Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for January 11, 2019

leave it to the cook to smooth talk the visitor

She’s either busting his chops or he burned them. None too pleased I see.

She does have a point.

Uh-oh. TJ is going to burn the house down a second time.

It ain’t working TJ!

Ooh, the look on T.J.‘s face. I don’t know if he is stunned because his chops are burning. Or because he has met a female who isn’t swayed by his blarney (gaelic for ‘billshut’).

Somebody stuff one of those chops in TJ’s mouth to shut him up. If he keeps it up, the end result will be that Frank and Nancy will be looking at a stiff fine for unpermitted construction, Code Enforcement Bev will require them to rip out all the unapproved construction and doing it over, blowing Brad and Toni’s nest egg, and Shannon won’t have any place to sleep until the work is redone.

So TJ charmed ’em at Weenie World (a younger crowd), but he has has no handle on how to address mature professionals.

Nice deflection Toni

I really hate this woman in pink. I wish she would be gone already. Who cares the laundry room was moved if the washer and dryers are operational in the new space? And who cares if one wall was moved as long as the wirings are still in the same places? Just go away and go after the REAL violators.

Just redecorated – and nobody can tell any different – AND you don’t need any form of plans or consent for that (except from the owner)

And TJ continues to live down to my expectations of him: Always a hindrance!

Ms Gourami made a keen observation in Arcamax in the previous day’s (the 10th) strip’s comments – Bev looks like she could be Shannon’s mother. If that were the case, it could be interesting when Shannon pops up and they see each other. Saturday’s strip will probably be filler and Monday either this arc will resume or a new arc started leaving us hanging. Maybe Frank and Nancy will show up in Saturday’s strip to add to the wait.

Next time:

1. Keep construction/demolition to hours where there is not a noise curfew.

2. Play some “trap music” at about 1,200 watts per channel during the construction/demolition process to aid in masking the noise.

3. Keep all hammering in sync with the bass beat.

4. Make sure anything removed during the demolition process is kept out of sight until the dead of night when it can be hauled off and placed in front of someone else’s house to avoid detection.

5. If anyone inquires as to what is being constructed, tell them that you are building a dining room set from scratch and apologize for the noise.

6. Remember, all you did was paint. The place was like that when you moved in.

At first glance, I thought the word on Bev’s clipboard was PRIG. (I realized a few secs that it’s GREG’s signature.)

Which tedious neighbor ratted?

I always enjoy watching the smirk get wiped off of TJ’s face.

Building inspectors really char my chops!

Do you know what the Sad Part about this whole thing is?

After all the trouble Smiley has caused and about to cause here, the DeGroots STILL won’t have the Gumption to Kick Him OUT. :(

This is not according to keikaku!

If they took photos of the entire process, then they might get away with it, WITH a fine (equal to the premits needed, plus 100%). This is to deter people from skipping the permit process.

You would think that TJ would have noticed by now that his smooth con man talk isn’t going to work on Bev, and shut up before this gets any worse.

Looks like Bev hasn’t imbibed the pinot noir yet… :D

TJ, looks like Mr. Smooth is going to get nowhere with Ms. Bureaucracy. You three better come up with a new plan, before Frank and Nancy come over.

the property insurance went up over 40% this year, better get those permits and get up to code before you have a claim…

In more ways than one…

Brad’s parent’s own the house. They haven’t made any changes to the OUTSIDE. Why should they need to get a permit? Town just wants extra $$$. Someone must not like them and have snitched to the town. As long as there are no structural changes – didn’t add on a room, just changed up the layout of existing rooms, town should stay out of it

By TJ mentioning Shannon, he may get Almira Gulch to summon “DYFS” and make this affair a much messier one. Jonah’s days of “Shannon dropping” may be over soon and we may even meet her mom. She may even be the complainant here. Hmmm….

I think the two professional fire fighters are about to prove how safe they can make the place

The inspection thing is a joke, the contractors pay off the inspectors and all is well. If they don’t pay off the inspector all is bad. One great example was a local town where the houses started sinking because they were on land that was boggy. How the hell did they get a permit to build on it? Dead presidents!!

One nice thing about living in the county, far fewer permits and inspections. On the other hand, there’s a house around the corner that was built by the Crooked Man. I pity his heirs.

Oh and another fire is about to start

Fines for missing smoke detectors!

if nothing else this arc is proving educational to many readers about building permits and such. Check your local ordinances. As the TV promo used to say “The More You Know” !!!!

TJ is not having a good day, the building inspector is no nonsense, so his game is falling pretty flat in all respects, hilarity ensues! -:) What I am looking forward to seeing is what happens when Frank and Nancy show up. I am terrible at predicting what TeaFanny and Ringo are planning next, but I do think this arc will go until next week. You know like a one-hour TV drama that is not resolved in the last 4 minutes to the hour, you know it will be a two-parter?

Well Greg looks like he’s created a something akin to “Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby.” (see http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2010/07/brer_rabbit_meets_a_tar_baby.html – for our offshore readers). TJ is just getting in deeper and deeper.

@ Robert James

That’s actually NOT a bad idea, Robert. Not BAD at all.

Trot little Shannon in right now. Because in addition to having a child live in a dwelling with DANGEROUS, Unpermitted building code violations, you NOW have Old Smiley confessing that young Shannon’s “Single Father” is unable to care for her, hence, he frequently HAS to place her in harm’s way by forcing her to live in this Death Trap!

And like Robert said above, I’m pretty sure Bev knows someone at Social Services that will be glad to look in to the matter, take Shannon into Custody and place her in a NEW home and into the hands of NEW Guardians Preferably in Canada.

You will have gotten RID of both Smiley and the Kid and at the same time, yet! Two Birds, One Stone!

Nice One, Mr. James!

At some point the landlords are going to arrive for a pork chop dinner. Then the poop will hit the paddle.

Perhaps TJ will be “invited” to seek new digs over this. (Probably not.) More likely G&K will pull rabbit out of a hat and all will be amicably resolved. Then, as 1212 always says, “Hilarity will ensue.”

I’m surprised we haven’t seen Shannon involved in this bruhaha yet. Perhaps she’ll be part of the resolution somehow.

Toni sure cleaned up nice.

In Austin you are suppose to get a permit, even to replace a door. I had a friend who replaced a window and when the inspector came over he also required them to install wired(not battery) fire/carbon monoxide detectors in each bedroom which are required by the current code. The current code also bans door knobs and requires new doors have levers which are easier for disabled to use. Every bedroom also has to have a window like two feet from the floor to allow escape from a fire.

I’ve never seen “hilarity ensue” in this strip. At most it’s mildly amusing.

The COMMENTS now……most of the time they are much more entertaining and a good deal funnier than the strip will ever be! :D

She looks like Mr. Kaplan from “The Blacklist”.

[IndianaJones]Bureaucrats…why did it have to be bureaucrats?[/IndianaJones]

Oh, and in case anyone is wondering, there is a “No Alterations” Clause in the DeGroot Rental Agreement in which Brad was MADE to Sign by his Dad:

https://www.gocomics.com/luann/2007/02/21

https://www.gocomics.com/luann/2007/02/27

And You’ll Note that the FIRST thing Smiley did was to talk Brad INTO doing the Renovations:

https://www.gocomics.com/luann/2007/02/28

BUT, Amazingly Frank and Nancy “Loved it.”

https://www.gocomics.com/luann/2007/03/15

Fast forward to last year where once again Smiley talked B&T out of kicking him and into unpermitted “renovations:”

https://www.gocomics.com/luann/2018/06/28

Will Frank and Nancy “Love” this Renovation? Maybe. Although I doubt very seriously they’re gonna like the FINES Bev is about Lay on ’Em.

But We’ll SEE…….,

Shouldn’t the smoke detector have gone off by this time? Oh, that’s right – there aren’t any. Another code violation. (And these people are firefighters?)

“Yum. Just as I planned.”

Tell her about your food truck too.

Funny that Bev was burning TJ before she asked if something was burning.

And he’s staying in a house with two firefighters. His brain cells are getting off to a good start for the new year!

for a skilled handyman plans are a necessity, but permits are just a delaying tactic put there to make some bureaucrat feel like something other than a waste of skin for a day.

Bev is also left handed.

Since when do you have to have a building permit for interior work? Around here, we only need it for exterior on an existing structure. You would be smart to hire a contractor who knows what he’s doing, but no permit is required.

Over-reaching government – none of their business.

why do I have the feeling that some posters here are going to find out the hard way that all is not what they thought regarding permits and ordinances?

3

Not sure where this will lead.

Realistically, they would likely get a big fine, and have to remove the work and have it repaired to original or permitted and redone.

But, that seems an unlikely route for Greg to take.

It seems the inspector is “legit” and not someone coaxed (by Frank and Nancy perhaps) to pull a prank.

Is this going to be a PSA about home remodeling safety? (kind of boring, if so)

What they smell is their goose getting cooked!

Bev is really a serious professional, I like her. I have a theory about the inspection. Frank can have warned them. Perhaps to make it clear to Brad & Co to not make anymore changes without first asking him.

Well, so much for my Bev loving Shannon’s artwork thought … it was a stretch though, especially for the straight-laced types like her…

There’s no sweet talkin’ that lot. Or as Doctor West’s Medicine Show And Junk Band astutely observed in 1966, “You can’t fight city hall, baby you ain’t gonna win”.

we didn’t get to tax you yet

The building code states a certain percentage of a house can be updated without permit. Doing that little amount doesn’t change anything. The state tax assessor could come but doubt it could change the house tax.

It appears this comic strip is geared for the mind of twelve year old children who no longer reads comics.

bev got hit with the ugly stick

I must have missed something – who turned them in to the permit dept ??

Shouldn’t firefighters already have a clue about the permit process? At least that there IS one?

Oh, yah! TJ’s “chops are charred,” all right! Maybe this fiasco will the catalyst for his dismissal from Brad and Toni’s place! (We can hope, can’t we?)

as with others, I am puzzled as to where this arc is going and why Greg has chosen to make trouble (in this way) with Brad, Toni and TJ’s home.

TJ was a total moron for admitting they turned it into a bedroom. If they’d said it was an office, they’d be in much less trouble.

Methinks somebody’s goose is cooked…

How the hell does she have a point. If it’s your house how is it the governments business what you do to it.