We spent the weekend away from the house visiting friends and family in Maryland. They got over 20 inches of snow, and it seems like we did here as well. When we left our friends' house yesterday afternoon there was a little slush on the first road, but everything else was almost 100% clear. (My parents live on a snow emergency route, so there was no question that it would be plowed.)
On our way home, the highway in Maryland was wonderful. Bare pavement and just about all the lanes were clear all of the time. And then, we entered Virginia. I don't know what they were doing in Virginia yesterday, but they certainly weren't plowing to the same standard as Maryland. On the American Legion bridge, they had two lanes closed and were loading snow INTO A TRUCK to take it away. The beltway had about 2.5 lanes clear. And even major exit ramps -- like to 95 in Springfield -- were sketchy at best.
Now, keep in mind that we live two major roads off of the highway. The first road was great; all of the lanes were cleared. The next road, another busy street, still had a layer of snow on it, meaning there was little hope for our street. Before leaving, we pulled the truck into the driveway with the hope that the plow would go to the curb. No such luck.
Poor Brendan had to get the shovel from the house, make us a path to the garage, all while leaving the car in the street. Thankfully, we have great neighbors who let us put our car in their driveway for the night. Bren got the hard part shoveled (above) and helped our neighbors shovel more of their driveway in the dark last night while I got the kids to bed.
I took the above photo this morning. I had been hoping to wake up to a freshly plowed street, but alas, it was not meant to be. Someone did put sand on it, though. I know Maryland is a smaller state then Virginia, so they have less roads to plow, but it still seems like they know how to manage the situation much better in Maryland.
I've sort of mentioned the guy who lives down the street before. He and his buddies tend to test out their cars by running them down to the stop sign and around the park. It's terribly annoying. And now that it's spring, it's become more prevalent. Granted, I've never been down there to tell the guy how much I hate it, but it just seems like common sense.
I've got nothing against a guy working on his car at his house and testing it out on the road. In fact, the guy across the street from Mr. Monte Carlo works on his bike from time to time, but it's not every single day. I feel like it's just gone a little bit too far at this point. To me, it seems like he's running a business out of his home, fixing up cars/ATVs/motorcycles... So it's not just him, but a bunch of people. This morning when I heard him run his car up and down the road, I just went ahead and called the police complaint line. We live on a street that has extra fines -- because it is a cut through and has playgrounds. Hopefully a police presence will take care of the issue.
Someone moved in next door -- the house that's been empty for over 2 years. Neither Bren nor I have gotten a good look at anyone, but at this point, I'll take anything over empty. (I'll probably regret that I said that later.)
There's been a lot said about the amount of foreclosures in Prince William county (I think I've said a few things myself). Most recently, there was an article in the Post that touched on Woodbridge, Dale City and Manassas.
As the surge in foreclosures continues and banks repossess more and more houses, property values are declining -- but not everywhere, and not by equal measure, Thompson and other real estate agents said. No part of the region is untouched, but most foreclosures are clustered in certain neighborhoods and several troubled Zip codes. Rather than a sea of slumping housing, Northern Virginia has an island chain of hot spots.
The article does not offer any new insights. The comments, however, are another thing. My personal favorite was this gem:
bbcrock wrote: How could someone in all honesty buy in an area 90 minutes outside the city and NOT expect it was a slum? Really. Who is going to want to drive in at 5am every morning? Desperate people with no options. I'm sorry, I just don't feel bad for the exurbs- they should still be farms. 3/22/2008 9:51:56 PM Recommend (12)
I'd like to give that person a big old one-finger salute. What a complete ASS. I must have missed that memo. Because there are no slums INSIDE actual cities. And 12 people have recommended the comment. WTF?!
I actually do have a point here... The people on one side of us may or may not have been illegal. I don't know. It was none of my business. I do know they overpaid for their house and they just up and left one day (as I've mentioned before). When they were living next door, they kept up the property quite nicely. Then, foreclosure. The house is still empty. But maybe not for too long.
On the other side, the hillbillies were annoying as hell. Their house was bordering on looking like crap. I do not know the immigration status of the people who live there now. Nor do I really care. They keep the outside clean, are quiet (aka not running all over my lawn like little Bobby Hillbilly) and generally seem like decent people.
Of course now we have more people up the street who, dare I say it, are bordering on white trash. Dude is always working on his damn Monte Carlo or totally awesome bright blue Isuzu with awesome gold rims. His buddies are always stopping by in the middle of the road on the opposite side of the street to have some loud yelling conversation. Plus they run the cars up and down the road and around the block and have marked the shit out of the street. I don't expect the spring and summer to bring any improvements there. Oh, did I mention they live obscenely close to the playground? You'd better bet that I'll be all over the police complaint line when things do not improve.
So what's my point here? (Besides, you know, getting all of this out of me and feeling a little better after venting some.) My point is, not all white people are fantastic neighbors. And not all non-whities are evil.
Neighbors! People are moving into the hillbilly's house. I noticed them last week, but have been holding off saying too much just in case it was a big fake out.
