Birds of a feather

Yesterday I finally visited a local surfing establishment,

Birds Surf Shed.

The place was crazy.

What any collector would want to have.

The place was packed with boards,

as well as some famous shapers.

This guy was printing shirts with a wood block!

I've seen pics but never anything in progress.

Very surreal it was like a garden,

growing anything surf related.

A friend Tim had catalyzed the meet.

Bird has a jalopy A woody that he's been helping out on.

I messed up and didn't get the pic of he banger speed parts.

Anyway there were a couple possible projects.

Always cool to see people living out of the box!

TP

Karma

You know the old saying,

one man's trash is another man's treasure.

Well that pertains to all kinds of good stuff,

obvious if you search on the FREE section of craigslist.

Now that the code enforcement scare had passed,

we wanted to fix up the yard a little.

Who knew that bricks were so desireable?

I've replied to many free brick ads,

some less than an hour old,

with no luck.

We hit the mother load by chance this weekend.

While Jaxon and I were loading,

he had about three other calls.

Next time I ask the kids,

"You wanna help get some bricks?"

they may disappear on me.

This was a chit ton.

The most I've loaded the van down - 3"!

What the heck,

we've got an e-350 may as well put it to the test.

It would have been smarter to unload all the tools and seats first though.

We were the guys going 45mph on the freeway.

Hey it was only 8 miles.

I'd rather be slow then stuck with a flat tire or worse.

Looks like the kids will have a summer project!

TP

code enforcement follies v.ii

I've been keeping this on the down low,

but last October we had a couple code enforcement complaints.

Seems that car repair and junk storage were bugging our neighbors.

This involved inspections from our management,

and also a San Diego Code Enforcement Officer - TT

TT had a long list of possible violations from supposed multiple complainers -

a sailboat, used oil containers, rusty car parts, old cars...
Someone had been snooping.

His main guideline was "incidental to the residential use of the property."

What the heck does that mean?

Basically if it's a hobby we should be ok,

and between the kids and I,

we have a lot of hobbies!

It was obvious the complaints were exaggerated.

Many photos were taken,

so his supervisor could double check for any hidden problems.

The worst case scenario would have been a notice for reinspection,

however only an administrative warning was given,

keeping our case on file to maintain a history.

TT noted that 90% of his calls were from neighbors that have issues.

Yep!
The best course was to limit interaction and be mellow.

Fast forward 5 or 6 months.
Only a couple police visits for skateboarding...
We thought they had toned down.

Nope.
Seems someone had complained directly to our property owner,
about issues that the Code Enforcement had absolved us on months earlier.
It gave me a chance to write a lengthy reply,
and a couple neighbors pitched in with their own letters.

This gave me a chance to clarify that I do work on my own stuff at our home,
my kids like to be outside and not cooped up,
friends and family do come over occasionally and hang out,
and we've been living here for 6 years way under the radar!
It is obvious to any reader what I like to do,
we're not trying to hide anything.
A simple name search reveals most of the fun stuff that we get ourselves into,
and also some of these sticky situations as well!

Last month during a somewhat minor altercation with our neighbor,

he admitted that he had sicced CE on us,
and would do so again,

called the police multiple times,
spoken to neighbors to get them as character witnesses,

and had recently written that letter to the owner.
Like anyone is the perfect neighbor.

Funny thing is this was while cutting grass that was over our property line,

technically our responsibility,
technically trespassing.

See that dark spot the sidewalk?

That is the property button or pin.

I was as civil as possible asking him to stay off our property,

mainly due to liability in potential injuries.

Sounds petty,

but if someone can trip over a planter while walking in a Lowe's,

why would I want them anywhere near our property?
$10K is more than I have in all our hot rods!

Even after a couple minute conversation,

he continued mowing like nothing happened,
right down our little strip.

After I took this photo he or a family member called the police.

This was the first time I had actually heard the complaints firsthand,

and most of them were over 6 months old!
Even though he's been using his cellphone to video me, the kids and our friends for weeks,
he thought it was illegal for me to video him actually doing something wrong.

Fortunately I have a mountain of paperwork,

including a copy of the trip and fall suit,
and an old domestic violence restraining order justifying my concerns for safety and liability.
Who bangs their head against a locker and punches walls?

So what do you think happened?

Less than 3 weeks later the grass is cut again.

Holey chit this guy!

After some consultation I wrote up a little letter...

So you'd think that was it right?

Nope.

By the first lawn incident CE had already been contacted.

Fortunately TT remembered the property,

and instead of requesting a $500 2nd inspection,

he only asked for current pictures of the property by the management,

basically what you see above,
way cleaner then in October.

The kicker is T, our property manager,

received a call from another CE officer about us right before showing up.
They must have these guys on speed dial!

All in all the police have shown up maybe 8 times,

for kids skating, noise and me taking a video of him trespassing.

At least 4 complaints have been received by Code Enforcement,

enough that an email is all they want now!

You may be wondering,

why would I write about this?

Is it safe?

Well it is so unbelievable to read,

that we are trying to make sense of it.

The reason why I write this blog!

What if they somehow find this and read it?

I'm not too concerned with liable or slander,

as all their cases are public, free and easy to find locally.

No need to make anything up!

The personal interactions are from my point of view.

Names are withheld for privacy.

Now our management and TT also have their legal information on file,

which helps understand the nature of who we're dealing with.

Sadly the kids now realize that adults can act this way.

My family - wife, two boys and a little 7 year old girl,

aren't accustomed to being the targets of this craziness.

If we wanted conformity we'd live in an HOA,

where people like this thrive.

Why don't we move?

Well the kids are stable in their schools,

and my 98 year old grandmother lives alone two houses up.

We consider ourselves lucky to be where we are.

This is our home!

Anyway excuse the rant.

Hopefully the future will lighten up a bit.

I'll make sure to get back to more fun stuff next time!

TP

More Cradle Robber

San Diego is in the middle of a heat wave this week.

Scorching temperatures.

There's an easy way to deal with hot days,

and that is to not cave in to the AC.

If you do,

then going outside is miserable.

The temperature change is too drastic,

and you'll be stuck in either your car, house or wherever.

Venturing out you'll choke on the hot air,

your clothes sticking to your body.

Must...get...inside...

I'm not saying don't seek shade or fans.

Just try to skip the artificial coolness.

I guess some of us don't have a choice.

Maybe you're stuck at work,

and really why be miserable.

This is 2014.

However if you need us,

we'll probably be outside...

TP 

As the crow flies

The other day I decided to take a rare trip downtown.

Driving seems the fastest,

however with a couple stops,

and the prices of parking,

I decided to bike it.

A decently warm day,

perfect for a coastal ride.

Surprising how many people congregate downtown,

either for work or play.

It's a crazy place.

I couldn't wait to huff it back home!

TP

Crystal Geyser

One thing I can't stand are those individual plastic water bottles.

Even then it seems a case is dropped off as my Mom supplies her grand kids with convenience.

The kids are good at not blowing through them.

We actually drink a lot of tap water.

The best way to create a hobo stomach!

Gatorade or koolaid is yum in this hot weather,

and Macey was used to having the tasty treat in her lunch.

Dang we went to the local market and a 6-pack was almost $5!

The kids are used to living a frugal lifestyle,

living cheap one way lets us splurge in others.

For $5 that koolaid powder should make a couple water bottle cases.

Now we have one more thing to do before school.

I'm hoping the bottle doesn't leak!

I did wrap some tape around the top...

TP

Cradle Robber Lives!

For the first time since 2003,

the Cradle Robber moved under it's own power.

Made easier with the old coupe running gear,

Which had sat since before 1975!

The hold up had been the original updraft intake.

Years ago I had a running version of this,

so I knew a couple tricks.

My half-ass cleanup rebuild couldn't get this one going.

Leave it to internet friends to save the day.

This bitchin modified intake was donated from HAMB-er and IG-er I've known for years.

Thanks Jeff!

The intake seemed solid,

and the old torch work brightened up after a good cleaning.

The carb flange had a clean look,

making me wonder if it was an early kit.

Flat black own out over he shiny braze.

A beat Holley 1904 came with the package,

but it was easier to find a running replacement.

Someone had jb-welded an air cleaner on this one.

In no time the Intake bolted right up,

and the engine ran better than ever.

A simple accelerator linkage was modded,

and a choke cable added.

Crude but effective.

Exciting to drive it down the alley for the first time.

I made it into second gear,

good enough with these not quite brakes.

Crazy to see this after so many years lugging it around!

TP