Home 'n' hearth

Kelly needs help identifying whatever it is that started coming up through her basement floor yesterday, because she's not going down there again until she knows what she's dealing with.

When Caity and her roommate realized they'd locked themselves out of their house, they started walking to the neighborhood hardware store to see if there was any sort of tool they could buy to break in. But then they passed their local fire station:

... The fire fighters sitting out front said hello, saw the look of panic on our faces, and asked what was going on. We explained the situation, and after a short discussion, they offered to help us out. They called to a fourth fireman, and the guys got things ready to go. One of them even went through the formality of putting his coat and boots in the truck! After listing our call as "stove left on and occupants locked out" (teehee), the four guys came out front. One of them looked and said, "would you girls like to ride in the truck with us?" Um, HELL YEAH! So we climbed in (I got the seat that faces backwards - cool!) and rode the 3 blocks to our house. ...

What do you do about a neighbor who is both impressive and annoying at the same time?

Maureen Rogers ponders nascent efforts in local leafy suburbs to fight McMansions, and considers John Henry's plan to tear down the $16-million mega-house in Brookline he recently bought from never-will-be Sox owner Frank McCourt:

... It should seems like a shame that, for a measly $16 mil you can't find anything decent in Brookline. ...

Fabulously Out There reports on her rude awakening.

Harold M. Clemens writes; says Hispanics seem to own all the apartments in the 'hood these days:

... lord knows I'm tired of grinnin', cracking fake smiles, and putting on an affected accent just to find a place to rest for the next few months. I'm even more tired of being second guessed. one palito bitch asked me, "You make $40k?!" in visible shock after reading my rental app. Beeeyyooottchh!! as if $40k is some kinda money! I got peoples who probably blow that on weed, alcohol, and food in a year. ...

Amy discovers her new next-door neighbors came equipped with banjos - and very healthy pipes:

... As I stood waiting for someone to answer my loud and impatient knock, I heard more clearly what was happening. At least four people were in the neighbor's apartment singing a song about Jesus. Loudly. I waited for a while, but I was chilling in my hallways in my gross pajamas and decided to go back inside since the Lord apparently does not care about pissed off neighbors banging on the door. ...

Jenny discovers a solution for the neighbor from hell with the all-screaming, all-the-time kids. Classical music and speakers pointed out the window are involved.

Jenny has them - bad enough to force her to flee her own apartment just to get some sleep.

Alyssa Boehm thought she could live and let live with the groundhog in her yard. Until she went outside and discovered Hoggy likes her tomatoes:

... And so it begins. Let loose the dogs (or cats) of war. I gotta find some mothballs... and maybe Bill Murray.

Earlier:
Cinderella story. Outta nowhere. A former greenskeeper, now about to become the Masters champion.

From this to this.

Mike Ball goes on a tour of JP houses with built-in garages:

... They were the first in the Boston area, maybe in New England. These narrow and short rooms nestle under the compact houses. When they were included in the houses in the 1920s, they were perfect for the reigning Model-T Fords. Yet quickly as Americans emerged out of the Great Depression, their passion for the long, wide muscle cars meant most of these garages became storage and junk rooms. ...

Apparently, B Street is now the Seaport District.

Nobody messes with Moe's garden. So when woodchucks started feasting on it and moth balls failed to keep them away, Jeff got all Caddyshack on them:

... I poured tiki torch fuel down their hole and set it on fire. Then I set some mothballs on fire and rolled those down the hole too.

While I didn't manage to start a forest fire, I did accidentally catch a few stray logs on fire. Thankfully the watering can was there to fight them. ...

Boston Condo Guy provides an overview of a $15 million unit in Trinity Place at 1 Huntington Ave. The unit actually consists of two previously separate condos that were smushed into one giant unit with 8,500 square feet, eight bedrooms, eight bathrooms and four entire parking spaces - they were consolidated by some guy who spent a bit under $8 million for them back in 2000.

Oh, but wait: You'll also have to pay $10,000 in monthly maintenance fees.

Jane confronts one at eye level and the results are not pretty:

... Now my bedroom wall is adorned by centipede guts that I can't seem to clean off! ...

Among other things, don't make the proximity of a Dunkin' Donuts a selling point:

... In the Boston area, that's no more remarkable than saying that you've got indoor plumbing.

I am not Tippi Hedren and this is not Bodega Bay, so knock it off.

He might forget about his answering-machine crusade for awhile and figure out why it's so frickin' difficult for residents to get a hydrant and guard rail taken out by a car repaired:

... We figured that the fire hydrant was the responsibility of the Public Works Department and that the guardrail would be cared for by the Boston Transportation Department. Makes sense, doesn't it? The real answer is neither one! First, the Fire Department is responsible for inspecting the hydrant. I guess that makes sense, but they aren't in the business of replacing damaged ones, are they? Anyway, Public Works said they would replace the guard post, but only after I called the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services and had my liaison call DPW to have the work done. O-kaaaay... I didn't bother questioning the process, I just placed another call. Unfortunately, my neighborhood rep wasn't available, so all I could do was leave a message. ...

I got the following e-mail from somebody who wanted to know if either anybody knows about the situation he describes or Walpole/Norwood forums to which he could post. If you know about either, post here or mail me and I'll forward:

I am looking at a house in Walpole that is right off Pleasant St On Pleasant St. about a quarter mile from the house is this huge plant! it used to be Bird Shingles Co., now it is Certainteed shingles? We are afraid to buy and then find out it's a cancer neighborhood. I know most towns in Mass. have some old plants that used to dump wherever they wanted but this place kind of scares me. The realtor was like "oh it's no big deal don't worry about it," we LOVE the house but we don't love cancer. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

One of them rolled right through Jay Brewer's house last night:

... We decided to turn off all non-essential equipment and AC units until bed time, but it didn't make much difference, in the end we had to turn off all of them as they didn't really cool or work well, and you can damage the units if they continue to work under low voltage. ...

On Boston Daily Photo, which you should visit, well, daily, Cowpark illustrates one of the problems of moving into or out of a triple decker:

Moving out of a triple decker means some of your furniture doesn't fit down the stairwell. That's Leyre's husband lower my chair down from the balcony of our (well, not ours anymore!) third floor apartment. ...

No one enjoys having their apartment up for lease, but do rental agents always have to make things so much worse for those of us running down the last weeks of our tenancy? I know they're eager to get their commissions, but don't they understand that to do that they just might want to make a good faith effort at getting the on the good side of the current residents? Read more

I've witnessed people being Massholes while they drive, ride the T, watch (talk through) a movie to name a few scenarios. Tonight however, I'm faced with an entirely new experience that rivals the others.

The 10pm Apartment Move-In

I've often asked myself "Is there anything so mundane that it cannot be Massholified?" Apparently not, as moving into one's apartment now takes its place high on my list of things slathered with a thick, putrid layer of Massholery. Read more