On a more personal note...
For several months now, the lot next door has sat empty. Literally empty, since the owner cleared it of all the brush and trees from one corner to the other. Why anyone would buy a lot in the middle of the woods, just to get rid of the woods, is beyond the collective imaginations of der Brucer and myself, and we've pretty good imaginations.
Apparently, good imaginations, but not bad ones.
The lot has been staked, and lines painted on the ground in bright brick orange. The owners are going to be putting up a McMansion. Tons of floorspace, with probably no archetectural connection to the surrounding landscape or other houses. Heck, most of the residents here are living in doublewides, duded up if they're year-round residents or can afford it, left fairly ordinary if they are summer homes.
This McMansion is going to be looking over most of our back yard.
And I'll bet they're gonna complain every time the dogs go into the back yard to do their business.
Sh*t.