Thursday, April 24, 2008

...


After deleting potential titles to this post such as "Nazi HOA" or "Trapped in Communist Maple Valley" I decided against those for a more gentle "..." that is more along the lines of how I really feel. Our HOA is currently run by an agency rather than just by the residents because not all of the houses are sold (~5 left). We were digging the sprinkler system trenches as can be seen in the above photo and someone reported us as digging drainage trenches that would drain our water off onto the sloped common areas. Rather than Mr. Anonymous asking us what we were doing or having the HOA quickly come over to see we had to wait almost 3 weeks for approval or suffer a fine. I understand the benefits of an HOA that is run properly, but time delays like this over such simple solutions drive me nuts, (probably just my OCD again!). I resolved to go ahead anyway, but luckily the approval came the same day so we are started again. Now we can fill the ditches back in and hydroseed!

I know many of you use programs to stay caught up on people's blogs. I've mentioned to a few friends about tracking comments as well. I like to track the comments on the blogs of my best friends and family. Here's an explanation if you are interested...right click on the RSS feed button (in blogger it usually says "Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)" at the bottom) and select the options that says something like, "Copy Link Location." Paste that into a word document or your reader if it will let you edit it after pasting. Our blogs feed when copied will say, "http://calderwood.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default." Change the word "posts" to "comments" and add it to your reader. It should read, "http://calderwood.blogspot.com/feeds/comments/default." Whenever anyone posts a comment to that blog you will be able to see it in your reader.

More good news for Seattle housing. Although we didn't buy at the peak we were afraid that we bought too close to it. Luckily housing prices here have been fairly stable in certain areas. We just learned that a house in the neighborhood with our same floor plan (minus 1 extra room and deck that we have) with a smaller yard and not as good of a view sold in less than one week for the same price that we bought ours! Here's to Micro$oft, Boeing and the tech industry helping our local economy.

Due to the lack of pix in this post I snapped a shot of an old photo I had in my car for a YM/YW activity. In the spirit of our good friend Collette's "Flashback Friday," here is an old flashback of mine. If you see any flashback posts out there on a blog, she was the originator. I have seen it spread directly to about 8 or so different others, so props to the original! This is a scout camp I went on and my leader printed the photo out for me (far left crazy guy in cowboy boots) because I was standing on the outside of the group. For some reason he said that was very fitting...


15 comments:

emily said...

i'm sorry about your "..." problems. i'll see if i am smart enough to follow your directions!

Lettie B. said...

HOAs are lame...
The picture is great. I showed it to Nate and he could name everyone, which surprised me. The kid that I thought was him, funnily enough is Zeke (Evans).

Brian said...

I am so glad to be out of our HOA. They tell you what you can do, where you can do it and when you can do it. Pretty annoying.
That scout leader says some interesting things sometimes. He means well. You just can't tell what to make of it sometimes.

Carson Calderwood said...

Brian, Bro. Atwood was the one that took the pic and said that BTW, the scout leader was too weird to say any coherent thoughts ;) oh, and I think his condition was genetic...

Brian said...

Ouch! I think I am down for the count. I guess I have been wrong. Utah is diverse. Just in a "different" way.

Bennett Family said...

first off, the hoa...they're REDICULOUS!

second, that picture? freaking HILLARIOUS! LOVE the boots.

and lastly, funny you posted about following comments in blogger! i wanted to ask you about google reader...I NEED IT!

Chris and Sarah Seymour said...

we have had similar issues with our hoa. since our development is not 100%, there are no members of our community on the board. the whole board consists of the builders employees. like they really keep track on what is really going on in the neighborhood. oh well, glad you got your problem solved and now just on with the next thing.

lucy said...

(HOA?) Sounds like a pain. I like the FridayFlashback idea. I'm thinking of doing a "MondayMission" post and sharing pics and stories from my mission since I never had a chance to talk about it much. Lame?

Chris said...

Wow, look at the handsome dark kid in the middle!

And about the house, I would pass fliers to your neighbors explaining what was going on and the trouble you have to go through.

Let them know they can't be jerks about it.

Carson Calderwood said...

The one that doesn't get any respect? I have talked to most of our neighbors, except the one that we think did it b/c they don't look over at us when they drive up and they never come outside. All of the other neighbors are pretty cool, but the old man is too quiet...

Bennett Family said...

PS...i have a pretty good idea about who ratted you out! see the houe BELOW you? the brown one? he's a GEOLOGIST! just an idea! :)

Zappe Family said...

It was us. :) That's so lame about HOA nazi rules. Hopefully things will calm down?? I say, just keep your playset in your driveway and you're set for ticking them off more! :) Act as if there are no plans to move it from the driveway... :)

How's Caeden's lip?

Carson Calderwood said...

Good idea about the playset! Caeden's lip is doing well today. When he finally stopped putting his fingers into the incision from the inside it stopped bleeding on the outside and the superglue held it together.

Jolley Family said...

Yeah, HOA's can be a pain. Our's always has drama at the meetings. My favorite it when we paid for the old lady at the end of the streets landscaping because she never did it. They got tired of asking her to take care of it so they paid a landscaper to come clean up the yard--even though she's worth 6 million $$'s! So glad we got to spend $800 on her landscaping. I could use a handout in the landscaping dept? Can someone come pay whack my weeds??
Can't wait to see your house and see what your CL home looks like. Glad you guys are getting settled in and enjoying your new home. Hopefully your over the "don't scratch the wood floors" phase. It took me a couple months before I could calm down about it. Now, five years later.....they have character! HJ

Anonymous said...

What is this about Caeden lip? I know he is climbing up on everthing. I love that scout picture. It reminds me how much fun you had on the activities with Brother Olsen. Just think you are doing some of the same things with your scouts. You gotta love it. Are those boys anything like you were? Grabing in hot grease with your bare hands to get the scone4s out cause you were so hungry and couldn't wait to find the right tool. You are creative with all you do.
About the OHA will they always be watching you so much? Or will it quest down once you get up the fences and get you swing set in the back?
Love
Mom