Battle of the Bricks

If you've ever lived in a neighborhood, you've probably had to deal with the homeowners association. All the nit-picky rules of what you can and can't do. I know, in the long run, it really is for the good of the neighborhood (even though I'm still miffed at getting a letter for leaving my trash can out too many days!). I mean, I would hate to come home to find the neighbor has painted their house bright blue and put pink flamingos in the yard!

I live in a townhouse which means that the houses are connected and we share a a strip of grass that has bushes in it. This is what the grass strip is supposed to look like.

This is my grass strip on the good neighbor's side. This neighbor is so sweet. She just got engaged and will be moving, so I'm nervous about who's coming in.

The other side is a different story! I can't figure out who/what lives there. So far, I've seen a young, big, hairy, gruff, wife-beater wearing, slightly balding man with what seems to be his father. Equally as hairy, gruff and balding. But I've also seen other people frequently coming, "working" on stuff in the driveway, and talking really loud late at night. They drive a big, blue windowless van. [Think kidnapper van] And they also have this atrocious white LOUD white truck. It literally sounds like a fleet of 19 wheelers comin' down the otherwise quaint street.

Their garage is jam packed with work stuff. They seem to be in the construction type work. Because of this, both of their obnoxious vehicles are parked in their driveway most of time, if not blocking the street. The problem with this is that both of the vehicles, side by side, don't exactly fit on the driveway. This means that they are partially parking on the grass strip. Bushes and plants don't tend to grow well if they have a semi parked on top of them.

I guess bubba and bubba jr. got the bright idea to widen their driveway! This is what the grass strip on the other side now looks like:



But it doesn't stop there...they decided to brick their front stoop too!


I must say that it does look good, BUT who, in their right mind, thinks that it's ok, living in a small neighborhood community, to widen your driveway or redo your front stoop?!?!

I decided it was time to do something! I called the manager of the HOA and he said that I was definitely NOT the first person to call. Many calls had already been made and they have called the neighbors and sent a certified letter (which I saw sitting on their freshly redone stoop yesterday). My main concern was the grass strip. I am now left with nothing but dirt! I asked if the neighbors would have to replace the bushes. He said that the neighbors would be billed and, I'm guessing, the community would replace the actual bushes.

So stay tuned!