I've been on the board for our homeowners' association for ten years now. A few weeks after I bought my house, a stranger came to my door to tell me that the annual meeting would be starting shortly. As a brand new resident, I wasn't even on anyone's mailing list yet, so I hadn't known about the meeting until that moment. I walked down the street to our little park, expecting a crowd. There are sixty homes in our community, but the meeting was attended by only about half-a-dozen of them. I was asked to fill a position on the board of directors. I explained that I didn't even know how to own a house, much less how to help run a community association. The existing board explained that if all positions weren't filled, another annual meeting would have to be called, at great expense. I caved in and was elected, the board having collected enough proxy votes to represent a quorum of homeowners. I served as a director that year, and was named vice-president the following year. During year three our president retired from the military and moved to the mainland. I was named president.

We've done some good things in the last ten years. No one had overseen maintenance fee collections for many years and a number of residents took advantage of that. Now we have only one or two who are allowing their neighbors to carry their financial burden for them, and we have a system in place to deal with them. We installed new streetlights throughout the community and repaved our streets. Our park has safe playground equipment with a protective fall surface underneath, and we have a gazebo with picnic tables and benches. Almost everyone in the neighborhood has been persuaded to maintain their homes and keep their properties clean, though there is one who seems to obsessively collect junk cars and rats. Almost everyone has replaced their old shake roof with something more fireproof. All homeowner have seen a significant rise in the value of their property.

I'm tired and I'm frustrated with the way things have gone for the last two years. The board has turned into a committee that talks about and studies many issues, but never accomplishes anything. We've been trying to get potholes filled and the pavement re-topped on our streets for almost a year. The rainy season is on top of us. The potholes will be beyond patching after a few months of monsoon-like rains & we'll face a cost of $50-80,000 to re-do the entire job. The fence that keeps kids in the playground from tumbling into the stream was supposed to be replaced this year, but the contract bids languish while board members bicker. The list goes on and on. Whenever the board does anything concerning house rule enforcement, my home is vandalized and I recieve threatening notes in my mail box. My dogs no longer have access to my front yard because strange foods were thrown over my front fence and I feared they would be poisoned. The board feels that these are "my" problems and has allowed it to continue and escalate.

So I'm tired and frustrated and buned out. I told our property manager today that I want to step down at our annual meeting next month. He was quite alarmed at this. "But you're the only one who does anything." Um, yeah ... that's the problem. I'm done.

Labels: homeowners association, homes, just stuff

I was just over at my friend Angie's blog and was reminded of something I had not gotten around to blogging about. You see, Angie has chickens and ducks. Nice to live like that, with animals around. I spent a lot of summer vacations with both sets of grandparents when I was growing up, and they all had animals. Between them and their neighbors I was exposed to chickens, ducks, geese, goats, sheep and cows as a child. As I mentioned in a previous post, one of my grandmothers raised small animals "for table," mostly chickens, rabbits and guinea pigs. That seems to me a more healthful and natural was to expose a child to the world than through malls and super-highways, the suburban world where I raised my son.

What Angie wrote that inspired me, though, was a particular aspect of raising animals out loose in ones yard. Angie recently discovered that her ducks have been laying eggs under her house. Since this does not appeal to her she's decided to block off her crawl space so egg-laying can be done in more accessible areas. Bless her! She's a gal after my own heart.

You all know (or should by now!) that I do termite inspections. Yes, this old gal crawls around under houses for a living. It's ususally "just part of the job," though sometimes it's especially interesting or fun. It's nice when you crawl out and present the homeowner with an old, cracked teacup you found. Even moreso when she bursts out crying and explains that it's the last remnant of her grandmother's china. Sometimes it's downright unpleasant. An early employer used to have me carry a pocket recorder and note my findings audibly while I inspected. I've still got a cassett around here somewhere that goes something like this: "The crawl space is dry and well-ventilated. (click) There are subterranean termite tubes extending up the foundation wall beneath the master bathroom. (click) There's drywood termite damage to the rim joist and droppings on the sill beneath OH #%@%*&! I just stuck my hand inside a dead cat!"

Through laughing yet? I've crawled around dead dogs and cats and through chicken, duck and goose poop. I've accidentally cornered skunks, possums, racoons and other critters. I've been cornered myself by territorial geese and dogs. There are actually people in this world who dispose of dog poops by raking or hosing them under their houses. I don't know how they live with the smell, but will testify that they do it!

I'm here today to voice my humble plea. If you live in a house with raised foundations, please, please, please fence around your crawl space. It doesn't really matter how you do it, whether with garden lattice, chicken wire or fancy carpentry.** Could you do that for me? And for the entire pest control industry? And for the telephone repair crew, the plumber, the electrician and the cable guy? We all hate crawling around in animal muck and over the remains of the neighbor's missing cat. We thank you!

Oh, good, you're done already! Did you read Ang.'s Chicken Coop Yet? Well, good again; you're on a roll! Now go see what else she's been up to at A Bit of This and That.

You can thank me for it later!

**I would be remiss if I didn't tell you that you should NOT create any contact between earth and wood while accomplishing this task. To do so would create a nice little bridge for termites to use to enter your house.

Labels: animals, homes, humor, work

Las Vegas is the most popular vacation destination for people from Hawaii. I know quite a few people who go several times a year. I also know of quite a few people who have moved from Hawaii to Las Vegas. Why? Well, Las Vegas is a dynamic city, of course, a gambling and entertainment mecca. But there’s more to it than that. Las Vegas is a great place to raise a family, and Nevada is well-known as a business-friendly state. The median price of a single-family home in Hawaii is over $650,000. And that’s for a small home with not a lot of room to stretch out in. You can buy a townhouse or condominium in Las Vegas for under $200,000, and the single-family homes are not much more. Builders are offering incentive packages of up to $35,000, with zero down-payments available and very attractive rates. If you’re thinking about moving there but not ready to buy a home yet, you also find homes for rent for very reasonable prices, even in luxury golf club communites.

Find out why about 5000 people move to Las Vegas every month at Las Vegas New homes, the fine folks who sponsored this post.

Labels: homes, Las Vegas, payperpost