from atop warwick castle

[xoxoxoBruce]

I wasn't real happy to come home and see the fire department putting out a fire only feet from my own house.

Was the fire on your property or is the house close to the property line?

[windhund]

It was on their property. That's where all the brush was. Fortunately the FD got there before it spread to anyone else's.

[windhund]

Oh, BTW, while this is a bit off the subject, the first thing I thought of when I read this:

Originally posted by xoxoxoBruce
Whoa nellie! Back the fuck up! You want to dictate to your neighbors how they should keep their grounds? You're in the wrong country.

was that you were unfamiliar with the concept of homeowner's associations, which can and do tell people what they can and can't do with their property, frequently to a highly ridiculous degree. They seem to be more common in the South, and in newer housing developments. We made sure when we bought our house that there wasn't an HOA there due to all the horror stories we'd heard from friends who had to deal with them.

Of course, the one (and only, as far as I can tell) downside to not having an HOA is that if a neighbor wants to treat their yard like a landfill there's not much to be done about it unless health or safety is at stake and you can prove it to the city/county.

Here's a thread on another board about just how stupid HOAs can be:

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/...hreadid=198416

[perth]

heres another one. its not a great image, unless you count the ghostly visage of HELL in the top right corner!


heres a detail:

now i see a kewpie doll, its mouth agape screaming in untold horror. what do you see?

yes, i know theres a logical explanation. and that explanation is that i was using a flash and it bounced off the plexiclass covering and protecting the bookcases (you can barely see it if you look in certain parts). but i thought it was kind of neat that i finally got a picture of a genuine fake ghost. i had toyed with the idea a while back of making my own ghost images, just for fun. but i think i like travelling abroad and taking copious amounts of random pictures instead.

larger image here, for those who are interested. the people in the picture are wax figures, not more ghosts.

~james

[windhund]

Wow - that's both cool and creepy at the same time!

[xoxoxoBruce]

was that you were unfamiliar with the concept of homeowner's associations,

Oh yes, very familiar. Wouldn't buy into one of those for love nor money. Even without them, there are plenty of folks around that know better what their neighbors should and shouldn't do with their property. I haven't mowed my lawn for 8 years for just that very reason. Now they're sorry they pissed me off.:p