handle with care

[asakiyume]

I arrived at the post office today as a postal worker was bringing a wide, low rectangular box out to a car. The box had holes, and I could hear peeping. As we both walked into the building, I asked, "Were those chicks?" And indeed they were.

The post office was very quiet at that time of day--except for cheeping and peeping! From the back room.

"I know I can't go back there," I said, "But can you take my phone back and take pictures?"

Well, he did better than that. He brought out a box of ducklings...



and then came a box of chicks!



"I guess these are all spoken for," I said wistfully.

"No, they're mainly going to tractor supply stores," he said.

But even though B'town is a right-to-farm community, I live in a neighborhood with a homeowner's association, and sadly, poultry is not allowed. We talked about backyard chickens, the price of eggs and the cost of feed, and homeowners associations.

I love my post office and the USPS generally. [That is your veiled political commentary for the day]

Comments

Re: Thoughts

[asakiyume]

DUCKS FOR ALL!

I've got some stuff for making protest lino prints. Maybe one can be DUCKS FOR ALL (although as I said to ysabetwordsmith, since in this case I'm actually *on* the board, probably I should just .... propose the change).

But lino prints! But ducks for all!

Re: Thoughts

[osprey_archer]

If everyone on the board is fine with ducks, it sounds like it might be as simple as proposing the change in this case, yeah!

Re: Thoughts

[asakiyume]

You would think, but to make a chance to the covenants actually requires getting people in the neighborhood to vote in favor, and people just ... don't want to be bothered by stuff. But maybe we could get a majority to sign on. I did get a majority of people to sign on to a letter to stop having plastic-wrapped advertising circulars dropped in the driveways (so. much. litter. and wrapped in plastic. and on us, the people who live here, to throw them away).

Worth a try, anyway! Worth pushing for :-)

Re: Thoughts

[osprey_archer]

People may get excited about changing that part of the covenant real fast if Trump tanks the economy...

Re: Thoughts

[asakiyume]

As a very gloomy copy editor, may I suggest replacing the "if" with a "when" ...

Re: Thoughts

[sovay]

But lino prints! But ducks for all!

If you make that lino print, I would like to commission one.

(And may the change just go over with the rest of the board. [edit] And the neighborhood! Who does it stress to have ducks around?)

Re: Thoughts

[asakiyume]

First lino print will be for the post office--I will send you one.

Re: Thoughts

[sovay]

First lino print will be for the post office--I will send you one.

*hugs*

Re: Thoughts

[asakiyume]

Re: who it stresses, who indeed??

But really there's no universal consensus about behavior, and some people can be nosy, crabby, blah blah blah. \

e.g., no permanent structures are allowed to be built on the common property, but some kids build a fort. Someone complains. That kind of thing.

Or people complain about dogs barking (well gosh people, dogs do bark! ... but you can argue, maybe rightly in some cases, that a dog shouldn't be left unattended for long periods, plus some hours are quiet hours, etc.)

Everyone on the board is a volunteer, and no one wants to be police. Ideally, people would sort these things out among themselves--have a conversation with each other. But that can be hard... so they want the board to be the heavy. Unless they're the ones the board is being a heavy against--then they definitely don't.

The neighborhood is about 143 households. It runs ... the complete political gamut. So there's that, too.

Re: Thoughts

[sovay]

Everyone on the board is a volunteer, and no one wants to be police. Ideally, people would sort these things out among themselves--have a conversation with each other. But that can be hard... so they want the board to be the heavy. Unless they're the ones the board is being a heavy against--then they definitely don't.

That part sounds the roughest.

Re: Thoughts

[asakiyume]

Yeah, it makes me see in a very intense, right-up-close way how this society has somehow bred people to expect someone else to whisk away their problems. Not everything is someone else's duty to fix! Like, do you really WANT that level of policing in your life? But people are afraid to talk to their neighbors, I think. Maybe because we don't know how to ask people for things? Or how to express something negative ("I'd like you to stop revving the car engine at 6 am")? Maybe because we assume not only that they'll just answer F-you, but that also they'll then retaliate? But if it's true, what does that say about us all? ... Okay, that was longer than I meant to go on...

Re: Thoughts

[kore]

But people are afraid to talk to their neighbors, I think. Maybe because we don't know how to ask people for things? Or how to express something negative ("I'd like you to stop revving the car engine at 6 am")? Maybe because we assume not only that they'll just answer F-you, but that also they'll then retaliate? But if it's true, what does that say about us all?

....yeah. That.

Re: Thoughts

[asakiyume]

It's a bad place to be as a society, but frankly, I'm not sure I've been in one that had a better way of solving things... seems like it's just HARD.

Re: Thoughts

[kore]

Yeah, I was thinking about connection, bc not one of our neighbours (including the building manager who lives right next door) stopped in to see how T was, or even said "Glad you're not dead in a ditch!" in passing. We've gone on walks, and I know ppl were in the building when he got lifted DOWN FIVE FLIGHTS OF STAIRS by all the paramedics in the world, bc three people were impatiently right on our heels, lol. (They did not ask what was happening or express well wishes at all.) I don't think they dislike us, tenants here are just kind of isolated. I think it really started during the pandemic and never let up. Then again it might be just Seattle chill, except when I was commuting there were certainly lots of chatty bastards at the bus stop. But that was pretty far back.

Re: Thoughts

[asakiyume]

I'm really sorry :( I wish for you guys a lot more warmth and support than that shows.

Re: Thoughts

[sovay]

Okay, that was longer than I meant to go on...

It makes sense to me that you are thinking about communities as microcosms of society. Does the one you live in allow for non-police-like actions like mediation instead of the options being heavy or nothing?

*hugs*

Re: Thoughts

[asakiyume]

It's constrained by the imaginations and personalities of the people involved, but even so: yes. So far, in spite of the things I've complained about, it's done (from my perspective) more or less all right.