Were they Toyotas? My toyotas and Hondas have usually been much better than other cars.
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Were they Toyotas? My toyotas and Hondas have usually been much better than other cars.
I got my property tax bill. Up about $2000/33%. I didn't even know they could do that...
Maybe this will goose me into finally moving.
Up 33%????Quote:
Originally Posted by JaneV2.0
Can you look into what happened--maybe it is a mistake by them??
Quote:
Originally Posted by JaneV2.0
Yes, “they” can do that and we have had that happen here in Democratically controlled St. Louis.
It has to do with re=assessments and catch-ups to market rise. I guess, at least that is what they tell us here, but I am vague about the details.
Don’t ya love it when our overlords determine you gotta pay for living in that great climate and having that great King Co. Library system?
Me, I just crawl to tiny, rural Flyover country where the hipsters and cool people don’t invade and drive up our property prices. We are simple folks in Hermann and don’t expect much.
No, the first one was a Ford sedan. I say it was luxurious because it was my first car with power windows, electric seat adjustment, plush seats. It was LUXE and was circa 1995.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tybee
The one the immediately followed it was the same thing but the Mercury version and was a station wagon which was perfect for our 4 bulldogs. With their short legs they could still see out the windows. The bulldogs have a hard time getting a good view in our current SUV. But the SUV is better for hauling floral arrangements.
Neither of our used cars made it to 100,000 miles tho. But since we didn’t drive many miles at the time, they lasted many years.
They thoughtfully included an explanatory flyer explaining the catch-ups for school funding, a couple of bonds (not library bonds), and something else I don't remember. They also included information on relief for low-income seniors; they've raised the cap to qualify.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tybee
Shouldn’t it make you proud and happy to contribute to those worthy causes?Quote:
Originally Posted by JaneV2.0
IL, those little Mercury wagons were the bomb--weren't they the same as Escorts?
We drive our cars to up over 200,000 miles so maybe that is part of it.
Jane, I googled Seattle tax and saw the part about the catch up things and the senior tax exemption and was going to ask if you qualified for that as I think it is income based? That would be cool, if you could get an exemption.
I would also be looking at other places to live, like you said. I like the idea of a mobile home in a cool park like what you showed us. If I were not married to Paul Bunyan/Pa Wilder and did not have two giant dogs, I'd be in a little park somewhere with palm trees, a swimming pool, and potluck suppers for snowbirds.
Funny you should mention the small Ford & Co. station wagon. That is what we decided on when our revious station wagon, a big one, expired. That small station wagon was the ONLY thing we could agree on. So we went to the dealer ready to order a brand new one and found they weren’t making them any more. Rats.
Resigned by then to not getting anything I remotely like, I just let DH pick the vehicle, and he chose a generic boring Mercury SUV. I don’t much like it, but now that I have a fun 2 seater roadster, I can put up with the SUV. By then, the only smallish station wagons were Siberia and Volkswagens and a couple other foreign makers.
I don't mind paying taxes so much, but I mind being blindsided by such a high increase with about a month to scare up the cash.
The cars we have now are a Toyota Corolla and Honda which are 10 and 12 years old. No repairs on either other than brakes, tires and oil change. Our property taxes here are capped at 3% a year for increases. I once lived in a small town and hated it so no thanks to cheap living.
I've lived in a couple of small towns and liked some a lot and hated others.
One of the worst was a very insular college town that went back to a strange religious sect with certain families going back to the 1600's in Rhode Island where they founded the sect. They were so standoffish and unfriendly, it was literally ten years before people started talking to us.
Lo and behold I started doing geneology and among my ancestors were these same people who founded the sect back in Rhode Island, and all these people were distant cousins, I was descended from the same town families and just did not know it.
Felt a little ironic.
Catherine's small town sounds a whole lot better than that small town. It was landlocked--give me any town on a big lake or ocean and I am happy.
We just got a Toyota and a Honda last year - used, both 2004. So far - so good! (Stinks when 2 cars die at the same time!) Best car we had in a long, long time was a little Plymouth Neon. Got it used and it lasted almost 20 years. Loved that car!Quote:
Originally Posted by Teacher Terry
Wow, happystuff, that is impressive.
We are now in such a park in the Rio Grande area of TX. I absolutely love it. People are friendly and there is much to do. I hope we are able to do again to get away from miserable northern winters!Quote:
Originally Posted by Tybee
Here is my rant: leaders of my organizations who cannot convey in a simple clear way their decision to cancel events.
My neighborhood has canceled our house tour scheduled for the first week in June. That is a very big deal.That needs to be communicated throughout our neighborhood in capital letters, bolded,and underlined. Instead we got a long rambling message from the president detailing all of the things that the neighborhood is doing to keep people safe from the virus. Guess what the neighborhood can’t do anything real, it is all busyness to make themselves feel good. I don’t really care what the neighborhood is doing, anyway, I care about the specific things over which it has control, and that is the house tour. Tell people there will be no house tour.
My plant society just sent out 10 paragraphs of rambling biography about how the leader is spending her days. OK whatever. Buried in that 10 paragraphs is the news that 1) Our May event is canceled but there is absolutely no mention of the April event being canceled. But of course it’s canceled, why can’t we say that? why can’t we just send out a very clear message saying hey folks no meeting in April, our show is canceled in May. Oh by the way our website which you can find here ( link) is being updated so check it out. Three sentences. Bang. Done.
my garden club president was rambling on via email about how our lives have changed and blah blah blah, but she never got to the pointed decision to cancel our May meeting. I had to ask her specifically – by this message do you mean that we will officially not meet in May? But then we got a notice from the venue that they’re closed anyway, so I didn’t have to wait for her to answer. As secretary of the group, I can send out this message which I do promptly.
Neighbors that practice music loudly while you are staying and working at home. Look whoever said take up or get better at a musical instrument in your quarantined boredom at home. DON'T. Take up maybe reading or meditation or knitting. They are evil evil people who suggest things like "take up a hobby like playing music", little Hitlers giving advice, PURE EVIL. Believe me after we get out of quarantine, they are going to be the first hanging from the lampposts.
Hear, hear! Use a keyboard and headphones, for the love of all that's holy!Quote:
Originally Posted by ApatheticNoMore
I feel the same way about those "Check in on your elderly neighbors" PSAs. Stifle, already!
That's a pet peeve of mine as well, ANM and Jane.Quote:
Originally Posted by JaneV2.0
I found a nice looking bicycle on FB Marketplace for $50 not far from me. Posted about a week ago. I messaged to see if it was available and the woman yelled at me for asking about buying a bike in our current situation!
I wanted to tell her, "You only posted it a week ago." But I was nice and didn't say anything. Blocked her. Sheesh.
She should take down the instead of being rude.
Terry, yep!
My next door neighbor who idles his “exhaust boosted” very loud car under my dining room window for 12-20 minutes every morning. Makes my house vibrate, rattles the windows, and interrupts my online teaching! Grrr
Today's paper....
Former US Fish and Wildlife Service Director, Dan Ashe, warning about the effect of a trump administration proposal to end the practice of using criminal penalties to pressure companies to prevent unintentional bird deaths. The decline of the bird population is very dire. EVERY day I read how trump is destroying the environment.
He doesn't give a rat's a$$ about the environment. At least 95 rollbacks of environmental policies have been achieved or are in process. And COVID-19 isn't slowing him down a bit.Quote:
Originally Posted by frugal-one
I don't usually have any rants but today I am PISSED OFF! The White House Briefing has generally started between 5-6 PM Eastern. Well, today Mr President did it at 2PM. I turned on my usual station in case he started early and I caught literally him leaving the stage.
I think it is important to watch the daily Briefing. But how the hell do we catch it when he jerks around the time? He's an Ass and could care less about we the people. ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!>:(
Haha! I said the same thing!
When they started those briefings, they did them in the early afternoon. It was interesting watching the market chyron on the screen as the DOW reacted to whatever was said, mostly in a bad way. Then they changed the briefings to start after the market closed and the DOW had it's best week in I think my lifetime. Today the market was closed for Good Friday. I doubt the change in times is designed to piss you off as much as it is to preserve your assets.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gardnr
The IL gov had been doing his around 2 pm. His are highly entertaining, primarily due to the sign language interpreter, who has a very animated face. But someone different was doing it today.
I mentioned buying groceries through Instacart this past week. Well, we didn't.
To not replay the entire sad affair, they sent me a confirmation email (with no list of items or a confirmation or order number; that should have been my first clue), promised a Sunday delivery, and put a hold on my credit card. When I went back to add to the order, there was no record of it. I spent about four hours waiting in chat queues without any response from Instacart. So I shopped elsewhere. Friday I got an email asking me to rate the service I got from their customer service rep. I replied that I hadn't heard from anyone. No response to that.
Today I got a text from the Instacart shopper; he's ready to shop. Huh? I have no record of what I bought. I told him the order was canceled. When I got hold of Instacart today I was told there was no order listed on my account because they canceled it for not having any shoppers available. Huh? So who contacted me today and what was he buying?:doh:
Having committed to a delivery date, they should have notified me on Thursday that they had canceled the order -- although clearly they hadn't canceled it on their end. I discovered that by accident. And if chat is the only way to contact the company, customers shouldn't sit enqueued for two hours with no idea of how the queue is progressing. I have a problem with putting a hold on the credit card days before the shopping is done, too.
I understand Instacart is getting slammed right now. I could deal with a delivery date even a couple of weeks into the future if that's all they had. Or wait in a long customer service queue if I have a rough idea of how long I'm committed to being tied to my computer or phone. But there was no communication about that. The coup de grace? At the end of today's chat, I asked how to get a transcript of the chat. Answer: you can't; it's not a feature of their system.
No accountability. I won't deal with that. Buh-bye Instacart. Prey on other people.
Steve, I had better luck with Shipt, when I used it two years ago (when I was laid up after my shingles attack and had issues walking). The groceries came from Meijer.
But I suspect all the delivery services are overloaded these days.
Thanks, Tradd. The two chains serviced in this area by Shipt are Target (which owns Shipt) and an independent high-end chain. I'll have to give them a try next.
I know they're all overloaded these days, and I'm fine with placing an order now knowing it may be a couple of weeks until we see the groceries. I can order the stuff we always go through and be flexible when it shows. I'm also figuring that there will be lots of substitutions or out-of-stocks; that's not great but I'll deal with it. But don't let me wonder for days if you will or if you won't deliver. Instacart apparently knew on Thursday they couldn't deliver -- though they kept the order in their queue anyway. That's just the sign of a business that never thought ahead even a little to what might go wrong and how to deal with it. As someone whose job it was for many years was to figure out how to break stuff, my view is that their model may not outlast this pandemic. I'd avoid the IPO if it ever happens.
Steve, I had tried Instacart as well (Aldi). But I had better luck with Shipt.
I've had reasonable luck with Safeway drive up, except once when I couldn't schedule a date. They have a reasonable selection, without too many substitutions.
Instacart doesn’t have any times for rocery store picks, where I would go to the store and pick up the groceries they have bagged for me. I am not interested in playing the games that you need to play to get that to work.
My grocery store has a new service where they allow 50 people in the store at a time and you reserve a time. Has anyone seen that?
The close by grocery store we’ve been going to for several weeks has senior time from 7 to 8 AM, and that’s when we go. I miss a few things that our regular grocery store carries, but I know they wouldn’t necessarily be in stock so I may not try the timed shopping event.
I haven't seen time reservations yet, but some of the smaller stores here have an employee metering the number of customer who enter the store as other customers leave. Is it appointment only? How do they handle walk-ups?Quote:
Originally Posted by iris lilies
I understand senior hours at most stores here are pretty busy because they're also immunocompromised-customer hours, and pregnant-customer hours, and handicapped-accessible hours. I've stuck to the same two smaller stores I've gone to since this all started. Last time I was in there they had no TP or no disinfectant wipes and only a few limits on items like liquid hand soap. It's just worth it to keep things on a human scale. I may try Shipt for our next grocery replenish in a couple of weeks; order stuff this week and wait....Quote:
Originally Posted by iris lilies
I would never order with a service that does substitutions. They might give me meat and I am a vegetarian. For instance, if I ordered 4 cheese Hot Pockets I could see them selecting another Hot Pocket.
The services I've used allow you to manage your substitutions.Quote:
Originally Posted by Yppej
I’m not sure how they handle walk ups but I would imagine that they say hey you need to pick a time. Maybe they save some of those times for walk up customers.Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveinMN
I wonder if they are doing this because they can’t keep up with the demand for grocery picking service.
Our stores have been told to limit customers to a % of total occupancy probably based on sq. footage. I know a Kroger said 417 on the door sign but there were no ee's checking at our odd time. We tend to go when the stores are empty anyway.
Crowded times they will have to keep people out until customers already in the store are leaving. I am seeing all kinds of new construction around entrances/exits at local stores. I do not go to Walmart/Target at present so cannot comment on their responses.