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

the barn find coupe v.2

If you've been paying attention,
you may have noticed a small addition to our quiver of projects.
Here's the down and dirty backstory,
in typical PB&S detail...

























Back in September,
a firefighter friend, Mario, was working,
which means saving people from bloody car wrecks,
or sifting through craigslist and garage sale websites for deals.

basketcase ford model A coupe

He texted me a picture and a link to this coupe body,
like there's any money to spare for another project.
By the time of the estate sale,
I had totally forgotten about the deal,
until Mario called and said,"hey get down there it's today!"

chula vista estate sale

During this time a friend Aaron had hit me up about finding a car.
Nothing to keep,
but a project to fix up and flip.
When Mario passed on this one,
Aaron was the first guy to call.

Aaron Vandemark - 1930 ford coupe

We got there thinking it was going to be a $500 coupe body.
Well someone had opened up the little side barn,
okay it's a shed but it goes better with the title...
and it was chock full of all the missing parts.
Holey Chit...

barn find model a coupe

The bummer was the price reflected this new found gold mine.
They estate sellers had a high out-the-door price,
but were willing to take a not-so-silent bid,
giving us the last highest amount offered.
The funny thing was they were waiting for Mario to call.
I guess he had contacted them enough times they figured he was game.

vannin'

That night we were notified that the coupe was ours,
or really Aaron's.
Now we had to figure out how to get it northbound.
The parts were easy,
the van is a workhorse without the passenger seats.

holey chit

The solution to the roller was a decrepit Craigslist car hauler.
Such a cool coincidence that a cheap single axle trailer was available,
even if it looked like a broken-backed glue-horse.
At least it made it the 20 miles home!

priorities

The coupe and trailer sat for a couple weeks in our alley,
totally pissing off our uptight neighbors,
who afterward called code enforcement on us for numerous imaginary infractions.
This was about the time of that black truck engine rebuild.
Finally the spot was open at the yard,
and instead of busting butt on the coupe,
the trailer was totally refurbished instead.

model A 4-banger

A couple important things were done,
like cracking open the 4-banger.
I thought the cylinders were going to look like new cans of ground coffee,
but instead we were lucky to see a low mileage rebuild,
with 10 over pistons and virtually no wear.
The engine was still stuck but this gave us a little hope.

good nite

I had an inkling the transmission was the culprit.
Nope.
The insides were like a well oiled watch.
Must be something in the flywheel/bellhousing area.

model a transmission

Finally the trailer work was finished.
The only other thing I had done was swap on the old wheels from the green 40,
oh yeah and bolted on the doors.

model a coupe project

This is when I realized this project wasn't high on the priority list.
Aaron had a trip planned,
and my open time was very restricted.
The rusty 40 (tres huevos) seemed much more important to spend any free time on.
This is when the 40 and 30 traded places...

ford

I haven't written about this,
but Aaron has a major disease - cystic fibrosis.
It's so serious he's on the lung transplant list.
Well to top off his woes,
he was forced to move to the San Francisco transplant list,
which meant relocating to the Sacramento area.
Dang.
This is when friends are valued more than things,
especially on a life or death matter like this.
I figured we would sell the coupe,
and maybe I could come up with enough scratch to keep the trailer.

Travis and Macey Perich, Aaron Vandemark

Well I was blown away when we made a deal to keep the coupe.
Aaron needed the trailer to tow up our old BMW 2002,
and he figured the coupe would be in good hands with me.
Cool!
The Beemer fit the trailer perfectly.
Thanks Aaron and Rachel!!

Aaron Vandemark - Travis Perich 2013

With this change of events,
I started to drag all the model A parts home.
No reason to clutter up TR's shop/yard.
To keep our yard cleaner,
the parts were stashed in the garage,
which meant parking the green 40 (june bug) outside.

wet 1940 ford coupe

Holey Heck.
I couldn't stand seeing the coupe drenched with the wet fog water every morning.
Something had to be done to get the 40 back in the garage.

Macey Perich sorting fasteners - 2013

This is when the original plans backfired.
Instead of making the tranny hump on the green 40,
or finishing the hood on the chopped 40,
I had team Perich Brothers and Sister get to work on the 30.

Jaxon Perich - 2013

Over the course of two weekends,
or really just the sundays,
the kids have helped reassemble the major parts of the model A.

Jaxon Perich - 2013 - grease monkey

The previous owner had dismantled every nut and bolt,
but had also kept every nut and bolt.
Once the parts and fasteners were roughly separated,
it was fun to reassemble the car with most of the original hardware.
Like a giant model or puzzle.

1930 ford model a coupe

After one sunday,
the 40 returned to it's spot in the garage.
After the second sunday,
the coupe is looking less and less like a basketcase project.

34 watt bulb

We're really lucky with the overall condition.
Many of the pieces were wrapped in newspaper dating from 1975!
And the newest reproduction ID was from 1986!
Basically this thing has been sitting for close to 40 years.
Amazing that "barn finds" are still out there not too far from home.

1930 ford model a coupe

As of tonight this is what the coupe looks like.
I still haven't figured out the engine,
maybe next weekend.
I'm on the fence on what to do with the car.
I'd love to chop it but then there's the gla$$ work.
It's almost too complete to hot rod,
but too rough to restore.
I guess that's a good problem to have!

TP

rise and fall - a wasp tale

While working on that rowboat project a couple weeks ago,
I discovered a little wasps nest.
Typically I'll brush them away,
basically destroying their little hovels.
Those things have stingers and they seem vicious right?

san diego paper wasp

This time was different,
as the nest was easy to reach.
I picked it off and noticed it was full of tiny little amber eggs.
Dang it.
How could I destroy a little baby wasp crib?
I'm the convenient environmentalist type,
and can appreciate the ecosystem thriving in our backyard.
We've got tons of random butterflies, bees, ladybugs, june bugs,
birds, flies, wasps, big ole orb weaver spiders...
Peaceful to watch from the back stoop.

wasp nest

A couple minutes later,
the wasp flew to the spot the nest should have been,
and hovered around the area for a good couple minutes.
It reminded me of a parent looking for her kids.
Shoot.
I ended up gluing the nest to a piece of wood,
and placed it close to where it had been.
We watched as the wasp found it and went through each hole,
checking on the brood.

wasp nest back side

Here's where the story gets a little skewed.
Another little wasp nest was found in the boat.
(except for the top pic these photos are unrelated to this part of the story!)
Time for an experiment.
Since the glue was out,
I attached the little nest to the side of the first nest.
When the first wasp found it,
there was a little double take,
but it still checked in each hole.
Even the strangers eggs.

paper honey comb

Wouldn't you know it,
but a half hour later the second wasp came looking for it's missing nest.
How it found the spot over 20 feet away is still a mystery.
This nest was hidden and maybe it was resting on it when we moved the boat.

Ok here's where the tale turns to the dark side.
Out of curiosity we slowly moved the glued nest to the second wasp spot,
carrying along with it wasp #1.
The kids and I watched as the wasp #2 flew near the nest,
and wasp #1 went in protector mode,
buzzing its wings and then flying this crazy attack maneuver.

I realized that these wasps were actually intelligent.
They had location memory and parental skills.
As the weeks passed,
instead of destroying each nest we found,
we learned to co-exist.
Even though the wasps looked menacing,
they tended to keep to themselves.

wasp vs spider

Fast forward a couple weeks.
The wasp population was obviously growing.
Many nests were spotted and ignored...
Until...
Yesterday.
I'm in the garage and what flies in but this giant wasp.
The queen?
No this one was carrying something.
It lumbered up to it's nest,
and I was shocked to see it had a huge Orb Weaver spider in its grasp!
The killer was stuffing the spider body into the hole!
Oh no.
You don't screw with our orb weavers.
Our front yard is usually full of intricate webs,
and they greet us every morning and night.
I love the methodical building and the patient way they hunt.
The spiders have really neat markings and colors,
and they grow to be quite large.
But not this year!
All of a sudden I had one of those revelations,
like the end of Fight Club or that "I see dead people" movie.
Holey Chit,
we've been breeding spider killers!

mud wasp nest

The kids and I went on a search and destroy mission.
Within half an hour all the nests were taken down.
There were way more than I had thought.

hack carpentry hiding wasp nest

My hack carpentry work of that shed had hidden two wasp hives
In each corner the nests were easily 10 inches long,
and buzzing with wasps.

hidden wasp hive

These were tough to get.
Check out this fat wasp baby!
No wonder there haven't been many spiders out this summer.
Dang it!

fat wasp larva

So much for our natural bug ecosystem!
We had to balance the playing field.
Hopefully the spider population will bounce back...

TP

grass hog

I thought it was an April Fool's joke when Jaxon asked if he could try weed wacking.
It seems like I had been waiting for this moment all my life.
Too good to be true?

perich brothers & sister

We pulled out the trusty electric weedwacker.
This thing had been a workhorse for the past 5 years now,
scrounged up from Papa's Shed.
I'd see it out in the rain and think - well there goes that machine,
but it's just kept on spinning.

riveting

The plastic was so deteriorated that the little razor string cutter had broke off,
about 4 years ago actually.
I can't believe the piece was still floating around.
We finally did a quick rivet repair as I was used to not having it,
but Jaxon was not used to this fine piece of equipment yet.

Jaxon's weekend

Weedwacking is something best learned from experience,
and it didn't take him too long to get the hang of it.
He had enough greenage to practice with.

repair fail

Our little repair lasted about 5 minutes!
I had lost track of time after I figured he wasn't going to hurt himself,
and after a couple hours the little machine over heated.
The motor was so hot the plastic had melted around it.

RT 112 weed eater

This was a common sight.
I think this was taken apart at least 5 times.
The burnt armature was sanded down,
and if you look closely,
a couple bolts were put in to keep the motor from spinning around!

neighbors weeds

In a way we are lucky,
as we are just poor renters,
and our landlord doesn't seem to care about yard maintenance.
In that way he's lucky,
as we try to at least keep the weeds down to a minimum,
especially those dandelions.
I'm not sure why I've got such a thing against those plants.
As a kid it was fun to watch those seeds fly all over...

dandelion bugs

Those dang things spread like,
well they spread like weeds!
Both our neighbors have seed farms in there yards.
So much that I'll send the kids out to pick them before they blow away,
into our yard!

cheap chit

It seemed like April Fools day with all our equipment failure.
Even the push-broom had issues!
The weedwacker quietly gave up the ghost about halfway through the yard.

quick fix

Broom fix - Couple screws - no problem.
Weedwacker fix - Craigslist ad!
I found out these are actually called "string trimmers",
and we scored a cheap replacement for $30!
And it worked!
Thanks craigslist guy!

Jaxon's new toy - grass hog

We'll see how long this new machine lasts.
He's about 2/3 done with the yard so far,
and with spring break here it's a perfect way to get video game credits!

TP