Exactly! Perfect.

Exactly! Swamp is good (except for mosquitoes and certain birds will help you there) but no one builds on swamp.

We've got 100 acres, but much is swamp. But we have plenty of area to add more horse pasture if we feel like doing the work. (Oof!) Right now we maybe 12 acres supporting 20 ponies. An HOA would probably have restricted us to two or three horses. Also, we can put up buildings for agricultural purposes without having to blend in with anyone else's idea of style, shape, color, or even suitability for purpose.

Seriously! Look at the "offensive" frog in question. It is so non-offensive that I can't imagine much if anything that could be less scary...I mean a humanoid frog sitting upright & smiling at a person...Oh! The Humanity!!! I see the comment section is locked by Reddit. Geez...I can't imagine why. The lady needs to get bent! Yes, she is the a**hole!!

I think I'd get about half dozen statues that I'd rotate on a daily or weekly basis. I'd have a vampire, a Frankenstein, definitely a bigfoot, a zombie, and to really screw with this nosy (insert pejorative term here), a headless Ichabod Crane. And maybe, just maybe, I'd get her likeness painted on a statue, and I'd put it out with a sign that says "If you REALLY want to get scared, look at this!"

This sounds like a ready invitation for some form of reprisal and that is how deadly neighbor wars start. Does her child make too much noise. Does she do anything tht would subject her to a complaint, etc.

Perfect neighborhood: nearest neighbor is in another area code.

Yea, pretty much what I have, although I have 48 acres and everyone else is also large farms, so you don't bother each other.

Nearly 30 years ago we were looking to buy a property where we could live and keep our horses. One very nice place, somewhat affordable, had 10 acres and the use of a very nice horse barn.

It also had an HOA.

We thought about it, and decided to go instead to a genuine farming community where other people would have little control over our property. Now additional houses are appearing in what was once just woods, but they are all inhabited by rednecks who understand property rights. A rancher down the street with about 60 head of cattle has not yet taken down his TRUMP 2020 sign that's on his front fence.

HOA? Not here. At least not yet. And every evening you can hear people testing their 2nd-Amendment equipment.

Yeah, that will be the next step.
Love my neighbors here, and don't have much of a problem, as I've said.

The bad ones were forced to move by external forces, and now I have a Fireman living next door! Great guy!

You do enter in to a contract and accept the rules of the HOA when you purchase the property, that said, the complainant is a jackass. Fortunately the child in question will punish the compaintant vigorously till the day she dies due to the poor parenting given. If I was the homeowner I would do one of 2 things. 1. get on the board. 2. find the complainant and make a complaint every month. Make her life and that of the boards a living hell.

Best to just have no neighbors, which I finally found. I have no one in sight, next door is 100-150 yds away and over a hill, other is across the road and down.

I followed the link to see the statue. I thought it was cute. "Offensive"? "Scary?" Are you f^&king KIDDING ME??? These "clipboard Nazis" (powermad HOA-types) can GO TO HELL!

First, if my child was so offended by a Lawn Character... OMG... I would realize I FAILED as a parent, unless I helped the kid get through it.

Second, we live in an HOA. And there are a LOT OF REASONS to hate them.
But my friend bought a decent house in FL, outside of an HOA. Within 2yrs, he had 4 houses around him that looked like red neck garage sales. Cars on cement blocks in the front lawn. This was just before I bought my house, so I took it to heart. It made it easy that 90% of the homes around here are in associations...

Third, I've not had a big problem with them, other than their complaining that I had too many Trump Signs, and a 30 foot flag pole for trump (12 foot, put up at 18 foot, LOL) was beyond allowed.

But I had a neighbor who did not keep their house up, and they were fined to death, but since they owned the house outright, there was no ability to force a lien sale on them. It was like I did NOT get the protection I thought I did.

And then the association rulers changed, and the new people want the POWER. So now you have to own the house for 1+ years before you can rent it (which I believe Violates property rights).

But I still see both sides. And finally, it's always your choice. Which is the whole point of the system. Find out what works best through experimentation...

Then their is the "neighborhood/nextdoor" site... OMG... Free Speech Prevented. We have moderators who reminded us DAILY the death count... Until some time around January 20th :-)

Finally, this lady is just wrong. I feel the association was wrong if it did not violate any pre-existing guidelines.

PS: I chose Pink with Grey trim for my house. Both colors were acceptable colors, but there was no listing of unacceptable combintations. Someone tried to make me repaint the trim after I had written approval. I laughed!
Later I switched to White trim, and a Coral Color... Always coloring inside the lines...

Two kinds of people:
Creators and destroyers.

Several years ago our great admin (sarcastic) would not allow hummingbird feeders, why, she said she was deathly afraid of birds! No her name was not Tippi either

HOA's are a disaster in most cases. They get used like in this case as a hammer for people who can't just mind their own business, have no sense of humor, or are just too bored for their own good. Just pathetic.

I think it would be funny to send this woman a frog lawn ornament in the mail as karmic retribution.

Future Snowflake in training.

She thinks the little frog is 'creepy' and her child is frightened of it? This lady needs to get a life! If the kid is afraid of a statue of a frog God help her. She isn't going to make it in life.

I am thinking of getting
a Dr Suess statute for my yard.
“I do not like green eggs and ham!”

I am fortunate to live between two different HOA’s so neither one has any control over my property. I constantly hear about the squabbles my neighbors have with their respective HOA’s. It is all about control and the HOA Karen’s are despised even though the various signed contracts are on their side. It’s just another sign of giving up liberty for ‘visual’ security.

Here's two yard decor options if you have time to kill~~lead a dino around on a chain or BE the critter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvHzT...

I would never live in such a place, either. Bad enough you get overrun with government ordinances without adding an additional layer of busy body controllers. We had a guy in our neighborhood that turned in anyone that did anything that required a permit and didn't have one. Pissed off a lot of people that did a lot of very simple things on their own initiative that never should require a permit in the first place.

Unfortunately, the world is filled with meddlers and the owner of the house in question signed a contract to follow the HOA rules however moronic they are.
Another proof that all men are not created equal. Every person is different from every other person.
One size does not fit all, and no matter how many laws are passed to the contrary, this will never change as a result.
Just mind your own business, don't meddle with the business of others, and let people have the freedom to do as they wish on their own property - if people actually have any property that is their own anymore.

Yes, although this whole HOA crap is also a symptom and is an out in front control system, designed to make you learn to obey and do what you are told, and be penalized if you don't. Homes sold in those sewers even come on the title docs and closing docs where you have to sign you willingness to obey. Therefore, once the HOA gets involved, you are screwed. I would NEVER live in an HOA.