(Not that there's anything wrong with that.)

That sucks Case. It happened to us a few years back, and it took us nearly a year(and some seriously dumb luck- long story) to get our insurance deductible back, since we couldn't prove that the dumb bitch was uninsured.

We don't actually know who it was. I didn't see it happen. Our deductable on this vehicle is low, though, so not so much upsetting as irritating. People who crash without insurance really piss me off. Not that they plan on crashing...but still!! :mad2:

I think it's because either candidate will be a far better president than the current occupant of the White House. Either way we win. It's just that with Obama, we win more.

At 7,291 posts and counting, why do you consider yourself an outsider, SG?

Because 7,000 of those posts were pictures of her latest hair color?:bolt:

Taste the rainbow!

I took that to mean outsider to US politics... was I wrong?

Upsetting me today... ER trip at five in the morning for a 103F fever and a pulse of 120. To be told "We're not SURE what's wrong but we're going to put you on antibiotics to protect your heart til the blood cultures come back..." and treated like a UTI... while I'm developing a chest cold at the same time.

ugh. sicky no good. !!!

Yes - I was rambling a bit at tht point, but that's what I meant
And bollards!

I hate the BMV.

That is all.

Yea! Bollards!

Bavarian Motor Verks?

Heehee...not I love me some BMW, I hate the BMV.

Stormy days at sea are followed
By the smoking of a Bollard
Once that lovely smoke is swallowed
So much satisfaction!


Where's that from?

Just looked at our new benefit enrollment package from my husband's employer, and lucky us. We get to pay $94 more a month for the exact same health insurance, starting next month. Hmm, where to cut $94 out of a budget already stretched too thin?

Ugh that's ridiculous binky! Health care has gotten way ridiculous. Ours just changed this past may and its a quagmire, even the insurance company doesn't seem to understand all of the coverage ect.

Don't worry, Barry will fix it for ya.

:lol2: - barry

sell your plasma. and sperm. and eggs. and drug-free pee........

I tried to donate my eggs.
I'm too old.
That's depressing.

Something I am wearing today wasn't dried properly. I think it's my tights (pantyhose). Whatever it is, is giving that horrible musty smell, like a charity shop full of dead people's teeth and glasses.

It's not fair as I'm fresh out of the shower this morning and all my clothes are clean, yet I might as well have just slept in yesterday's and not even bothered cleaning my teeth.

I hope you are referring to dentures.

England is a very different reality.

and very different teeth :lol:

But with excellent comedy :P

Can I recommend to anybody reading this that, should American TV ever pick up on 'No Heroics', you make time to watch it :)

no new pictures in the tan line thread.;)

I was going to put a picture of my thong tan in there a couple of weeks ago, and then I figured no one would want to see that.

i do!

I can't get to sleep :/

The pending GM/Chrylser merger. It spells disaster for us. I havent lived with this kind of anxiety for decades.

I have had enough of this fecking eczema flareup. I've been playing the denial game and not actually dealing with it properly (ie doctors appointment) for months, trying to keep it at bay with various creams and potions.

My feet and ankles have swollen up. I can't walk properly, had to leave my baseball boot laces undone. Don't know if there's an infection, or water retention, or just that I've damaged the area so much that the soft tissues have swollen up. I'm going for a lie down.

@ Pico, that's horrible. Must be such an insecure feeling.

Yeah, and mostly because everything is so uncertain right now. There is no telling whats going to happen...but if the merger goes through I'm pretty sure the factories here will be axed. This town would then die...losing 6000 jobs is quite a hit. I'm not sure what we will do. I'm currently only working a part-time. I will find out if they have a full-time position available. If not I'm going to have to start looking around.

Dana, get yourself to a doctor! But, hey, I know what its like to procrastinate getting medical attention. I feel like such a jerk once I get it taken care of, but I don't seem to learn either.

Pico, Dana's condition is chronic, so she's probably putting it off because she knows there's no magic wand.

I agree with your advice though.
Off you go girl! And sorry to hear it's so very bad at the moment. Sounds rotten.

I'm still limping and feeling miserable about not being able to enjoy walking in the autumn. But I can tell it is getting better. It's just so slowly, so slowly...

my rental house has developed a slab leak. The hot water pipe that runs beneath the foundation slab (all one piece of concrete) has burst. That means they have to jackhammer up the floor in the center of the house (happens to be under the kitchen cabinets), replace the piping and then pour new concrete, then redo all of the ruined flooring.

Not a good day.:mad:

Ugghh, That sux!

Burst pipes here are not uncommon (the cold weather can cause them to freeze if you aren't careful). Any idea what the cause was?

Was that pipe for hot water or for heat?

hot water. of course, now it is heating the floors from beneath so I suppose that's convenient. it is dipping below 80 at night now.

Holy cow. That's a lot of work. I assume you have tenants currently living there. Do you have to relocate the tenants for the duration of work, or can they work around the tenants' schedules?

fortunately, or unfortunately, my tenants recently decided to become lazy assholes and quit paying their rent, so they only had another week to move out anyway. As it stands I told them to vacate as of tonight and I would return their rent prorata. of course, 7 days rent subtracted from the zero they paid me is...

Hang in there, cuz, things will get better. ;)

Sorry, couldn't resist. I hope you all didn't expect me to be different. :)

Urgh, L123 -- We're in the process of buying a house right now, and it's partially on a slab... One more thing to look into.
:worried:

An old apartment, which was actually renovated from the servant's quarters of a giant old huge mansion in town, was on a slab. It was horrible when it broke (the pipes froze and burst.) We were renting, and didn't have to pay, but it's no small job! It took some time and a lot of tearing up to fix it.

95% of the houses here are slabhomes. We don't have crawlspaces and few homes have basements. That makes fixing the problem a pretty big ordeal.

The burst pipe situation doesn't come up here as often as it does in the midwest because we don't get that cold very often but we do range from 35 degrees to 125 degrees every year so the expansion and contraction still causes things to get loose.

That's tough, lookout. Is there any other alternative to digging this up?

Now that you've had a leak in one spot, you can count on others developing later.

You should consider stipulating that the replacement line be made of PEX.

It is much less likely to burst when frozen, and is much more flexible than most other water lines. In fact, if they are ripping up the floor, you could consider having them put in a conduit and run the PEX in that, so if there is ever a problem in the future, they can just pull new PEX through the conduit without tearing anything up.

That sounds like a good approach, glatt.

I'll have to look into it. or I might just burn the house down and be done with it.

Be sure to collect the insurance money.
:tinfoil:

Who me? Nah, but now that I think about it I have been storing all my diamonds, gold, and other valuables there...

I'll phone the sheriff with an anonymous tip that you have a body buried under the floor. Then they'll come dig it up for free.

This would be fine, except that they might find the bodies that you really do have buried under the floor.

Something like this?

That's a big problem with the burst pipe. After reading the comments it seems like it's common practice to put pipes under the slab. That doesn't happen too much over here though. Mostly the pipes are on the exterior of the house running around the base of the walls etc or under garden beds so they're accessable (in case they burst).

Is it still common practice to put pipes under the slab over there or is it mainly in older constructions?

around here exposed piping wouldn't last long. theft, vandalism, or just plain old sun exposure would destroy it pretty quickly. Most importantly, it would be unsightly.;)

Concrete eats copper, aluminum, galvanized steel, and even some plastics. :(

We have pretty harsh weather here which doesn't seem to destroy domestic plumbing. I've never heard of anyone having their pipes stolen from their house other than those under construction, and even then it's more often tools left onsite. As far as unsightly goes, I suppose it's what you're used to, but I think there are some very beautiful homes in Australia and they all have pipes exposed externally.

I believe you, just because all the photos I've seen from friends & family in Aus have looked great. But for the record, could you post an example?

It's absolutely what you are used to. In much of the U.S., we have utility poles with wires strung from them. They are just about the most ugly thing you have ever seen, and they are virtually everywhere in some regions. But the locals don't even see them any more.