February Almost Over

I finally went to my home owners association web page again to see if the people who begged to be on the board have lived up to their "campaign" promises. Nope. Everyone who had a little bio in the newsletter sent to each home owner said their main concern was a lack of communication.

And immediately after the annual board meeting where there were new board members elected, there was a tentative minutes report posted. That was last November. It is still there as tentative. There was no meeting in December. January did have a meeting and the minutes should have been approved in February and posted. The November meeting's minutes should also have been approved.

There is no other message after the November temporary minutes. There is no approved minutes for November let alone January. There are no tentative minutes from February's meeting. No word at all since November.

There is a message board there as well. There is not one single message from 2009. I'm too lazy to actually count the days, but according to Wikipedia is the 54^th day of the year. I could probably go back there and find out how far back in 2008 the last entry was, but who cares?

The only notice we get from our esteemed HOA is when the annual fee is due. And if we commit some major infraction such as putting the trash can out too soon or leaving it out too long. THEN they can communicate with the homeowner.

There are several houses here that have been foreclosed on. They remain empty. Haunting reminders of the economic times. Windows peering out on the world without benefit of curtain or drapery. And, as an added bonus, since the local twice a week newspaper has decided to just toss one day's paper in the yard each week without needing to subscribe, the empty houses are accumulating these soggy, yellowing packages of old news.

I have no idea who the association is going to yell at for the messy yards with the papers killing off portions of the grass. But at least come spring, there won't be as much too tall grass for them to not have anyone to yell at about. Boy, is that a convoluted sentence. But I live in a convoluted place.

I did see in the line item budget that came last fall that my yearly annual fee will, in part, help to sponsor the neighborhood swim team. I had two sons who joined in several sports. Baseball, soccer, football, hockey, and lacrosse. Each team had a fee. We, as parents who wanted our kids in sports, paid the fees. The hockey and lacrosse fees were in the hundreds of dollars per year. And we had to buy all the equipment ourselves. I have no idea why I'm paying for some kid I've never met to swim. I wish I wasn't. I'm a curmudgeon, perhaps, but I don't think it really takes a village to let some spoiled little brat swim. Let the parents of the spoiled little brat pay for it. I paid for the two spoiled little brats I had.

So that has been my February. Not much to do. But lots to complain about. Especially if you look for it. And I do.