OT 19: Masks On, Clothes Off, Right Hand Left Titty

[Tar]

5/7 'cabin in the woods' setup, you can tell that neighbors exist but don't really have to see them unless they happen to pass by on the way to the main road.

We're the only house on our cul de sac, so we almost never get traffic...but when we do we have no real idea because the house is built into the hill, so we have no direct view of the street except for some small windows in the tower. Our entire property is basically the top of a bluff and the only neighbor we can see is the house down the hill from us, and even then we only see it when outside or in the tower. The lady that lives there is super chill, so that's awesome.

All houses in our neighborhood are on a minimum 1.5 acre lot (most more, we're on 1.8) and our HOA is restrictive with cutting down trees to maintain woody privacy. This is actually the first HOA I've ever been able to agree with because the goal is to keep the neighborhood natural feeling, which I support 100% (plus it pays for a bunch of maintenance including the snow removal, brush removal, and waterfront including the boat slips). We had some friends come over and scoff at the fact that we're in an HOA and the "ridiculous" $800/year dues. Then not 5 minutes later they started complaining about their neighbor that turned their backyard into a junkyard. Um, that's what the HOA is for.

Overall, I've never been happier in a place.

I'm stoked for you, and FYI that is a very fair deal on fees. I've somehow become the Pres of my beach house HOA, and do what I can to keep cost down - still at $100/month for what feels like nothing.

My snow plow guy covers the common areas and charges $3,600/yr flat fee. This year we went pay as you go, and the mother*ker salts us twice a day when he's feeling frisky. If I tell him to salt less then the transfer of liability is placed on our condo corp, so it is a no-win.

Insurance skyrocketed from $1200/yr for liability of common areas to almost $3000/yr, and luckily our property management group found a deal with another carrier who gave us the old rates.

Property management group hits us up for thousands/yr but manages our audits, bill payments, COA submittals, and other useless shit that I'm not willing to do myself to save each of our 17 member properties 30-40/month.

I can't really find a way to get the cost down much lower, and expect it to balloon 30% in the next coming years. Your example is a fair one, without the organization, we would have a few disadvantages.... like the guy downhill from us who catches so much road water that his house gets flooded and nobody including the city will help him finance that issue.

You did great man, $800/yr including a boat slip is dirt cheap.

[Tar]

Also, with all that privacy, I can't see how leaving the trailer outside to fit a fun car would be an eyesore to the neighborhood.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

I cleared ~2" yesterday too, did it in in a hoodie because I knew I'd be sweating within 5 minutes. Weird to be outside in just a hoodie when it's 6 degrees, but it works when working so hard.

I usually bundle up and then peel the layers back as needed. I have some fleece-lined jeans that are straight in the cold.

Fleece lined jeans are gamechanging.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

Also, with all that privacy, I can't see how leaving the trailer outside to fit a fun car would be an eyesore to the neighborhood.

It could be hidden fine...the problem is our property has very little flat land to park a trailer outside of the driveway. Since the house is built INTO the hill, minimal excavation was done, which is cool, but means there's just not much flat area to park stuff like this.

If we stay long enough, I could justify adding onto the garage an extra tall toy box to fit a boat and glamper into. Though realistically, I'm hoping to get rid of the glamper because I really don't think we're going to use it all that much up here. Glamper demand is still through the roof, so we could probably get decent money out of it.

[wap]

Woke up to -2F this morning,
It eventually got up to around 6F when we went to visit my mom today, before coming home to shovel last night's 2" snow fall. Shoveling by hand is enough of a workout that I actually changed to a lighter jacket because I was getting too hot with my uber Polish sweater. After being out there for a little over an hour I was pretty , even though it was down to 4F when I finished.

I cleared ~2" yesterday too, did it in in a hoodie because I knew I'd be sweating within 5 minutes. Weird to be outside in just a hoodie when it's 6 degrees, but it works when working so hard.

Totally.

Something warmish plus something to cover your ears and good gloves/mittens and you're good to go when shoveling.

Wind chill was - 20 yesterday.
it was 4F again this morning. These cold temps plus more snow is supposed to be here for most of this week.

[wap]

Same!

Me too!

[wap]

5/7 'cabin in the woods' setup, you can tell that neighbors exist but don't really have to see them unless they happen to pass by on the way to the main road.

We're the only house on our cul de sac, so we almost never get traffic...but when we do we have no real idea because the house is built into the hill, so we have no direct view of the street except for some small windows in the tower. Our entire property is basically the top of a bluff and the only neighbor we can see is the house down the hill from us, and even then we only see it when outside or in the tower. The lady that lives there is super chill, so that's awesome.

All houses in our neighborhood are on a minimum 1.5 acre lot (most more, we're on 1.8) and our HOA is restrictive with cutting down trees to maintain woody privacy. This is actually the first HOA I've ever been able to agree with because the goal is to keep the neighborhood natural feeling, which I support 100% (plus it pays for a bunch of maintenance including the snow removal, brush removal, and waterfront including the boat slips). We had some friends come over and scoff at the fact that we're in an HOA and the "ridiculous" $800/year dues. Then not 5 minutes later they started complaining about their neighbor that turned their backyard into a junkyard. Um, that's what the HOA is for.

Overall, I've never been happier in a place.

That's awesome that you have a HOA that actually is good for the residents, is popular, and is pretty cheap at $66/month.

[wap]

I cleared ~2" yesterday too, did it in in a hoodie because I knew I'd be sweating within 5 minutes. Weird to be outside in just a hoodie when it's 6 degrees, but it works when working so hard.

I usually bundle up and then peel the layers back as needed. I have some fleece-lined jeans that are straight in the cold.

I have a pair of L.L.Bean flannel lined jeans that I wore yesterday. They are indeed 5/7.

[D Griff]

Yeah, $800/year seems , particularly including the boat space. I would assume that just a boat slip would be over $100/month

[wap]

Also, forgot to mention, when I was out driving yesterday I saw a Volt, 2 Stelvios, a couple of Teslas, and my first Taycan. Neither of which I'd really expect to see out and about in 3F temps.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

Yeah, $800/year seems , particularly including the boat space. I would assume that just a boat slip would be over $100/month

Right? They charge $200 to install and remove and store your boat lift using a crane, it's the only additional cost for the slip and there's no way I could find someone on my own to do it cheaper. So $1k/year including a boat slip that they entirely take care of is really

I've always been anit-HOA, but this actually works surprisingly well. Friend of ours with a house on the water had to rebuild his seawall to the tune of $100k and that was apparently on the low end! My $800/year covers those sorts of things, which is

They've also been really hands off. We've cut down 20 trees so far without getting permission and nobody cared. We also replaced our garage roof and nobody cared. Neighbors claim that the HOA rules are really only there to keep people from doing dumb shit, but aren't actively enforced. If someone complains about a violation, they'll investigate but people really keep to themselves so it seems to be a non issue. I'm OK with rules preventing someone from painting their house bright pink, or preventing obnoxious exterior lighting.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

Also, forgot to mention, when I was out driving yesterday I saw a Volt, 2 Stelvios, a couple of Teslas, and my first Taycan. Neither of which I'd really expect to see out and about in 3F temps.

Our Volt went from getting 50 miles of electric range in the summer to less than 20 when the temps dipped into the single digits. It sucked big time...I imagine the full BEVs really struggle.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

We're the only house on our cul de sac, so we almost never get traffic...but when we do we have no real idea because the house is built into the hill, so we have no direct view of the street except for some small windows in the tower. Our entire property is basically the top of a bluff and the only neighbor we can see is the house down the hill from us, and even then we only see it when outside or in the tower. The lady that lives there is super chill, so that's awesome.

All houses in our neighborhood are on a minimum 1.5 acre lot (most more, we're on 1.8) and our HOA is restrictive with cutting down trees to maintain woody privacy. This is actually the first HOA I've ever been able to agree with because the goal is to keep the neighborhood natural feeling, which I support 100% (plus it pays for a bunch of maintenance including the snow removal, brush removal, and waterfront including the boat slips). We had some friends come over and scoff at the fact that we're in an HOA and the "ridiculous" $800/year dues. Then not 5 minutes later they started complaining about their neighbor that turned their backyard into a junkyard. Um, that's what the HOA is for.

Overall, I've never been happier in a place.

That's awesome that you have a HOA that actually is good for the residents, is popular, and is pretty cheap at $66/month.

We've heard of people paying more than double and getting less so I'm not complaining one bit.

[wap]

Also, forgot to mention, when I was out driving yesterday I saw a Volt, 2 Stelvios, a couple of Teslas, and my first Taycan. Neither of which I'd really expect to see out and about in 3F temps.

Our Volt went from getting 50 miles of electric range in the summer to less than 20 when the temps dipped into the single digits. It sucked big time...I imagine the full BEVs really struggle.

Right. I said to yesterday that I hoped the EV's didn't have far to go because they weren't getting anywhere near their usual range.
But them Stelvios

[MexicanYarisTK]

we're getting snow here in my shithole country this sunday and probably gonna continue for 4 days.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

Our Volt went from getting 50 miles of electric range in the summer to less than 20 when the temps dipped into the single digits. It sucked big time...I imagine the full BEVs really struggle.

Right. I said to yesterday that I hoped the EV's didn't have far to go because they weren't getting anywhere near their usual range.
But them Stelvios

Stelvio is the SUV..they're built for that!

[Huckleberry]

Also, forgot to mention, when I was out driving yesterday I saw a Volt, 2 Stelvios, a couple of Teslas, and my first Taycan. Neither of which I'd really expect to see out and about in 3F temps.

Back when the GT-R was brand new, there was one guy who bought one as a daily. I remember seeing it cruising around with 6" of snow on the ground.

[MexicanYarisTK]

So I experienced my first Istanbul road rage. There wasn't any physical altercations involved (thank god for that), I was trying to freaking merge and I ain't no driving miss daisy, most people here seems to be nowadays, so gotten used to that. Anyway, I saw a bus hogging my lane for the stop, we're only moving probably 10 mph at most, I saw a beat up hyundai kept lurching on the taxis ass (not to mention, wot into it), so I won't go in, I was already proceeding towards his lane (in here you don't wait, you pretty much force your way there). Our mirrors were literally half an inch, the dudebro looked at me simultaneously BAM rear ended the taxi I called him out followed by some harsh cussing in turkish for being such a dick (where my american dialect kicked in) and dipped. At that point, I was pissed and I ended up becoming an asshat driver for good 10 seconds.

Rant over and have a wonderful day folks

[ChrisoftheNorth]

Also, forgot to mention, when I was out driving yesterday I saw a Volt, 2 Stelvios, a couple of Teslas, and my first Taycan. Neither of which I'd really expect to see out and about in 3F temps.

Back when the GT-R was brand new, there was one guy who bought one as a daily. I remember seeing it cruising around with 6" of snow on the ground.

With snow tires, it would probably do just fine.

[Tar]

So I experienced my first Istanbul road rage. There wasn't any physical altercations involved (thank god for that), I was trying to freaking merge and I ain't no driving miss daisy, most people here seems to be nowadays, so gotten used to that. Anyway, I saw a bus hogging my lane for the stop, we're only moving probably 10 mph at most, I saw a beat up hyundai kept lurching on the taxis ass (not to mention, wot into it), so I won't go in, I was already proceeding towards his lane (in here you don't wait, you pretty much force your way there). Our mirrors were literally half an inch, the dudebro looked at me simultaneously BAM rear ended the taxi I called him out followed by some harsh cussing in turkish for being such a dick (where my american dialect kicked in) and dipped. At that point, I was pissed and I ended up becoming an asshat driver for good 10 seconds.

Rant over and have a wonderful day folks

'cwith lol

[D Griff]

So I experienced my first Istanbul road rage. There wasn't any physical altercations involved (thank god for that), I was trying to freaking merge and I ain't no driving miss daisy, most people here seems to be nowadays, so gotten used to that. Anyway, I saw a bus hogging my lane for the stop, we're only moving probably 10 mph at most, I saw a beat up hyundai kept lurching on the taxis ass (not to mention, wot into it), so I won't go in, I was already proceeding towards his lane (in here you don't wait, you pretty much force your way there). Our mirrors were literally half an inch, the dudebro looked at me simultaneously BAM rear ended the taxi I called him out followed by some harsh cussing in turkish for being such a dick (where my american dialect kicked in) and dipped. At that point, I was pissed and I ended up becoming an asshat driver for good 10 seconds.

Rant over and have a wonderful day folks

Sounds like you're lucky to be out of there sans any vehicle damage! Driving in big, dense, urban cities is pretty meh , sounds like driving in NYC. It was almost easier there in the Bang Bus because with a big you just force your way wherever.

[Huckleberry]

Back when the GT-R was brand new, there was one guy who bought one as a daily. I remember seeing it cruising around with 6" of snow on the ground.

With snow tires, it would probably do just fine.

It did just fine. Just was a bit weird seeing someone drive their brand new $90k sports car through active snowstorms and such.

[D Griff]

I am struggling to get my ass in gear today...

[ChrisoftheNorth]

With snow tires, it would probably do just fine.

It did just fine. Just was a bit weird seeing someone drive their brand new $90k sports car through active snowstorms and such.

I think it's easier to justify spending that much on a car if it's going to be a primary car. Sometimes people baby cars too much for the sake of value.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

I am struggling to get my ass in gear today...

I couldn't even get out of bed this morning. My boss started blowing me up at 6:30 about dumb shit that I just wasn't mentally prepared to handle today. Now I'm just over it.