Saturday was the USMC Ball for RS Milwaukee. So we didn’t plan on doing a whole lot this weekend. However, one (or more) of the neighbors on our block was taking issue with us and a handful of other residents’ activities on their respective properties. This person called the city building inspector. Who then issued several citations. So we went from black tie formal attire Saturday night to Carhartt bibs on Sunday.
These were citations not for, say, the caving-in cinderblock garage that abuts (that is, sits directly on the property line, not 3 feet away from it as stated in the building code) the back of our property (the owner of which is friends with one of the neighbors we suspect called the city). They were for the carport one of the people down the block put up to shelter their second car. One was also for our project boat and the shelter we built over it. We were given a month to disassemble the shelter and get the Ditch Boat on a trailer. Not exactly a great timeline to get a good deal on a trailer. However, Matt found a marina that had recently gotten a new yard trailer, and gave us their old one (a dual axle) for $1200. Ditch Boat is now road-ready for when we take her to get the engine put back in.
Granted, we will still be needing to lay gravel to extend our driveway to the back of the house (where it probably once extended to before an addition rendered the garage useless for cars) to be fully legal. But the building inspector himself said something along the lines of “That side of your house is, ahem, out of direct view of anyone who might take issue with it. And who could tell if there was gravel under snow anyway?”. So that cost is at least put off until late Spring. Glad that we got a trailer, not glad it wasn’t exactly on our terms.
Hunt/Fish/Play 
Chances are you are probably hoarders, drug dealers and steal lawn clippings from their yards.
You also sit up into the wee hours planning ways to mess your place up so they will be ticked off. you see, your neighbors “know’ you’re doing it on purpose. So take a bit of pleasure in realizing the time they have wasted being upset about the way you live.
We have lived in our home about 18 years. Four of our neighbors over the years have suggested the names of a friend or a company to give us an estimate on repaving our drive.
My drive is almost the longest on our street. My last estimate, 5 years ago, was $13500. The previous owner drove a semi rig for a living and parked on the driveway. They wonder why its all broken up. I’m so sorry that the appearance of my home makes you feel bad. yeah, right.
I am sure your fancy cars feel bad for our 5 and 10 year old cars (that are paid in full) because they aren’t NEW.
I’m not paying almost $400/mo to own a new car so everyone will think I am worth more than I am not. I change my own control arms, etc. Always cheaper to fix yourself than buy new.
I know your grass taunts mine because clover grows in it. Your lawn service probably is really cheap. I know mine is. I mow it myself
My home has two more years and it will be paid in full. We were able to buy a camp on a lake. This summer retreat is for our family. Never once rented it out. That mortgage will be paid for in 12 years.
So to my neighbors, if you need to take a picture of your house, then shoot from a different angle. While you’re looking through your windows and see my cracked and gray blacktop drive, why don’t you close the blinds and go watch TV.
Bully for you two. Do what you must for town code. Keep saving the maximum for you and your adventures. Your way of living is what makes you the people you are.
I am 60 years old now. Life is too short. Be wise, frugal and adventurous. Living alone is no adventure when the love of your life is gone. I am thankful for the coarse we have taken.
Bully Bully.
Before this, it was that the honeysuckle bushes in our front yard were too tall. So we had to cut these lovely, flowering bushes down to nubby sticks. I was warned that having my vegetable garden in the front yard, where the dogs had not compacted the soil, and where they couldn’t get into it, might be out of code. And we don’t have an HOA, and our neighborhood is decidedly working class (there’s, I shit you not, a strip club across the street. And not a nice one). Until now, we’d been chalking it up to crotchedy retirement boredom, but this was a particularly expensive outbreak of said boredom. The people with a carport are moving, they’ve lived here 30+ years, and said it was like this even before retirement struck. We’ll be moving in 2-4 years with Matt’s job, and while I love living in Madison, I will not miss this hassle. It’s very live-and-let-live in our area, except for this.
Ahhh, aren’t neighbors grand?