Pride in
Every
Property
Respect your neighbors
Utilize you assets
Live to serve
Zero: What it will cost you to not be one.
I have a real problem with the pride, or lack there of, in ownership of property. It is not just here in Elk County. You drive from here to anywhere and what do you see. Trash, road ways that aren't kept up, the ones that are mowed just show the trash that was hidden by the tall grass.
Just because you have two jobs and a car payment doesn't mean that you can forget the most basic of tasks. If you can't find the time away from the couch and TV then hire it done. There are plenty of blue collar workers that have the time, or just take the time to do mundane tasks that need to be done. Valuable treasures that are unearthed by a good lawn mowing are worth their weight in scrap metal. Like paint a flag pole, replace a piece of sidewalk before it hurts someone, and volunteer to mow a yard now and then.
Back to my point.
If you live ten miles from the nearest neighbor you probably don't have to keep the weeds as far from the house as you would if you lived right on Highway 99 as you are coming in to or out of town. The first impression you get from houses that need painting and driveways that are full of half torn apart cars, trucks, and equipment is that no one in this town gives a crap. They are so caught up in there own lives that they don't want to project a better image to others. There are 30 structures that need to be torn down in Howard.
That to me is thirty places to build a new home. But how do you get a potential home buyer to look through the 6' johnsongrass to see a life of stress free living.
Trailer houses should be outlawed...Period....
If there is a single function that a trailer house serves slammed up against a existing house I have never heard of it. There is a reason that the world has invented trailer parks. So there is a place where you can park a trailer. Not in your yard. Not attached to your house.
I am not knocking all modular housing units. I have worked on enough houses to know that they are built to a standard that all 'W' store customers are accustomed... Cheapest type of plastic coated crap that will get me by for a while. Won't last long enough to even get a sub-prime mortgage but if you need quick housing then have fun.
A trailer house has one advantage over a run down wood sided home. It is easier to mow around a non skirted trailer 'cause your mower tires don't rub on anything so you can get closer to the dog pen.
The point is that even if you have a modest house you should keep it up. If the windows get broken fix them. If the roof gets to leaking fix it. Why do you have to be given a letter from a city or county to mow the grass over a certain height. If you have stuff stored on the outside of you house on the porch you need to have a garage sale. If the neighbor to the left or right of you has mowed their yard it is probably time for you to do the same.
WHOA!
Quote from: greatguns on August 28, 2008, 09:19:54 PM
WHOA!
That was exactly what I thought when I read it. :o
:-X :-X :-X :-X :-X
Good job, Patrick!
Oh boy, you're on a roll. I get the point but that was pretty harsh!
Does that include houses off the main road, houses around the corner or up a hill? Or do just the houses in plain sight annoy you? Is this rant about a particular trailer slammed up against a particular house or just trailers against houses in general?
I have seen several single-wide trailers used as "additions" to houses in Elk county. It's not a good look.
I do kinda feel offended by the trailer house comment. I have my daycare in a single wide trailer. Most of the time there is not to much trash around it, occassionally you will find a backyard full of toys and things. But we decided to put my daycare in the trailer and rent the house. I felt that if I was looking to rent, I would prefer a house over a trailer. Plus, up keep might be easier on the house for having renters. I do need to cut the TALL grass in front of the front deck. All, my fault!! I planted and worked hard on a flower bed, and let the weeds get WAY WAY ahead of me. But will fix that really soon!!!
Ok, we do live in the country. We do try to keep the front yard clean, no junk cars in front of the house. BUT we do have a used car lot full of feed pickup, trailers, and such to the side. I don't like it personally, but they are not mine.
Ok, PEP got the point!!!
Yes! By all means we should outlaw anything in this country that I personally don't care for. Just as my neighbor thinks wind farms should be outlawed because they are ugly. If it is your land, put what you want on it. If you don't keep things up around your trailer, you won't keep things up around your house either. You should see my neighbor's yard!
Thanks PEP, for taking some of the trash throwers away from me.
Patrick, you have just said everything that I have been thinking, but would you please exempt trailers that set alone on a lot and are inhabitated? The yard is well kept and there are no old cars around or other junk.
Pep,
That would go for all citys not just Howard. Pep, you are right people should pick up their yards as much as they can. Even if the house is a little run down, having a yard that is taken care of helps it look better.
Maude
OK lets not ban all portable housing units...Just the ones built before 1980 that have no inhabitants, have been used as a kennel, are attached to another structure, and have ever been considered for RED NECK YARD OF THE WEEK.
You are missing the point if you think I am slamming your daycare. Unless you were planning to only use the house as a temporary unit until you found a more stable structure, I am slamming the structure that your daycare resides. I think that for the long haul a house with foundation, real windows, insulated roof, pitched roof and a attached garage would have made a better and more inviting daycare...Thermal pane windows, doors that keep out the drafts could lower your heating and cooling by about half. Let alone the resale value, have you ever seen a 30 year note on a house of this nature, tornado's tend to be attracted to mobile housing units.
But I tend to look at things from a not having to fix it if you build it right from the beginning, sort of twisted view..
There are nice houses... even the white house would look like crap if the front lawn was buck brush and pig weeds. I am after the ones that bring down the standard of living for the entire county, the ones that anywhere where there is code enforcement would be hauled to the landfill. If the only family that lives there has a white stripe down their back and are nocturnal. Why do we have a limit on the number of dogs that are allowed but there is no limit on pigeons? I only want to replace the paleolithic built existing ones with good solid taxpaying houses.
Just mow the damn yard.
I'll stay off the trailer bandwagon and let PEP take the heat on that one. But, boy, do I agree about pride in general.
I work with communities throughout southeast Kansas and they all have the same problem with pride. There are some nice exceptions, mostly in Labette County, and I can tell you why: Their pride is several generations old. Kids were raised with it. Parents and grandparents, many of them European immigrants, believe that keeping neat farmsteads and well-maintained property is part of their God-given heritage.
In Edna, Altamont or Mound Valley, Kansas, you would no more let your weeds grow high than you would pee in the collection plate at church. It's that divine to them. And PEP is right --- it costs nothing. Fact is, pride saves money, both personally and and as a community.
My group at the recent Elk Konnected meeting talked at length about this and there are no easy answers --- only dreams. Everybody seemed to want more pride but there is a devilish voice that whispers in some people's ears that says, "Hey, nobody can tell you what to do on your own property." And pride stops in its tracks.
Common sense must prevail in all things. Cities have a tendency to pass nuisance ordinances they can't enforce anyway. In the final analysis, it's still best to keep things as informal as possible in small towns. It works much better for a neighbor to help you get rid of your trash and weeds than to have a city official call on you.
I will say this, and I realize I am painting with a broad brush: MALES are the primary abusers of property, the ones who defy authority and dare anyone to apply rules to their lives. They insist upon keeping junk behind their garages because "they might need 'em for parts some day." And the result is what I see every day when I pass by Peru, Kansas. Yikes.
On a positive note: I don't know of any county where I see more positive steps being taken and more conversations being held to create a better tomorrow than right here in Elk County. And, if we can just elect PEP to pope, mayor, county commissioner or king, we'll be on the right course.
You're doin' good, folks.
Yeah, I need to get a mini warehouse or something for all of my cars. Some of them are junkers that are going to the salvage as soon as I get my tow vehicle working but a lot of the others are project cars... but since I don't have a building to store them they have to sit in a field making it look like they're all junkers. I had someone call my main/dream project car a piece of sh** (probably because it was sitting out back waiting for an engine... regardless, they're lucky they're still seeing straight (**** thief). >:(
Anyway... back to the regularly scheduled programming. :laugh:
People have to be responsible for the homes they rent or own. Some people think if they own it, they have the right to let it run down. On the othe side are the renters that think"I do not own it why should I care". It has to be the responsiblity of each and every person to take pride in where they live. We can all sit around and talk about the problem when in reality it is action that needs to be taken.
Maude
I get what you are saying Patrick. I understand. But I felt like, at the time, that getting someone to rent a trailer wouldn't be the best thing. You are right about the up keep on trailers. That is why I personally felt that having my daycare in the trailer would be much better. If I was renting, I would want to rent a house over a trailer. Yes, tornado and trailer houses don't mix. But in the same since some tornados tear up house just the same. I don't think they pick and choose what they are going to take at on that day that they hit. I have a tornado plan. Luckily, I haven't had to use it yet. We have put money in my daycare just as we have put money in our rental house. Our rental house has better living room carpet than the house that we live in!! >:(
I just choose to put my daycare in the trailer. I do understand your point. There is a really nice group of eye sores about 5 blocks down the road. But thank goodness that Lions Club mow the yards!! I see your point!! Not saying that you are right, because I love my business and no one has ever complained to me that my place looks bad, believe me if it does tell me and I will try to improve it. I was thinking of paint the trailer a nice power cat purple, but maybe I should go with KU colors what do you think-PEP?????
KU ALL the way, Angie !!!!!!
Angie; be gentle... PEP is from a "broken home". Only half his home is for KU. The other half is for KSU. So depending on whether you want to suffer more wrath from PEP RULZ or get on his good side... choose your color carefully! ;)
Devyn and I have it easy, b/c if we don't mow our lawns for a week, it still looks shorter than all the Johnson grass in the ditches, and our neighbors are far enough away to compare grass heights!
Do you think that people in town care less about their property if their neighbors' properties are unkept? "Why should I, if they don't?" How do you turn that tide, and get one person starting to care, which will hopefully spread to the rest?
How about that Yard of the Month program? Has it started yet? Why hasn't it been splashed all over the paper? Rudy is looking for good full-color picts for the new Prairie Star paper, so let's get some beautiful yards on there! (And Devyn and I are still commissioning for the Rural Yard of the Month, too!)
my Uncle Burt has died and pretty much left his yard to deteriorate and lately my mom has worked very hard to keep the johnson grass and weed and limb's ans stuff to a certain point..... anyway's well this house should be burned at the stake for what it look's like but i wouldn't be able do it even if I had to because well .... that Uncle Burt's house and will alway's be Burt's house
Oh yah i love "PEP" sign at Pep's knew "work area" whatever that mean's lol
I don't work...............Do you still water the grass if it rains?
How many jr high cheerleader want to be's does it take to screw in a light bulb?
OK, how many? :laugh:
no you dont cuz' that would be point-less duhhhh and how many electrician's does it take to screw in a light buld????
1.............but we bill out three hours.
figures
Watts he gonna do when he's done? Volt out the door and ohm for home?
well if he ohm's for home then it will be a long while before he'll get there lol
Your resistance is futile. The larger the number the smaller the guage. Electricians rule the world. We start out traveling as journeymen, end up masters. We have control. We are very grounded. There is no reason to alarm. We can check your shorts.
no no no i dont want you to checkl my short's im clean
Hmmmm...sounds like Patrick's been hitting the caffeine again! lol
Well, as I'm sure PEP knows, carpenters think THEY rule the world.They said electricians just don't measure up. After he makes his circuit around town I'm sure PEP will be back to zap me on that one. ;D ;D ;D
You're so punny!!!!! :laugh: :laugh:
Patrick, I have had the same rant....err...discussion as a member of the Cherryvale Chamber of Commerce. I actually used Howard as a POSITIVE example of pride in ownership. There are a few derelict homes in Howard, but all towns have this. From what I have seen in smaller communities in Elk and Montgomery counties, Howard has many beautiful old homes that are well maintained and exemplify what one can do with hard work and pride.
What I have found is that you cannot expect pride of ownership from people who do not respect themselves.
I will trade you three well maintained homes for one Charloma.
I will even give you a landscaper to boot.
What ever happened to the old school that was on the north east side of town by the railroad tracks? Is it still there?
Ever financed a assisted living facility?
PEP RULZ #45 tattoos for all children. We need to start implanting micro chips into all students and monitor their movements. We could also start a wrist tattoo to keep track of who has the implant and who doesn't.
GPS tracking will improve the GPA. Somehow.
Evil doers are everywhere. Lets not let them get ahead of our neuroses.
new rule .......Keep the ill informed from angering the undereducated.
Good luck on that one, dude...
So, that's my problem--------