New backhanded comment from a neighbor, who is probably pro-trickle down economics.

[Baitball Blogger]

Last edited Mon Jul 10, 2017, 07:52 AM - Edit history (1)

I do my best not to engage in conversation with my neighbors because our differences are so great that I think it's only fair game to keep them at a distance. It's for their sake, you see, because everything I hear and see is grist for the mill. And believe me, what I don't see, my security cameras do.

However, this becomes particularly difficult to avoid when I'm working in the front yard. Since I have lived here, people have approached me whenever I gardened in the front yard and all too often what they say just reminds me that I'm living in an alter reality.

For example, in the nineties, I was new in the neighborhood and was planting aztec grass in the front yard when the president of the HOA walked by and said that a new developer was showing interest in developing the undeveloped phase of our community. He said that he had already spoken to the older neighbors and there was agreement that there wouldn't be an annual meeting that year because it was best to just continue with the same board since all the main issues were already known and it would facilitate negotiations with the developer--and, anyway, we had a late meeting the year before.

I didn't know it then, but that was my introduction to being marginalized in a community that was run by the good ole boy system. For several years, I let my hubby hack the bushes in the front yard just to avoid similar curt and incomplete conversations.

But, I did decide to take the job back when the bushes began to look like the Blob. By that time, I had a garden concept that I wanted to try. I imagine it looked like massive work as I began to pull out some of the unnecessary bushes. It was enough to attract the attention of a neighbor who never approached us in the years that she lived across the street. But on that day, she finally approached. I saw her walk towards me, all giddy and happy just to ask, "Are you moving?"

Really? Two, three years as neighbors and that's the best she could do? I wanted to say, no, I love to garden. It's the best way to purge the excess salts my old body tends to accumulate. Comes from growing up in the tropics, where the heat opens the pores like thousands of loose spigots. I wanted to say it, but I was polite and just smiled and said, no.

I wish I could say she was the only one, but another neighbor kept driving back and forth until she finally caught me on the edge of the property. She asked the same thing. "Are you moving?", sounding a little bit too hopeful.

Geez, what do normal people in normal neighborhoods usually say to each other? I've forgotten.

Then, today, I heard a new one. Hubby and I were working on a project, edging the property, which was only difficult because of the heat. Some guy walks by and thinks we want to know that "we're cheating our landscaper out of a couple hundred dollars." He said it twice, which means he could have compensated for the flat voice that told me he wasn't kidding. I just know that if we had said that we don't have a landscaper, he would have had a few names on the tip of his tongue.

So there you have it. That was a new one, but a perfect "tell" of a Republican community. People only see you in terms of what you can provide to them or their friends in the business community.

So, my father was wrong. People, mostly Republicans, do not respect you if you do things for yourself. Nope. If you work your own yard, paint your own house, clean your own pool...you're cheating trickle down economics and are a blight on their landscape.

PS: Then there are the very pleasant surprises. Like the neighbor who was kind enough to let us know that there was a rabbit family on our property. That's how I remembered it back in the apolitical neighborhoods where people were kind just because it made them feel good.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. How sad that this sort of thing is their idea of "friendly" conversation.

I suppose you could respond to the comment about cheating your landscaper by saying that you prefer to do it yourselves. You like the exercise, it's good for your fitness and blood pressure and so on.

Of course he would have a rejoinder.

I would find it difficult to live in such a toxic environment.

[Baitball Blogger]

4. Florida is what it is.

I look back at the time when I was a kid growing up in the sixties, and realize that this environment is providing challenges that I thought I would find. I'm here for a reason.

[HAB911]

16. If not for the weather.........

you know the rest. The guy needs to take "Marketing 101" if he's actually in business. I will say this, in Publix I refuse to bag my own. My wife thinks the bag persons are slow and stupid so will do her own. I can't make her see it's "their rice bowl."

"Rice Bowl" from

&t=8s

[Baitball Blogger]

17. The grocer in Publix is already getting paid a salary, so it's his contracted

job. I think it doesn't matter to them one way or another if you bag your own, or if you allow them to do it for you. Most of them want to take my groceries out to the car, but I generally say no because the task is equivalent to weight lifting and resistance training for me.

What is going on in my neighborhood may be the tip of something that is more insidious. It's unfortunate that the neighbor brought up the topic of "landscapers." The timing is much to be desired because of something that happened on Thursday. It is taking a great deal of discipline not to connect two events that have occurred in the same week.

I have to provide background to explain my pov. First of all, I do watch what the neighbor's landscapers are doing because they often move fast when they are working the adjoining yard and can cause damage to my yard. That's just standard, no matter where you live. For example, the chemical they use to kill grass and weeds along the property line sometimes creeps into my yard and kills grass that I'm counting on to hold the line along the drainage area between the yards. Hard not to blame it on their chemicals when you can follow the familiar orange kill zone.

That, in the big scheme, is no big deal if it's incidental. But, I suspect landscapers are often asked to do things that might cause rifts between neighbors. Like the guy who bull-dozed dirt over a gopher turtle hole behind my property. It was a hole that was available to them whenever turtles need to flee from one hole to another, which is really the only way that animals survive around here. They are nomadic.

That habitat wasn't bothering anyone, to my knowledge. The only one that seemed to pay any attention to it was the other neighbor who would stand there in the early morning hours with her dog. But, nevertheless, one day a huge tractor came and covered the hole up with dirt and proceeded to remove some troublesome ferns alongside of the area. I didn't see the damage to the hole, at first. I even went out and gave the guy a gatorade and told him where my property line was, based on a visible sprinkler head. Then I went into the house and got my head back into a project. Meanwhile, the guy brings his heavy machinery into my yard - by ten feet - and attempts to destroy all the plants that were planted on the corner of my property. He went over the area three times!

I was in a very zen state of mind that day. I made a note that the demolition did not touch the unkempt area behind my neighbor's house, even though it's obvious that the owners on that property have planted on the golfcourse property. I inspected the damage to my property and felt confident that the plants would eventually grow back, but realized the area needed further protection so I shot off a letter to the Country Club to let them know I was putting up a decorative border so the "mistake" would not be repeated. And then I shot off a copy to the police department.

And then, other facts began to trickle in. Like the fact that HOA members had a meeting the night before that was not properly advertised to the neighborhood. That would constitute an illegal meeting. So, doing the math, one of my adjoining neighbors is on the board, and the other neighbor is the one that shows interest in that hole on her early morning dog walks -- during that same time. Hmm....

I did mention the gopher turtle habitat in my letter to the Country Club, and I always had a bad feeling about that disclosure because I feared the turtles would now become a target.

Now you have the background to tell the rest of the story. Imagine what was going on in my mind when I returned home on Thursday and found a large gopher turtle that had been hit by a vehicle in a straight entrance way that has a 15 MPH speed zone; and in broad daylight. Of course, it was a hit and run.

I checked the security cam footage and recorded a landscaper and his trailer that left the area right after I did, two hours earlier. The timing would be about right based on how much the vultures had devoured by the time I returned home. But it's circumstantial evidence that I wouldn't hang my hat on. There are cars coming out of the other development too so it's anyone's guess who killed the turtle.

Now, jump to the experience I had yesterday, Sunday, where a passing neighbor blurted out, "You're cheating your landscaper of two hundred dollars." You see, poor timing on his part.

[KT2000]

2. yes - there is a difference

Since I live in a potential catastrophic earthquake zone, we have picked out those not to associate with post-disaster. They are repubs with guns.

[Baitball Blogger]

5. I hear you.

[Solly Mack]

3. Yeah. Sadly. I know how that goes.

[greytdemocrat]

6. What a strange tale.

[jazzcat23]

7. Agree...

I tend to stay away from my neighbors too. I live in rethuglicon hell, surrounded by these fools... they love to gossip so I try to give them something to talk about occasionally. They are so confused now and I love it.

[Baitball Blogger]

10. You're probably in a better position than I am in catching exactly what

they are saying about you in their private circles. I only get to decipher their behavior when it comes within range of my cameras. Even with those limitations, I have enough to write about. But what really intrigues me is the false accusations they must be spreading in order to continue to curry favor with new neighbors. They get to recycle the same bullshit and I don't even have a chance to address what they're saying.

Let's just say that new neighbors are at a disadvantage because they don't realize that a pattern has been established by the previous cohabitants. Some behavior is easily deciphered. Just too much of a coincidence when there's a drive-by or walk-by before one of our neighbors arrives or leaves. Too consistent to be a coincidence. But I realize, from their stand-point, the goal is to win over minds and influence opinions. I'm not sure that what I have to say to expose the lies is something that even matters in this closed equation.

[Akamai]

8. You exemplify a progressive, and as Franken quotes Paul Wellstone,

"We all do better when we all do better!"

This is in Franken's latest book, Giant of the Senate.I

Franken is a guy I would entrust our country to, who I would entrust our two grandchildren to.

[Baitball Blogger]

11. Well thank you for that.

I just want to share my experiences because it is the basis for an opinion that is all to often bullied into silence.

[DonCoquixote]

9. people. check her site

It is wonderfult o explain what happen s when you live in a GOP cesspool.

[Cosmocat]

12. Maybe it is just where we live - fairly republican area

but, that is not my/our experience.

NOW, there certainly are virulent, selfish or out and out bigoted/racist types that we know.

But, overwhelmingly, all of my republican friends, acquaintances and in-laws are really good, decent people. Some republican type quirks here or there, but overall good people.

Everyone knows my politics, that I am an active democrat. I stake my flag, will just flatly and simply say I think BHO was a darn good POTUS and Hillary would have been infinitely better than 45.

But, I don't go overboard with it. They take their "beliefs" seriously and as long as I don't kick down their little sand castles, they actually give me a bit of respect.

In the inner circles, it just isn't worth the heart burn to tilt windmills with them ...

[Baitball Blogger]

15. Thank you for sharing that info.

I do believe that there are factors in this city that have created a perfect storm. Based on the history, I think the city has suffered from poor legal advice and strong-willed large land-owners. In the nineties the homeowners became a force, but the community leaders were usurped into the social networks that are part of Orlando's very distinct political landscape. Small good ole boy government in a large City.

We still need one more push to get it on track with the civilized world.

[GulfCoast66]

13. You live in a really wired neighborhood

I live in Florida and do not doubt many of my neighbors are republicans but am not sure cause that would never come in conservation. The only ones I know for sure are those who put up signs or had bumper stickers.

I cannot really tell any difference than in the neighborhood I grew up in back in the 60s and 70s. Except today my neighborhood is integrated.

[Baitball Blogger]

14. Very wired. Yes.

A legal scandal occurred here in the nineties when a developer sued the city and its lawyers. This city has been living in a cone of silence ever since. Took me several years to recognize that the events behind that lawsuit touched on behavior that is typical to good ole boy foul play.

Of course, I am persona non grata because I believe that it was wrong to lump us all together in collective punishment, when many of us were also victimized by the fraud and machinations that were going on at that time.

[lovemydogs]

18. I have an idea that might help

When you moved in people were nicer and more polite.
I think the nastiness is more a statement of how people today are in general despite politics.
Everyone is in a nasty mood and not very nice.
People stay within their circle of friends and don't venture out to foster a community spirit anymore. People are more critical of each other and tend to look down on each other. They stay inside, keep to themselves and rarely say hello.

There is no real community spirit these days.

I live in a neighborhood, however, where people try to foster these things. People have block parties to try to keep a community spirit going and knowing the neighbors on a friendly term.

I don't know if HOAs allow block parties but, they are popular in Chicago, where my sister lives. Here, we are an hour outside Chicago and some of those ideas carry over in certain neighborhoods.

Maybe if you try to have a cookout or block party and invite the neighbors it might open up a new avenue

[Baitball Blogger]

19. I came from a community where I organized the block parties.

The only social meetings that are worth the effort are those where you bring together people who have no hidden agendas or hold loyalties to groups that work at counter-purpose to nurturing a community based on trust and honesty. There are trappings in his community that would make these events difficult. For example, I know for a fact that there are devious and single-minded people living in this community. I don't want to be the one responsible to bring them together with unsuspecting people who have no real idea of what motivates this community. Why provide ill-intentioned people with an event that gives them cover through civil appearances? It's not going to stop them from doing the sneaky things that they do around here.

Besides, I suspect the HOA just went through a cycle where they tried to cultivate their own group within this association. Block parties were catered to the kids and their parents, which is nothing I would object to, unless HOA money was used.