tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740338215172190519.post1992027131977351315..comments2023-12-28T11:27:12.248-06:00Comments on The Art of Being Conflicted: The Eyes of MarchCperzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09062444081488414888noreply@blogger.comBlogger44125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740338215172190519.post-32300782245499824642014-03-20T16:57:50.173-05:002014-03-20T16:57:50.173-05:00I could just hug you about now. I think exactly t...I could just hug you about now. I think exactly the same way. I like dogs but the neighbor behind me has 4 big dogs and when I mow, their barking scares the livin' crud out of me. I have visions they will come through the fence and eat my face for lunch. <br /><br />Also, agree about the trees. I love trees and hate to see them destroyed. I even hate it when neighbors don't take proper care of trees. I ESPECIALLY HATE it when they mistreat MY trees. <br /><br />Snow...I hope they are wrong about the upcoming forecast. Bring on the REAL spring. We are supposed to get some below freezing temps over the weekend but there was no mention of snow. I am keeping my fingers crossed.Cheryl P.http://artofbeingconflicted.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740338215172190519.post-89233082731569613082014-03-20T15:48:32.806-05:002014-03-20T15:48:32.806-05:00My thoughts on your thoughts. Good fences do make...My thoughts on your thoughts. Good fences do make for better neighbors. The downside being the neighbors that have large, barking dogs. I don't dislike dogs, but some big dogs scare me and I do dislike being barked at every time I go near the fence. There isn't much space between the houses and I have to mow, and move the garbage and recycle bins past the fence, amid furious barking. <br /><br /><br />Also it really irks me when people mutilate perfectly good trees, or cut them down completely. That has happened a lot around here. Huge, healthy trees cut down leaving bare landscape. <br /><br /><br />Spring is here, at least per the calendar. It's warm now, but we had freezing precip on Monday and snow is forecast for next week that may or may not materialize.Linda R.http://www.roses2rainbows.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740338215172190519.post-29923326976715874522014-03-17T23:42:19.071-05:002014-03-17T23:42:19.071-05:00Same thing here, the du******s left all kinds of s...Same thing here, the du******s left all kinds of straggling branches which wouldn't have survived the next big Kansas wind. Our arborist came and pruned the whole tree back making it look stupid but we are hoping that enough new branches will sprout to camouflage it a bit. We really need that root ball to stay put to anchor that side of the lot. <br /><br />Neighbors..gotta love them ....or NOT.Cheryl P.http://artofbeingconflicted.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740338215172190519.post-3717110048714251232014-03-17T19:49:45.684-05:002014-03-17T19:49:45.684-05:00I am DYING. That tree could be in MY yard and my ...I am DYING. That tree could be in MY yard and my other neighbor's yard. The OTHER neighbor climbed our trees and cut limbs that were going over his yard. TOTALLY killed that tree... and ours just looks like crap like your picture. That is HYSTERICAL!!! Oh and with ours? He left some branches hanging in a "V" so in the next hurricane they will fall and hurt someone or something!Katherine Murrayhttp://www.shoot-me-now.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740338215172190519.post-53156214373620420582014-03-17T18:57:13.937-05:002014-03-17T18:57:13.937-05:00Yea most people around here really aren't too ...Yea most people around here really aren't too friendly to conversation/standoffish in general. Must be the weather or something. And yep my blog is www.electricaddict.net Thanks for stopping by :)Electric Addicthttp://www.electricaddict.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740338215172190519.post-85282610001227115772014-03-17T18:25:13.487-05:002014-03-17T18:25:13.487-05:00Holy Moly...A crack head in the neighborhood. I g...Holy Moly...A crack head in the neighborhood. I guess it's a good thing that your crackhead neighbor seems be a unfriendly douch bag on top of being a drug addict. I would find it confusing if my neighbor asked me if I wanted a coke and I had to wonder what he meant by it. Yep...keep those doors locked. <br /><br />BTW..Thanks for stopping by. I love to see new people join in the comments. If you have a blog let me know and I will come to visit as well.Cheryl P.http://artofbeingconflicted.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740338215172190519.post-68105308980044573542014-03-17T17:08:04.004-05:002014-03-17T17:08:04.004-05:00My neighbor is a crack head and said hi to him onc...My neighbor is a crack head and said hi to him once and he gasped in disgust at me. Safe to say I lock my doors at night.Electric Addicthttp://www.electricaddict.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740338215172190519.post-23822671265839344922014-03-16T08:32:45.683-05:002014-03-16T08:32:45.683-05:00While we have always lived in major cities, my hus...While we have always lived in major cities, my husband has always retained his family farm. He shares it with his brother. I guess that is true about the being able to spin on our farm as well but with my luck the school bus would go by.<br /><br />I totally understand that competitiveness in the country. I have nothing to do with the crops ....other than gloat. ....but I LOVE mentally sizing up how beautiful our crops are compared to the other area farms. My brother-in-law's crops should be featured in text books they are so beautiful. AND don't even get me started on yields. It's a good thing I don't actually live on our farm as I could become an agra-bitch.Cheryl P.http://artofbeingconflicted.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740338215172190519.post-5332136268407966932014-03-16T08:23:37.360-05:002014-03-16T08:23:37.360-05:00Yes, we are nothing if not passive aggressive arou...Yes, we are nothing if not passive aggressive around here. At one point the family next door actually came out while hubby was working on weeding landscape beds and told him that they thought people that "wasted" their time primping yards were nuts. (of course, this neighbor's yard was 99 percent crab grass, 1 percent clover) <br /><br />Things have calmed down a bit as that neighbor has since hired a lawn service. I guess if one does their own yard work they are nuts but hiring others to be nuts on your behalf is good)<br /><br />Funny line "breast fed decidedly non organic". A couple of years ago, I filled out all the paperwork to become a "Master Gardener" but when I found out you had to sign a paper promising never to use a chemical that was not natural or organic, I hastily shredded them. (once I had recovered from my head spinning in 360 degree spins)Cheryl P.http://artofbeingconflicted.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740338215172190519.post-15498410866209772552014-03-16T02:21:12.746-05:002014-03-16T02:21:12.746-05:00my nearest neighbour is 2 miles away. i could twir...my nearest neighbour is 2 miles away. i could twirl nude on the front lawn for days. i will say here in the country people are very competitive about their gardens and green houses. less about their appearance, more about their harvest. and in the spring the farmers are very petty with each other about who had the straightest plough lines in their fields.Beverly Steevesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740338215172190519.post-85267043442769072082014-03-15T20:23:05.707-05:002014-03-15T20:23:05.707-05:00Oh boy, you sound a lot like my husband except he ...Oh boy, you sound a lot like my husband except he engages in mostly silent, passive aggressive battles with the neighbors infringing on what I like to call his breast fed decidedly non organic lawn. It gets tense at times. And then I have to go out with the snow blower and rack up brownie pointsChickens consiglierenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740338215172190519.post-54312016826771322902014-03-13T16:11:35.748-05:002014-03-13T16:11:35.748-05:00Now aren't you just the sweetest person to say...Now aren't you just the sweetest person to say "funny" as opposed to bat-shit crazy. <br /><br />I, too have lived in HOAs where the home-owner police AKA HOA hierarchy, are over zealous and run the neighborhood with the same force that Kim Jong-un is running N. Korea but our current "leaders" seem to be rather incognito. In fact, I have no idea who my leaders are. I would guess if I wanted an introduction, I could paint my house with some glow-in-the-dark paint. <br /><br />Yes, when my newly maimed tree gets hit with one of Kansas' lovely wind storms, I can only hope it falls away from my house. I think it was quite considerate of your tree to miss all structures. I am hoping that if my tree isn't the considerate type at least let it hit the neighbor's house. (OK..I am a bad neighbor wishing such a thing but her crappy tree trimmer is the one that brought about this <br />possibility)<br /><br />I did check into the possibility of removing it but the consenses is that the huge root system plays an important role is stabilizing the ground between our houses. With my luck, the thing will fall on her house but my house will fall into a huge sink hole. <br /><br />Please, no meltdowns...our shared husband wouldn't want that.Cheryl P.http://artofbeingconflicted.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740338215172190519.post-23256908109885723832014-03-13T11:13:26.695-05:002014-03-13T11:13:26.695-05:00Your comment is almost as funny as your post. Your...Your comment is almost as funny as your post. Your description of Frost had me laughing out loud. He could have used queer in that context without censure but I'm sure it wouldn't have gone unnoticed by some group that would shown up at his house to protest.<br /><br /><br />We spent 4 hellish years living in a neighborhood with a HOA. I will never do that again. There were no fences there but, dear gawd, it was awful. I felt like I'd stepped into "The Stepford Wives" and there was no way out.<br /><br /><br />That tree sounds like one of the trees that we lived with for over 10 years. Over half of it overhung our garage and the tree wasn't very healthy. We came home from visiting my FIL in WI to find half of it laying on the ground on our property. Hurricane Danny had done a number on that thing. After many discussions with our neighbor, they opted to cut off what had been broken and leave the rest. We offered to help pay to take the whole thing down but they wouldn't hear of it.<br /><br /><br />Almost 2 years to the day, Hurricane Irene knocked the rest of it down clipping only a corner of our garage, a corner of the owner's garage, and a bit of another neighbor's shed's roof. I remember hearing this indescribably sound, looking out the window, and watching it slowly heave to the left. It's incredible that it missed every structure when it was completely surrounded by them. I miss that tree because it was the one where all the birds came to visit me.<br /><br /><br />Maybe you'll get lucky and your ugly tree will go down in a big storm. On their side of the fence.<br /><br /><br />Please keep writing these weekly posts. I'm seriously going to have a meltdown if you quit.Cherylhttp://decksidethoughts.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740338215172190519.post-32202819271305695042014-03-13T10:14:09.652-05:002014-03-13T10:14:09.652-05:00I am fairly PRO HOA. I kind of grind my teeth whe...I am fairly PRO HOA. I kind of grind my teeth when I have to send paint chips and beg (or provide sexual favors) to paint my house an "eath" tone but they do, for the most part, keep the neighborhood looking nice. No bright purple or hot pink houses allowed. BUT every now and again, there are issues with people letting their yards go to hell. We have a 6 inch high rule on the grass. Now you would think that 6 inches (we're talking grass here) is rather lengthy and generous before forceing someone to mow. But any given year there is a house about 10 doors down that will be forced to mow. <br />As for your bat-shit crazy neighbor....He must have control issues. If someone is being paid (via you being charged) to do your lawn work...why would it matter if his grass is greener before the others. He's not the one going to be credited. Everyone is going to accuse your lawn service of doing something "extra" to his lawn. They aren't going to assume the homeowner is paying for a service AND doing his own lawn work. <br />Personally...I wouldn't do anything if I was paying someone else to do it. We do pay for fertilizing, pest control and such and I don't run out after they put down nitrogen and throw some extra down. I pay them to make my lawn green. <br />I have said this before but ...I just love your cartoons. Green grass on a very private lawn, heh??? Is there a chance your neighbor could move?Cheryl P.http://artofbeingconflicted.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740338215172190519.post-24564623922150751242014-03-13T10:05:02.186-05:002014-03-13T10:05:02.186-05:00You are so much "bursting my bubble" (h...You are so much "bursting my bubble" (hahaha...my bubble is pretty thick so it really doesn't burst) <br />But just so you know....I only read the condensed version of poems so they substantiate my half-assed premises. Just as people can find a passage in the Bible to support whatever idea that needs reaffirming. Doesn't matter which side you are on any topic, there is a passage to support or condemn it, ...and you might have to "tweak" the interpretation a bit to make it fit.<br />As for Frost...I would think his poems would be quite different today. <br />Yes...I have examples:<br />Remember the part where he says<br />Whose woods these are I think I know.<br />His house is in the village though;<br />He will not see me stopping here<br />To watch his woods fill up with snow.<br />Today there would be a 911 call in there somewhere. Of couse, he (whoever he is) will see him stopping. There is surveillance and cameras involved.<br />OH and what about the one that says:<br />My little horse must think it queer....seriously horsey better watch where he goes with the word queer.<br />OR: <br />I have looked down the saddest city lane<br />I have passed by the watchman on his beat<br />and dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.<br />OK now that one could of been written today...and Frost would be being held in a KC jail without bail. Looking down while walking in a back ally with no explaination will not end well. <br />That concludes the poetry section of my comment...<br />I probably am not married to your husband but I can see where having two men to support me would be a really nice thing. AND it sounds like you live in the nicer neighborhood....so maybe I could split up my time. <br />For the most part here in suburbia...everyone takes pride in their home and if they don't the HOA would force them to "make things attractive". So from an outsiders point of view.,..alll looks nicey-nice. But our yards in this neighorhood aren't all that large and fences do help define the space and allow for some privacy. In Nebraska we lived on 3 acres and fences just weren't necessary....here a third of an acre doesn't give you much space.<br />My neighors seem appreciative of my husband when he helps them so I don't fault them for that but I will say...your neighbors sound AWESOME. Gifts and food..seriously AWESOME.<br />Yards can become a fight. I feel for you fighting drought and poor soil. A person can only do what a person can do. <br />Yes, the ugly tree trimming incident is still a bone of contention around here. We have an arborist that comes in both the spring and the fall to trim all 28 of our trees. He shapes and prunes and they are...oops "were" looking very pretty. While some branches by their very nature do hang over the fence line, we have told all our neighbors just to let us know if anything needs trimmed and our guy will come back out and take care of it.<br />This neighbor hired a lawn service who is NOT a tree guy and he just went crazy on this tree. The only way to redistribute the weight of the tree so it would blow over in the next micro-burst or tornado was to top it and take of the longer branches on our side of the fence thereby reducing the heavy side's weight. Now we have a tree that makes Charlie Brown's Christmas tree look like the picture of health. We will see how things look after it gets it's leaves in the spring. It can't look any worse than it does now. GGGRRRR.Cheryl P.http://artofbeingconflicted.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740338215172190519.post-79752959017619335602014-03-13T09:26:44.026-05:002014-03-13T09:26:44.026-05:00Don't feel guilty at all..embrace your good fo...Don't feel guilty at all..embrace your good fortune to not have had to put up with this type of weather. <br />It looks like we are finally past it...we will be in the 60s for daytime highs this week. YAY. (I hope I didn't jinx anything by typing that)<br />We should both have some fun in the sun this week...have a good one.Cheryl P.http://artofbeingconflicted.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740338215172190519.post-90084782641655948162014-03-13T03:18:05.217-05:002014-03-13T03:18:05.217-05:00I hate to burst the collective bubble of the folks...I hate to burst the collective bubble of the folks on this thread but in "Mending Fences" Robert Frost was not saying that good fences make good neighbors, rather questioning why we need fences at all. "Before I built a wall I'd ask to know what I was walling in or walling out, and to whom I was like to give offense."<br /><br /><br /><br />Frost lived on a large farm and never had to deal with subdivisions and planned or gated communities. He might write something different today but my guess is his contemporary version of that poem might be even sadder than the one he wrote so very long ago.<br /><br /><br />That concludes the deep thinking portion of this comment.<br /><br />This whole thing cracked me up. I could relate to all of it on one level or another. Except the fences. We don't live in suburbia (or at least I don't think we do). We live on a beautiful tree-lined, family friendly street on the edge of the city. On our little section of that street, people take pride in the appearance of their homes and their property. That pleases me because their pride increases the resale value of our little house by at least 25%. Booyah!<br /><br /><br />Are you married to my husband? Not only is he the only person in our area who owns a shiny, if old, snow blower, he's also the person in our house who remembers our neighbors names. I do know all their kids names and I'm pretty sure that says more about me than the kids' parents. They all seem rather nice and, to give credit where credit is due, they're all really appreciative of what my husband does. "We" receive fresh-baked cookies and bread, the occasional bottle of wine (neither of us drinks), and overly generous gift certificates to places to eat or buy fresh vegetables and other cool stuff.<br /><br /><br />He also loves keeping out lawn as green as possible but his efforts are futile given that he's fighting a losing battle with poor dirt, weeds that run amok, and voles, moles, and grubs. Only the wealthy have underground sprinkler systems, so there's also the annual drought conditions that brown things up really nicely. At least the front lawn tends to cooperate so we don't have to deal with the pity of being the poor white trash in the 'hood.<br /><br /><br />We have more ugly tree-trimming stories than anyone has a right to have. The law of the land up here is that overhanging branches are untouchable except by the people who own the land in which the tree is planted. Sadly, those owners don't want to pay to have the job done right so we've been living with the same kind of ugliness you've got. After 15 years, we've gotten used to it and I do enjoy watching the squirrels sitting out on the branch stumps.Cherylhttp://decksidethoughts.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740338215172190519.post-67251806424700370202014-03-12T19:40:17.297-05:002014-03-12T19:40:17.297-05:00Yes, at the end of the day, Robert Frost says it b...Yes, at the end of the day, Robert Frost says it best.<br /><br />I can't help but feel a tad guilty reading everyone's posts about the snow. We're still facing a drought, but I'm not complaining about plenty of sunshine. Sorry, Cheryl.<br /><br />xoRobynRobyn Engelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740338215172190519.post-5435212759161373542014-03-12T15:49:36.988-05:002014-03-12T15:49:36.988-05:00I thought of you when I was putting this post toge...I thought of you when I was putting this post together as you have talked in some of your posts how you like your space. I think that sounds like a very nice way to live. I lived with my grandparents as a kid and they lived on acreage in the country and I loved having pastures, woods, creeks and such to explore. <br />I am not sure that if I won the lottery that I would stay in suburbia but for now I am just 5 minutes away from my daughter and her family and this works. <br />Luckily for me...most neighbors now don't neighbor so you still are somewhat able to enjoy your solitude. I am the kind of person that enjoys the fence that surrounds my little slice of suburbia. I can go out into my yard and just enjoy being alone. If it weren't for things like barking dogs and such it would be even better.Cheryl P.http://artofbeingconflicted.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740338215172190519.post-81130661764798737022014-03-12T12:57:24.274-05:002014-03-12T12:57:24.274-05:00It would be very difficult for me to live with nei...It would be very difficult for me to live with neighbors "within spitting distance" after 20 years in my rural paradise. I have to hand it to you.Jaynehttp://injaynesworld.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740338215172190519.post-88414761545851533112014-03-12T11:02:03.546-05:002014-03-12T11:02:03.546-05:00OMG...that is HOT...seriously, I am not sure I jus...OMG...that is HOT...seriously, I am not sure I just wouldn't melt.Cheryl P.http://artofbeingconflicted.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740338215172190519.post-70134660800518504762014-03-12T09:16:40.610-05:002014-03-12T09:16:40.610-05:00I tend to clean up my act a bit on line but if you...I tend to clean up my act a bit on line but if you were a fly on the wall in our home office listening in on what hubby and I say about things...eloquence might not be the adjective you would use.<br /><br />The Iowa neighbor did all manner of shit to annoy me. I could write a chapter on that B***** with how self absorbed she was. Her explanation was (and I am not kidding) that in her country her household had servants and she didn't know how to do anything for herself and as an American I was used to doing "housekeeping" things anyway. (I am purposefully not throwing in her ethnicity as it would just come across hateful)<br /><br />Locally a lot of people line the front curb of their property with boulders. Not huge rocks but what they call "decorative" stone. I think it looks crappy especially as most people don't trim the grass and weeds around their rocks. I actually tried to find an online picture of these to put in my post but couldn't find one. I will have to remember to snap a pic as I pass some. <br />I just plan on replacing sprinkler heads a couple of times a year. <br /><br />The conversation started with hubby using a "tone" which he does very effectively. Using the "tone" , he said something about "What were you thinking?"<br />To which the tree guy said something to the effect that our tree branches were too shady to let the grass seed germinate on the neighbor's side of the fence. AND that we were BAD neighbors. Then my husband lost his mind. The rest of that conversation would have to come to you on an email. <br /><br />As for HOAs..mixed bag of pros and cons. I always prefer neighborhoods with covenants but I want them to be realistic. I don't want a laundry list of things I can't do but I do want provisions that the idiot next door can't put his classic car (the 1958 Edsel that is just a rusty shell) up on blocks in the middle of his front yard. I have never had that problem but know people that have. I have seen horrible things that neighbors have done to their houses in non-HOA neighborhoods. In Texas one of the bone's of contention with our HOA were the people that wanted to fly the Confederate flag. That was not allowed. I did the happy dance when the house two doors down had to take their flag out of the front window. Seriously, every neighborhood has an idiot and it doesn't matter if it's a nice neighborhood or not. <br /><br />I have never had a lien put on my house by an HOA but they really have such limited power. Sure if you do something anti-convenant they can slap a lien against your property but nothing happens to that lien until you sell the house and even then...it is paid off as part of the mortgage. So really...HOAs are all bark and no bite.Cheryl P.http://artofbeingconflicted.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740338215172190519.post-62763956457715212572014-03-12T08:37:34.234-05:002014-03-12T08:37:34.234-05:00Six years it has remained empty???? Do people real...Six years it has remained empty???? Do people really not want to have you as a neighbor??? Is the place haunted? Should I buy it and turn it into a half-way house for Starving Bloggers? <br /><br />I never get lucky with empty houses for neighbors...I always have a couple of good neighbors with a nut-bag or two in the neighborhood that keeps things interesting. I am always hesitant to tell stories on the nut-bags on my blog as two of my neighbors sporadically read it. AND one thing about my neighborhood..we may not talk all that much but it seems that the gossip still manages to make it to each and every household.Cheryl P.http://artofbeingconflicted.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740338215172190519.post-82214940886002191052014-03-12T00:41:20.739-05:002014-03-12T00:41:20.739-05:00Yep, it's a bottle brush tree and used to be t...Yep, it's a bottle brush tree and used to be thicker to hide him but it's thinning out a bit now.<br /><br /><br />As for Aus, the heat over summer has been 45 degrees celcius plus many days in a row, that would melt your frozen front yard!Lady Jewels Divanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8740338215172190519.post-90998999622661992772014-03-11T22:44:56.844-05:002014-03-11T22:44:56.844-05:00You must be my REAL immediate family. You and I th...You must be my REAL immediate family. You and I think alike, except you're more polite and eloquent about it.<br /><br />The Iowa neighbor: Really? I'd have started sending over dirty socks to wash to see how they went with them.<br /><br />People jumping the curb in front of you house: I'd start leaving nails there. Just in case.<br /><br />I'm dying to know what your husband said to the tree trimmer. <br /><br />We are starting to look for a house this year and we're basically ruling out anywhere with an HOA. We don't want to get fined $1,500 for not polishing the door knob or painting it purple.Riot Kittynoreply@blogger.com