Thread Drift

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Originally Posted by Crankin

I am wondering if people in other states have to go through this.

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Heh. We're probably at the opposite extreme of the ratio of population density to public health regulation. It was only last month that our county regulations went into effect requiring regular septic inspection. There are a few neighborhoods that are really problematic, apparently, and the health department expects it'll take years just to get those caught up, never mind the rest of the county. Regular maintenance is done by private companies, but it's the health department that certifies it's safe when a home is sold.

Still - I don't know exactly what's involved when they inspect our system, beyond checking sludge level and motor operation and topping up the chlorine tablets, but there are a lot of trees around ours. At one point the septic company found roots growing into the line, so we had to call a roto-rooting company, and neither they nor the septic company needed us to remove any trees, they just reamed the roots out.

Who knows? A lot of things are regulated here.

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Originally Posted by Pax

Feeling a bit subdued today, our closest friend went to the ER back in Illinois last night for chest pains. Hopefully she'll be okay but being so far away just stinks. Guess that's the price you pay when you move away from home.

We don't really have any family at all, or none that we're in contact with, so our friends are our family. Sure does feel lonely now and then.

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Yes to this, we are in the same boat. I hope your friend is ok.

Back to lurking now....

My uncle died suddenly last week. I hadn't had much contact with him since I was 13 years old and he was on the other side of a big family break-up and I was too Stockholm Syndrome'd to stay connected. I'm glad he and my mom made their peace after my dad died, anyway, and I'm glad I had a chance to chat with him a little bit at my mom's wedding. But his death is bringing up a lot of old stuff for me. I had to fire my therapist, she blew me off one too many times, so you guys get to hear this stuff. :cool:

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

My uncle died suddenly last week. I hadn't had much contact with him since I was 13 years old and he was on the other side of a big family break-up and I was too Stockholm Syndrome'd to stay connected. I'm glad he and my mom made their peace after my dad died, anyway, and I'm glad I had a chance to chat with him a little bit at my mom's wedding. But his death is bringing up a lot of old stuff for me. I had to fire my therapist, she blew me off one too many times, so you guys get to hear this stuff. :cool:

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It seems that too many of us have family "stuff." I'm sorry about your uncle.

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

My uncle died suddenly last week. I hadn't had much contact with him since I was 13 years old and he was on the other side of a big family break-up and I was too Stockholm Syndrome'd to stay connected. I'm glad he and my mom made their peace after my dad died, anyway, and I'm glad I had a chance to chat with him a little bit at my mom's wedding. But his death is bringing up a lot of old stuff for me. I had to fire my therapist, she blew me off one too many times, so you guys get to hear this stuff. :cool:

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So sorry to read this about your uncle Oakleaf - "family stuff" makes it even harder - at least that has been my experience.

I am sorry about your uncle, Oak, but it sounds like you had a good visit before he died. And, I am sorry your therapist blew you off. It makes me feel extraordinairily bad! What is wrong with people?

I am sorry, Oak. Death has a way of raking things up that you thought were long done.

We closed on the condo today. And we actually had 2 semi interested prospects for our house yesterday.

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Originally Posted by Crankin

We closed on the condo today. And we actually had 2 semi interested prospects for our house yesterday.

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Congratulations!!!

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Originally Posted by Crankin

We closed on the condo today. And we actually had 2 semi interested prospects for our house yesterday.

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That's great Crankin! Know you're ready to have your house sell.

Congrats, Crankin!

Still waiting for the 2 people to get back here with their respective spouses. One is a woman with 2 younger kids, who was stringent in telling our agent they are "a Waldorf family," which is good, because the type of people who send their kids to a Waldorf school would love our house. Her question was, although her kids would love playing in the woods, could they put a lawn in... and what about a pool? Oy. DH sent a detailed plot plan with 2 reasonable ideas for a lawn (I could kinda see this, but not having one is a draw, actually) and then asked our agent if she was aware that we have a neighborhood pond, with a beach?! She may not have seen this in the brochure, as it's at the end. This woman lives in a town that I wouldn't want to live in, so I think there is motivation there. The other guy lived in Cambridge and works at a pharma company. Not clear is they are renting or have a home.
DH spent all day yesterday doing demolition at the condo. There's more we want to change than we planned, but, that's how it goes. There is only one room with carpet (the sunroom) and it is in terrible shape, so we need to replace that. It's a small room, though. DH agrees that we can't live with the bathtubs... that will be an expensive change, but just having the handicapped bars are creeping me out. I know people are telling me "I might need them," but I would rather ignore that advice at this point. Plus, the tile is dated and the tubs actually are a bit ugly.
DH met our neighbors. Apparently, he is the youngest person there, and one of the very few males. As I mentioned way earlier in this thread, West Concord is populated by widowed women, and now I see just how true this is. It's mainly because the condos/townhouses here are a bit cheaper than in other surrounding areas. These people are not quite old enough to be our parents, but maybe aunts or uncles. It should be interesting. I don't do well with "neighbors," but I will try to smile. At the closing, the sellers made me sad. They were smart people, but seemed so "old," despite only being maybe 10 years older than me. We didn't want to say too much about all of the changes we are making, but they asked us if we were excited about the "new white appliances," and we said we were replacing them with stainless... they were aghast, because of "all of the fingerprints." I told them we had had stainless appliances for many years, and there is a special cleaner, which they did not know about. I know all of this is unimportant, but I do find it interesting to see how how others age. My role models are people who are 75 and riding 50 miles a day, which of course, is not the norm. And, my own grandparents didn't seem as old as these people.

Good luck, Crankin.

You got me to thinking, how accessibility features are usually unattractive, and how much that's a sign of ableism in interior design (or structural engineering? not sure which specialty I'm talking about!). Maybe that will be the next frontier, as designers themselves age. I wonder how many falls every year can be attributed to either people who refused to install grab bars because they're so ugly, or to half-azzed solutions that are attractive but not structurally stable and not up to the task when someone does need them. I know there are many other barriers to people making their homes accessible, but ugly really shouldn't be one of them.

Crankin, I just saw this on a local news blog -- looks like if might affect your sale.

https://www.arlnow.com/2015/09/29/as...impact-buyers/

BTW when you gut the bathrooms you should consider adding blocking for grab bars to be added later on. Even if you never need them, it sounds like it would be a good selling point down the road (probably way down the road, but still).

I put in blocking and a few grab bars in my bathroom because I don't think old age or infirmity are the only reasons to have them. Merely being weakened by the flu or hurting your knee can lead you to want something to grab so you can steady yourself as you get in or out of a tub. I slipped and fell stepping into a tub in a hotel recently and without the grab bar I probably would have hit my head. And it's now possible to buy some that don't look like you're in a hospital room.