Pea stone/gravel for a parking pad

[Dan Espen]

Yep. By the way, I don't think it was cheap to do.

[Robert Green]

Here's the final outcome. The parking enforcement supervisor came out, said "I was training a new girl and although I was fine with your driveway as it was, she got a little ahead of herself."

He said to kill off the grass (already sprayed Roundup on the weeds and grass poking up) and spread around a little more stone and that would be fine. My "landscaper" showed up with $30 worth of pea stone (eight 0.5 cu ft bags) and spread them in two parallel tracks and is going back to get another eight bags to extend the tracks another 12' and we are done.

The enforcement supe was very nice, completely sympathetic and actually apologetic that his new underling was so zealous. We talked about the TV show "Parking Wars" and I told him I didn't take this personally and I am glad he came out to tell me exactly what I needed to meet code.

The only thing that bothers me is that this pea stone is very brown and the stuff that's already there is cream and white colored. No biggie, but that's why he went back for some more stone, to help it all look the same. The stone isn't laid out very deep but the soil underneath is so hard it doesn't have to be. The enforcement guy was also sympathetic to too much pea stone getting into the lawmower and everywhere else so for just about $100 in material and labor, the block is checked and hopefully we won't be seeing code enforcement around here for a long time.

Thanks to everyone who contributed. I know I should have used gravel or something less round but my guy already showed up with the stone (which he spent his own money to buy!) right when he said he would, spread it around and all is right with the world. For now.

[TomR]

Excellent outcome. Thanks for the follow-up.

[clare]

What's wrong with brick, patio stone, or sidewalk slab? Just for the "tracks" There are even concrete blocks made that allow the grass to grow up through - which are allowed in many areas.

Crushed limestone works very well too. Compacts almost like concrete. Stays in place. Coarse (like gravel) or "fines" - work equally well.

[Robert Green]

Hours of labor, for one. I don't care if my heirs inherit a nice driveway or not. (-: Things were fine until the "rat out" war began and now that enough pea gravel has been spread to satisfy the authorities, things are fine again. I had the code guy come out and bless my proposed solution and tomorrow he can bless the actual one. Another 8 cu ft of stone and some Roundup. It's positively weird how good it feels to have that taken care of so quickly and inexpensively.

I don't disagree. I would have used either had the shopping list not gone to the landscape guy as quickly as it did. Kurt, if you're reading this, that's what happens when you move a little too quickly and aggressively like reporters sometimes do. Mistakes happen. (-:

Since the new pea stone doesn't match the old, and matching was a consideration, I could have just as easily gone with gravel or limestone. Oddly enough, the bags were tinted slightly making the rocks look whiter than they actually were.

[Robert Green]

Yes, I just hate it when the group offers dozens of solutions but the OP is never heard from again. Next time I will move a little more slowly but I was in a real hurry to avoid a $50 citation so I blitzed. I am much better informed about driveways now, and that's never a bad thing.

[Robert Green]

She can learn on someone else's nickel, thank you! (-: This is what comes of neighbors ratting each other out the the law instead of working it out like reasonable human beings. He will be very surprised when I flood the nearby University with flyers for a free kegger at his house. Or spread around a bunch of old house keys with a fob that says "$50 reward for return to - you guessed it - his address." Boy do people get angry when they think they were doing a good deed and were going to get a reward for it and get the blow off from some rude a-hole. Besides, it's a great way to clean out the old key drawer. Two birds with one stone!

It's not wise to say anymore, but this guy looks and acts just like Hussein's demented son and he's angrier than a junkyard dog all the time, even when he's beating his wife who comes over to mine to complain about it but won't file charges because I assume she knows he'll kill her. My wife urges me to live and let live and not antagonize a potential madman. I should follow her advice but this guy's such a dickweed, he needs a little fun in his life. I think he's making pipe bombs in his shed, don't you? (-;

[Robert Green]

I solved the problem for less than $100. That's my kind of miserly solution and frankly, I think it looks worse than before but at least it's code-compliant. Thanks for the pointer. It's always good to know how I

*should* have done it if I cared enough to do it right.

I am hoping that the real estate market will reignite to the point where even the cheapest "fixer upper" (my house) will command unreasonable prices. (-:

[Robert Green]

In my next lifetime I will do it correctly. Today, all I wanted was the "fuzz" off my back ASAP.

Thanks for your input, D!

[Robert Green]

Turns out the superviser was a really nice guy. That always happens after I call someone slimy. Sounds like his trainee was a bit more slithery.

(-:

[Robert Green]

It sure bogged down the lawnmower to the point it had be carried, so it makes sense.

[Robert Green]

At least your cops are upfront about what's going to happen ("don't make me stop the car and come back there you kids!")

[Robert Green]

I made up my mind she is slithery because she cost ME money for something no one's bothered me about for over 20 years. That's what I meant by MY nickel. You read it wrong.

Oh Jesus, what crawled up your output port and laid eggs that appear to have hatched in your brain?

Politics has absolutely *nothing* to do with this. Like most other citizens, I don't like being told what to do by some boneheaded trainee, especially if her zeal takes $100 out of my pocket. I don't care if she's left wing, right wing, chicken-winged, black, green, blue or grey or has polka dots. She "slithered" $100 out of my wallet. That's my gripe.

You get a D minus on this troll attempt. But keep playing, maybe your grades will improve.

[Higgs Boson]

Whoever posted this (I lost track):

+++++++++

It's not about how "liberals" think of themselves. (Liberal/Conservative h ave become meaningless terms).

It's how serious, scholarly research has analyzed the processing of the two "sides". Each has some upside and some downside, but the way each process es input/data/etc. is VERY different. So is -- VERY IMPORTANT! -- the welt anschauung (world view) of the two "sides".

The "serious, scholarly" research I mention has only been possible recently , with the advent of technology that permits direct observation of not only body (physiolgical) reaction to stimuli, but -- mirabile dictu! -- of the actual functioning of various areas of the brain.

This is such amazing stuff that those of us who seek to rise above blind pr ejudice and petty labeling would do well to educate ourselves the research which finally helps us understand where we're coming from.

And, of course, *pace* the NSA scandal, this technology and the results it yields can be used for serious self-evaluation or could be manipulated by B ig Brother to control us more than we are already. (Excuse me while I adjus t my tinfoil helmet )

HB

HB

[Robert Green]

I had to spend money to be compliant - that was what the supervisor and I agreed on needed to be done to insure Zelda the Zealot doesn't forget her training and cite me again. You must have mis-read what I wrote. Again. Let me refresh your wildly inaccurate memory:

"He said to kill off the grass (already sprayed Roundup on the weeds and grass poking up) and spread around a little more stone and that would be fine."

"Spread a little more stone." Where were the rocks supposed to come from? Your head? It seems to be full of gravel. Was I supposed to create those stones from nothingness? (Ex nihilio for Latin lovers). I had to buy them. Someone had to spread them. Money had to be spent. And all because a new, over-zealous employee might make the same bad judgement call again. Now she can't. The violation no longer exists. She's been neutralized.

Jeez, dude. There's only one person whose analogies are THIS bad. I wonder now if you're Chet's sock puppet? The ineffectual slam you're going for here is preposterous. When someone calls another poster HERE in AHR a "lib loon" or an "imbecile" that means the person being dissed will READ the insult. So will all the other members. Calling someone here a needle-dicked bug raper for trying to ignite idiotic flame wars over nothing is something they will see right away. Typically, long term animosity will be a likely result of such hurling such insults.

On the other hand, my calling someone who never visits AHR and whom no one here knows a "slithery zealot" will never effect her in the slightest bit. She will never know. Her friends will never know. The term was used, as a certain friend of yours likes to say, for comic effect, but it wasn't used against someone in the AHR community. I might as well be dissing Putin or Lincoln. It would make no difference to any of them. They don't visit here.

Odd you never rail our good friend about *his* many demeaning terms for liberals but you're feebly trying to ride my ass for a really ridiculous reason. Do I detect a double-standard?

As far as AHR is concerned, the parking lady is not personally known to anyone and she can't feel insulted, hurt or angry about my putting a label on her. Do you see the difference now? You're talking about two, completely different types of labeling behavior. One is real, the other is deep down inside your very squirmy head.

Just *what* crawled up your exhaust pipe and popped your head gasket, Oren? You're obviously angry about something not really related to pea stone.

Now lie down on the couch with the "hurt" dolly and tell the doctor about mean Bobby Green and where he hurt you. (-:

Geez, does that cliche line work for *anybody?* You're not very good at this, are you Oren? You got *thoroughly* schooled. You hijacked an on-topic thread and dragged *wwaay* OT lame political accusations into it. Then you *tried* to try to insult all liberals and me with some cockamamie complaint about a parking lady no one here knows or will ever meet. Despite all your attempts, you failed. You failed conspicuously. You failed miserably. You failed totally. You got served.

But I won't make your mistake of assuming your current asinine behavior is that of a typical conservative. It's just how a typical hypocrite operates. There are plenty of conservative posters here who would never resort to such tactics because they have class. Find out whether you can buy some from them. Purchase a clue or two, as well, because you haven't got one.

By trying to slam me and all liberals, you've merely proved that you can't make the simplest credible analogy nor can you read for details. The words "more stone" meant that I *had* to spend that money or face a possible citation that could cost as much as the bags of pea stone I had to buy and have spread. Is that really as hard as it seems for you to understand? If so, I've got to re-rate your IQ down into the quiche basement and assign you seating at AHR's kiddie table. Don't worry, you'll have plenty of company.

Hopefully, when you stop smoking scorpion tails . . .

. . . or whatever you did that got your panties so knotted up you'll return to being a fairly normal person.

Now y'all have a nice day, y'heah?

[Robert Green]

One additional follow-up note. The dark brown pea stone ended up becoming a lot whiter after a heavy rain. I guess the claim that they were "washed stones" was not exactly true!