'That's the plan! I just have to wait for a letter it seems. Said letter or email, and I haven't gotten an email.

I forget; do you have to renounce your American citizenship?

No. I can though, but it'll cost me about 20k kronor.

Because the US is stupid and wants to keep all it's taxpayers.

No Country bashing please.

Okies. Can I complain about dumb policies then? -_-

During yesterday's grocery run I found the t-paper isle again empty. I asked the cashier if there was some trick to finding it. She said it's no longer stocked on the those shelves, but kept in the layaway, to combat hoarders. After paying for groceries I made a beeline for layaway. Alas, they had none. They said they get some almost daily, but it goes fast. They don't know exactly what they get on any given day. If small size packages, they allow two packages per customer. If large packages, one per customer. I prefer large, but will take what I can get.

Here's the dilemma, as I see it. I need to check every day until I luck out. But every trip is an increased chance of catching the virus. A no-win situation. I'm okay this week, so won't bother. Come next week I'll likely be on my final roll. That's when I'll need to consider daily trips, assuming I don't luck out this coming Monday.

Besides t-paper, soup choice was slightly better than last week, but still almost non-existent. Again only one small Oatmeal canister, which I bought. Eggs where in stock. Not a lot, but more than plenty for me. Frozen veggies had been hit fair hard. There was still a decent selection, just not what I was looking for.

As to COVID-19 itself, I believe there are four confirmed cases in my county now. No reported deaths. Circa 230 confirmed state-wide.

Decrepit- do not know if your store offers this option- or if it would work for the paper products.... but.... could you call ahead and place an order to pick up on a specific day and at a specific time? Like say- call it in the day BEFORE for pickup around midday? That would allow time for the night/morning deliveries...

It's a good suggestion, treydoggie, but based on what Decrepit said, I'm not sure that ordering in advance would work, if the store does not know how many they would get each day. I've not seen TP on the shelves in my local store lately, fortunately we stocked up just before the panic hit (mega rolls, so they last much longer) and we are still good two weeks in. Still, it's worth looking into, if you can go to the store's website and see if they offer deliveries.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Dilemma avoided!, assuming I didn't catch the virus while out and about. Called Wally World maybe an hour ago. Asked about t-paper. Yes, there was some in layaway. Hand sanitizer too. And sanitizing wipes. Quickly dressed and drove there. Sure enough, t-paper in several varieties. I bought a 12-pack of Charmin Ultra Soft. And the two other items. Plus a few canned vegetables for emergencies. And a B-day card for my bro. Nearly forgot that.

Still no good soup selection, alas.

I lost my job today, thanks to the virus. It was a blanket thing. All contract workers were let go. I am not really surprised, as all the plants and dealers are shut down. They might call us back next month, depending on how things are then.

But I have worked in corporate americana for long enough to have money in the back for just such an occasion. Tomorrow I'll file for unemployment. So I am on extended vacation in my living room. I am confident that I have plenty of movies to watch, video games to play, and fan fic to read and write to fill my (hopefully temporary) early retirement with distractions!

Sorry to hear that SubRosa! Not fun news



Hope you'll cope!

Aww, so sorry to hear that, SubRosa.

I was hoping that, as an IT, you were essential but safely sequestered (mostly) or perhaps able to work at home. I'm glad it does not place you in dire straits for gold at this point, and hope this all passes quickly so you can be put back on someone's payroll.

Happy Birthday to your Brother!!!






Aw, I am so sorry! Really glad that you were prepared though = and glad you are well stocked for your surprise vacation, lol. I hope things improve soon for you.










What our area has been doing to stay social while isolating:

Everyone has been putting Teddy Bears (or whatever other stuffed animals they have) into various funny positions and scenes into the windows along the front of their houses; and everyone has been getting out and walking (or driving if they can afford the gas) around to sight these = they are calling it "Bear Hunting," lol. Anyway, it is fun and cute; and takes our minds off the whole problem in thinking up new scenes to set up in our windows.

SubRosa,
I feel for you. Scary times. Thank goodness you have the nest-egg. Let's hope this somehow works itself out before you need to eat much into it!!!!!

SubRosa, sorry to hear that. Glad you have a cushion, but still.... Our... um... need to be careful... organization doesn't seem to get the seriousness. While most folks in the larger scheme are being sent home to work, the IT staff are still expected to go make site visits. We were offered a sort of work from home option, but fenced about with conditions. Still have to make site visits, but only account for mileage as if travel was from the office; have to keep an"activity log" daily and email to a high level manager, so they can "monitor productivity.". Despite my age, I decided going to the office is less stressful.

That stinks. Hopefully you’ll be back at it soon! In the meantime, try to enjoy the free time!

Best wishes to you SubRosa. Hope you come through this in short time with little stress.

As for t-paper; in my area you have to get up really early to go hunting that beastie. Shelves that are fully stocked when the stores open at 7:00am are bare by 7:30am. Been that way for the past two weeks. Makes me wonder what are people doing that they need so much t-paper.

Stay safe everyone.

SubRosa, I’m sorry to hear that. I hope that things get up and running again soon. In the meantime it sounds like you have a good plan and a great attitude about it!

So sorry to hear about your job, Sage Rose. It’s stories like yours that make me realize how fortunate I am to be working for my company - as soon as things started escalating in the US they sent us home - the stores have been shut down for almost two weeks now, and we’re all home WITH PAY for the duration of this crisis. It’s what my company did with the China employees - and those stores were closed for a month.

With my state in lockdown I expect the stores in my area to be closed at least a week longer than originally planned. Of course, watching the numbers rise on the state public health website, I’m thinking we’ll be out for a month as well.

Good luck to you, Sage Rose! Sounds like me - make the most of this unexpected “vacation” and get things done that we always wanted to do! Stay healthy and stay sane!

Sorry to hear, SubRosa. Hopefully you can get your job back when the crazyness subsides.

Our company is going to introduce short-time work, where you either work reduced hours or not at all and instead of your normal wage, you get 60% of the wage you are NOT getting from the government. Kind of like temporary unemployment, kinda thing, but without actually losing your job. For me it's probably reduced hours, but some of my coworkers might be hit much harder. The guys that do repairs on our devices for instance are kinda out of work because our customers have all shut down completely. And with just 60% (or 66% if you have children) life is much more difficult for some people, depending on the normal wage.

So yeah, Rona can go sod off and suck a wet sock.

As for TP, I ordered some online because the local shops never seem to have any.

The 1998 Godzilla movie may not have been the best, but the unmade sequel sounds like it would have been awesome!!

I don't even know how to begin telling you-all about this; it is still such a shock to me that I don't even know how to tell you except the way the news came to me.

March of the year 2016 I left my husband and moved in with my son in an act of total self-preservation. My husband had become severely alcoholic to the point that we lived for months at a time without electricity and water. His farm stayed under Foreclosure; and the only way we ate was from the farm's residual produce.

Bob had become increasingly abusive during those last two years; to the point that = I doubted with my health issues that I would survive. I remember talking to Acadian about it back then and wondering if maybe he had a brain tumor or was having a break down or something.

I barely survived that year after the stroke; I don't know how I made it through 2014. When my Father died; and I received his inheritance in 2015; Bob went through over half of it in just a month; but we could never find what he spent it on. From that point on; he started really going downhill fast. His drinking became so bad that he couldn't walk or talk; and he became violent.

I sent my son to stay with friends; and bought the first house I could get for what was left of my Father's inheritance off an internet Auction. It had been abandoned for years; and was a terrible mess. It needed a lot of work just to move in; there was a huge hole in the roof; the plumbing had to be redone; no appliances worked; the central heat was broken; and wild animals had been living in the vents and insulation.

We closed on the house December of 2015; and I started having crews work on the house; but by March 2016 Bob had gotten so bad that my son and I just felt it best to move into the new house even though it didn't even have a roof on it at that point. (they had to tear off all the wood and redo it; that is how bad shape the roof was in).

I just moved out from Bob and never once looked back except in thanks that I survived long enough to get myself and my son out = and in thanks that my life improved dramatically from that point on. I never once tried to contact him; never let him know where we had moved.

Two years ago I saw that his house went up on the Auction block for non-payment of the mortgage; which was no surprise to us given how we had lived those last two years with him.

Well, it is four years later now; and out of the clear blue about a month ago I got a call from a government agency = = they wanted an appointment to talk to me. The appointment was yesterday; but due to the Covid 19 they changed it to a phone appointment.

The first thing the woman said was that I was a widow; and did I want to file for Widow's benefits. Actually; that wasn't the shocking part (especially not with the Covid 19 deaths starting to hit our area). I actually expected and even asked them if it was from the Coronavirus; because I had just lost one friend to it Easter Sunday and seen another friend (who was a healthy 32 year old) barely pull through it. So ... I kind of thought that was why they were calling.

So the way he was the last time I saw him; and with the pandemic = no, I wasn't shocked to hear he had passed.

What totally stunned me was that he didn't just die recently; it turns out that he died just months after I left him four years ago = but they just now got hold of me and told me! How could it take four years to contact me?

I don't even know what caused his death; or what happened to his dog and cats. But ... had they told me four years ago when it happened; his farm could have been saved if I'd known = it is gone now; was auctioned off in 2017. There is another acre of farmland that no taxes have been paid on for all these years that is probably too late to save as well.

I am in total shock that it happened so long ago and that I am just now hearing about it. I don't know how to find out about the acre of land; don't even know who to call to get a death certificate since all our government agencies locally are closed now and if we want anything done we need to go to the State Capital.

So far I have not felt grief for him; the shock is probably too new so far; and I'm sure I will eventually grieve for the man he was before those last two years when he went off his hinges. But right now the shock of finding out it happened so long ago and we were never told is just overwhelming.

Wow, what a surprise, mALX! I'm sorry to hear it, though I know you were glad to be gone when you left several years ago.

Yikes sorry to hear about that. Not sure why they took this long to get back with you over his death.

Wow, they sure dragged their heels on that! Somehow I’m not surprised - the government has always been historically slow on these things. So sorry things turned out the way they did for you, but it’s all water under the bridge, and you are living a better life now through your own efforts, so that’s a plus. Better health, more sanity, and your own home that you set up just the way you wanted it — I’d say you did well. So sad that we can’t say the same for your husband.

Government action may be slow, but sometimes that's a good thing. And you don't know how much your husband's own actions interfered with their ability to pick up the pieces, and find you.

Wow mALX, what an ordeal. I’m so glad you are still with us and hopefully you can get some measure of closure from all of this. We love you!

Wow, that must have been quite a shock for sure

Thank you all so much for your support through this; I am still just totally floored that no one contacted us till now.

@ Haute = you said it perfectly; that is exactly how I've felt all these years; and this doesn't change that = it is just shocking that it took so long for them to tell me; and that we could have saved that farm from foreclosure back then if we had known then. As much as it would have been nice to have saved that farm for us = the man who bought it fixed it up much better than I could have done; so that was a good thing for that farm and house.

What a shock to learn about it after such a long time! I’m sorry to hear it, and glad to hear that you’re in a much better situation now. It must be frustrating to not be able to get answers. I hope that you can find some peace at the end of all this.

That is quite the thing to hear out of the blue. Given the issues you described with your husband in the past, I am not surprised though. The important thing is that you were able to get out when you could, and did not let him drag you down with him. At least this way it is over.

Thank you both for the encouragement. Yeah; there is def more closure for that whole terrible time in my past. I most def lost his farm due to the four year gap in information; but might be able to salvage the acre of berries we sold every year = if I can get it transferred into my name; I will catch up the taxes on it and at least save that asset from the marriage.

I'm late to the table, as usual these days, but want to add my condolences for your trials and tribulations, hopefully now over and done with, and best of luck with the berry-field transfer!

It seems that moving away from your husband was the right thing to do, the only possible way to save yourself.

It took a really long time to find out about your husband's death, however. I hope you won't have too many problems related to it and his assets / property.

Thanks, Lopov. There is still a chance to rescue that last acre Lot; I plan to try my best to salvage it.

RIP, Gene Deitch.

Happy Mother's Day Chorrol !!!


https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q...nX&usqp=CAU

Yes indeed! Happy Mothers Day to our mothers at Chorrol!

In our country we celebrate it on the 25h of March.

Heh, it does vary across countries - and the date even moves. I've family in the US, Australia and the UK so am familiar with them. In the US it is simply the second Sunday in May. In the UK it is linked to Easter which moves with the lunar calendar; specifically, the UK celebrates on the fourth Sunday of Lent. Though Australia tends to follow the UK's lead on many things, for Mothers Day, they do the same as the US.

I'm always on a lookout for rare vehicles, so I spotted Lincoln Navigator in our town today. It surprised me even more that it had Slovenian license plates. The car might be a common sight in the USA (I don't know actually), but I don't remember seeing any in my life before. Sometimes I see US cars that aren't by default available here, most often it's Cadillacs or some Ford models like F-150, but their license plates are usually German - this doesn't mean they're owned by people that actually live in Germany but most US cars that come to Europe, are imported either to Germany or Belgium and if one has a firm in Germany, you can register it there.

Anyway, having nothing to do, I was driving behind Navigator for a while and figured that by its looks it must be a fairly old model. Lucky for me, the guy went to the gas station, and so did I, parking right next to him. I asked him about the car of course, he was an elderly man and he told me that he spent 35 years working on the East Coast as a mechanic for Harley-Davidson in Baltimore. His last car there was Navigator and he was so attached to it, so he brought it to Europe when retiring. In a joke he said that he left his wife there (divorce) but took his car with him. The car was from y. 2005, so I figured out correctly, that it was older. But with our fuel prices, he had the car immediately converted to natural gas.

Navigators are generally solid. At least in my experience.

I've never seen one here. Don't see many trucks or SUVs. Mostly tiny cars or micro vans or station wagons. Dude near me has a Dodge Ram pickup though. Freaking huge extended cab truck. Hopefully it's a work truck. Such a waste of a perfectly good off-road vehicle/work vehicle using it like a car. Had a hitch on it though so at least he can haul.

Neat, Lopov. Navigator is made by Lincoln, the luxury division of Ford Motor Company. It is basically a fancied up Ford Expedition. Like the Expedition, both are large SUVs on top of a modified F150 pick up truck chassis and drive train. As a Ford Truck underneath, it is pretty durable and reliable. As a Lincoln, it has more gadgets to go wrong and costs more to get parts and fix than a Ford.

I've generally been somewhat partial to Fords and stay a bit plugged into what they are doing. My grandfather turned his auto mechanic shop into a Ford Dealership back around 1921 and a branch of the family still runs it.

Nifty!

I will always remember the Lincoln Navigator as just one of many examples of our corrupt former mayors.

Having some coffee with pieces of chocolate while watching a Doom 3 walkthrough by my new fave walkthrougher

I remember Doom 3 scaring the bejeezus out of me.

There are a few Dodge Rams around here, 10-15 years ago it was possible to import them directly from the USA to Slovenia. The company in charge of these imports later closed the Dodge branch, they didn't meet the expected sales figure, nonetheless old Dodge Rams can still be seen here on a rare occasion, they're more common on the countryside. Like the Navigator I saw, most of them have been converted to autogas because of high fuel prices. I've also been seeing a brand new Dodge Ram in our town, but considering, how clean it always is, I assume that its driver is using it for city drives. Quite a challenge considering that some of our streets can get unpredictably narrow at times. I still remember some foreigner that got stuck in one of our streets, he was driving Cadillac Escalade and took a wrong turn. He got literally stuck between two buildings, it was too narrow for such a car.



Interesting, I didn't know that they're actually a division of Ford, so this means that I'm almost driving a Lincoln, because I drive Ford. I'm not familiar with Ford Expedition, it's not available here, but I remember that a guy close to us had Ford Excursion, it was extremely long. We (Europe and USA) do have some Ford models in common, I just checked the USA site, like Edge, Ecosport, Escape (called Kuga here), Mustang (of course!) and Ranger. We're supposed to get Explorer as well. My Ford Galaxy isn't available in the USA, which I find interesting, because it's a 7-seater and AFAIK, such cars are rather popular in the USA. It's slightly smaller than Honda Odyssey or Toyota Sienna.



I googled up this mayor and what I like is that he got close to 30 years for corruption. Here he'd get 10 years if the judge was extremely strict, in most cases it'd be 5 years or even a parole.

Yeah I'm not sure how one goes about getting them here. I don't see a lot of newer American cars. Most people drive Subaru or Volvo or Kia in my area. Few random German cars. There's quite a few older American cars though, like from the 50s and 60s. They're quite popular. Must be really hard to get parts though I'd imagine.

Then there's the abomination known as the A-traktor. https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-...dish-a-traktor/

Everyone I know hates these things. They're limited to 30kmh and the drivers never pull right so you can pass. Ever. Nothing like already being late to an appointment and then getting stuck behind one of these.

They're popular because you only need a tractor license to drive one, and you can get those at like 15 or 16, can't remember. You get a real driving license at 18, so they view it as a way to drive earlier... but half the time they don't finish building until they've outgrown it! haha

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When I lived in Germany for two years = my husband and I brought both our car and truck with us. It cost the same to buy a car there as it would to ship our own; so well worth it. The vehicles traveled by ship to Bremerhaven, Germany = it took 30 days for them to leave one port and arrive at the other.

We shipped them a few weeks before leaving and used a rental car in the U.S.; then lived on Base where we could walk around wherever we needed to go in Germany before the vehicles arrived. When they got there; we got a ride from one of the men on Base from Bitburg to Bremerhaven and we drove the vehicles back.

If I had it to do over again I would every time! It was a great experience to drive an American car over there because = they are so unusual to see over there that they create a big sensation with everyone every where they go.

The truck had a body lift and over-sized mudder tires; and everyone in Germany fell in love with it = it almost won first place in an Auto show down in Kaiserslautern! Here we are (with my dog) at that car show:


https://imgur.com/Y4cDELC


The car wasn't a hit in Germany at all; but in France people were pulling me over as I was driving on the road wanting to look at the car = they loved it:


https://imgur.com/H4cgvVF






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