Emmett Ray

Thyri Gullinvargr wrote:

Emmett Ray wrote:
Here's what I learned about snow removal:  If you live somewhere where it's prone to a lot of snow, then have a heated driveway and heated roof installed.  Expensive?  Yes.  Worth it?  Absolutely.  If I weren't relocating to the south, I'd be installing these things so fast it wouldn't be funny.  Everyone says how it's not worth the expense until it's time for them to have to shovel out of a storm themselves.  

I don't think my landlord would agree to that (or my neighbor that shares the driveway). 🤔😉😁

My landlord wouldn't either.  But, speaking as someone who does all the shoveling, by himself, for a very large property with nowhere to put the snow, I'm saying that when I move and get my own house, if it was in a place that got plenty of snow, I'd install the heated roof and driveway.  Obviously, if you're in an apartment building, you can't.

I've been there.  It's hell.  When you're in a city, you run out of room to put it real quick.  And there just comes a point where you can't do anymore.  Especially when the city plows come down your street and leave another three feet of it at the end of your driveway after you've already spent hours shoveling.  And that three feet they leave is very compacted and much heavier than what you already shoveled.  A snow blower won't touch it.

Here's what I learned about snow removal:  If you live somewhere where it's prone to a lot of snow, then have a heated driveway and heated roof installed.  Expensive?  Yes.  Worth it?  Absolutely.  If I weren't relocating to the south, I'd be installing these things so fast it wouldn't be funny.  Everyone says how it's not worth the expense until it's time for them to have to shovel out of a storm themselves.  

I enjoy winter but I'm DONE with snow shoveling.  Where I'm going, the average snowfall per year is 6", which melts the same day or in a few days.  Perfect.

r ranson wrote:Hopefully it's more garlic.

I cannot figure out why bugs are going after me with such intensity this summer.   Tried the basic solutions.   Now it's time to see if adjusting my diet will make a difference.

Any suggestions?

I'm way late to this conversation, and I'm sure more than one person already said this but, as a mosquito magnet myself, garlic works.  But, while eating garlic (and onions) daily will chase away mosquitos, it'll also chase away people when you start sweating it out of your pores.

Tried and true mosquito repeller for a lot of folks:  About 30 days before mosquito season starts, take one garlic supplement daily and continue until mosquito season is almost over.  Taking garlic as a supplement instead still works on mosquitos but you won't sweat it out of your pores like daily fresh garlic and onions will.

Joylynn Hardesty wrote:We got about 5 inches. The grocery stores sold out of milk and bread before the snow began to fall. The whole town shut down. Snowmagedon. They do this every time the white stuff falls. Weird.

The same thing happened when I lived in south.  (In the past, before freaky weather warfare was common.)  At just the mention of the possibility of snow, grocery stores always sold out of milk, water, bread, and beer.  I always got a chuckle out of that and wondered what folks did with all of it when they realized the next day that an inch of snow didn't leave them stranded?  And why did only those things sell out?  Is there a secret recipe for Creamy Southern Beer Bread Soup that the north doesn't have?  (Like Milo's, Duke's, or Nehi?)    At most, folks stayed home for a day or two with no risk of starvation.  When we get snow here in the north, even a foot of it, grocery doors don't sell out of anything.

However... now that I'm older and wiser, I understand a whole lot better why this happens.  The south doesn't have the infrastructure or budget to deal with snow on the roads because it doesn't happen regularly.  That means even a little snow, when driven or walked on, gets compacted and turns to ice.  No one is good at driving on ice.  Not to mention that in some parts of the south, it's called "snow" but it's really sleet/ice.  

But, folks in the south have their day, too!  They laugh at northerners when it comes to heat and humidity.  I've been laughed at for saying how hot I was at 95°F and humid.  I was told, "You don't know what hot is.  It's 102°F here!"  But, really, is there really any difference at that point?!  (To be fair, anything over 72°F and I'm as baked as an Easter ham!)

Life Lesson I Learned about Weather:  Weather is the most talked about subject on the planet.  But weather isn't a contest.  Nobody wins for being hotter, colder, snowier, more humid, or more anything than anyone else.  If someone says they're cold and wears a heavy coat, a hat, and gloves at 55°F while I'm still in shorts, t-shirt, and flip flops at 24°F, then THEY are colder than I am.  Cold is cold if you feel cold.  Hot is hot when you feel hot.  And empathizing is always better than "winning."

I hate beer but I still want to try that secret Creamy Southern Beer Bread Soup recipe! 🍺🍞🥛💧

Personally, the best advice I was ever given about gratitude was from an elderly woman I used to care for.  She said, "What if, when you woke up this morning, all you had were the things you thanked God for yesterday?"  I've never forgotten that.

Judith Browning wrote:Emmett Ray, can I ask what 'Karen-ness' means please?

Sure.  I think we've all heard the idiom of people being "Karens."  It's a term that popular culture came up with to describe a person who behaves in a demanding, entitled, or confrontational way.  It's usually associated with a person's tendency to escalate situations unnecessarily, expecting special treatment, or showing disregard for other people.

I used the idiom, along with armchair judges (another idiom from popular culture) simply to illustrate the far end of the intention spectrum.

r ranson wrote:To know the intent or attitude of another human would be an amazing thing.

I have only the words they share to offer insight into their intent.  The way they phrase these words and the actions that follow (putting the milk back in the same place instead of troubleshooting the problem) gives insight into the attitude they approach the problem with.

Is the intent to make it so the milk doesn't spill? Then blame is the least effective way to get that result.  

Fair point (kind of), if it's an online conversation.  (I was looking at being an in person conversation.)  But you're reaching too far philosophically and avoiding the simple situation.  It has nothing to do with milk being spilled at all.  It has to do with how and why someone says that it was spilled.  I don't find any benefit in getting so philosophical about it.  I deal in practicality.  Someone spilled some milk.  That's a fact.  Milk can be cleaned up so this is not a tragedy.  It has nothing to do with psychology or philosophizing the event.  The topic is about "communication."  People communicate.  Not spilled milk.  So, how did the person who mentioned the spilled milk say it?  What was their tone?  Attitude?  How did they word it?  Did they stress any specific words to imply blame, anger, or passive aggressiveness?  Was it mentioned casually as information to, say, a waitress or to someone in the kitchen to bring a towel?  Was it said light-heartedly as a good natured ribbing of the person who spilled the milk?  These are all very easy things to detect.  

I'm also speaking from my experience of living in quite a few different countries in my lifetime where the culture dictates how people speak.  In Italy and Germany, people were direct and factual, but not with any ill-meaning intentions.  In Nordic countries, people are very aware of other people's feelings and wouldn't phrase anything in a blaming way.

So, generally, my statements are in reference to western culture.  Hence, the Karens and Armchair Judges vs People who avoid responsibility/blame.  Intention isn't at all difficult to decipher in western conversations.  At least not in my experience.

I think the problem doesn't lie with the wording at all.  It lies with the attitude and intention of how and why something was said.

Sometimes blame is simply a fact stated.
Sometimes people need to own up to their actions and not be sheltered with generic, carefully worded comments to coddle hurt feelings.  
And some people simply need an attitude/reality check that their Karen-ness, or armchair judge and jury self righteousness, isn't wanted, needed, or tolerated.  

It's about intent and attitude.  Not the actual words.

Matt McSpadden wrote:Anyone who heats their house with hot water (baseboard, radiators, radiant, etc) most likely has a boiler of some kind. Most are simply connected to a small tank, which means the boiler has to kick on and off much more frequently, losing efficiency.

My 1972 built apartment complex has baseboard heat and a huge boiler.  We have three problems with this system:

1.  Heat goes out periodically due to air in the pipes.  It requires going into an apartment and bleeding the air out of the pipe, then going down to the boiler and adding more water.

2.  Freezing pipes that burst and flood the apartment, ruining the carpeting (and tack strips and even damaging the older concrete subfloor) or cheap plank flooring (in some of the "renovated" apartments).  If it's not discovered immediately because it's only in a small area, then we're dealing with mold issues.

3.  Having to check the water temperature daily.  (This could just be specific to this boiler though.)

Disclaimer:  Like I said, I have no skin in the game.  I'm just mentioning my experiences and small amount of research.  I'm also saying that I would never have baseboard heat in my house.  Ever.

EDITED TO ADD:  I should mention that, in my new house build, I'm having a full masonry heater built to heat it.  (That's also why I'm leaning towards tankless for my hot water needs - laundry, shower, doing dishes (no dishwasher).

Anne always has impressive ideas.  I especially like the ones for coasters, a backsplash and plant markers.

You could also turn them into a mosaic table top or garden bench seat.  

If you have wooden raised garden beds, you could line them with these slate pieces for a nice look.  

You can use them instead of mulch or gravel in a flower bed to add to the look and suppress weeds.  Or you can break them into smaller pieces and use them like gravel in your flower beds.

If you have enough that are still in good shape, you can re-shingle a shed.

I wonder if you could use them in a fire pit somehow?