COLD DARK ROOM

LJL1982

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Joined
Jan 28, 2022
Messages
318
Location (City and/or State)
UK
My Dad, born '23, used to feel most Holidays were invented by people in order to make money from other people.
We celebrated them but come Mothers day & Fathers day and the worst offender of all Valentines day......he voiced his opinions a bit louder! LOL
Us 5 kids found it highly entertaining...from a distance of course...parents used to whack the kids back then! Yikes!
LOL

I just opened Amazon's website.....after getting nearly taken off the road by 1 of their tractor trailers this morning at 4AM! We were headed down Rt 3 at 62mph, me in the fast lane, him in the slow lane, ahead of my by 1.5 tractor-trailer lengths..... when he locked it up in the slow lane.....me, not knowing why Mr. Bigazz Tractor was slowing down, followed suite cause....well, I'm not stupid, THEN he throws that big beast into my lane and over to the WAWA turn lane in one fell swoop, by then his turn signal turned on as I went all the way to the right shoulder to allow him plenty of room should he decide a uturn is in order! JFC dude.....really? ...Then I calmed down and realized he prob just did what we all do once in a while...he just screwed up....ah well...........good thing for those "cat-like" reflexes huh?
LOL
An Expedition does not perform "cat-like" maneuvers, ever! LOL

Back to the original story......

So, anyway, I opened Amazon and found the Birthday presents Kerry ordered for me<LMAO>! She got me some fun things too! I snapped a pic, then texted it to her...thanking her. She uses my amazon so often that she's forgotten her own login.......and yes, she did put those things on her card, not mine this time! LOL
Plot twist: the presents weren't for you...🤣🤣

Very honest of you to let her know you found them! I hope you enjoy them whenever your birthday is...sounds like you might have got the dreaded birthday on the holidays!

My cousins birthday is new years eve...I don't think she's ever had a party "just for her" 🤣

I admire your take on the Amazon drivers decision making "we've all screwed up and made a bad quick decision"...very true! By the grace of God we go or something...Still doing it in a whopping artic is another matter 😬

I'm still trying to sell old cars and get on top of business accounts and work is busy and may be a house move before Xmas...so all guns blazing here. We are not even sure the house we are going into has electric...worst case the torts go to the big car garage (in the separate offices) till its all resolved.
 

LJL1982

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Joined
Jan 28, 2022
Messages
318
Location (City and/or State)
UK
The rain & wind have moved on, the sun & blue sky are present as is the cold!
View attachment 352144
Beautiful, we have had warm weather for a while now at 13/14C (57F) and then boom this morning it went baltic. .about as cold as it gets here at 5C (41F)....we normally have cold just like your photo but we are drowning in a big old fog bank!! Brrrrrr chills to the bone! Sun was trying to squeeze through right before it set! Hoping for a day like yours tomorrow. Sure it will be warm and raining here soon as is standard!
 

jeff kushner

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Jul 24, 2020
Messages
2,688
Location (City and/or State)
North of Annapolis
Mark takes great pics.....and I admit, its one of the few things in life that Im envious of....but in a good way!

LJ, what's the deal with " We are not even sure the house we are going into has electric"??

A couple ways to view this I figure....one would be that the home is in a blackout area or the power hasn't been switched over to the new payer....

Enquiring minds want to know....Or it could be.....well, are the police after you guys? Sounds like a hideout, not a home!!

LOL

A move in the next 3 weeks and you aren't sure whether you will move a HOME or not? That's pretty ballsy of you guys....takes a lot of humour (as you spell it) between you guys to pull it off and not have someone in court explaining why they.....(we don't want to think)....lol

OK, qk story.....Kerry had a flat as I may have mentioned going to work(she gets new fnt tires today) and I teased her a little of course about phoning a friend when she was quite capable as it turned out. This morning we talked the truth about changing a tire today with everyone owning suvs......I know it, you know it....the biggest pain in changing a tire today is where to put all the junk you need to move to get to the spare or jack! LMAO.....we all know it's true.....
It's a bit different w/20's but it falls out the bottom so I only have to wrestle that 75lb monster into place...and to think I used to 1-hand those things.....Bobby D was right....

PS, yeahh that are for me too! She told me so this morning! No one else I know is that age....cup, tee...oh heck year, she poured on the "age" thing. She's sick that way.....
 

Cathie G

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5 Year Member
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Joined
Aug 9, 2018
Messages
14,904
Location (City and/or State)
Lancaster
Plot twist: the presents weren't for you...🤣🤣

Very honest of you to let her know you found them! I hope you enjoy them whenever your birthday is...sounds like you might have got the dreaded birthday on the holidays!

My cousins birthday is new years eve...I don't think she's ever had a party "just for her" 🤣

I admire your take on the Amazon drivers decision making "we've all screwed up and made a bad quick decision"...very true! By the grace of God we go or something...Still doing it in a whopping artic is another matter 😬

I'm still trying to sell old cars and get on top of business accounts and work is busy and may be a house move before Xmas...so all guns blazing here. We are not even sure the house we are going into has electric...worst case the torts go to the big car garage (in the separate offices) till its all resolved.
Sounds like around here. Too busy and everyone's birthday in my family is around Christmas a few around Easter for heavens sake. At least I only have to do one present a year my rule. 😁There's like 33 of them🙏. It's their fault they keep multiplying and keep getting a cheaper gift 😉 And in the meantime there's many repairs... popping up. I still have to send my cards.🤗
 

LJL1982

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Joined
Jan 28, 2022
Messages
318
Location (City and/or State)
UK
Mark takes great pics.....and I admit, its one of the few things in life that Im envious of....but in a good way!

LJ, what's the deal with " We are not even sure the house we are going into has electric"??

A couple ways to view this I figure....one would be that the home is in a blackout area or the power hasn't been switched over to the new payer....

Enquiring minds want to know....Or it could be.....well, are the police after you guys? Sounds like a hideout, not a home!!

LOL

A move in the next 3 weeks and you aren't sure whether you will move a HOME or not? That's pretty ballsy of you guys....takes a lot of humour (as you spell it) between you guys to pull it off and not have someone in court explaining why they.....(we don't want to think)....lol

OK, qk story.....Kerry had a flat as I may have mentioned going to work(she gets new fnt tires today) and I teased her a little of course about phoning a friend when she was quite capable as it turned out. This morning we talked the truth about changing a tire today with everyone owning suvs......I know it, you know it....the biggest pain in changing a tire today is where to put all the junk you need to move to get to the spare or jack! LMAO.....we all know it's true.....
It's a bit different w/20's but it falls out the bottom so I only have to wrestle that 75lb monster into place...and to think I used to 1-hand those things.....Bobby D was right....

PS, yeahh that are for me too! She told me so this morning! No one else I know is that age....cup, tee...oh heck year, she poured on the "age" thing. She's sick that way.....
House is tatty.

In the UK offers are accepted on houses and house is left on market, so someone else can just come and put in a higher offer.

Order after offer is:

Deposit paid on legal fees

Searches ordered and cost committed to (land registry titles, environmental, gases, mines, flooding, easements (rights of ways over land etc).

Mortgage application put in

Mortgage survey undertaken

Sellers give property information (what's included in sale)

Mortgage offer issued

Exchange of contracts

Completion (money transaction and keys handed over)

So we have searches and legal and seller information complete.

We had a survey which is one of three levels: valuation (to confirm to the lender the collateral), homebuyers (pretty naff, tells you age of build and any obvious issues), and structural (heavily disclaimer filled and often done by specialist damp or other surveyor who then find damp and advise Mortgage Co. To withhold part of Mortgage until the surveying company have done expensive remedial works.)

We chose valuation as now and again with a house they may do a desk top valuation using Google Street View etc and look at surrounding area prices, but most then visit and then say structural required.

The valuation company have not viewed the property and have sent a survey result to the lender. It would indicate that either it passed muster on the valuation survey and got approved, or they just said it needs a structural and we will be told we have to do one to progress the application to get a mortgage offer. We have all other parts of mortgage okayed (earnings evidence, affordability etc), so we are just waiting on that to come through, but till it does anyone can knock us out of running with a higher offer.

So the mortgage offer could come through and exchange and complete next week, or we could lose the house. Also we have to sell a car to fulfil the full deposit required by time it comes through.

Electric wise we know the whole house, heating and plumbing was drained as large flood. So that will be instantly needing resolving. We need to resolve missing guttering, and we assume electric is operative, but we don't know for sure.

So arranging the holidays is like um are we free at Christmas? Or are we sorting getting out of one house and into another. We rent at the moment so we will ask for a no notice exit from the rental to avoid paying for both places. The rental we are in will re-rent out the next day as rentals are in such short supply...so with pets etc will be...interesting. we may in that case default to the industrial unit offices for a month or so for the torts to assure no risk of power downs or draughts.
 

LJL1982

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2022
Messages
318
Location (City and/or State)
UK
Mark takes great pics.....and I admit, its one of the few things in life that Im envious of....but in a good way!

LJ, what's the deal with " We are not even sure the house we are going into has electric"??

A couple ways to view this I figure....one would be that the home is in a blackout area or the power hasn't been switched over to the new payer....

Enquiring minds want to know....Or it could be.....well, are the police after you guys? Sounds like a hideout, not a home!!

LOL

A move in the next 3 weeks and you aren't sure whether you will move a HOME or not? That's pretty ballsy of you guys....takes a lot of humour (as you spell it) between you guys to pull it off and not have someone in court explaining why they.....(we don't want to think)....lol

OK, qk story.....Kerry had a flat as I may have mentioned going to work(she gets new fnt tires today) and I teased her a little of course about phoning a friend when she was quite capable as it turned out. This morning we talked the truth about changing a tire today with everyone owning suvs......I know it, you know it....the biggest pain in changing a tire today is where to put all the junk you need to move to get to the spare or jack! LMAO.....we all know it's true.....
It's a bit different w/20's but it falls out the bottom so I only have to wrestle that 75lb monster into place...and to think I used to 1-hand those things.....Bobby D was right....

PS, yeahh that are for me too! She told me so this morning! No one else I know is that age....cup, tee...oh heck year, she poured on the "age" thing. She's sick that way.....
And I never envy the people with spares in the boot under a buggy 4 suitcases, 2 duvets and a tent on the side of the motorway trying to change tyres in the rain!! And yep you all have much bigger tyres than us in general!
 

Cathie G

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5 Year Member
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Messages
14,904
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Lancaster
The rain & wind have moved on, the sun & blue sky are present as is the cold!
View attachment 352144
The wind blew so hard here yesterday it maybe broke a thread of one of my wind chimes. It's still laying in the garden. It's been too windy and today too cold. Right now it's 26°f. Eeek I'll deal with it tomorrow ☺️
 

jeff kushner

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Messages
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Location (City and/or State)
North of Annapolis
That's some kind of "process" to buy a home LJ....but it's all what you're used to, we have slightly different processes but the angst remains the same on both sides of the pond!

LOL

Ms Cathie likes to confuse folks.....I was one of them<LOL>!

we we at 24F this morning....I love remote start
 

LJL1982

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Joined
Jan 28, 2022
Messages
318
Location (City and/or State)
UK
That's some kind of "process" to buy a home LJ....but it's all what you're used to, we have slightly different processes but the angst remains the same on both sides of the pond!

LOL

Ms Cathie likes to confuse folks.....I was one of them<LOL>!

we we at 24F this morning....I love remote start
Brrrrrrr that's super cool!!
 

Lyn W

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Jul 22, 2014
Messages
23,497
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Good morning all. it's been a busy week running back and forth to the storage unit and the tip.
It's been pretty cold and foggy for the last few days which makes it feel damp and even colder. Today is still cloudy but brighter with the sun trying to peep through, I'm just glad it's not been raining and given my roof a chance to dry out, although in spite of all the rain and hailstones we had recently I didn't have any more water in, so while the roof still needs to be looked at I'm hoping, it's not as bad as originally thought and will only need minor repairs. 🤞
I hope you're all well and had a good week - I can't believe the weekend is here again.
My laptop should be fixed by next week, then hopefully I'll have time to be able to pop in and chat more.
Have a good Friday and TTFN!
 

LJL1982

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Joined
Jan 28, 2022
Messages
318
Location (City and/or State)
UK
Good morning all. it's been a busy week running back and forth to the storage unit and the tip.
It's been pretty cold and foggy for the last few days which makes it feel damp and even colder. Today is still cloudy but brighter with the sun trying to peep through, I'm just glad it's not been raining and given my roof a chance to dry out, although in spite of all the rain and hailstones we had recently I didn't have any more water in, so while the roof still needs to be looked at I'm hoping, it's not as bad as originally thought and will only need minor repairs. 🤞
I hope you're all well and had a good week - I can't believe the weekend is here again.
My laptop should be fixed by next week, then hopefully I'll have time to be able to pop in and chat more.
Have a good Friday and TTFN!
Good to hear from you, glad all well x
 

Cathie G

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5 Year Member
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Aug 9, 2018
Messages
14,904
Location (City and/or State)
Lancaster
Good morning all. it's been a busy week running back and forth to the storage unit and the tip.
It's been pretty cold and foggy for the last few days which makes it feel damp and even colder. Today is still cloudy but brighter with the sun trying to peep through, I'm just glad it's not been raining and given my roof a chance to dry out, although in spite of all the rain and hailstones we had recently I didn't have any more water in, so while the roof still needs to be looked at I'm hoping, it's not as bad as originally thought and will only need minor repairs. 🤞
I hope you're all well and had a good week - I can't believe the weekend is here again.
My laptop should be fixed by next week, then hopefully I'll have time to be able to pop in and chat more.
Have a good Friday and TTFN!
That's actually probably true about your roof if you had a really bad storm when your roof leaked. I've had that happen where the pressure and everything caused the roof to leak at a previous home.. Then after it didn't. But if you shore it up when you can it just prevents future issues. I'll be glad to see you when you finally get to play with us 😊
 

Cathie G

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I did think you were uk and had translated your Fahrenheit wrong! We are having a cold snap but even north England where Lancaster is has only got as low as 45F!!

That's really baltic where you are then!! 🥶🥶🥶
Well it can be one day and the next be 50°f or higher or 3 seasons the same day. There's a saying in our state about the weather. Just wait a few seconds and it'll change.❄️🌞🌨️🥶etc..💦🏖️
 

Cathie G

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5 Year Member
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Joined
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Messages
14,904
Location (City and/or State)
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That's some kind of "process" to buy a home LJ....but it's all what you're used to, we have slightly different processes but the angst remains the same on both sides of the pond!

LOL

Ms Cathie likes to confuse folks.....I was one of them<LOL>!

we we at 24F this morning....I love remote start
Yea my crazy brother always says I drive him crazy. I just say back in charades ok so you admit you're crazy 🤣
 

jeff kushner

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Joined
Jul 24, 2020
Messages
2,688
Location (City and/or State)
North of Annapolis
I came home yesterday, ready to start my Terminox iron filter & new water-softener installation. I saw the boxes UPS dropped off but they shorted me. I got 5 of 6 and the missing box was media to go into the filter. DANG!
The Best laid plans, right?

So I shut off/disconnected the water piping and demo'ed the existing tanks, the salt bin and the chemical injection tank. I moved everything out of the way and cleaned the floor. Then I brought down all the new stuff...... 600lb of stuff.....and I ended up directly reconnecting the water for the night, then I needed a hospital! A shower was a poor substitute for morphine! Because I'm older and hopefully a wee bit smarter, I now PRE-motrin....when you take a couple ahead of time, knowing you're going to hurt<LOL>!!

At 8PM, good ole UPS came through and dropped off the missing box....33KG seems to weigh a lot more today than it did in 1985....wonder why that is? LOL

So today, Kerry will come over and we'll go grocery shopping and stop to pick up 3 fitting that I didn't have for the iron filter connection. Daughter leaves for work at noon....then Super-plumber should make another highly anticipated appearance! I'm looking forward to having better water than this home has ever seen.

enjoy the day guys.....
 
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