Look at this letter I recieved today..

[Carrie Sansing 0]

mliquori wrote:

Here is a letter I recieved word for word.. I'm going to decide how to respond shortly. (After I calm down)

"Clean up your filthy property. You and your family have turned a beautiful street into a disgrace.

You think you are liked and admired for the Xmas Mess you force on our neighborhood. You are wrong. You are the laughing stock of Glen Cove. Even TV made fun of you.

You must have previously lived in a slum because that is what your property looks like.

You have lowered property value for the entire street.

Why do you think your neighbors, Christians and Jews, want to look at your dirty old Wmas junk for months every year.

Get off your lazy, useless buts and clean up your mess!

You are very disliked by the entire street.. MOVE!"

That was in my mail box today. I have an idea who it can be. Before I get arrested, I'm going to take a few deep breaths.. :(I will respond in a way. Maybe post a sign on my lawn for all to see. We'll see.. I will post a photo of the front of my home as it is right now for all to see.

Mike, I have seen your before photos and the picture you took yesterday. I don't see anything that even remotely resembles "filthy", your property is not filthy, you have some decorations up. Its not a mess either..I think your neighbor has other issues and if it were me, I wouldn't do a darn thing differently. Last weekend was the first chance I had to remove a ton of extension cords and other "infrastructure" elements from my 2007 display. Don't let this bonehead get to you.

Property values..hmm..check out this site:

http://www.zillow.com/wiki/RealEstateWiki.htm

Zillow isa lot of fun (not entirely accurate, but its oftenclose, bases values on recent comps and sales, municipal and township records, etc.). I'm a realtor and all I can say is, if someone's house and yard is a year round eye sore (i.e., derelect cars, broken equipment, tall grass, weeds, peeling paint, overgrowth, broken pavement, etc.)that disrepairmust be takeninto consideration as againstthe overall area and neighborhood, prior sales, amenities in that area, schools, etc. all those factors do effect the overall selling price of a nearby residence..your house would not be a detriment to neighborhood values unless someone had a house on the market and their prospective buyers had a major objection to a Christmas display. Just my .2, but I've been selling real estate for almost 20 years, your house wouldn't be an issue here unless you left it up year round.

[Ralph 1]

I would not worrie about it. there are all kinds out there and we all know it. with all the good that you do, you will with out a dout get a thorn in your side from time to time. Shake it off!I had a heckler this year of sorts, it was a couple straight across ed the street from me and they were on me from the day i started my setup. at first i felt really bad....then i got mad, then i just let it go. everyone has there own thoughts....oh well. Sorry this happened to you, and as long as your not breaking any laws......lets all get back to work. forget-it. .....I like your display.

Ralph

[uoynoenotog 0]

I think your house looks great. But honestly it has been four months and even I think it is about time to get it down. Now if you have a foot of snow and ice every where then I understand some of the delay. But we all know that it takes less time to take down than it does to put it up. Unless it takes you eight months to put up your lights.

So while the letter wash harsh, I feel the author may be thinking that a rude letter may cause you to act. Therefore, entirely justified. Bottom line you really need to get the stuff down a lot faster so as to be a good neighbor.

[The Bull 8]

thats a shame tho your yard is just fine tho keep up the great work!! :waycool:

i seen i think you on a special on tv one day i think.

[mliquori 0]

On a lighter note. I just cleaned up a little more, put away my Cement mixer I built. Parked on the driveway for a minute. Darn I'm good.. :laughing:

[DownTown 0]

mliquori,

Your display wouldbe amazing to see during the Christmas season. But it's not Christmas anymore. It's Easter, no,It's EASTER! Memorial Day is coming. Get motivated (I use "motivated" because I can't say what I want to say here), get your ladder out, and get those decorations down. I do not agree with the slum comment or the line about reducing property values, but man, it's spring, and if I were your neighbor, I'd be out there with my ladderevery time I saw you, offering to help you take it down. I would be embarrassed to have decorations up this late in the year.

Perhaps a "few" less decorations would allow you to get them all down in a reasonable amount of time, say by the end of January. The amount of display items you have would be more comfortable on an acre thanthey are on your front lawn.

Nothing personal, just my opinion. Your mileage may vary.

D.T.

[ocandtrav 0]

I don't care what that letter said (still think you were punked)!!! That cement mixer is SWEEEEEEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PS - I'm still seeing computerized blow molds in your future!!!!!!

PS PS - Thanks for the compliment about my display!

[Dale W 4]

DownTown wrote:

mliquori,

Your display wouldbe amazing to see during the Christmas season. But it's not Christmas anymore. It's Easter, no,It's EASTER! Memorial Day is coming. Get motivated (I use "motivated" because I can't say what I want to say here), get your ladder out, and get those decorations down. I do not agree with the slum comment or the line about reducing property values, but man, it's spring, and if I were your neighbor, I'd be out there with my ladderevery time I saw you, offering to help you take it down. I would be embarrassed to have decorations up this late in the year.

Perhaps a "few" less decorations would allow you to get them all down in a reasonable amount of time, say by the end of January. The amount of display items you have would be more comfortable on an acre thanthey are on your front lawn.

Nothing personal, just my opinion. Your mileage may vary.

D.T.

I have to agree with DownTown.

There has to be a reasonable time frame for a display to be taken down. As long as it is not flagrant and readily visible to the naked eye, it should be taken down by Valentines Day (imo).

[Buddy McCarrier 0]

You should go out there this weekend and just deck your whole entire yard out with halloween, Christmas, Easter, etc and then get the letters flowing. Thats what I would do in a heart beat.

Our neighbors think our house is soo tacky and ridiculous, but every year I make it bigger and better. This was commical, someone said, did frosty throw up on your front yard along with the whole north pole.

[mliquori 0]

Buddy your a man after my own heart...

[Buddy McCarrier 0]

Screw your neighbors, I do my display for me. I don't give a dang what these people say. Like my mom says, they're jelous, we can't help we're awesome. HAHAH

[mliquori 0]

now your talking ! wait till next year. I must have picked up close to 100 more blowmolds since christmas.

I just pick up today another 32 pieces.. :laughing:

[mliquori 0]

Thanks Santa!!!

[Brandon 3]

mliquori wrote:

now your talking ! wait till next year. I must have picked up close to 100 more blowmolds since christmas.

I just pick up today another 32 pieces.. :laughing:

Post some pictures...

[Philip 0]

Christmas Delight wrote:

mliquori wrote:

Post some pictures...

if I remember right he doesn't have them in hand yet, as they are being help by Planet Chirstmas's uncle ChuckHutchins

[mliquori 0]

no, that anothe bunch that Chuck is holding for me. :]

I picked up 31 pieces yesterday and 18 last week. I'll get some pictures up later on.

[Papa - LF 0]

Your anonymous author has a good point - but only on the tip of his pencil!

A mind is a terrible thing to waste - looks like this guy found a whole dumping ground of them!

He is about as tactful as a snickers bar in a weight loss clinic!

Stupidity is replicating itself at an astonishing rate. It breeds easy and is self-financing - this guy must be real wealthy!

Albert Einstein wrote - "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius had its limits."

[oldcqr 0]

I don't want to beat a dead horse here, but I do want to make a few points and hopefully take the middle ground.

As light-enthusiasts, our judgment is clouded when it comes to these situations. Many, if not all, of us think more is better. We spend hundreds of hours planing, and setting up. And lets facesome facts.We LOVE the attention our displays draw TO US during the season. We may argue thatwe do this to spread cheer, celebrate the season, or what ever - but there is NO denying that we like being the center of attention on our block/in our city/etc.

85% of the people out there love what we do for that month and a half (percentages mine). 10% may tolerate what we do, simply because they understand that we can do what we like with our property. The other 5% during the season are (rightfully) asked to take their Scrooge aspirations elsewhere.

Because of the excitement and joy we bring during the season sometimes we tend to short-change the other end: the breakdown and clean-up. We need to remember that for the other 10 and 1/2 months a year we must be good neighbors. Just because we spreada great deal of good will during the season does not give us the right to use ANY of the good will that MAYbe extended to us by our neighbors. As visible as we are DURING theseason is as INVISIBLE as we must be during the rest of the year.

Sinceour actual displays are out of the ordinary, it is imperative that we go to EXTRA ordinary lengths in EVERYTHING that we do:

• We need to compress our setup time into as short a time as possible.
  
• We should set up in a 'least to most visible' schedule
  
• We must minimize disruptions to our neighbors during the season
  
• Tear down must be done quickly in as short of a time as possible
  
• We should tear downin a 'most to least visible' way

I realize that it is not a lot of fun to do tear down, but we absolutely MUST schedule our tear-down time as carefully as our set up time. For those of us in mild climates, this is an easy task. For the many that have to deal with winter time snow and cold you have it tougher - but don't use the cold as an excuse to NOT perform your duty. Ask yourself: 'Would I set up in thisweather?' If the answer is yes, then you should be out there taking stuffdown.

Life sometimes throws us a curve which may preventus fromgettingdone what we need to get done. Sure, it's OK to postpone some things but remember: we MUST go to extra-ordinary lengths to be good neighbors. Those lengths may demand that we hire some help to do a tear-down if it is not progressing quickly enough.

As enthusiasts, we are outraged when those 1 or 2 Scrooges shutany of ourbrothers'/sisters' displays down. Howeverwe MUST take the moral high road here. Our indignation is ONLY justifiedif we are as good a neighbor as we can be: by complying with all laws/rules andmaking our displays visible fora reasonable time.

Each of us should promise:

"For this and every subsequent year we plan not only for setup and maximum enjoyment for the visitors, butalso fortear down and minimizing our impact on our neighbors."

[ChuckHutchings 0]

Great post and very well said.

[Peggy13 0]

Mike that was very well said! I couldnt agree with you more.

[Brandon 3]

Great post Mike!

[mliquori 0]

You know, I have to agree also..

[ChuckHutchings 0]

Hooray!

A happy ending!

I guess it's kind of like when my wife gets all cranky about the mess on the patio from all of my little "projects."

She uses words a little stronger than those used in the letter you received.

I guess we all need to be aware that while most people enjoy the displays, not as many enjoy the aftermath. (Or the "premath" as it may be.)

:]

[mliquori 0]

That you everyone who took the time to post. I take all your thoughts to heart. Pros and cons.

The size display that I put up does take about 8 weeks to set up, and it gets bigger every year. I guess I'll have to put more effort in getting it down in a timely manor.

Now that all is said and done. Here are some photos of my lastest finds..:laughing:

Picked up another 32 pieces. and 1 strange santa, I've never seen before..

[mliquori 0]

ok i'll get this in a minute

Thissanta actually spins. I think I'l hook up a motor from one of my wire deer. and animate him