The city said “Hide your boat”
Etienne Constable of Seaside, CA. bought a nice boat. He was proud of it and was glad to show it off and talk to his neighbors about his hobby. Etienne was surprised to receive a sternly-worded letter from his local code enforcement office, informing him that large vehicles parked in driveways must be hidden from view. He was disappointed that the city seem wanted to rain on his parade and now he had an added expense to his favorite pastime. So he thought about ways that he could make the most of his prized possession and still comply with the ordinance.
Etienne talked it over with a couple of the neighbors and decided he would build the required 6 foot fence and then hired another neighbor who was an artist to complete the new addition to his house. “I’m not a rule-breaker, but I like to make a political statement as necessary as well as a humorous statement and a creative statement.” “I thought, ‘This is ridiculous,’ and my first reaction was to leave a nasty, nasty message at the city hall.” But Etienne thought creativity made a better political and humorous statement. So he built a fence — and had a local artist turn the barrier into a mural of his prized possession. Etienne hired muralist Hanif Panni to paint a photorealistic image of the ship, named “Might As Well,” on his new, 6-foot tall fence in the driveway.
“I’ll do what they want, but I’m not going to do it their way,” he said. Municipal code orders large vehicles, such as a ship, to be fenced in if they are stored in a driveway. The artist Panni said, “I’m a big proponent of public art in spaces.” “It engages people in ways that reaching out and having conversations doesn’t sometimes.” While the city has yet to respond to the cheeky artwork, images of the painting have gone viral and drummed up quite a bit of buzz online. “I’m all in favor of generating a discussion and making people smile.” Panni told KSBW. “The reaction is extremely more than we ever expected and we’re both just tickled about it.” His new fence and creative response has gotten Etienne national attention and several TV spots like the one below.
Fencing funnies
A good neighbor is a fellow who smiles at you over the back fence, but doesn’t climb over it.
While I was working at the return counter at a Home Depot a customer brought back two 6 foot fence posts for money. While he was there, he complained about how hard it was get them back on his motorcycle. Since he had been in earlier loading his car, I asked, “Why didn’t you bring them over in your car.” He hesitated and looked around and explained. “I really enjoyed building this fence and it was all going so well that I did not realize until I finished the job that I had fenced my car into the yard.”
The two best days for a boat owner:
The day they buy the boat and the day they sell the boat.
A very nervous first time crew member says to the skipper, “Do boats like this sink very often?”
Not too often,” replied the skipper. “Usually, it’s only once.”
Birthdays on May 13th
1993 – Debby Ryan, 1987 – Candice King, 1986 – Lena Dunham, 1922 – Bea Arthur
1950 – Stevie Wonder, 1992 – Tommy Dorfman, 1985 – Iwan Rheon, 1914 – Joe Lewis