Just tell them you can’t reach that far, and they need to get out of their car.
I try to pull up as close as I can to drive thru windows, but a lot of places have started putting these giant concrete bollards about 6 to 8 inches from the edge of the window (I guess because too many people have pulled up too close) so I have to pull up about a foot and a half away, unless I want my driver’s side mirror knocked off. Luckily I have long monkey arms so I can still reach.
Morgyn, my problems are nothing in comparison. I am so very sorry.
Jeez. Talk about understatement. It really sucks you have to go through this.
MASH and Monty Python were huge influences. 
If only I could transfer it to a worthy receiver. Like Putin.
Homeowners associations and their rules -
So, my spouse an I have lived in condos and townhouses governed by homeowners associations for many years, with few issues or concerns. Last fall we moved to another state to be near children and a new grandchild, we purchased a home in a newish development that is governed by a homeowners association. This is quintessential suburbia with homes looking similar but different enough to not be identical. The landscaping is unobtrusive and simple, lots of little blobs of dark green boxwood mostly. Many homeowners in the neighborhood have made inroads on more attractive planting.
My spouse is very interested in gardening. Years ago she owned a home and we did extensive planting with very pleasing results. She is very keen on doing planting at the new home and has engaged a landscaper to help design and do the work. We are not planning on changing the footprint, but certainly plan on pulling most of the boring shrub plants out and putting in stuff with more visual appeal. The landscaper stresses that this is a long term commitment and we need to be flexible over time. We’ll start with this and that, if something doesn’t work out we will replace, maybe move stuff if needed. Etc. etc. We are very much on board with this approach.
Here is where the homeowners association comes in - their regulations require us to submit a drawn up plan for approval.
While it is certainly possible to draw up a plan and submit it and then stick to it, this is not how one gardens in real life. I called the hoa office to discuss and of course the person I spoke to is not a decision maker and simply reiterated the procedures for submitting for approval.
This is immensely frustrating to us as it kills the possibility of inspiration and serendipity. Maybe an azalea at home is looking ragged and while I’m at the nursery they’re having a sale on some great looking hydrangeas that would look good there instead! NOPE! One must submit paperwork including a site plan explaining exactly what plant is going where. Then one must wait for approval before proceeding.
Fuck me!
My spouse is going ballistic, she has already hired the landscaper and paid lots of money to get started when we dug into the homeowners rules to make sure we were OK (yes, we should have done that long ago, I KNOW!)
I live in an HOA townhouse that has very loose rules. However, this not a house where you can do what you like. The rules are there for a reason and no, individuals cannot ignore them. For example, our bylaws allow 2 dogs. Neighbor had 3 and had to get rid of one. Don’t piss and moan about the rules. You should have read them before you bought./rented.
I have an HOA where I live and I agree. And for the most part, the rules make sense and I think they make it a more attractive and overall better place to live. I have had to make changes to the outside of my house under threat from the HOA, such as changing where I store my garbage cans, or removing a dying bush. It’s okay though, because they make sense.
What @Icarus is talking about doesn’t make sense, though. Their rules effectively require you to make a complete landscape plan if you’re going to make any changes, and that is not only unreasonable but counterproductive. You can’t know in advance when a plant is going to die, so you can’t plan when/if it will be replaced. And if you require someone to plan out everything in advance to make a small change, then you’re discouraging a person from changing anything. Which means that if a plant dies, you remove it and leave it bare. That just encourages ugly landscapes. I doubt very much that the HOA had that plan in mind when drawing up these rules.
Heck, I’d just put in rocks and call it done. Enjoy your empty space where plants used to be, HOA.
I thought it had been more or less recognized a while ago that pop-up ads on web sites don’t generally work, and mostly just piss people off.
So why is every goddam site lately letting me read for ten seconds and then plastering the page over with a pop-up that takes up the entire screen?! These seem to be more “please subscribe” pleas than ads, but surely they realize I’m only going to find the X and get rid of it.
Sometimes I feel like we’re in the Bad Place.
The worst was one page I was trying to read yesterday, where there was no X. Just a “report this ad” option. It took up about 2/3 of the screen and I had a tiny sliver of the article I could read at a time above the ad, maybe two lines at a time. It was ridiculous.
“Report this ad” was just giving you an option to say why the content of the ad was offensive (which it wasn’t), not a way to object to the way the ad kept you from reading the article.
I just left the page and didn’t read the article. They essentially broke their web site.
So, how about I post a mini-rant? Is that acceptable?
Here’s what I’d do, and mind you, my advice is worth precisely what you paid for it:
Submit the plans currently drawn up by the landscaper. Assuming they’re approved, proceed, sticking to the plan.
Ok, so far, everyone is happy.
Let’s say your azalea/hydrangea situation comes up. (I’m familiar with both, as it happens.) I would … go ahead & replace the dying azalea with a nice, healthy, blooming hydrangea.
First of all, do you really think the BOD is gonna notice? 89.2% of the time, they find out about violations because some busybody in the neighborhood ratted you out.
If the hydrangea looks nice, what are they gonna say? “They planted a pretty shrubbery that blooms nice colors! Oh noes!”
Alternatively, I suppose you could submit a “plan update” with the hydrangea on it. Go ahead and buy the sucker while it’s on sale; the chances of them not approving your update are close to nil.
You could also go the passive-aggressive route and submit new paperwork for every single separate begonia or pansy you want to add for seasonal filler color.
Heh. Are you allowed to plant annuals from seed? If so, plant sweet alyssum … and submit complete paperwork for each seed. (Gardeners will get the joke. Alyssum has teensy tiny seeds and is generally broadcast sown by the dozens or hundreds.)
Couldn’t you submit a plan that says “Flowering annuals here”, “tall ferns here”, “porcelain elf here”, “groundcover here”?
Or to be more specific, say “Lilac or similar flowering bush”? Just give yourself an out where minor changes are still allowed.
Picked up Wee Weasel at daycare only to find him aggressively shoving another kid who heaven forfend tried to play with him. He usually ignores kids, but this is the second time this week he’s screamed and shoved at a kid for coming within his orbit. It does not portend well. I tried to explain to him he can’t be mean to people who want to play with him, but I honestly don’t know how much he understands.
Then we had to do the ASQ 36 month assessment for the upcoming pediatrician appointment which is just us jumping through a hoop to get a physician referral for one of the insurance approved places who can evaluate him for autism. The results are not great. That’s not really a surprise. Just not great. And it was very difficult to get him to do anything on the evaluation, like stringing beads on a rope led to a meltdown because the only acceptable way to use beads and strings is to form them into numbers. He outright refused to try anything else. Does it count as “he can’t do this yet” if he probably can do it but just refuses? I truly have no idea what his hard limits are, especially for fine motor.
And I am not blaming him. He has sensory issues with his hands. He has mental rigidity that I don’t think he will be able to snap his fingers and magically be okay with change. I just get frustrated with these subjective surveys that aren’t really getting the whole picture.
We got him through it with dinosaur stickers. We bribed our kid.
Draws car. “What’s that?”
“Car.”
Draws dinosaur. “What’s that?”
“Dinosaur!”
Draws person. “What’s that?”
“What’s that?”
Draws person again. “What is that?”
“What is that?”
Etc.
I worry he has many frustrating days ahead as the myriad therapies will likely start in earnest later this summer. He really struggled with these basic requests for thirty minutes, so how will he do when it’s hours and hours of being asked to do things?
At the end of that ordeal I gave him his very own calculator and the two of them are now inseparable. I think it’s kind of great and strange that these simple things make him so incredibly happy.
This is a roller coaster to be sure. I keep bouncing from “this is wonderful” to “this is frustrating” to “this is just weird.”
I’ve had to submit many landscaping proposals to HOA over the years; most have been along the lines of “this tree is threatening my foundation; it will be removed and replaced with low shrubbery such as [name] suitable to the region.” I’ve also added quite a bit over the years without notifying HOA (two fig bushes in the backyard that are visible from the street, along with assorted large perennials), and I haven’t heard a peep.
I did get a nastygram a few years ago telling me my home was in need of pressure washing; the area of mildew in question was only visible if you were walking down the street (yes, the actual street, not the side with the nice sidewalk). 
Oh yeah, and the rest of my fuckin rant. I’m a grants manager. A long time funder wants to talk to the CEO about “your current application and next steps.” Normally this would have been an email notifying us of our award. Perfect way to start the week.
Why is it so hard to find comfortable, practical, but attractive walking shoes? All I want is a pair of low-heeled shoes with either decent insoles or removable ones that don’t have giant white clodhopper rubber soles, in a material that will stand up to wet weather (so no cloth or suede).
You’d think I was asking for a unicorn that farts pink bubbles.
Similarly, I keep looking for shoes that I can (1) wear to work and (2) comfortably walk long distances in. It seem that your choices are athletic or professional.
I’d also like shoes that don’t wear out fast. I don’t need them to be sewn by orphans overseas and therefore cheap: I’d be willing to pay for shoes that will last. But that doesn’t seem to be an option.
On the Firefox bookmarks subject: there is a concept of a Firefox account, which is a Cloud-based thing but distinct from any Google, Apple, Amazon or Meta account. Firefox accounts allow you to sync bookmarks across devices of different types. Details here. Of course you may not like having a copy of all your bookmarks in the Cloud; personally I trust the Mozilla Foundation on this but they can still get hacked I guess.
Why is it so hard to find men’s walking sneakers where the rubber still sticks to the sneaker after a year? It’s at the point where a person could go broke w/o a tube of “shoe goo” and a vice to hold the parts together while it dries.