Rant for the Day (keep it clean)

[Mountain trapper]

We have to put a road in on our property. WA state is ridiculous when it comes to permits (2nd to CA - having lived there as well). So now they are requiring us to get insurance from the Dept of Ecology because there might be some water drainage. This is for a 12 foot driveway access with 2 culverts.
We've been waiting since Oct for this permit. Today I had to go online and spent over an hour trying to navigate the stupid Dept of Ecology website to find out the exact longitude and latitude of our property.
The map didn't drag properly, and the website was super frustrating. We also have to put in a notice in a local paper about our driveway. Seriously how ridiculous is this? Like anyone cares about our 2 culverts and 12 foot of driveway?!

I had a property (remote) once that the county tried telling me that the driveway had to be wide enough for 2 fire trucks to pass, even though it wasn'tin a fire district. They also said it couldn't be more than a 6% grade. The forest service road that accesed this property was narrower and steeper than their requirements. So I told the county guy to f@#$ off and put in what I wanted. No problems. I never did build on that place, and a fire went through a few years later and burned every tree and blade of grass for miles around.

 

[joel]

Mountain trapper, you sound like you are from Texas.
Here the county puts in the drain for free, but only once.

As for taxes, I have owned land for thirty something years, if I do not get my tax bill by the years end, I call somebody, so I will not forget it. We have until 1/15/2022 to pay home or raw land taxes with no charge. After 15th the % increase until Fall when they put a notice of seizure & a date of seizure, which is 60 days from the notice. I always get the bill before December & I mail it in the first week of the new year.

 

[DrJenner]

I had a property (remote) once that the county tried telling me that the driveway had to be wide enough for 2 fire trucks to pass, even though it wasn'tin a fire district. They also said it couldn't be more than a 6% grade. The forest service road that accesed this property was narrower and steeper than their requirements. So I told the county guy to f@#$ off and put in what I wanted. No problems. I never did build on that place, and a fire went through a few years later and burned every tree and blade of grass for miles around.

I think we are about at that point to tell them to F off.
Can’t do anything right now because of all the snow but if it goes much longer I can see my husband doing the same!

 

[Cascadian]

At our old place in the desert I used to drag the road when it rained. It kept the dust down and the wet dirt repacked well. Back then we knew all the neighbors. It was not uncommon for someone to give me $5 or so for gas while I was doing it. Eventually most moved away and there were a lot of rentals with families coming and going. They drove like a holes always in a hurry and no one even gave me a wave when I did the road so I just stopped doing it.

 

[joel]

I think we are about at that point to tell them to F off.
Can’t do anything right now because of all the snow but if it goes much longer I can see my husband doing the same!

Move up the county ladder to a supervisor & you may get more help or your state official.

 

[UrbanHunter]

Not a rant but a question...
The wife watches on-air TV and she has complained that she no longer sees commercials with average non-minority folks (except for medicare advantage and oxygen commercials). I said that it might be a regional thing due to the demographics, but I have to wonder if it is a national trend...

Anyway, I was wondering if any of you are seeing a similar trend......

 

[joel]

Not a rant but a question...
The wife watches on-air TV and she has complained that she no longer sees commercials with average non-minority folks (except for medicare advantage and oxygen commercials). I said that it might be a regional thing due to the demographics, but I have to wonder if it is a national trend...

Anyway, I was wondering if any of you are seeing a similar trend......

Yes, also reverse mortgage, I could be wrong, but I think the companies who do this, get more non-minority folks to spend their money, so that what they target.

 

[Mountain trapper]

Not a rant but a question...
The wife watches on-air TV and she has complained that she no longer sees commercials with average non-minority folks (except for medicare advantage and oxygen commercials). I said that it might be a regional thing due to the demographics, but I have to wonder if it is a national trend...

Anyway, I was wondering if any of you are seeing a similar trend......

I think its everywhere. Thats why the wife and I dont watch "live" TV anymore. We record whatever show that we want to watch, which isn't much anymore for the same reason. Then we can fast forward over the commercials.

 

[Weedygarden]

Mountain trapper, you sound like you are from Texas.
Here the county puts in the drain for free, but only once.

As for taxes, I have owned land for thirty something years, if I do not get my tax bill by the years end, I call somebody, so I will not forget it. We have until 1/15/2022 to pay home or raw land taxes with no charge. After 15th the % increase until Fall when they put a notice of seizure & a date of seizure, which is 60 days from the notice. I always get the bill before December & I mail it in the first week of the new year.

I wish we had that due date! Our property taxes are divided into two due dates. You can pay half or all of it before the last day of February, but not before the first of the year, and the second half, if you choose, by the last day of April. I have yet to receive my tax bill! I am familiar with how it works because I've been through this. I wanted to pay it online, and I see this year that it is available to do so, and maybe it has been in the past, but I never saw that option before, but they are still not open to receive payments. I have had the cash set aside for almost a year now, and if I could have paid the bill last June, I would have. But no, it is not allowed to be paid early.

So, sending a payment like that through the mail has always concerned me. What if it got lost? So I've always gotten a certified check and sent it via certified mail. Last year when I was at the post office, I asked the clerk if this is a common thing to do, to send this kind of bill via certified mail. She confirmed that in fact it is very common and that she wished she had sent her previous years check via certified mail, because the city has contested that she even paid her taxes. I believe she said she had confirmation that the check had been cashed by her financial institution, but the amount was not recorded by the city. She was going around and around with the city, trying to get this amount recorded.

 

[Weedygarden]

Not a rant but a question...
The wife watches on-air TV and she has complained that she no longer sees commercials with average non-minority folks (except for medicare advantage and oxygen commercials). I said that it might be a regional thing due to the demographics, but I have to wonder if it is a national trend...

Anyway, I was wondering if any of you are seeing a similar trend......

Ah, another reason to not watch on air television! When I was still watching it, this is exactly what I saw in commercials. Minorities are featured as well as senior citizens, and as Joel said, reverse mortgages. The idea of a reverse mortgage makes me sick, but I know a neighbor who did that, and then spent so much of it on fixing up his home. Now he wants to move to Puerto Rico and has little equity to finance that.

 

[havasu]

Seems commercials must have at least one Bi racial couple, two gays, 3 lesbians, 4 blacks, and a token white person. Exactly the opposite of USA's demographics.

 

[Mountain trapper]

Mountain trapper, you sound like you are from Texas.
Here the county puts in the drain for free, but only once.

As for taxes, I have owned land for thirty something years, if I do not get my tax bill by the years end, I call somebody, so I will not forget it. We have until 1/15/2022 to pay home or raw land taxes with no charge. After 15th the % increase until Fall when they put a notice of seizure & a date of seizure, which is 60 days from the notice. I always get the bill before December & I mail it in the first week of the new year.

Well I've been to Texas a couple of times. Spent a month in Corpus Christy once. Plus I had to go to Houston and Houma on business occasionally.
We always make sure to pay our property taxes in full and on time. We also lease a couple miles from the forest service. I've known people who purposely stay behind on their property taxes and pay only when the county starts threatening them. Never could understand that way of thinking.

 

[Mountain trapper]

Seems commercials must have at least one Bi racial couple, two gays, 3 lesbians, 4 blacks, and a token white person. Exactly the opposite of USA's demographics.

We're thinking of dropping our Dish TV for that same reason. Also I've noticed that on our Serrious radio 4 of the stations that I listen to, 50's, 60's, 70s and 80's, are playing songs mostly from "minority" artists. Not that they are all bad songs, but they seem to be playing them at a much higher rate now days.

 

[backlash]

Not a rant but a question...
The wife watches on-air TV and she has complained that she no longer sees commercials with average non-minority folks (except for medicare advantage and oxygen commercials). I said that it might be a regional thing due to the demographics, but I have to wonder if it is a national trend...

Anyway, I was wondering if any of you are seeing a similar trend......

It's not just the commercials. Every show on TV has gone full on woke. Every show has actors from several of the protected class. The white guy and sometimes the white woman are always portrayed as clueless, inept, racist, or stupid. That's why I don't watch network TV.
When I say something about it my wife says "it's just a TV show." Yea one that is brainwashing the masses and spreading propaganda.

 

[havasu]

I was also wondering why they must post "for mature audiences" when someone is seen smoking on TV, but completely OK for two gay kids to be kissing and swapping spit, with no required warnings?

 

[WVDragonlady]

@Mountain trapper

We're thinking of dropping our Dish TV for that same reason. Also I've noticed that on our Serrious radio 4 of the stations that I listen to, 50's, 60's, 70s and 80's, are playing songs mostly from "minority" artists. Not that they are all bad songs, but they seem to be playing them at a much higher rate now days.

If you have enough internet data you can stream some programs for free here (and you really don't need to use a vpn like they say):
https://watchnewslive.tvand here:
http://live94today.com/category/united-states-usa/
Radio you can go here and find all kinds of programs. Every type of music and even old radio programs like mysteries,sci-fi,comedies,etc., you just have search for them:

http://radio.garden/browse

 

[Cascadian]

Yeah I am fed up with it all. I don't have tv service but I commute and listen to the radio a lot. I don't know if the radio station can feel me switching stations but it makes me feel better.

 

[Mountain trapper]

@Mountain trapper


If you have enough internet data you can stream some programs for free here (and you really don't need to use a vpn like they say):
https://watchnewslive.tvand here:
http://live94today.com/category/united-states-usa/
Radio you can go here and find all kinds of programs. Every type of music and even old radio programs like mysteries,sci-fi,comedies,etc., you just have search for them:

http://radio.garden/browse

@Mountain trapper


If you have enough internet data you can stream some programs for free here (and you really don't need to use a vpn like they say):
https://watchnewslive.tvand here:
http://live94today.com/category/united-states-usa/
Radio you can go here and find all kinds of programs. Every type of music and even old radio programs like mysteries,sci-fi,comedies,etc., you just have search for them:

http://radio.garden/browse

We dont have internet here yet. Satellite internet is on my list for this summer. All I have now is a cell phone, that only marginal works at best. Being off grid does have some disadvantages at times. Of course I'd never trade it for "city" conveniences ever.

 

[Cascadian]

At&t is our cell and internet. We have a device from Gotw3 that has it's own number that converts to a WiFi that we use for our laptop and smart tv. We live in the country with about 2 bars and it works ok. Mobile Data Internet | GotW3
For the years we were off grid we had a tablet it's own at&t number that we streamed movies on. They gave us that one. It is amazing what you can get if you get a human on the phone that cares.

 

[Amish Heart]

I've raised my eyebrows more than once the last few days, watching a bit of the Disney movies little granddaughter has had on since she's been a sick couch potato. One was a Christmas movie she dvr'ed, and the two gay guys kissed each other on Christmas day. Really?

 

[Bacpacker]

Gay has been Disney's push for many years. Just more out front with it now

 

[The Lazy L]

... tried telling me that the driveway had to be wide enough for 2 fire trucks to pass,...couldn't be more than a 6% grade....

Hit and run driver grazed an electric pole causing the electric line to temporally come in contact with the ground. Which in turn fried some electric equipment my employer had close to the pole.

The electric utilitie’s line was no longer attached to it's insulator so the electric utility was called.

Electric employee showed up in a too small bucket truck. He’s sat there for ten minutes or so before coming over to us and to tell us it’s unsafe for us to be there and he's requiring us to move. No wind, sunny day, electric pole wasn’t damage and I didn’t recognize the electric employee had any authority over me or my crew so I ignored him which made him mad. He repeated his demand a few more times before I asked him if it wasn’t safe then why was he standing here with us and parked his truck in a unsafe area? Instead of answering my question he got in his truck and moved down the road a bit to wait for a larger bucket truck.

 

[zannej]

I honestly don't see the problem with minorities in commercials. They were underepresented before. I guess it's not a big deal to me since I've lived overseas with people of multiple ethnicities and cultures & I went to an international school where white people were the minorities. I don't think it's a big deal. To be honest, I actually like seeing more minorities on TV bc I am surrounded by mostly white people and it gets boring. I also don't have a problem with biracial or gay couples. As for commercials, I discovered on Dish I can pause during live Tv mode and wait long enough that I can fastforward through commercials and not have to watch them. I don't like commercials in general. Although, from what I've seen, there are still a lot of white people. The Progressive Commercials, Limu Emu, and stuff like that.

I agree that some people should not have pets. I've seen people treat pets horribly & wanted to rescue them. My friend's gf is awful to pets. She had this poor little dog named Callie that she abused. She's so stupid that she never learned to put out the appropriate amount of food for pets. She gives too much but then decides she wants them to stop eating. Instead of removing the bowl or whatever, she starts screaming at the animals and hitting them. She would hit and kick this poor little dog to the point the dog was afraid to eat or drink if she was around. Then she would get mad that the dog wasn't eating/drinking and start hitting and kicking her. She eventually killed the poor thing by putting down Hartz flea spray right where the dog liked to sleep. Didn't vacuum it up after. Poor little dog didn't have a chance. That crud kills pets but didn't even kill the fleas. I helped my friend bury the poor dog. To this day the gf refuses to acknowledge that she was the one who killed the dog. She started blaming my friend.

As for property taxes here, they are due by Dec 31 even if they haven't sent out notice. No grace period.

 

[Amish Heart]

I think it's a big deal, Zannej, because they're trying too hard. Just like the kissing gay guys on the Disney movie little granddaughter was watching.

 

[zannej]

They are trying to make up for not trying hard enough in the past and pretty much having mostly white people and only showing minorities as less important (if they even had them at all). To white people who have always seen other white people on TV, having representation may not seem important, but it is to many people. It's not hurting anyone to have mixed race couples or families on TV.

On another note, as of late February, AT&T will no longer be supporting older phones 3G and ones that don't have 4G and VoLTE. Even some that do have those features will no longer work. I have a friend who has an older 4G phone but they disabled his phone and told him he has to get a new one. They took his money for a monthly plan and then immediately shut it off saying his phone is not compatible. But they didn't refund his $. It was only active for 10 seconds. My phone is supposed to be 4g VoLTE compatible, but we'll have to see. This is just another way for them to try to force people to upgrade. If they pull this crap I'm not buying a phone from them. I'm getting an unlocked one from BestBuy and reusing my sim card.

Meanwhile, my friend's gf might have Covid again. She thinks she got it from her brother who refuses to get tested. She called HR to report she was sick and was going to get tested. Her manager called back later to tell her she'd been written up for "no call no show". She tried to get a covid test yesterday but the only place that could do it was Urgent Care and they refused. They said she owes them $ for something and she can't get further treatment until she pays. But her insurance should have covered it. She can't afford the bill. So, she has to try to get the test from my doctor's office today. The home test kits are not available in our area. I think she should try to get a doctor's note but she's not smart enough.

 

[Haertig]

Thanks to the totally inept exit "plan" (term used loosely) from Afghanistan, look at what the Taliban are armed with. I see one AK in there, the rest appear to be gifts from president Brandon.

 

[Mountain trapper]

I'm sick of anything and everything to do with race and the homo agenda. And the government and the Leftist media pandering to them.

 

[Amish Heart]

We'll have to agree to disagree regarding white racism, Zannej and just leave it at that! And, nope, I'm not the least bit racist if you're wondering.
Rant for today...Got an afternoon appt for little granddaughter to have her persistent cough checked, it's been going on for a week now, and she's missed three days of school. It was still an hr wait past the appt time, but I could handle that. The nurse (or tech, couldn't tell) walked us into the room, asked why she was there, had a long swab and biohazard market plastic bag in her hand, laid it on the counter. Took her vitals, and then said she'd be doing a covid test. I asked her why...she had a cough, not covid. And what was she basing her need for one on. No fever, lots of energy, no other symptoms. She said she'd go talk to the doc. He came in, checked little granddaughter's ears, nose, throat, and listened to her chest and gave her the all clear, no infections. Didn't even mention the test. I think they are testing everybody unless you say something.

 

[Terri9630]

Not a rant but a question...
The wife watches on-air TV and she has complained that she no longer sees commercials with average non-minority folks (except for medicare advantage and oxygen commercials). I said that it might be a regional thing due to the demographics, but I have to wonder if it is a national trend...

Anyway, I was wondering if any of you are seeing a similar trend......

Same here.

 

[Haertig]

I skip over commercials. But I will say that I see very few Anglo faces flip by these days when doing the 10x FFwd. Maybe they figured it's useless to target a demographic that flies through their commercials at 10x, so now they concentrate on other demographics instead.

I won't complain. Get woke, go broke. Then they can't afford so many commercials anymore. So less FFwd inconvenience for me.