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HOA Cut My Heat at -15°F — I Shut Gas to 45 Homes and Their Board Collapsed — Transcript

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0:00Your gas gets cut tonight. I already
0:02signed the order.
0:04>> Ma'am, it's going to hit -15 tonight.
0:08>> Not my problem. That rusty meter of
0:10yours has been stinking up my driveway
0:12since the day you moved in.
0:14>> It heats my house, ma'am.
0:16>> Then you should have thought about that
0:17before you moved somewhere nobody
0:19invited you. I don't need a vote to deal
0:21with you.
0:22>> I said nothing. That night, two workers
0:24padlocked my gas meter at 1000 p.m.
0:27while she watched from her car.
0:29Temperature dropped to -15 before
0:31midnight.
0:32>> I slept in my coat on the kitchen floor.
0:34Next morning, her lit fireplace on the
0:36HOA page. Caption: One down.
0:40>> What 45 homeowners found out about their
0:42own gas supply 21 days later, put that
0:45entire board in front of 80 witnesses
0:47and a county supervisor. What would you
0:49do if your HOA cut your heat at -15 and
0:53where are you watching from right now
0:55somewhere warmer than my kitchen floor
0:56that night? Because you are about to see
0:59exactly how this ends. Subscribe so you
1:02don't miss it. And let me take you back
1:04to where it all started. I bought the
1:06house at the end of Creekstone Lane in
1:08November 2019 for $162,000.
1:12That's what a three-bedroom on a
1:14halfacre lot costs in Branick, Colorado,
1:16when the seller's been dead for 6 months
1:19and his kids just want it gone. The
1:21place needed work. Gutters hanging off
1:23the fascia. A garage door that screamed
1:26every time you opened it, metal on
1:28metal, like a cat fighting a screen
1:29door. The furnace was older than me, and
1:32the water heater had a rust ring around
1:34the base that looked like a bathtub
1:35stain from 1,987.
1:38But the land was mine. All of it. half
1:41an acre, which doesn't sound like much
1:44until you realize every other lot in
1:46Ridgeline Estates, sits on a quarter.
1:49The Moors, the family who built this
1:50whole subdivision back in 2001, kept the
1:53big parcel for themselves. I bought it
1:55from their estate. My name is Curtis
1:57Anderson, 52 years old, retired pipe
2:00welder, 26 years, running industrial
2:03lines for gas plants across the Rockies.
2:05I took early retirement after my
2:07shoulder gave out. moved to Branick
2:10because it was quiet, cheap, and nobody
2:12cared what your truck looked like. That
2:14last part turned out to be wrong. First
2:16piece of mail I got that wasn't a
2:18utility bill came 3 weeks after I moved
2:20in. HOA violation. My trash can was
2:24visible from the street on a
2:25non-collection day. $50 fine. I paid it.
2:29Second one came 2 weeks later. Truck
2:31parked on my own driveway for more than
2:3348 hours without moving. $75. I paid
2:37that, too. Third one, and this is where
2:39I started saving the envelopes, said my
2:41fence was a non-conforming color. The
2:44fence was brown, same brown it had been
2:46since the moors put it up. $100 fine.
2:49The notice came on that same cheap paper
2:51every time's new Roman bold, a red
2:54urgent stamp in the corner with ink so
2:56thin it smeared if you touched it. Like
2:58they bought the stamp at a dollar store,
3:00and the ink pad at a yard sale. Six
3:02violations in 4 months. $525.
3:06I paid everyone. The woman behind all of
3:09them was Brenda Holloway, HOA president,
3:12going on three years. Lived in the
3:14biggest house at the top of the
3:15culde-sac, the one with the threecar
3:17garage and the American flag that was
3:19always perfectly angled, like she
3:21checked it with a level every morning.
3:23Her husband, Glenn, was a retired county
3:25clerk, knew just enough about municipal
3:28paperwork to be useful, and just enough
3:30about power to enjoy it. Brenda didn't
3:32knock on my door, didn't introduce
3:34herself, didn't bring a casserole. The
3:37first time I ever heard her voice was on
3:39the fourth violation when she called to
3:41ask if I'd received the correspondence
3:42about my fence. I told her I had. She
3:45said, "Good, because the next one won't
3:48be a letter." Now, here's the thing
3:50about my property that Brenda didn't
3:52know or didn't bother to find out. When
3:54the Moors built Ridgeline Estates, they
3:57ran the main gas line through their own
3:59land, my land. The original deed has a
4:02utility easement clause that says, and
4:04I'm putting this in plain English, any
4:06change to the gas infrastructure on this
4:08parcel requires the written consent of
4:11the landowner, not the HOA, not the
4:14board, the land owner. That clause
4:16transferred with the deed when I bought
4:18the place. I read it at closing. Didn't
4:20think much of it. I would think about it
4:22a lot later. That first winter, I spent
4:25most of my time in the garage fixing up
4:27a diesel generator I'd bought off a
4:29retired rancher in Gunnison. The thing
4:31sounded like a tractor pull when it ran,
4:33and it smelled like a truck stop diesel
4:35and burnt oil and that sharp metal tang
4:37you get when an engine's been sitting
4:38too long. I liked the smell. Reminded me
4:41of job sites. Every morning I'd walk out
4:44to the mailbox across that granite
4:46gravel driveway, white chips that
4:48crunched under my boots like packed snow
4:50and check for mail. Half the time it was
4:53another envelope from Brenda. The other
4:55half it was nothing. Either way, the
4:58walk was the best part of my day. Cold
5:00air, ponderosa pine from the treeine
5:03behind the house. And quiet. That quiet
5:05didn't last. December hit Branic like a
5:08slap. Temperature dropped to 8° the
5:10first week, and the wind came off the
5:12ridge line so hard it rattled my garage
5:14door in its tracks. Pipes froze in six
5:17houses on the east side of the
5:18subdivision. Two families had water
5:20damage before Christmas. I didn't have
5:22that problem. 26 years of welding gas
5:25lines teaches you what coal does to
5:27metal and what metal does when you
5:29ignore it. I pulled the old gas piping
5:32on the exterior of my house, corroded,
5:34undersized, original from 2001, and
5:38replaced it myself. Proper schedule, 40
5:41steel, threaded joints, leak tested with
5:43soapy water at every connection. Up to
5:46code. Better than code. Actually, I'd
5:49run lines under worse conditions in the
5:51oil fields at 10 below. The new pipes
5:53were clean, silver, and visible from the
5:56street. That was apparently a problem.
5:58January 3rd, I found a violation notice
6:00in my mailbox, but this one wasn't a $50
6:03fine for a trash can. This one said,
6:05"Unauthorized construction on HOA common
6:08infrastructure. Penalty $1,200.
6:13remove within 14 days or daily fines of
6:16$150 will commence. Common
6:19infrastructure, my pipes on my land that
6:22I welded with my own hands and Brenda
6:24Holloway was calling them HOA property.
6:28I sat in my truck reading that letter.
6:30Engine running, heater blasting. Read it
6:33twice. Then I drove to the county
6:35recorder's office in town 15 minutes on
6:37cleared roads. 25 when the plows hadn't
6:40come and asked for a certified copy of
6:42my deed. The clerk pulled it up, printed
6:44it, stamped it, charged me $8. I pointed
6:48to the easement clause and asked, "Has
6:50this ever been amended or transferred?"
6:53She checked. "No, sir. It's original and
6:56active." I drove home, wrote a one
6:58paragraph letter, the kind you write
7:00when you're trying very hard not to
7:01write what you actually want to say, and
7:04mailed it with a copy of the deed. Three
7:06sentences. The pipes are on my property.
7:08The easement clause is active. The HOA
7:11has no ownership claim. Brenda didn't
7:13reply. What she did instead was worse. I
7:17came home from the hardware store on
7:18January 9th and saw it from 30 yards up
7:21the driveway red spray paint across the
7:23new pipes I just welded. Big sloppy
7:25letters. Violation. The paint ran in
7:28streaks down the steel and pulled on the
7:30frozen ground like something was
7:32bleeding. Nobody saw who did it, but the
7:34spray store brand rust red was sitting
7:37in my sideyard by the fence. still had
7:39the cap off. Whoever did it didn't even
7:42bother to take the evidence home. I took
7:44photos, 46 of them, from every angle,
7:47including the can. Saved them to a
7:49folder on my phone labeled insurance. 3
7:52days later, Brenda called an emergency
7:54board meeting. Four members, Brenda,
7:56Glenn, Doris Tucker, and Earl Simmons.
7:59No community notice, no agenda posted.
8:02They voted 4 to zero to declare my gas
8:04piping HOA common infrastructure,
8:06overriding a recorded county deed with a
8:08show of hands in Brenda's living room.
8:10Here's something I learned later that
8:12every homeowner should know. An HOA
8:14board vote cannot override a recorded
8:17property deed. The deed is a county
8:19level legal document. The HOA is a
8:22private contract. They don't outrank
8:24each other, but when they conflict, the
8:26deed was there first. It's like someone
8:28voting in their book club to change the
8:30speed limit on your street. I got the
8:32result by email. One line. Motion
8:35passed. Comply within 10 days or daily
8:38fines of $150 begin. I didn't comply. I
8:42also didn't respond. I put the certified
8:44deed in the inside pocket of my work
8:46jacket, zipped it shut, and hung the
8:48jacket by the back door. Every time I
8:51walked past it, I tapped the pocket. Day
8:5411. No response from me. no fine payment
8:57and the pipes were still on my house,
8:59still wearing that red spray paint like
9:01a scar. At 2:15 on a Tuesday afternoon,
9:04I pulled into my driveway and heard
9:06something wrong before I saw it. A
9:08high-pitched hiss, the kind of sound
9:09that makes a pipe welder's stomach drop
9:12because you know exactly what it is. Gas
9:15leak. Small, but real. I came around the
9:18side of the house and found two men I'd
9:20never seen before standing over my gas
9:22line with a pipe wrench and a hacksaw.
9:25One of them had already cut through a
9:266-in section of the new pipe I'd welded
9:28in December. The cut end was leaking.
9:30Not much, just a whisper of mercap
9:33tangent scented gas drifting in the cold
9:35air. That rotten egg smell that gas
9:38companies add so you know something's
9:40wrong. My nose caught it 20 ft away. I
9:42didn't yell. I didn't argue. I walked
9:45straight to the main shut off valve on
9:46my side of the property and closed it.
9:48The hissing stopped. Then I looked at
9:50the two men and said one thing. Who sent
9:53you? The older one, sunburned face, car
9:56heart jacket, cigarette behind his ear,
9:58looked at his boots. Lady said it was
10:00HOA property, said she had
10:02authorization. She gave you a county
10:04work permit. They looked at each other.
10:06No permit. Brenda hadn't pulled one
10:09because pulling a permit would mean
10:10going through the county and the county
10:12had my deed on file. I called code
10:14enforcement, left a message. They
10:16couldn't come until the next morning,
10:18which if you've ever dealt with county
10:20services in a small Colorado town in
10:22January, tracks about right. I told the
10:25two men they could wait for the officer
10:27or leave. They left. The older one
10:29flicked his unlit cigarette into my
10:31gravel on the way out. I heard his truck
10:33door slam a hollow tiny bang and then
10:35they were gone. The air still smelled
10:37like mercaptain and tobacco. I stood
10:40there in my driveway looking at the
10:41cutpipe. Clean cut, professional. These
10:45weren't amateurs. They were real
10:46plumbers Brenda had hired from somewhere
10:48outside town. She'd found guys who
10:51didn't know the property lines and
10:52didn't ask questions. Now, I had a 6-in
10:55gap in my gas line, no heat, and a shut
10:57off valve I'd had to close myself. In
11:00January in Colorado, I spent that
11:02evening in the garage with the diesel
11:04generator running and a welding torch in
11:06my hand, patching the pipe. The
11:08generator shook the whole garage, a low,
11:10constant rumble that vibrated the coffee
11:12in my thermos on the workbench. The weld
11:15wasn't my best work. My shoulder achd
11:17and my hands were cold and I was angry,
11:20which is the worst state to weld in, but
11:23it held. Next morning, code enforcement
11:26officer Ted Graves showed up. Older guy,
11:29calm clipboard. He looked at the cut,
11:32looked at the paint, looked at my deed,
11:35and wrote a violation not against me,
11:37against the HOA, unpermitted work on
11:40private property. Here's your takeaway.
11:43No contractor can touch utility lines on
11:45private easement land without a county
11:47work permit. Doesn't matter who told
11:49them to. Doesn't matter if they have a
11:51board vote in their back pocket. No
11:53permit, no work. And the property owner
11:56can file a complaint that goes on the
11:57HOA's county record. Ted Graves told me
12:00something else before he left. He said,
12:02"Mr. Anderson, you might want to keep
12:05that valve accessible. Things like this
12:07have a way of escalating. I didn't know
12:09how right he was." That afternoon, the
12:12older plumber, the one with the
12:13cigarette, sent me a text. I hadn't
12:16given him my number, but it's a small
12:18town. The text said, "Hey, this is Dale
12:21from yesterday. Wanted you to know the
12:23lady who hired us sent us this." And
12:25then a screenshot of a text from Brenda
12:27to Dale. Remove all exterior piping at
12:3014 Creek. Board authorized. Do not
12:33engage with the homeowner. If he shows
12:35up, call me. I'll handle him. I saved
12:38that screenshot, printed two copies, put
12:40one in the jacket pocket with the deed.
12:42Meanwhile, something was happening on
12:44the street that I didn't see but heard
12:46about later. Patty Simmons, wife of
12:48board member Earl Simmons, lived four
12:50houses up, had watched Ted Graves pull
12:53up to my house with the county truck.
12:55That evening, she texted two of her
12:56neighbors, "What is Brenda doing now?"
12:59That question would get a lot louder.
13:01Third week of January, weather service
13:04issued a cold warning for the Bran
13:06Valley. three consecutive nights below
13:08-10 with the worst night expected to hit
13:11-15. The kind of cold where your
13:14eyelashes freeze if you stand outside
13:16too long where car batteries die in
13:18driveways where the county sends warming
13:20shelter alerts to every phone in the
13:22area. Everybody in Ridgeline Estates
13:24prepared. Horus Wyn, retired plumber,
13:27house number 31. The man who'd built the
13:30original pipes in this subdivision 20
13:32years ago went doortodoor checking
13:34furnace filters for the older residents.
13:36Norah Caldwell at the hardware store on
13:38Fifth Street sold out of pipe insulation
13:40tape by Thursday. Brenda Holloway
13:42prepared too, but not for the cold.
13:45Glenn Holloway, retired county clerk.
13:47Brenda's husband, the man who knew
13:49exactly how municipal paperwork moved,
13:51sat down at their kitchen table and
13:53typed up a document. It looked like a
13:55county safety inspection report. Header,
13:57file number, inspection date, signature
13:59line. It cited unauthorized gas pipe
14:02modification at 14 Creekstone Lane and
14:04recommended immediate service
14:05disconnection pending certified
14:07reinspection. It was a forgery, but it
14:09looked real enough. Brenda took that
14:11document along with the board's 4 to
14:13zero vote from January and submitted
14:15them to the gas company's compliance
14:17office. She identified herself as
14:19property manager of Ridgeline Estates.
14:22She wasn't. Ridgeline didn't have a
14:24property manager. It had a four-person
14:26board that met in Brenda's living room.
14:28The gas company saw official looking
14:30paperwork, a board vote, a safety flag.
14:33They didn't call me. They didn't verify
14:35the inspection with the county. On the
14:37evening of January 21st, the night the
14:40temperature was forecast to hit -15,
14:43they sent two technicians to my house. I
14:45was inside when I heard boots on the
14:47gravel at 9:50 p.m. I looked out the
14:50kitchen window and saw two men in
14:52utility vests kneeling at my gas meter
14:54with a padlock. By the time I got my
14:57boots on and walked outside, the lock
14:59was on and they were filling out
15:00paperwork on a clipboard. What's going
15:03on? Service disconnection, sir. Safety
15:06compliance order from your property
15:07management. I don't have a property
15:09manager. The tech looked at his
15:11clipboard then at me. We have the
15:13paperwork on file, sir. If there's a
15:15dispute, you can call our office during
15:16business hours. Business hours. It was
15:19Thursday night. Friday was the next day
15:22and the office closed at noon. That
15:24meant the earliest anyone could look at
15:26my case was Monday. And with a 3-day
15:28review process, I might not have gas
15:31until Wednesday, 6 days. The temperature
15:33was already 12 below and falling. I
15:36watched them drive away. Then I went
15:38back inside and listened to my furnace
15:40do nothing. The house was 58° and
15:42dropping. By midnight, it would be in
15:45the 40s inside. By morning, the pipes
15:47would freeze. I dragged the diesel
15:50generator from the garage into the
15:51hallway. Couldn't run it in the garage
15:53with the door closed. Carbon monoxide
15:56would kill me, but the hallway with the
15:58back door cracked 2 in gave me enough
16:00ventilation to run it for heat without
16:02dying in my sleep. The generator roared
16:04like a small airplane engine. The smell
16:07of diesel exhaust crept through the
16:09house, thick, oily, warm. I laid a
16:12camping sleeping bag rated to -20 on the
16:14kitchen floor, pulled it up to my chin,
16:17and ate canned chili with a plastic
16:19spoon. Last time I ate like that was elk
16:22season, 2009, in a canvas tent outside
16:26Montros. At least back then, I chose it.
16:28The temperature hit -15 at 148 a.m. I
16:32know because I checked. The wind sounded
16:34like someone dragging sheet metal across
16:36concrete. The kitchen window had frost
16:38on the inside. Next morning, Friday, I
16:41opened the HOA Facebook page on my
16:43phone. There was Brenda's post, a photo
16:46of her gas fireplace, flames dancing
16:49behind clean glass, warm light on her
16:52living room wall. Caption: One down, 14
16:55likes. Glenn commented, "Long overdue."
16:58Doris Tucker dropped a heart react. I
17:01stared at that photo for a long time. I
17:03thought about the generator growling in
17:05my hallway. I thought about the camping
17:07sleeping bag in the canned chili. I
17:09thought about six violations in 4
17:12months. Red spray paint on my pipes, a
17:15cut gas line, and now a padlock on my
17:17meter in the middle of the worst cold
17:19snap in 3 years. And then Patty Simmons
17:22sent me a text. Private message, not the
17:25group. I saw what she posted. That's not
17:28right. Are you okay? I didn't answer,
17:31but I took a screenshot, saved it in the
17:34same folder as the deed, the spray paint
17:36photos, and Dale's text from Brenda. The
17:39folder was getting thick. Monday
17:41morning, I drove back to the county
17:42recorder's office. Same clerk, same
17:45counter, same fluorescent lights buzzing
17:47overhead like trapped insects. But this
17:50time, I wasn't there for a copy of my
17:52deed. I already had that. I was there to
17:55understand exactly what I owned and what
17:57it meant. I asked to see the full
17:59easement filing, not just the clause in
18:01my deed, but the original utility
18:03easement recorded when the Moors built
18:04Ridgeline Estates in 2001. The clerk
18:07disappeared into a back room, and came
18:10out 12 minutes later with a manila
18:12folder that smelled like basement
18:13storage, old paper, dust, and something
18:16faintly chemical, like toner from a
18:18printer that hadn't been made in 15
18:20years. The original easement was three
18:23pages, legal language, but not
18:25complicated once you read it slowly. And
18:27there it was. Paragraph 4, subsection B.
18:31Any modification, interruption, or shut
18:33off of utility infrastructure on this
18:35parcel requires the prior written
18:37consent of the parcel owner. In the
18:40event of an unauthorized modification or
18:42interruption, the parcel owner retains
18:44the right to suspend utility flow
18:46through the affected easement until the
18:48violation is cured to the owner's
18:50satisfaction. I read it three times. My
18:53hands were shaking, and it wasn't from
18:55the cold. That clause meant something
18:57very specific. When Brenda had my gas
18:59shut off without my written consent
19:01using a forged inspection report, she
19:04didn't just violate my rights. She
19:06violated the easement itself. And
19:08because the main gas trunk line for all
19:1045 homes in Ridgeline Estates runs
19:13through my property, I had the legal
19:15right to shut down gas flow to the
19:17entire subdivision until the violation
19:19was resolved. I was holding the off
19:21switch for 45 furnaces, including
19:24Brenda's. But that wasn't what made my
19:26hands shake. What made my hands shake
19:29was what I found next. I asked the clerk
19:31one more question. Can you pull the HOA
19:34registration for Ridgeline Estates? She
19:36typed, waited, typed again. Then she
19:40looked up at me over her reading glasses
19:41and said, "The original registration was
19:44filed in 2002. It expired in 2019.
19:48There's no renewal on record. I asked
19:50her to say that again. The HOA's
19:52registration with the state lapsed 3
19:54years ago. It was never renewed, which
19:57meant every fine Brenda had issued,
20:00every board vote she'd held, every
20:01violation notice stamped with that cheap
20:04red ink, all of it had been issued by an
20:06organization that legally speaking did
20:08not exist. The HOA had been operating
20:11without valid registration for 3 years.
20:14Every dollar they'd collected, every
20:15rule they'd enforced, every order they'd
20:18signed had no legal standing. I sat in
20:20my truck in the county parking lot for
20:2320 minutes. Engine off, windows fogging
20:26up from my breath. A guy in a plow truck
20:29waved at me as he drove past, probably
20:31wondering why I was sitting in a
20:32freezing parking lot, staring at
20:34nothing. I wasn't staring at nothing. I
20:36was staring at two pieces of paper that
20:38changed everything. One said I could
20:40shut off the gas. The other said
20:42Brenda's entire HOA was a ghost running
20:45on authority it hadn't had in 3 years.
20:47The question wasn't whether I had power
20:49now. The question was how to use it
20:52without hurting 44 families who'd done
20:54nothing wrong. That evening, I called
20:56Patty Simmons. She picked up on the
20:58second ring. I could hear a TV in the
21:00background, some game show, audience
21:02clapping, and then she muted it. Curtis,
21:04are you all right? I've been thinking
21:06about you since that post. I'm fine. I
21:09need to ask you something. How long has
21:11Brenda been raising dues? Patty was
21:13quiet for a beat. Then three times in
21:16two years. First one was $15 a month and
21:19nobody said anything because she said it
21:21was for snow removal. Second one was 25.
21:24That one people grumbled. Third one $40.
21:27She pushed through last March without a
21:29community vote. Just a board email. Dues
21:32adjusted effective immediately. Did
21:34anyone push back? A few people called
21:37her. She told every one of them the same
21:39thing. If you don't like it, sell your
21:41house. So, people paid. Patty, I need
21:44your help. But I need you to know Earl
21:46can't find out. Not yet. Another pause.
21:50Then Earl voted against you once
21:52already. He knows he was wrong, but he's
21:55scared of her, Curtis. We both are. She
21:58took a breath. What do you need? What I
22:00needed was allies. And over the next 4
22:03days, I found two more. Horus Wyn lived
22:06in house number 31 at the far end of the
22:09loop road. 71 years old, retired
22:12plumber, hands like leather work gloves.
22:15He'd built the original gas lines for
22:16the Moore family in 2003. Every joint,
22:20every valve, every inch of copper and
22:22steel in the ground. When I knocked on
22:23his door and told him what Brenda had
22:25done to my meter, he didn't say anything
22:27for about 10 seconds. Then he said,
22:30"Come in. I've got something to show
22:32you." He led me through his kitchen
22:34coffee brewing, the smell thick enough
22:36to chew into his garage. He pulled a
22:38cardboard tube from a shelf behind his
22:40table saw, popped the cap, and slid out
22:43a rolled up blueprint. The paper was
22:45yellow at the edges and smelled like
22:47damp sawdust. He unrolled it across his
22:49workbench and pinned the corners down
22:51with clamps. "There," he said, pointing
22:53with a calloused finger. "Main trunk
22:55line comes in from the county road,
22:58crosses your lot right here." He tapped
23:00a line that ran diagonally through my
23:02property and branches to 45 service
23:05connections. Every house and ridge line
23:07and the main shutff valve. He pointed to
23:10a spot on my property line near the
23:12northeast corner right there. Green cap
23:15buried about 8 in. I put it in myself.
23:19Haven't touched it since. I nodded. I'm
23:22not going to touch it either. Not unless
23:24I have to. Horus looked at me over the
23:26blueprint and said, "That woman had your
23:28gas cut off at 15 below." "If that's not
23:31have to, I don't know what is." "Not
23:33yet," I said. "I want to give them a
23:36chance to fix it first." My third ally
23:38was Norah Caldwell, house number 12,
23:40owner of Caldwell's Hardware on Fifth
23:42Street. Nora was 63, 5'2, and had a
23:46handshake that could crack a walnut.
23:48She'd lived in Ridgeline since 2005 and
23:51had her own history with Brenda, a $200
23:54fine for hanging a small open sign on
23:56her mailbox advertising the store. Norah
23:59paid the fine and never forgave it. More
24:02importantly, Norah knew Stuart Crane,
24:04the editor at the Brick Gazette. He's
24:06been waiting for a real story since the
24:08Elk got into the church parking lot in
24:102018. She told me, "When the time comes,
24:13I'll make the call." The strategy came
24:15together over Horus's kitchen table
24:17between cups of coffee so strong they
24:18left a film on the mug. Three steps.
24:21First, I'd send a certified letter to
24:23the gas company and the HOA board. The
24:25letter would notify them that the
24:27utility easement on my property had been
24:29violated by an unauthorized shut off and
24:32demand that my gas service be restored
24:34within 5 days. If they didn't comply, I
24:37would exercise my right under the
24:39easement to suspend gas flow through my
24:41land until the violation was cured. A
24:43certified letter costs $3.50 at the post
24:47office. It creates a paper trail that
24:49holds up in court. It's the cheapest
24:51legal weapon an American homeowner has,
24:54and most people never use it. I learned
24:56that from my uncle Boyd, who settled a
24:58boundary dispute in Wyoming with nothing
25:00but a certified letter and a survey map
25:03from 1,974.
25:06Second, Patty and Norah would go
25:07doortodoor, not with a petition, not
25:10with a speech, just with two documents,
25:13a copy of the easement clause and a copy
25:15of the board's 4 to zero vote that
25:18listed no community input in the
25:20minutes. Let people read. Let them ask
25:22questions. Let them figure out for
25:24themselves what Brenda had done and what
25:27it could cost them. Third, wait. Give
25:29the board five days to do the right
25:31thing. If they did, this was over. If
25:34they didn't, I knew where the valve was.
25:36Horus rolled up his blueprint and slid
25:38it back into the tube. You know, he
25:41said, I built those damn pipes in 2003.
25:45Never thought I'd be sitting here
25:46planning how to shut them off. He took a
25:48sip of coffee. Life's funny like that.
25:51Funny isn't the word I'd use, I said.
25:54No, he said. I suppose it isn't. I
25:57mailed the certified letter on a
25:58Tuesday. Green card return receipt
26:01requested. The gas company signed for it
26:03Wednesday morning. The HOA, meaning
26:06Brenda, signed for it Thursday. I know
26:08because the post office sent me the
26:10receipts and I photographed both of them
26:12before filing the originals in my jacket
26:14pocket. That pocket was getting tight.
26:16For 2 days, nothing happened. I half
26:19expected a phone call, maybe even a
26:21knock on the door. An apology would have
26:23been too much to hope for, but an
26:25acknowledgement, even a hostile one,
26:27would have told me they were taking it
26:28seriously. What I got instead was
26:30concrete. Saturday morning, I walked out
26:33to my garage to start the generator.
26:35Still, my only heat source, still
26:37roaring every night like a caged animal,
26:40and the lock wouldn't turn. I knelt down
26:42and looked at the keyhole. Somebody had
26:44poured dry concrete mix into the lock
26:46cylinder. The powder had absorbed
26:48moisture overnight and set into a plug
26:50harder than the lock itself. My garage
26:52door, my generator, my only heat source
26:55sealed shut with $2 worth of quickreat.
26:58I stood there in the cold looking at
27:00that lock and felt something shift in my
27:02chest. Not anger, I'd been angry for
27:04weeks. This was different. This was the
27:06moment I understood that Brenda Holloway
27:08wasn't going to stop. Not because I
27:10pushed back. Not because the county
27:12issued a violation. Not because a
27:14certified letter was sitting on her
27:16kitchen counter. She wasn't going to
27:18stop because she couldn't. Stopping
27:20would mean admitting she was wrong. And
27:22Brenda Holloway would rather pour
27:24concrete into a man's garage lock at
27:262:00 in the morning than admit she was
27:28wrong. I called a locksmith from town.
27:3045 minutes and $85 later, he drilled out
27:33the cylinder. Concrete dust puffed out
27:36in a gray cloud that smelled like chalk
27:38and basement floor. I swept up the
27:40residue and put it in a ziploc bag.
27:43evidence. Horus, who lived across the
27:45loop road, told me he'd heard a vehicle
27:47around 2 a.m. SUV, he said. Same rattle
27:50in the exhaust as Brenda's Tahoe. I'd
27:52know that sound anywhere. It's a loose
27:54heat shield. Been meaning to tell her
27:56about it for 2 years, but she never
27:58asks. While I was dealing with the lock,
28:00Brenda was making her next move. She
28:02called the county building inspector
28:04filed a report claiming there was a
28:06hazardous gas leak at 14 Creek Lane due
28:09to unlicensed pipe work. The inspector,
28:11a man named Virgil Hobbs, came out
28:14Monday morning. He spent 40 minutes
28:16going over every inch of my exterior
28:18piping with a gas detector, checked the
28:20shut off, checked the welds, checked the
28:22connections. His conclusion, no leak,
28:26everything up to code. He wrote it up,
28:28signed it, gave me a copy, and left. But
28:31Brenda didn't wait for his report. While
28:33Virgil Hobbs was still at my house with
28:35his detector, Brenda posted on the HOA
28:38Facebook page. County has confirmed
28:40hazardous gas leak at 14 Creekstone. All
28:44residents advised to keep windows
28:45closed. Board is handling the situation.
28:48All caps. Because of course, within an
28:52hour, six people called the county
28:54office in a panic. Virgil Hobbs himself
28:56had to call Brenda and tell her there
28:58was no leak and to take the post down.
29:01She didn't answer his call. She didn't
29:03take the post down, but Nora Caldwell,
29:05God bless Norah Caldwell, screenshotted
29:07that post 4 minutes after it went up,
29:09timestamped. And then she screenshotted
29:11the inspector's clean report that I
29:13forwarded to her an hour later. Two
29:15documents side by side. One said,
29:17"Hazardous gas leak confirmed." The
29:20other said, "No leak detected. All
29:22systems within code." Nora didn't post
29:25them. Not yet. She saved them in the
29:27same folder where she kept the easement
29:29clause and the board minutes. When the
29:31time comes, she told me over the phone,
29:34"I want people to see exactly who's been
29:36lying to them." That same week, Patty
29:38and Nora finished their door-to-door
29:40visits, 45 houses. At each one, they
29:43left a manila envelope with two pages
29:45inside, the easement clause, and the
29:47board vote. No cover letter, no
29:50explanation, just the documents. Patty
29:53told me later that most people read them
29:55standing in the doorway. A few asked
29:57questions. One woman, house number 19,
30:00read the easement clause twice and said,
30:03"So, if they don't fix what they did to
30:04Curtis, we all lose gas. That's what the
30:07document says," Patty told her. In
30:09January? Yes, ma'am. The woman looked at
30:12the paper again, then looked up at
30:14Brenda's house at the top of the
30:15culde-sac. Well, she said, "That's not
30:19going to happen. Brenda must have sensed
30:21the shift." The next board communication
30:23wasn't a blast email or a Facebook post.
30:26It was a printed petition paper,
30:28doortodoor, old school, calling for the
30:31county to condemn 14 Creekstone Lane as
30:33a safety hazard. She and Glenn walked it
30:35themselves. Six signatures out of 45
30:39households, Brenda, Glenn, Doris,
30:41Tucker, and three neighbors who hadn't
30:43read the envelope yet. That evening,
30:45Glenn sat down at the kitchen table
30:47across from Brenda and said, "Drop it,
30:49Brenda. That deed is real. The letter is
30:52real. If he shuts that valve, we all
30:55freeze. Brenda's answer, according to
30:57Patty, who heard it from Earl, who was
30:59on the phone with Glenn at the time.
31:01Since when do you decide what I drop?
31:03Glenn didn't say anything after that.
31:05Day five came and went. No response to
31:08the certified letter, no restoration of
31:10my gas service, no acknowledgement from
31:12the board, from Brenda, from anyone. On
31:15day six, Brenda called one more
31:17emergency board meeting, the third since
31:19this started. Earl told Patty about it
31:21that night and Patty called me. Earl
31:24asked them to restore your gas. She said
31:27he stood up and said, "We should
31:29apologize and unlock his meter before
31:31this gets worse. You know what Brenda
31:33said? Tell me over my dead body." Then
31:36she called the vote. 3:1. Brenda, Glenn,
31:40and Doris voted to quote, "Contest the
31:42landowner's claims through all available
31:44channels." Earl voted to resolve. Brenda
31:47wrote next to his name. dissenting noted
31:50like he'd committed a crime by
31:51disagreeing with her. I hung up the
31:53phone, sat in the kitchen for a while.
31:55The generator was still running in the
31:57hallway. Day 12 of sleeping to the sound
31:59of a diesel engine. My shoulder hurt. My
32:02eyes were dry from the exhaust. The
32:04sleeping bag smelled like canned food
32:06and motor oil. I'd given them 5 days.
32:09They'd used those 5 days to pour
32:11concrete in my lock, lie to the county
32:13about a gas leak, and vote 3 to one to
32:15keep fighting. The next morning, a
32:18Wednesday, January 28th, I put on my
32:20work jacket, zipped the pocket with the
32:22deed and the screenshots and the
32:24certified mail receipts, and walked to
32:26the northeast corner of my property. The
32:29ground was frozen solid, but Horus had
32:31told me exactly where to look. 8 in
32:34down, under a green plastic cap that was
32:36crusted with ice and dirt. I cleared it
32:39with a flathead screwdriver and a
32:40hammer, chipping away frozen soil until
32:42I could see the valve handle. It was a
32:444-in brass gate valve. I'd worked with a
32:47thousand of them in the oil fields. You
32:49turn it clockwise to close. It takes
32:51about six full rotations. Each one makes
32:53a grinding sound metal on metal. The
32:56kind of sound that travels through pipe
32:58for a long distance. I turned it once,
33:00twice, three times. By the fourth turn,
33:03I could hear the faint whistle of gas
33:05pressure dropping in the main line.
33:07Fifth turn, sixth, the valve seeded with
33:10a dull thud, like a door closing in an
33:12empty house. Then I called the gas
33:14company, told them exactly what I'd
33:16done, why I'd done it, and cited the
33:19easement clause, paragraph 4, subsection
33:22B. The woman on the phone put me on hold
33:24for 11 minutes. When she came back, she
33:27said, "Mr. Anderson, our legal
33:30department confirms your right to
33:31suspend flow under the easement terms.
33:33We'll note the shut off as landowner
33:35initiated pending violation resolution."
33:38I hung up and called Horus. "It's done,"
33:40I said. How long before people notice?
33:43Furnaces have about 20 minutes of
33:45residual gas in the line. After that,
33:47pilot lights go out. 20 minutes, Horus
33:50repeated. Well, I'd better put on my
33:53coat. By noon, all 45 homes in Ridgeline
33:57Estates had lost gas service. Furnaces
33:59off, water heaters cold, gas stoves
34:02dead. The temperature outside was -9 and
34:05dropping toward -12 by nightfall. The
34:08phone call started within the hour.
34:10Homeowners calling the gas company,
34:12calling the county, calling each other.
34:14The gas company told every one of them
34:16the same thing. The landowner at 14
34:19Creekstone Lane has exercised his legal
34:22right to suspend utility flow through
34:24his property due to an unresolved
34:26easement violation. Contact your HOA
34:28board for resolution. Families dragged
34:31space heaters out of closets. Electric
34:33bills would spike for weeks. Three
34:35elderly residents went to stay with
34:36family outside the subdivision. A couple
34:39with a newborn in house number eight
34:41drove to a motel in Grand Junction, 40
34:43minutes away. Kids sat in minivans in
34:46garages with the engines running and the
34:48heaters on. I felt every one of those
34:50families in my gut. I hadn't wanted
34:52this. I'd given the board 5 days, a
34:55certified letter, and a clear path to
34:57fix it. They chose Brenda. By 300 p.m.,
35:00Norah Caldwell made her call. Stuart
35:02Crane from the Branet Gazette pulled up
35:04to Ridgeline Estates in a 10-year-old
35:06Subaru with a press badge on the dash
35:08and a camera around his neck. He walked
35:11the subdivision, photographed gas
35:12meters, tagged service suspended,
35:15knocked on doors, talked to families.
35:17Five different homeowners pointed toward
35:19the same house at the top of the
35:20culde-sac. She did this. Ask her. Stuart
35:24knocked on Brenda's door. Glenn opened
35:26it 6 in. No comment. The door closed,
35:30but through the front window, Stuart
35:32could see their living room. The gas
35:34fireplace, the one from the Facebook
35:35photo, the one down fireplace, was dark,
35:38cold. Brenda Holloway was sitting on her
35:40couch in a winter coat inside her own
35:42house. Stuart photographed that window.
35:45He didn't need permission. Public view
35:47from a public sidewalk. Then he came to
35:49my house. I was standing in my driveway,
35:52hands in my jacket pockets, one hand on
35:54the certified mail receipts, the other
35:56on the deed. Mr. Anderson, can you tell
35:58me why you shut off the gas? I gave him
36:01one sentence. I asked them to fix a
36:03violation on my property. They voted no.
36:06Anything else? That's all there is to
36:08say. Stuart wrote his story that night.
36:11Norah sent him the screenshots Brenda's
36:12hazardous gas leak Facebook post next to
36:15the inspector's clean report side by
36:17side. The story ran in Friday's edition
36:19of the Bran Gazette under the headline
36:22HOA board action leaves 45 families
36:24without heat in record cold. Brenda
36:27Holloway didn't make any more Facebook
36:28posts after that. 3 days after Stuart
36:31Crane's story ran in the Brick Gazette,
36:33the county supervisor's office received
36:3531 complaint calls in a single morning.
36:38Janet Prior, 20-year county supervisor,
36:41the kind of woman who wore reading
36:42glasses on a chain and used them like a
36:44weapon, pulling them down to look at you
36:46over the rims when she wanted an answer,
36:48called an emergency community meeting at
36:50the Brick Community Center for that
36:52Saturday afternoon. The community center
36:54smelled the way every small town
36:56community center in Colorado smells. Old
36:59coffee, floor wax, and the ghost of a
37:02100 potluck dinners baked into the
37:04ceiling tiles. Metal folding chairs were
37:06set up in rows of 10. By 1:30, every
37:09chair was full. People stood along the
37:11walls. People stood in the hallway.
37:1480some residents, the 45 households of
37:16Ridgeline Estates, plus their families,
37:19plus a handful of towns people who'd
37:21read the gazette and wanted to watch. In
37:23the front row, sat Brenda Holloway,
37:25Glenn beside her, Doris Tucker one seat
37:27over, all three facing forward, back
37:30straight like they were posing for a
37:32church directory photo. Earl Simmons sat
37:34at the end of their row, but with one
37:36empty chair between him and Doris. That
37:38gap said everything. Ted Graves, the
37:41code enforcement officer, stood against
37:43the sidewall with his clipboard. Stuart
37:45Crane sat in the second row with a
37:47notebook and a recorder on his knee. No
37:49camera this time. The gazette was a
37:51weekly paper. Not CNN, but the
37:53recorder's red light was visible from
37:55across the room. Janet Prior stood at a
37:58folding table at the front. No
37:59microphone, no podium. She didn't need
38:02one. Her voice carried the way voices
38:04carry when the person speaking is tired
38:06of nonsense and wants everyone to know
38:08it. I'm here because 45 families in
38:11Ridgeline Estates have been without gas
38:14heat for 3 days in the middle of
38:15January. I want to understand how that
38:18happened and I want to understand it
38:20today. Mrs. Holloway, you're the HOA
38:23president. Please explain. Brenda stood
38:26up. She smoothed her jacket. She looked
38:28at the crowd the way she looked at
38:30everything like it was a violation she
38:32hadn't finded yet. The homeowner at 14
38:35Creekstone Lane, Mr. Anderson has been
38:37conducting unauthorized modifications to
38:39community gas infrastructure for months.
38:42When the board took appropriate action,
38:44he retaliated by sabotaging the gas
38:46supply to the entire neighborhood. He is
38:48holding this community hostage. A murmur
38:51went through the room. Not agreement,
38:53more like the sound a crowd makes when
38:55it's deciding what to believe. Janet
38:57Prior looked at me. Mr. Anderson. I
39:00stood up. I had three things in my
39:02hands. I'd been carrying them in my
39:03jacket pocket for weeks, and they were
39:05warm from my body heat, slightly bent at
39:08the corners. I walked to the front table
39:10and laid them down one at a time. This
39:12is a certified copy of my property deed,
39:14showing the utility easement clause
39:16recorded in 2001. This is the gas
39:19company's letter confirming that an
39:21unauthorized shutff was performed on my
39:23property using a forged inspection
39:25report submitted by Mrs. Holloway. And
39:28this I put down. The last page is a text
39:31message from a contractor Mrs. Holloway
39:33hired. Forwarding her written
39:34instruction to remove pipes from my
39:37property without a permit and without my
39:39consent. I stepped back. I asked the
39:41board to fix the violation. I gave them
39:435 days and a certified letter. They
39:46voted 3 to one to refuse. Brenda's face
39:48didn't change. That man is lying. He
39:51threatened this neighborhood. He said
39:53he'd cut off our gas if I didn't resign.
39:56That's extortion. The murmur got louder.
39:58A few heads turned toward me. For one
40:01second, maybe two, I felt the room tilt.
40:03Brenda was good at this. She'd been
40:05running this subdivision for 3 years on
40:07nothing but confidence. And confidence
40:09is hard to argue with when you're
40:10standing in a cold community center and
40:13your pipes have been frozen for 3 days.
40:15Then Earl Simmons stood up. He didn't
40:17look at Brenda. He looked at Janet Prior
40:19and spoke clearly enough that Stuart
40:21Crane's recorder caught every word from
40:23the second row. That's not true. I was
40:26in the room for every board meeting. Mr.
40:28Anderson never threatened anyone. He
40:31sent a letter asking us to restore his
40:33gas and fix the easement violation. I
40:36voted yes. Mrs. Holloway, Mr. Holloway,
40:40and Mrs. Tucker voted no. She told me,
40:43and I'm quoting, "Over my dead body." I
40:46have the meeting minutes right here. I
40:48wrote them myself. He held up two
40:51stapled pages. The room went dead quiet.
40:54The kind of quiet where you can hear the
40:55fluorescent lights buzzing and someone's
40:58coat zipper clicking against a metal
40:59chair. Brenda turned to Earl. Her voice
41:02dropped to something between a whisper
41:04and a hiss. Sit down, Earl. Earl didn't
41:07sit down. Patty, four rows back, had
41:10tears running down her face, but she was
41:13nodding. Janet Prior pulled her reading
41:15glasses down and looked at Brenda over
41:17the rims. Mrs. Holloway, one more
41:19question. Did you represent yourself as
41:21property manager of Ridgeline Estates to
41:23the gas company? I'm the HOA president.
41:27That is the property manager. No, ma'am,
41:29it is not. And there's a second problem.
41:32Janet opened a folder of her own. I
41:34contacted the Colorado Secretary of
41:36State's office yesterday. Ridgeline
41:38Estates HOA's registration expired in
41:41October 2019 and was never renewed. Your
41:44organization has been operating without
41:46legal standing for over 3 years. Every
41:49fine you've levied, every vote you've
41:51conducted, every dollar you've collected
41:53since 2019 has no legal authority,"
41:57Brenda opened her mouth. Nothing came
41:59out. Furthermore, Janet continued,
42:02"Misrepresenting yourself as a property
42:04manager to a utility company in order to
42:06disconnect someone's essential services
42:09is a misdemeanor in this state. I've
42:11forwarded the gas company's records and
42:13the forged inspection report to the
42:15county DA's office." The room erupted,
42:18not cheering. Nobody cheers when they
42:20find out their HOA has been illegal for
42:223 years and their board president might
42:24be facing criminal charges. It was more
42:26like 45 families all saying I knew it at
42:29the same time in 45 different ways.
42:32Janet Prior raised her hand. The room
42:35settled. I'm going to ask for a show of
42:37hands. All in favor of removing the
42:40current HOA board effective immediately.
42:42Hands went up like a wave. Fast, angry,
42:45relieved. 38 hands. Brenda, Glenn,
42:48Doris, and one neighbor near the back
42:50voted against. Earl Simmons didn't raise
42:52his hand either way. He just stood there
42:54holding his meeting minutes, looking at
42:56Brenda like a man watching a house he'd
42:58helped build catch fire. Brenda picked
43:01up her purse. She stood, pushed her
43:03chair back, the legs scraped across the
43:05lenolium with a sound that made half the
43:07room wsece, and walked toward the door.
43:09As she passed Earl, she said, "You'll
43:12regret this." Earl said nothing. Patty
43:15reached across two chairs and took his
43:17hand. Brenda Holloway walked out of the
43:19Brick Community Center at 2:17 p.m. on a
43:22Saturday afternoon in January. Nobody
43:25followed her. Nobody said goodbye. The
43:28door closed behind her with a soft click
43:30that somehow sounded louder than
43:31everything she'd ever said. Gas came
43:33back on a Sunday. 24 hours after the
43:36vote, the new interim board, Patty
43:38Simmons, Horus Wyn, and Norah Caldwell,
43:42elected by a show of hands before anyone
43:44left the community center, signed a
43:46resolution acknowledging the easement
43:48violation and formally requesting that
43:50Curtis Anderson restore gas flow through
43:53his property. I drove out to the
43:54northeast corner of my lot that morning.
43:57The ground was still frozen, the green
43:59cap still cleared from when I'd opened
44:01it 5 days earlier. I knelt down, grabbed
44:03the brass valve handle, and turned it
44:05counterclockwise, six rotations. The
44:08metal groaned, then hissed, then went
44:10quiet as gas pressure rebuilt in the
44:12main line. 45 pilot lights came back on
44:15that afternoon. I know, because Horus
44:18walked the entire subdivision, checking
44:19furnaces for the elderly residents. Same
44:22thing he'd done before the cold snap,
44:24except this time, people hugged him at
44:25the door. One woman on the East Loop
44:27gave him a Tupperware of beef stew so
44:30big he had to carry it with two hands.
44:32"I can't eat all this," he told me
44:34later, "but I'm sure as hell going to
44:36try." The county DA moved faster than
44:38anyone expected. By February, Brenda
44:41Holloway was charged with misdemeanor
44:43utility fraud for impersonating a
44:45property manager to disconnect my gas,
44:48and Glenn Holloway was charged with
44:50forgery for the fake safety inspection
44:52report. Brenda's fine was $2,500 and a
44:55year of probation. Glenn got the same.
44:58Neither one contested it. Their lawyer
45:00advised them to plead no contest and
45:02move on, which tells you everything
45:04about how strong their case wasn't. They
45:07put the house up for sale in March, the
45:09big one at the top of the culde-sac with
45:11the threecar garage and the perfectly
45:13angled American flag. It sold in 31
45:16days. They moved to a townhouse complex
45:18in Grand Junction. I heard later it had
45:21an HOA too, but Brenda wasn't running
45:23it. I suppose even she had limits,
45:25though I wouldn't have bet money on it.
45:27Doris Tucker resigned from the board the
45:29morning after the community meeting and
45:31never spoke about it publicly. She still
45:34lives in Ridgeline. She waves at me when
45:36I drive past, which is more than she
45:38ever did before. I wave back. Life's too
45:41short to hold a grudge against someone
45:42who is mostly just afraid of Brenda
45:44Holloway. Earl and Patty Simmons are
45:46still married. Still in house number
45:48nine. Earl joined the new board properly
45:50elected this time with community notice,
45:52public agenda, and actual bylaws that
45:55Norah Caldwell spent two weekends
45:57rewriting with help from a retired
45:59parallegal in town. The new bylaws
46:01include a clause that says no utility
46:03service to any home can be interrupted
46:05without a majority community vote and
46:07written notice 30 days in advance. Earl
46:10proposed that clause himself. Nobody
46:13voted against it. The new board's first
46:15official act was establishing the
46:16Ridgeline Winter Fund, a community
46:18emergency account to help any household
46:20that loses heat during winter, covering
46:22electric heater costs, temporary
46:24housing, or emergency repairs. Patty set
46:27it up through the county credit union. I
46:30made the first donation $525.
46:33Same amount I'd paid in bogus fines
46:35during my first 4 months. Felt right to
46:38put it somewhere it would actually help
46:39someone. As for me, I finished
46:41rebuilding the generator and welded a
46:43new set of exterior gas pipes to replace
46:45the ones with the red spray paint. Horus
46:48came over to help. We worked in the
46:50garage with the door open, coffee and
46:52thermoses on the workbench, the smell of
46:54flux and hot steel mixing with cold
46:56mountain air. At 71, Horus's hands were
46:59slower than they used to be, but his
47:01joints were clean and his eye was still
47:03dead on. Just like 2003, he said,
47:07tightening a fitting. Except now you've
47:09got a bad knee and I've got a story. I
47:11said stories are better than knees. He
47:14said knees don't get you free stew.
47:16Spring came late that year, the way it
47:18always does in the Colorado high
47:20country. But when it came, it came all
47:23at once. Snow melting off the ridge line
47:25and sheets, water running down the
47:27gutters. The granite gravel on my
47:29driveway wet and shining in the sun like
47:31someone had polished every chip by hand.
47:33The ponderosa pines behind the house
47:36pushed out new growth. Bright green tips
47:38on every branch, soft as felt when you
47:40rub them between your fingers. I walked
47:43out to the mailbox on a Tuesday morning
47:45in April. Boots crunching on wet gravel.
47:48Air smelled like pine sap and thaw. I
47:51opened the mailbox and looked inside.
47:53Empty. No violation notice. No red
47:56stamp. No cheap ink smeared in the
47:58corner. First time in 2 years. I stood
48:01there for a second just looking at the
48:03empty box. Then I closed it, walked back
48:06up the driveway, and went inside to make
48:09coffee. Now, if you think Brenda was
48:10bad, wait until you hear what happened
48:12three states over where an HOA president
48:15tried to bulldoze a veteran's front
48:17porch while he was still sitting on it.
48:19That one's coming next. But before I go,
48:21drop your worst HOA story in the
48:24comments. I don't care if it's long. I
48:26don't care if it happened 20 years ago.
48:28I read every single one and some of them
48:30end up becoming videos just like this.
48:32And if you haven't subscribed yet, now's
48:34the time. Hit subscribe, hit the bell,
48:37and I'll see you in the next

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