Recent Comments:
Neighbors From Hell: What You Can Do to Stop the Bullies Next Door {AOL Real Estate}
Aug 21st 2012 12:55PM Municipalities have ordinances. Know what a town has to offer before you purchase.Keep up with local ordinances, they can be the most power to keep property values on the rise. Local towns have more power to protect and enhance quality of daily life than any county, state or federal agency. People often loose sight of what a town has to offer .People don't want to get involved until the problem is theirs. Citizens don't attend council meeting or even take the time to read the monthly agenda. Local towns can take out multimillion dollar bonds without a vote of people, raise utilities and cut public safety to bare minimum. It takes the public to stand and say enough. The most important office in a town is Code Enforcement. Good Code can keep a town clean and assist in low crime numbers just in enforcing basic rules. Code enforcement could be of value in this situation as the painting on the home is subjective. If the neighbor "tags" their home" what is deemed art vs offensive? Perhaps a creative privacy fence something like a fort? The birds noise should fall into same category as a barking dog ,noise citation.
While this story gets your attention, how often have you wished your town would enforce codes? Be heard protect your property values, know ordinances and attend monthly council meeting.
The Minor Threat: Age-Restricted Communities Evicting Children {AOL Real Estate}
Jan 6th 2012 3:40PM It would be interesting to check on the life span of grandparents who rise grandchildren. Purpose seems to lead to longer healthier lives. What better purpose than being needed to assist your family. If the numbers were to prove that children improve quality of lives and that living around grandparents and elders as mentors improved the quality of children we are producing, I would think with a few modifications this could be solved to match our current national finance situation. My modifications would in clued a requirement for good grades B plus, involvement in a boy or girls club or activity and involvement for community activities. All to assist in educating the grandchildren and giving them a well rounded social backing. Our nations youth and elders need solutions and this is only and idea towards a solution.
HOA Forces Family to Remove Disabled Child's 'Therapy Home' {AOL Real Estate}
Dec 16th 2011 10:26PM This is a perfect example of what happens if people do not get involved with their community. They are perfectly happy to let a few, attend meetings and handle business, often to late then they realize their freedom has been taken. It is no different in any municipality, often citizens do not attend local monthly council meetings where millions of dollars are borrowed using local utilities as collateral, causing rates to rise with little funds for future infrastructure. Rules and ordinances are needed to grow property values,and quality of life positive. There is a greater need for taxpayers to stay informed. Give a little of your time or all of your rights, it's your choice. Councilwoman Canaday
'Mortgage Prof': 5 Reasons Banks Would Rather Foreclose {AOL Real Estate}
Oct 19th 2011 5:28PM Has anyone noticed or considered the problems with no incentives for people paying thier loans? Other than few of us believing that it is just the right thing to do, why is there no reward for doing the max and lot's of reward for doing min. ?
I understand banks make money either way which is why it seems it would be in the best interest of all, to promote doing the most.
Chicago Family Faces Eviction After Questionable House Raid {AOL Real Estate}
Oct 5th 2011 11:00AM Across the nation families are out of work and the only thing of value they may have left is property. When homeowners do not keep that property up to municipal code, homes in the neighborhood drop in value. When they drop in value, it may mean owners can not take a loan, refinance a mortgage to a lower rate, borrow on it for a family emergency or sell to move to smaller or elder care home. The cities across the nation that are not following rules of code enforcement should be held accountable. Citizens pay taxes based on a promise of enforcement of ordiances.The code employee should be terminated. Warnings should have been sent to this family. Yet it sounds like their city did not act, when there were initial concerns from neighboring citizens. The citizens finally got frustrated that the promise of ordinances were not enforced.. Ordinances are the proverbial good fences for neighborhoods.It is up to each homeowner to keep up their property, ask their family for help,or their church members or even their neighbors if they need assistance. In my personal experiance, asking people if you can help clean up their stuff, offends them.
The Country's Biggest Tourist Trap: South of the Border {Gadling}
Jul 18th 2011 4:23PM The thing is Paul Brady (writer) like it or hate it you took a chance in a free market and stopped. You can say you stopped and you had the experience, that is worth the ticket in my book. We are losing the American open road spirit. People like Paul ask for an experience and really want a mall. However perhaps it is because there are children sitting in cars watching re-runs of movies they have seen Take your family and stop at every road side "large rock" :" Biggest Tree" smallest horse" and "coldest Ice cream" and be happy for the experience together .Remember your few dollars create and sustain American family businesses, if we all are lucky. Councilwoman Canaday /Spencer Ok
Surviving a Family Road Trip: Top 5 Tips {ParentDish}
Jul 1st 2011 8:20PM Thanks for comment. You were correct. My fault for being in a hurry.
Vacations from my childhood and now as an adult, are where I find the center of quality. That magic moment when a family gels as one, all schedules grind to a halt, the phone and e-mail stop and time again becomes ours.
During a family trip even conflict can cease. The way to stop conflict, is not to start arguing over which generation has the best entertainment, I spy, reading or elelctronics.Some families like show tunes others play checkers, but starting a fight over what kids will not bring, is the best way to build "The great wall", before you see it. Have fun in your adult seats, and if kids join great, but don't play game wardens for a week of vacation.
Don't over plan, have a plan, but be prepared for random fun. Take books for kids for when batteries wear out, be the hero of the vacation. No matter your budget you can have a vacation, one day, two or a week. Fishing, hiking, relaxing,swimming, in state and national parks, in a tent, or with cots, large trailer or small. Most parks have bathrooms and showers and BBQ pits. Camping is not about big trailers or out doing the neighbors, it is about being together.It is the great equalizer when writing "what I did for my summer vacation" what you spent or didn't spend will never be included in your child's report or be noticed, again it is about being together.
Once your settled let the kids explore, give them times thru out the day to appear before you to be checked over. Take items such as sun block and bug repellent and boxed and canned foods with you from local store. Park or hotel, do go to the grocery store as soon as you arrive. (by arrive I mean to map out your nearest location to large town before you arrive in tourist destination.) Purchase healthy, cool down alternatives such as grapes, melon, plums. Take coupons. Try do decide when you will eat out and if you can have a kitchenette,grill or hot plate, when you can eat in. Make vacation meals ,an adventure for whole family by finding new foods. Remember most bagged frozen pastas include all needed for meal come in varieties, and only require one pan and a burner. That with a loaf of french bread and fresh tomatoes, & cookies from home will feed a family of four, under twenty dollars. Do not make meals big productions ! You are there to see and relax not cook and clean.( For your list , one large pan, dish scrubber, dish soap, coffee & filters. Camping you will need a coffee pot which also can be used to boil water, large ice chest ice. Borrow what you can from family or neighbors)Check weather before you leave.
Funny thing is as an adult, I no longer remember the best or worst vacations I had as a child, only a great blur of good time we shared together. Get out of your homes, grab your kids and go see America. Councilwoman Canaday /Okla.
Surviving a Family Road Trip: Top 5 Tips {ParentDish}
Jul 1st 2011 5:35PM Vacations from my childhood and now as an adult, are where I find the center of quality. That magic moment when a family gels as one, all schedules stop, the phone and e-mail stop and time again becomes ours. Even conflict ceases. The way to stop conflict, is not to start arguing over which generation has the best entertainment, I spy, reading or elelctronics.Some families like show tunes others play checkers, but starting a fight over what kids will not bring, is the best way to build "The great wall", before you see it. Have fun in your adult seats, and if kids join great, but don't play game wardens for a week of vacation. Don't over plan, have a plan, but be prepared for random fun. Take books for kids for when batteries wear out, be the hero of the vacation. No matter your budget you can have a vacation, one day, two or a week. Fishing, hiking, relaxing,swimming, in state parks, in a tent, or with cots. Most parks have bathrooms and showers and BBQ pits. Camping is not about big trailers or out doing the neighbors, it is about being together.It is the great equalizer when writing "what I did for my summer vacation" what you spent or didn't spend will never be included in your child's report or be noticed, again it is about being together. Let the kids explore and give them times thru out the day to appear before you to be checked over. Take items such as sun block and bug repellent and boxed and canned foods with you from local store. Park or Hotel, do go to the grocery store as soon as you arrive. (by arrive I mean to map out your nearest location to large town before you arrive in tourist destination.) Purchase healthy, cool down alternatives such as grapes, melon, plums. Take coupons. Try do decide when you will eat out and if you can have a kitchenette, when you can eat in. Make vacation in meals ,an adventure for whole family by finding new foods. Remember most bagged frozen pastas include all needed for meal come in varieties, and only require one pan and a burner. That with a loaf of french bread and fresh tomatoes, & cookies from home will feed a family of four, under twenty dollars. Do not make meals big productions ! You are there to see and relax not cook and clean.( For your list , one large pan, dish scrubber, dish soap, coffee & filters. Camping you will need a coffee pot with also can be used to boil water, large ice chest ice. Borrow what you can from family or neighbors)Check weather before yoiu leave. Funny thing is as an adult, I no longer remember the best or worst vacations I had as a child, only a great blur of good time we shared together. Get out of your homes, grab your kids and go see America. Councilwoman Canaday /Okla.
Breaking Point {MyDaily}
Sep 21st 2010 3:10PM People nedd to start being better aware that the individual has no RIGHT to individual protection. If we want these rights we have to stand up nation wide and demand them, be willing to pay for them in local, county and state funding. The only people that seem to have rights are those that do wrong and their rights are covered by taxpayers. A nation with 3.9 Billion people, we have 500,000 officers young and old and that is to cover four shifts. It is time to start thinking about how we can ensure our children, elder.Working men and woman how can we better secure daily lives.This father and his family deserved an appology from the school, the bus driver should not have the job of protecting children.Thank you sir for being a good father,by protecting, not harming, your family.
Cesar Millan or Victoria Stilwell? Who Would You Rather Have Train Your Dog? {Pawnation OLD}
Aug 20th 2010 8:59PM As an officer of the law & animal control for twenty years as well as a life in agriculture I pick Stillwell as she is closer to what many of us use with livestock and wildlife techniques. My concerns for the "pack" approach to training are that as an animal control officer no matter what the breed or the size of the dog, this training to a dog who if lost or loose on the street, could have an adverse affect and cause even more damage to children and livestock.. Stillwells methods seems to teach dogs how to listen to direction as well as overcome fear without having to be intimidated.As many of us know scared or unsure dogs bite. Any training that makes an animal safer to the public and gives a higher survival rate to a lost or loose animal is useful training.