Sunday, January 6, 2013

Stop that woman!



So the husband and I are wrapping up our few final projects on the house before we take a "break" on the house.  The new sofa has been ordered from Ethan Allen.  New Andersen windows - with the proper fenestration - have been ordered for our sun room.  And we have begun the process of getting a fence so little dogs can roam the back yard and play in the sun.

It was with the fence that we hit the speed bump.

If you will recall, we found out after we bought the house that said house lies inside a neighborhood with restrictive covenants on the architecture of the of the houses.  And, if you'll recall, I locked horns with one of the surly dowagers of the Architectural Review Committee who takes all of this way too seriously.

Reader, with this fence, she is back in our life.

I had to have all of the neighbors sign off on our fence plan.  To do so I had to provide a survey (from closing), a picture of the fence style and specs, and I have to get each neighbor whose property adjoins ours sign off on the fence and put their name on the dotted line.

Everyone on the right and left of our house were easy to work with, but because the back yard of the doyenne from  "The Committee" adjoins ours across the back yard for ten feet, she too had to sign off on it.

So we met with her and everything was going well when she starts mumbling about "public rights of way" and how sure she is that there is one across our back yards.

Had their been one, it would have been on the property description and deed when we signed on the dotted line.

However, before we could say "Jack Robinson", the octogenarian grabs our application and bid, says she is going to research this this week and that she'll return our paperwork once she determines whether one exists or not, and off she goes.

The husband and I are a bit stunned.  We've knocked on her door, but she isn't answering.

And evidently, she did this same thing with the family down the block.  Even though they didn't need her sign off, she knocked on the door, came in their house, chatted, saw the plans, scooped them up and made off with them, holding them and claiming something about an right away that prevented them from building a fence.  They built the fence anyway.

The husband and I feel a bit of anger at her presumption, and we've decided to give her until Monday evening to return said paperwork.  If she doesn't, then we will examine our options.

We want to be good neighbors, but we find her actions odd, and we are not amused.

16 comments:

  1. I understand your frustration (anger) completely! We live in a neighborhood where one person drives up and down the streets daily, making sure the trees have not been touched (without permission). Also, there is someone who drives up and down the streets looking for chipped paint on houses and/or cracks in the walkways to the houses. A steep fine is imposed if not corrected in thirty days.
    Well, I must get back to packing to move!!

    Jim

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    1. That is this woman! Yet her own house is a disaster. For example, the pallet for your house has to come from a selective group colors. This submitted to The Committee for approval. THEN at any point in the future that you need to touch up the exterior paint, then the committee has to rubber stamp it! I'm all for historic preservation, but this impractical. Ad it's all her doing.

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    2. Yes, I live in a historic district. Did I mention the pod comes tomorrow? Well then,...The pod comes tomorrow! Pro-packers come Tuesday!!

      Jim

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  2. Sounds like your "Gladys Kravitz" needs a new hobby.

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    1. If only she was a gossip maven and nosey neighbor. This, I fear is something far worse - someone who wants others to live as she feels fit.

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  3. Sounds more like "Gladys" needs a mental health assessment... There might well have been a public access.... back in the day when your yard was still a Cow Paddock!

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  4. Back in the early days of Technicolor, Natalie Kalmus, the estranged wife of one of Technicolor's founders was working as a color consultant for the firm. Because colors need to be more intense in production to see the color we see on screen, Kalmus controlled a lot of productions. Lots of power. And after a while it became clear that Natalie favored some colors personally, not just professionally.

    I'm beginning to think that our neighbor is our version of Natalie Kalmus.

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  5. does maryland have a death penalty?

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  6. There's ONE in every neighborhood. I have a gal who walks her Yorkshire Terriers LOOKING for duck crap and hummingbird feeders, cracks in pavement, oil stains in parking stalls, etc., et al. She's fucken crazy and everyone hates her. At least yours is in her 80's ... maybe she will expire soon.

    I feel your pain. Folks should be able to "live" in a neighborhood, get to know the neighbors, and THEN decided whether or not to buy. There is no hell worse than a lousy neighbor.

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    1. We should have an update soon. The clock is ticking on her "Monday Evening" deadline.

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  7. A. Keep the back curtains open. B. Wear daisy dukes in the backyard. C. Point a large telescope out a window, pointed at her house. D. Get a large board, put hideous paint samples on it, lean against back of house. E. Submit plans for a VERY tacky gazebo to her. Make sure its directly in her line of sight. F. Fly kabuki to Maryland for a fake backyard gay wedding. Invite 500 drag queens to attend

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    1. Will Kabuki wear Daisy Dukes and sunbathe in our back yard? Periodically calling out "HAROLD! BRING ME AN IIIIICE WAH-TEAR, HAROLD!"?

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  8. It seems that this is all she has to justify her existence, kind of sad really. I have the opposite here in the mountains, everyone just dumps their junk right in the front yard and no one says boo. (and by junk I mean anything and everything)...

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    1. And cars on blocks. Don't forget the cars on blocks.

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    2. Up on blocks, the Cuban Heels of junked autos.

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