2008 Annual report was due in March, doesn't get updated until September

And even then there are several errors. Most troubling is that it is posted on the Corporation Commission's website that the monthly dues are listed as of June are $180, not as I was informed in writing, $190. All homeowners in the HOA should be informed of this discrepancy and an audit of the HOA's books needs to happen. This, combined with the fact that Dorothy Maus is listed as treasurer and Hacienda Real HOA pays dues to the Biltmore Neighborhood Association which Dale Maus, her husband is treasurer of, is extremely troubling. People of Hacienda Real HOA should be informed of this quite obvious conflict of interest and potential for defalcation. 2008 Annual Report for Hacienda Real HOA So there will be a little adjustment in my payment this month, as I will deduct $10 for every month that I have overpaid as a result of your "mistake". Don Abbott is not a director, clowns. Doesn't your "HOA Manager" even know how to read and complete the Corporation Commission Annual Report? Isn't anyone in the HOA Board capable of checking her work? For the love of God, get it together, people. Let's get rid of the idiots running this HOA once and for all. Better yet, let's dissolve this HOA. I'm sick of having these idiots try to tell me how to live my life when they can't even fill out a simple form correctly.

What idiot would prune a fig tree with fruit still on it?

Hacienda Real HOA Board: Get a clue already! Anyone with a bit of common sense would know this.
Call the County Extension and get some free advice. 623-546-1672 M-F 9am-12pm

Or email them. You can post your question right here:
Ask a Master Gardener

The collective lot of you clearly know nothing about pruning trees. If you had any inkling of common sense you would not prune a fruit tree when it still had fruit on it. That is wasteful, for starters. Squandering community assets. Secondly, some homeowners in the HOA actually enjoy that fruit (and I'm not the only one), and you removed that benefit from the homeowners. You are idiots, you aren't fit to run this HOA so do us all a big favor and retire already.

Is it going to take a lawsuit to wake you fools up? There are four units for sale in this community, and no one will want to buy any of these if there is a lawsuit pending against the HOA. Keep it up and there will be soon.

There are numerous trees that do need your attention and a great deal of pruning. The palms trees haven't been taken care of in at least four years, and they look it.



Take this bush located next to the Maus house.(See photo below) Isn't it strange how the plants around their house are spared from your butchering? That's conflict of interest in action, folks. Also yet another example of selective enforcement, which is illegal.



Do yourselves a favor, and keep your gardening shears away from things you shouldn't go near. Like fruit trees with fruit on them, and plants planted by homeowners in the non-common areas.

Burglary Fantasy Revenge

I have often thought of learning how to bend and twist metal into wrought iron and weld the curled strips together, transforming it into something strong and beautiful. Lately as so many people have been telling me the tweekers are just melting down all the precious metal treasures they steal to sell for dope to poison their bodies I fantasize about how I could use those metal tools to extract my revenge on the tweekers that ripped me off. First pound them to a pulp with the mallet. Then use the welding torch on their balls just like one would do when roasting marshmallows over a fire - until they are crispy & black on the outside and oozing on the inside. Yumm. Revenge will be delicious.

Who are the buyers of this metal anyway? Don't they see there are handmade objects of art, not just scrap metal to be melted down? Don't they see the sellers are just tweekers hungry for their next fix? Can't we hold the metal buyers as responsible as we do pawn shops?

Yippee! Someone can read!

I posted pictures of two dead trees in the HOA a couple days ago and they have been taken care of. If nothing else, this blog does communicate.

Yesterday, someone placed the following half-page of paper on my patio:

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ATTENTION HOMEOWNERS! 8/12/2008

FOR YOUR INFORMATION.. THERE HAVE BEEN SEVERAL BREAKINS ACROSS 28TH DRIVE RECENTLY. ENTRY HAS BEEN THROUGH THE SKYLIGHTS.

PLEASE WATCH FOR ANY UNUSUAL ACTIVITY IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD.

THANK YOU
HACIENDA REAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS

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I contacted the detective who is working on my break-in, and he said that there hasn't been any spike in break-ins in the area, just the normal number, and as far as he has seen, none of the break-ins happened through the skylights. As our little clique of HOA Board busybodies thrive on gossip, they likely confused gossip about a break-in and gossip about someone having their skylights replaced.

In any case, the note is less than helpful. For one thing, they've already been to our community and they've already broken in. The note says to watch. Period. Watch and then what? Watch them come and watch them go? Watch garage doors open for hours on end and do nothing?

Wouldn't it be a better idea to organize some kind of block watch, and have the Phoenix Police come out to help train people with this, so everybody actually knew what would be the best thing to do in the event someone were watching and saw any unusual activity? How about a review of the CC&Rs and/or other rules, codes of conduct and highlight those rules which pertain to security in and around the complex? Months ago Don Abbott said the locks would be changed on the common area gates so they become self-locking. That has yet to happen.

Meanwhile, why doesn't the erstwhile board take a break from the gossiping and find a metalworker willing to put grates in skylights for a decent price that will prevent that kind of unwanted entry?

Game Over at Hacienda Real HOA

The last straw came on Thursday (just coincidentally with the return of the nasty Maus household).

First, a little background:

A few years ago, there was a lovely little tangelo tree planted behind my unit. The leaves didn't look altogether right, but the fruit was tasty and plentiful. I was a board member at the time. The board president, Sue Doyle, commented that there was something wrong with the tangelo tree. I volunteered to contact the county extension service to find out what was wrong and get back to the board at the next meeting.

But that was not enough for Suzie. Did she research it herself? Oh no. Did she ask me to be quicker about finding an answer? Oh no. Instead, at a community cleanup day, she saw an opportunity to use free labor to destroy the tree. No discussion. No permission. She made an "executive decision" and simply ordered it cut down.

That tree shaded my bedroom and provided nice fruit, so I complained. The board did nothing except Dale Maus went around and slandered me to neighbors and solicited enough signatures to get me kicked off the board. I offered to replace the tree at my cost. The board refused. I took them to city mediation, where the board "conceded" and backed down all the way to letting me replace the tree they erroneously cut down. At my cost, of course. If they had a clue they would have made Sue Doyle liable for that tree in the first place. Idiots.

What the board failed, and still fails to realize is that trees add value to the community. They do not understand that being on a board gives them a fiduciary duty to maintain the property and by cutting down trees right and left without any replacement plan, they are failing that duty. If they had waited until the next board meeting as was originally intended they would have learned what I learned from the county extension office: that the tree had thrips, a non-fatal pest common to citrus, and the tree could still be there, providing shade and growing nice fruit.
There have been many more trees cut since then yet none have been planted.
Idiots.

Next, a large planter was stolen from my property.

A new hose was stolen and replaced with an older one.

Another hose was cut in half.

Hundreds of dollars of plantings have been torn out or mowed over.

A vine I planted was ordered to be removed, even though I asked for and was given permission to plant around my unit.

A tree shading a west-facing window had a large limb shading that window cut off by a "community volunteer". When I complained to HOA Board member Don Abbott he told me a woman had hit her head on the tree limb and was threatening a lawsuit. I commented that she must have been a very tall woman. He replied that she was indeed quite tall. Turns out it was a completely different tree - right next to Beverly's garage. That particular tree has since been removed. The tree which used to shade our window has continued to have even more branches cut off by these idiots, and now has had so many branches removed there is now no shade at all for that window. See photo.

Then, last Thursday, my property was trespassed. My property was vandalized. My plants were destroyed. Keep in mind that all of these are climbing plants, and they were climbing up a garage wall, helping to shade the garage. The plants that were vandalized were not interfering with access, as we walk through here everyday. Some nasty "community volunteer" maliciously cut down all the climbing plants in the middle of the garage wall for no good reason at all. These plants included climbing roses, clematis and wisteria still in bloom. As you can see in the photo, their intention was not to clear away any of the dead leaves, but merely to destroy something living, pleasant, green and flowering which covered a boring off-white wall.

The Hacienda Real HOA Board is responsible for this activity and from now on, they will be held accountable as well. If plants were blocking access, which they were not, the board would have been correct in requesting that I trim my plants. That did not happen. The HOA board bypassed that process. No notice is ever given the homeowner before these acts occur. Sneaky "community volunteers" wait until homeowners are absent before they vandalize homeowners' property, cut down trees and commit other atrocities.

Yet around the community there are not one but TWO dead trees which need to be removed. Yes, that tall tree with the brown needles next to the gate is dead.







There are walkways that cannot be walked down because hedges have not been trimmed in months.




In the tennis court area we have what looks like a fountain of weeds which has been neglected for at least as long.


One would think they would have enough to do to maintain common area problems before vandalizing private property.



1. All damages from last week's brutal attack on my personal property will be fairly remedied, either voluntarily or through litigation. This time I will not back down from this issue. Ignore this at your risk. I will take you to court. No mediation.

2. Dorothy Maus must be removed from the board. There is a troubling conflict of interest that Dorothy can control the money of this HOA and at the same time her hubbie Dale Maus is treasurer of Biltmore Lakes Neighborhood Association, an organization to which Hacienda Real HOA pay money. Sure hope these people are bonded.

3. Maureen Watrous must be replaced by a real property manager, preferably one on-site. She has a felony assault charge, and that makes her unbondable. Do you really want your dues money to be turned over to someone who cannot be bonded? What that means is she can steal our money and we wouldn't be able to do a thing about it. That is a risk I do not want to take.

4. Concrete steps and real action must be taken to eliminate selective enforcement by the Hacienda Real HOA Board. If that means the whole board is to be replaced, then so be it. It's high time there was some proper housecleaning in this HOA. Let's get rid of the corruption and the complacency.

If these things do not happen, life will go on as it always has at Hacienda Real HOA. Residents who suck up to Dorothy and Dale Maus will continue to do whatever they want, while those who do not will continue to be persecuted. An HOA which behaves in the way Hacienda Real HOA has is no HOA at all, and will be treated accordingly. So if you are on the Hacienda Real HOA board and you don't want to be personally named in a lawsuit, you'll have make some serious changes. It is high time the Hacienda Real HOA Board accepted some responsibility for its unthinking actions.