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Friday, March 09, 2007

Military Housing Frustrations

For the most part it's very convenient to live on base; but I know a lot of people buy or rent off-base so they don't have to deal with on-base regulations. One of those regulations deal with how you keep the area surrounding your house...grass, leaves, trash etc. We have weekly "yard inspections" and you get written notices if there are any discrepancies. Sometimes this can be a pain in the butt, but I can understand the need for the regulation as I could just imagine what some of the houses would look like without it.

Today I came home from the commissary to find a "courtesy" note on our door. It said, "Your satellite dish is on the side of the house - needs to be in the backyard; you have 1 week to move it."

Here is a picture looking out our patio door into the backyard. See the satellite dish in the corner of the yard? Wouldn't you say that was the backyard and not on the side of the house?


So I called housing to question the notice. I was told to imagine there was an imaginary line from the end of the house to the fence - the satellite dish should be on the right side of that line, not the left. It should be directly behind the house and not where she could see it looking from the street. (Probably about where the telephone pole in the picture is).

That's all fine and dandy except:

1. That dish has been in that location since we moved into this house almost 2 years ago.

2. They do weekly yard inspections and we've never been told it needed to be moved.

3. Before Joe could even install the dish he had to submit paperwork to do so and include a diagram of where the dish was going. He drew a long rectangle as our back yard and put an X in the far back left corner against the fence. This was approved.

Now almost 2 years later someone says this is on the wrong side of the "imaginary" line. She said it's probably just the "flavor of the month."

Last year Joe dug up the whole backyard, tilled it and everything, to plant new grass. The wire/cable for the dish is in a "trench" he dug up and that's now been covered up and grassed-over. He'll now have to dig that trench up to move the cable and dig another trench to lay the cable - all the way from the house to the fence.

Yes, the "joys" of living in military housing!

PS - Honey if you're reading this from work - I'm sorry! I would have told you about it had you come home for lunch; and now I know what this does for your weekend, since you have a week to move it.

40 comments:

K.T. is Mommatude said...

Oh my goodness......wow,that is strict!In the town my mom lives in the grass cannot be more than an inch and a half tall-you get a citation if they think it is taller than that.It's crazy.

Catch said...

That is just nonsense Michelle. I would think they had more things to take care of in the military than where your dish is. I can understand rules of making everyone keep their yards cleaned up and grass mowed but geeeze...this is totally nuts!

Sara said...

Lolol well someone must have alot of time on their hands eh :) Wow way too picky, I don't see where it would be an eye sore....

Jessica said...

They are crazy! I came by from Diary of a SAHM and love your site. I'll be back to get some of those yummy recipes. Your daughter is beautiful! My best friend's little girl has Down's Syndrome, too, so little girls with Downs have a special place in my heart! Have a great day!

Anonymous said...

How frustrating!!! That's so strict. That's taking things a little far.

ChupieandJ'smama (Janeen) said...

Oh poo on them! I'm sorry you have to move it. That is such a pain for Joe. I'm frustrated for you!

Annie said...

Thanks Michelle.
She is the strongest little girl I have ever encountered. We said from the beginning that as long as she was willing to fight we would fight with and for her. She continues to prove everyone wrong and defy odds placed against her.

On another subject, how aggravating your dish situation sounds! Hope they don't make you move it!

Have a great weekend.
blessings~
Annie

Carole Burant said...

It's ridiculous that 2 years later, after it's been approved AND passed all the weekly inspections that it should now be decided it's NOT in the right place! Any way of fighting this at all by telling them these facts?

Linda said...

This is why we never could have stayed in the military. My husband tends to get just a teensy rebellious over "rules" like that.
I'm sorry your husband has to spend his weekend doing something they'll probably change their minds about in another month.
I hope you guys can enjoy the weekend anyway.
Let me take this opportunity to thank you again for all you do for us. We so appreciate your service.

Anonymous said...

Oh that would ssoooo burn me up! Typical housing & their "flavor of the month".
When we moved out of housing we opted to do the pay & go so we wouldn't get stuck doing the white glove cleaning. When "They" (the dark horsemen of the apocalypse) came to do the move-out walk-thru, one said "Oh this is going to take you forever to get white glove clean." I just said,"Well have fun with that because we're paying y'all to do it." UGH!

Anonymous said...

Michelle and Joe, I would be fighting this all the way to the base commander!! If was all approved 2 years ago and this is the first anything has been said then base housing doesn't have a leg to stand on!! I'd also make an appointment with base legal about this. Since it's an on base issue they can help you out.

Anonymous said...

That is so dumb. That's all I have to say.

Susie said...

That does not seem right at all! enjoyed your blog! I am still enjoying the blog party!!

Christina M said...

Oh no, I hope you somehow can get it approved thje way it is.

tracey.becker1@gmail.com said...

Oy... That would make me MAD! Not the regulations, like you said, but the fact that you both went through the proper steps before installing it!! Can you send in more information about when you submitted the paperwork and such?

Melany aka Supermom said...

THAT would drive me crazy. I could never live like that. I don't take well to authority lole I need to be able to make my own decisions and not be told what to do. Is there NO way that you guys are allowed to question their decision?

Leslie said...

It was approved and already in place for 2 years!! HELLOOOOO! This kind of thing makes.me.so.mad. because it makes so sense! AT ALL. I am so sorry you are having to deal with it...

Eden said...

Oh Michelle, I'm sorry to hear about the whole dish problem. I do hope it can be resolved without ruining ya'lls weekend.
I know that I'll have to start dealing with the whole military housing issue soon. Steve wants to stay in military housing while at tech school. I'm not exactly thrilled about it, b/c I went to a college where they had the whole white glove cleaning and I really am not interested in dealing with that again.
Have a great weekend!!

Hugs,
Eden

Anonymous said...

How ridiculous can it get?

Anonymous said...

Ok that is too frustrating!

Amy said...

It's like they were needing to fill a quota of violations so they are trying to find anything they can to do so! Gggrrr! I feel for your hubby having to take time to redo it. I'm sorry Michelle!

Melanie D. said...

What a pain! The easement at the back of our yard has been dug up twice for our neighbors cables. I feel your pain. It's just a muddy muddy mess which our dog tramples up when greeting the neighbor dog on the other side. Ugh. Good luck with it all - sorry!

Hey - I tagged you for a meme at my blog. I don't know if you've done it or not...5 reasons why you blog.

Robin Green said...

Yes, exactly why we will never live on base again! I hated those weekly yard inspections--we never had to do anything that major though. I think I would be tempted to fight that one a little!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like someone had a corn cob up their rear the day they did your inspection. I can see the need for regulations, but that's nuts!

Shelley said...

Oh the joys of bureaucracies! I hope moving the dish doens't take ALL weekend. It is yet another of those funny coinicidences that Kayla got her hair cut the same time as the twins - now if only we could do virtual haircuts they could get it done 'together online'! Maybe Kayla would prefer that?! I love the hairdo and the fairy pics she looks lovely amongst the purple.

Mary said...

Michelle, that is just crazy!!! I can't believe that you had to get approval to get it, had it in that spot for 2 years and now because someone needs to create a job for herself,are told to move it!! Just crazy!

smileymamaT said...

Oh-kay? Wow, on the wrong side of the imaginary line, after 2 years. Maybe the wind blew the imaginary line a little to the right after all this time? Sorry...that just really stinks, and that's about it. That is definitely in your BACK-yard. Stinkers.
T

Tammy and Parker said...

This actually sounds like the neighborhood covenant rules in my parent's last neighborhood.

I always wondered when they were going to send around notices that 'all curtains have to be the same color in all windows.'

Anonymous said...

This is just so crazy but then again it is the military for you. I remember when we lived in base housing. There were some bricks there when we moved in and 3 yrs later my parents were told to get rid of them. Oh and how I remember the yard work and it had to be down before Tuesday. Maybe you can talk to someone else. I feel so bad that JOe has to spend his weekend doing that.
love
mimi

Barb said...

You know what, Michelle? That's simply the stupidest, most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. I'd be royally ticked off.

Honestly, was that inspector just bored or something? These people just go too far sometimes.

And yeah, I'm sure he's thrilled he gets to spend his weekend doing this. Ugh.

Sandra said...

Oh Michelle, I feel ya, we get constant notices on absolutely ridiculous things. The last one we got was to say that we had to mow behind our back fence....it has to be exactly 50 feet from the back of the house to behind the fence.....how pathetic.

We're buying a house off base soon, it's just too much grief living on base.

Overwhelmed! said...

Well, that just stinks!

I doubt my back yard would pass a military inspection right now. :)

Robin said...

Oh I remembere the 'Yard Natzis'. They are a PIA. Fight it or ignore it..that's what we did. We did the same thing...buried pvc which incased the cables all the way to the fence. UGH! I feel your pain.

Anonymous said...

I remember living on base when I was growing up and I hated inspections. I think though that is how I learned as a kid to clean so good and clean the places other people just don't think about cleaning. I was the map board cleaner when I was little. (with the tooth brush) hehehe
Rose

Melissa @ Banana Migraine said...

Oh my goodness - that doesn't seem fair at all. Ugh.

The Mom said...

Oh my gosh - that is a little bit much Michelle :( Anyway you can petition it???

Hopefully it didn't consume your entire weekend!!!

That just seems a little extreme....

Amy Flege said...

ok that is just plain crazniess!!! good grief!

The Barkers said...

That is ridiculous! I couldn't help but laugh through part of your story though. I'm sure you weren't laughing!

jotcr2 said...

Doesn't seem fine and dandy to me. Someone is keen on keeping their job I think, in making work.

Kari (GrannySkywalker) said...

Boy - I had forgotten certain aspects of military life! Some that I sure don't miss. lol My husband's a reservist these days, but my son is active duty, stationed in Japan.

By the way, this is my first visit to your blog. It's lovely and your daughter is precious.