Feb 26th, 2017: Gravdigr Look Away

On Cape Cod, perched on a sand dune, is a cottage, converted barn, with some additions.
It was built before 1895, and sits between the beach and Truro Beach parking lot
They also have a garage where the yellow arrow is.


You can't see the garage? well, at the shore, sand and mother nature change things frequently. A mini-dune
started to build up around the garage, and when the vegetation grew the sand became anchored.
Eventually the garage got buried and the roof started to sag so they hired a contractor to dig the garage out,
and the contractor applied for a permit. NO NO NO, you can't touch the sand, it's an environmental violation.
That was 40 years ago so in time the garage did collapse.



A month or so back the environmental people decided to rip out the parking lot and let Mother Nature
restore the dune. They also told the people in the house they had to remove the car because it's a What...
environmental hazard.
They even came up with a detailed method of removing the roof, lifting the car out, and filling the garage
with sand trucked in. Don't disturb the native sand. Oh, and get it done as soon as the weather permits.
Yesterday, uh Friday, the contractor said fuck that, I'll yank it out with the front end loader.



Well he got the crossmember, steering box and radiator on the first shot.



He eventually got it all, but I don't think they'll find a buyer.
Tomorrow, monday, they start ripping up the parking lot. Looks like they're qualified.

link

As long as they've retrieved the metal identification plate from the engine bulkhead, they'll be able to complete a first class restoration job based on that.

Yeah, cuz ripping a 40-plus-year-old vehicle to pieces won't disturb or pollute the precious native sand one little bit...I'm sure the contractor who handled this job with such superb delicacy (/sarcasm off) remembered to check the engine for oil, brake fluid, power steering fluid (if the car had power steering), transmission fluid, assorted varieties of heavy-duty lubricants...yeah.

Personally, I'd have granted an exception to the "no disturbing native sand" that would have allowed minor excavation around the garage, provided of course that only the native sand they dug away be used to cover over when they were finished. The gem & mineral club I belong to, like every other mineral claim holder in Montana, is required to restore our diggings to original conditions EVERY YEAR everywhere we do more than surface-pick, and that alone is a job that requires like 5 older dudes who know the routine, plus a backhoe. People are used to that kinda thing now, and they could have dug out the garage, winched the car much more intact onto a flatbed, and then taken down the garage. Ain't bureaucracy grand?

I totally support the protection and restoration of rare and unusual landscapes and wildlife habitats, but some folks take it a bit far. Just exactly how are the owners supposed to get rid of the car chunks without disturbing native sand? Who gets in trouble if a five-gallon-bucket full of oily native sand has to be removed? Bet it ain't the NO PERMITS people...

MA is a pain in the ass because they're given so much power to these unelected committees. The environmental committees tend to attract overzealous, out to save the world, warriors. I can tell you stories about my home town the would make the Pope swear, but Cape Cod has people with a lot of money suddenly have power to go with it.

A couple on the cape built a nice house with a view of the ocean. It's next door to the cottage where Edward Hopper painted summers. The couple jumped though hoops, got the permits, settle boundary claims with all the neighbors before building. Two years ago the guy died and his widow sold to another couple for I think around $5 million. The taxes are $33,000 a year.

A year after they bought it, the town says the permits were issued in error, and the house must be demolished. WHAT?!? Of course they went to court and so far they've lost twice, but still fighting it. Asked for comment the Board of Selectmen said this just a case of people with money flaunting the law and trying to push the board around.
I'd shoot all three of the motherfuckers.

Interesting IOTD from a long way from me.
Drove out Cape Cod a few times in 1965/66 when I was stationed at Fort Devens.
I get a kick out of the lack of view from the next house south. Trade off for no wind I guess.
Google map gives some nice detail. Sure not much in the way of neighbors.

The horror, the horror.

I was afraid you'd be traumatized. It was a stick 328 V-8.

I knew a guy that had a stick Wagoneer. He bought it new, kept it til he died.

My fishing partner had one we used to tow the boat. The problem was he was a perfectionist so the jeep drove him nuts. He died of a heart attack at 47, working on the exhaust system.

Damn.

They're killers.