; and, pick the trash up off your yard! Seriously, some houses have misecellanous trash items in their yards for weeks before they finally either get picked up or they simply blow away into someone else's yard who DOES pick them up!

Along these lines, once the trash/recylcing people have come, put your trash can and recylcing bins AWAY! Don't leave them out by the curb for three or four days. Again, these people have to be driving by them as they pull in and out of their driveway. Hello? See me? PUT ME AWAY!

Very recently, there was an incident with one of the people that lives down the street from us with their Christmas Tree. Ok, so, Christmas was, like, six or more weeks ago and they were JUST putting the old tree out for the trash to pick up. Problem was, they waited too late and the trash folks had stopped picking up trees (I think the last Monday of January was the last tree pick up date in our neighborhood).

So, what did these people do?

They drug the tree across the street and threw it in a vacant lot in full sight of anyone walking or driving down the street. Not only was it unsightly, it was also a) not the proper way to dispose of THEIR tree and b) a potential fire hazard, given our drought conditions.

I ratted these folks out by contacting the HOA. They were sent a violation letter and told to property dispose of their tree.

This week, I noticed that they had drug it back across the street and left it in the vacant lot NEXT to their house and next to one of the construction trash bins. I guess they got lucky because someone disposed of it for them.

How lazy can people be?

I rant about this because, it only takes a few idiots like these to really bring down the look and feel of an otherwise very nice neighborhood. I wish there was a way to "vote them off the island"!

Mrs. B

Neighborhood Annoyances: Part One

A few days ago, I blogged about the houses in our neighborhood. Continuing on with the neighborhood theme (and things I observe while I am out walking the dog) and questions of taste aside (and I must say there are some people around this neighborhood that seem to have very little of it), I'm going to write about several items that annoy, irritate, disgust and simply perplex me about some of the people in this neighborhood.

The first and foremost category the fits all of the above (annoy, irritate, disgust, perplex) are pet owners and in particular, dog owners. Ok, there are some cats that are allowed to roam around free which is, frankly, just plain stupid in a neighborhood full of construction trucks and heavy machinery; but, it isn't terribly annoying (although I really don't want to squish one while driving down the street).

So, dog owners. There are, of course, the owners that let their dogs crap all over the place and never pick up after them. Not only is this against the law (and against the HOA rules), it's just plain disgusting. I really wish I could catch one of these lazy slobs red-handed (or, rather, poop bag-less handed) because I'd let them have it (just ask the huckle berry that lived across the street from me on Saratoga Drive). Seriously, what I know I'd do is I'd catch up to them and hand them one of my (many) poop bags (I always carry a stash on me when I walk Lucy) and say, "Excuse me! EXCUSE me! It looks like you might be in need of one of these bags, you forgot yours, right?" and let them try to weasle out of THAT. I will never understand why people think it's ok to leave their dog's crap all over other people's lawns. You can rest assured that they don't let their dog crap on their OWN lawn.

In the neighborhood on the other side of ours is a house that has a sign in its lawn that reads, "Here lies the last dog that crapped in my yard". What is should say is, "Here lies that last dog OWNER that let their DOG crap in my yard"!

A funny (and tsk tsk tsk inspiring) story; I was walking Lucy a few days ago. Lucy's got "dog-dar" (like radar) for whenever there is another dog anywhere in the vicinity. So, her dog-dar perked up her ears and I saw a ways down the street a huge dude walking this little pip-squeak of a dog. He didn't see us; so, I watched while he let the dog crap in someone's yard. He started to walk away, and, for whatever reason, he turned his head and saw me and Lucy standing there watching him. And, get this. At that point, he walked back to the poop, pulled a poop bag out of his pocket, and picked it up. So, this goes to show if people KNOW they are being WATCHED, they WILL pick up after their dog. Maybe we need to form a neighborhood poop watch committee.

Another dog owner irritant; people that don't control their dogs, either while out on walks or at their own homes. There is one guy who has a dog that is wildly out of control. Whenever I see him and said dog, I try to stay away because the dog is also nasty towards Lucy. The guy, a smallish man, lets his dog literally drag him down the street. When the dog sees someone, it gets up on its hind legs and lunges towards the person. If it sees Lucy, it lunges and growls, which causes Lucy to get her 'tude on. The owner always says to me, "Sorry, sorry!" I want to say, "Dude, get control of your animal!" One day, he was across the street from us and observed Lucy sitting down at the corner. He said, "Wow, you taught her that?" Yeah, I did. Spend some time with your pet, why don't you? BTW, I'm pretty sure he's one of the ones that doesn't pick up after his dog but I haven't caught him yet.

And along the lines (of people that don't spend time with their dogs), there are several houses where I know there are dogs but I have no idea how many or what type because they are always locked up in the garage. I walk during several different times of the day, days of the week, etc., and some of these dogs are ALWAYS in the garage. Even when there are cars in the driveway indicating someone is home. Now, come on; why in the heck have a dog (or dogs) and just leave them locked up in your garage? These are people that should not own dogs. Get a cat, they are less maintenance.

My last two dog complaints and then I'll get off the dog-rant are folks that let their dog outside to do its business while they watch from INSIDE (there is one in particular, a small little yippy dog, that lives in the corner house on a very busy street). The dog runs around the front yard, then, if it sees someone, it starts to follow them. Yesterday Lucy and I came across Yippy out on the sidewalk. I stood there for a bit trying to figure out if I should go to the front door with the dog because it kept trying to follow us. Finally, I heard someone inside the house pounding on the window and the dog raced off to the back door. BTW, my guess is that the owner of this dog is grossly overweight and could likely use getting off their fat ass and walking their dog.

The final complaint are people that tie their dogs up outside. Across the street from Yippy is another small dog that, on nice days, is tied to a stake in the back yard. Whenever this dog sees us, it goes ballastic and runs around and around until it is wrapped around one of the porch pillars. One of these days, that dog is going to strangle itself. A few houses up is a beagle that is ALWAYS tied up outside in front of the house. I just don't get it. I feel so sorry for it as it lays there, mournfully watching me and Lucy walk by. I always say, "Hi, sweetie!" but what good does that do? Poor dog.

Well, this has gone on long enough for today. I'll post some of my other neighborhood observations later!

Mrs. B