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Living in a neighborhood governed by a homeowner's association (HOA) can be great—but also pretty frustrating when they overstep their boundaries. Reddit user u/Educational_Dust_932 experienced exactly how intrusive an HOA could be after someone from the association decided to secretly trim a branch from their beloved mulberry tree.

The homeowner explained their unique situation in a Reddit post: "My house is the first house in the neighborhood behind mine. I am on the corner. The street on the side of my home is the HOA neighborhood, but my front yard is on a different street that isn't part of the HOA. When I moved, I asked them if I could pay their HOA fees to let my kids use the pool and playground directly across the street," the homeowner wrote, noting their request was denied outright.



media1.tenor.com

Deciding to beautify their corner property, the homeowner planted a mulberry tree, which eventually became a sore point for the HOA. Members complained that the tree's branches were hanging too low and allegedly violated their rules—even though the homeowner’s property was clearly outside HOA jurisdiction.

Things escalated quickly. "Then, one day, I came home, and someone had lopped off a big branch from the tree, one that went out to the street. I tried to find out who did it, but they kept mum about it, and there wasn't anyone I could go after," the frustrated homeowner shared.

But rather than letting the HOA get away with their tree vandalism, this homeowner concocted a brilliant—and delightfully petty—revenge. "So, I rebuilt the branch using PVC and wrapped it in bright Christmas lights in May and then wrapped the rest of the tree for good measure," they wrote.

Mulberry Tree in Christmas lightsRepresentative photo by Canva

As a final act of defiance, the homeowner left these festive, glaringly bright lights on display from May right up until just before Christmas. Ignoring numerous letters from the HOA, they proudly stood their ground. "The HOA members who came to my house to ask me to bring them down since it was the gateway to their neighborhood and that I was 'probably' affecting property values were brushed away. They never did mess with the lights, though. I guess they were worried about what I would pull next. I went and looked at my Facebook and found a picture I took. It doesn't have all the lights, but it shows most of the awful glory. You can see the wound on the tree about a foot above the fake branch," the homeowner concluded gleefully.

Reddit users celebrated this homeowner’s creativity. User u/GoingSouthGarage chimed in with a similar anecdote: "I know of someone in a similar situation, house on the corner, not part of HOA. The first time they tried to mess with him, he placed an old white toilet at the edge of his property and planted a fake flower in it."

Image Source: Reddit | u/Necessary_Baker_7458

Meanwhile, user u/TLost17 expressed outrage at the HOA’s audacity: "I saw red just reading this. How dare they chop off a branch? Also, I love how they denied your family membership in the first place. Like, why couldn't your kids play in the park and pool across the street? Not like you wanted to do it for free."

And finally, another user suggested going even further: "You should plant more. Like lining your property. Make sure to decorate them with lots of lights and tacky yard ornaments. I'm talking camo pink flamingos, zombie gnomes, the mooning grandma standup, and the works. But only facing the entrance to the HOA," proposed u/LokiKamiSama.

It seems like this HOA learned a valuable lesson about messing with someone else’s mulberry tree.


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A gay man in Vegas was approached by a 40-year-old stranger asking for advice on raising his son

A gay man in Vegas was approached by a 40-year-old stranger asking for advice on raising his son

Jack Remmington got a surprise he says he’ll never forget. While playing the slots in Las Vegas he and his friend were approached by a middle-aged man they had never met who wanted to know if they were gay. Although it was a relatively safe public space, you never know what might happen in a city fueled by alcohol, sex and gambling.

Source: GIPHY

Instead, the man who approached Remmington wanted to ask some perfectly wholesome advice about communicating with his young son whom he thinks is probably still in the closet. Remmington wrote about the interaction on his Twitter page and the breakdown has quickly gone viral for the best reasons. “Ok I just experienced the nicest exchange with a stranger and think it’ll help to share: I was playing on the Mariah Carey slots in Vegas (naturally) and a friendly circa-mid-40s ish guy sat down to play on the machine next to me,” Remmington wrote.

"I was sitting with @marcoalessifilm, both wearing pink (naturally) and after chatting a little to the guy about Vegas, he nervously asked if he could ask us a question. I knew where this was gonna go as it always does so did a bit of an inner eye roll but indulged him anyway."

"He then asked if we were together so we said no (we’re best friends and he has a fab bf) and he asked if we were gay, so we said yes. He then said he thinks his 13 year old son might be gay and wondered if he could ask us how best for him to navigate that."

"He lit up when talking about his son, and I nearly started crying at how much he clearly loved him. The guy wanted to know how to make his son feel most comfortable about himself whilst not being too overt and glaringly obvious in forcing a conversation about his sexuality."

Source: GIPHY

"This man is SO sweet. From rural Arkansas and said whilst things are so much better now, he still just wants the world to be totally equal for his son. Marco and I said he sounds like he’s doing all the right things and that making his son know he’s loved is the best he can do."

"We both gave a couple of anecdotes from personal experience, largely relating to condoning abstract things when you see them like normalising conversations around gay kisses on TV or calling our family conversations that might shame potential queerness."

"We also mentioned not accidentally policing things so as to shame him - for instance, often out of a sense of protection and love parents can frown on a child’s behaviour or outfit because they’re worried for their safety when on a night out etc."

Source: GIPHY

"But we stressed that if this was their feeling it’s important to vocalise this exactly, rather than leaving the child ruminating over the parent’s intentions and second guessing why they said what they said."

"So in terms of advice to friends or relatives of a potentially queer person, what would fellow queers advise is the best way to make it known they have their love and support without causing an uncomfortable conversation that might force someone to come out before they’re ready?"

You can read the whole thing on Remmington’s Twitter thread, here.

While it’s understandable that he and his friend were apprehensive about being approached, the exchange goes a long way toward showing we should never make too many hard assumptions about people based on their appearances alone.

Even in 2024, not every parent, child or friend has a safe space to educate themselves on LGBTQ issues.

Obviously, it would be ideal if this random guy had a friend, family member, or educator who could give him the advice he was looking for but we have to salute Remmington for being so generous and kind in his response. There’s so much we can learn from each other when we take the time to ask questions -- and listen.

Source: GIPHY

“My first impression was that he seemed nice as he chatted which is more than what tends to happen with people you sit next to in Vegas at the slots. That said, I didn’t expect it to take this turn at all,” Remmington said in an interview with Bored Panda.

“The relationship between him and his son has a 100% future – he was a wonderful and caring man, despite what he said was quite a difficult town to grow up in if you’re at all different. I wish all fathers could be like him.”

This article was originally published five years ago.

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