Holy Cow, 30 dollars? That is outrageous; they are way overcharging for their inconvenience = obviously trying to discourage people from paying that way.

I agree! One of our utilities charge extra for online payments - none of the others do! It's really irritating when you run into that. That utility uses Western Union for the wireless payments, and it's ridiculous. I just don't get it.

Our Utility charges 2.95 extra if you call in your payment or pay it online rather than mailing it directly to them or paying it directly in their office.

The reason for the extra fee they charge is because our Utility uses a "Bill Payment Matrix" service that actually does all the processing of those (indirect) payments for the Utility = that is their service fee per payment to process them. (in other words; those payments go directly to the Matrix instead of to the Utility; so you are paying for that middleman).

I have no idea how much it costs the Matrix service to process the payments; but I'm sure they make enough to stay in business doing it at only 2.95 per payment. But 30.00 = yeah, no. That is WAY more than it would cost any business to pay for processing of their payments. 30 dollars is just a flat out way of telling their clients that they absolutely don't want to do business in this way; so if you insist on it = it is going to cost you big time for the inconvenience to them. I agree with SubRosa = F that, lol.

My life insurance company is the same way as SubRosa's rental office = they absolutely do not want to take phoned in payments; and if you are going to make them uncomfortable they will charge you out the ass for it.

The Utility's 2.95 fee is different. It is low enough that it is worth my peace of mind to pay it every month. It equals out for what I'd pay in gas if I drove the payment in; and is much lower than any late fees I might incur if the Post Office/Mailman somehow lost my payment in the mail.

Project:Acquire C-19 mask
Status: <sighs>

I'm still not able to buy a mask. Every 'local' business I contact who might be expected to carry something suitable tells me that while yes, they normally carry something that would suffice, they and their supplier are out of stock, and don't know when they'll get more. Checking online finds sites with details on sewing our own masks. Problem there is I've neither the tools nor skill-set needed to create my own mask via sewing. I recently found a site that shows how to create masks without sewing, simply using a folded bandana and two rubber bands. I don't own a bandana, but do have a couple of oversize handkerchiefs, large enough for the purpose. I don't know that they're made of the correct material, but can sandwich a couple of 'coffee filters' between the folds, something my doctor's office suggested. My stumbling block yesterday was discovering that I own no rubber bands anywhere close to large enough to serve the purpose. So yesterday's Walmart grocery run was again maskless (and gloveless, another issue).

Too many shoppers and workers seemed to not take social distancing seriously. Worst offenders: a group of around 8-10 employees covering around shipment boxes at the banana section, all within a foot or two of each other, some with masks, some without, chatting away. As I needed banana, I limited my search to the counter side furthest from them and hoped for the best. On a positive (?) note, I did manage to buy a couple of bags of rubber bands, one bag of which contains bands of a suitable size. I now have a jerry-rigged mask of sorts. It's not quite large enough, and doesn't seal quite well enough - my beard doesn't help in this regard - but is better than nothing, I hope?

First mowing of the season is done and although our riding mower is in need of service, it performed the job well.

I'm also in the process of restoring some garden furniture. It's an old set you may remember from 2013 when I last gave it a facelift. But I think back then I only restored the table, this time it's the chairs. I've switched out bad boards and removed the painting as much I can. Next step is simply giving the set a new coat.

I've put up a workbench where the old Cavator used to have its home; a perfect spot with good enough room to work with projects such as this.

Pics or the chairs aren't fixed till we see it!!!!

Our grass is still brown. You must live in the south.

We have garden projects planned and I have a sweater project planned.

Seeds planted. Need to get to the hardware store to buy a torque wrench and branch trimmers. Whatever the heck theyre called in Swedish, I dont know, and husband has no idea what a torque wrench is. Sighs. He's no help. I gotta go alone because his doctors recommended against him going anywhere unnecessary.

Masks don't help. They keep you from spreading germs. They don't keep germs out. And cloth masks? That's like expecting your underwear to hold a fart.

We're gonna dig up part of the lawn to plant wildflowers for the bees. And double our raised beds. And put out 12 buckets for potatoes.

And this is my yarn.
https://imgur.com/a/TdQhAi9

I am trying to find a pattern, and if I need to buy more than the 6 skeins I have, I've got trouble because Wool Warehouse is having issues dispatching orders due to covid. It could be weeks. Because royal mail. (It comes from the UK and royal mail is notoriously bad/slow)

Eh, it was just a test of the mower. Grass had not really grown.


I like the colors of the yarn!

I see.

Yeah, we got some stuff in the back that needs cut. I need branch trimmers to cut the baby trees that keep coming up.

Every year, same crap. Saplings, saplings, saplings.

And yes, it is pretty yarn.

Project: Create new TpF Scenic Excursions 'Intro" episode
Status: Ongoing
Started working on this day before yesterday(?). It's nothing special. Just a third visit to the Valley Petrol - Dunwich fuel delivery run. It is, however, easily superior to original episode 01, which will remain in the lineup re-labeled ep01b. Original ep01 has slowly amassed a great many views, hundreds more than any of my other vids. My guess is that people first chance on a later, 'mature' episode, then go back to ep01. But there's nothing in ep01 to tempt them to keep watching. My hope is that the 'new' ep01 will convince them otherwise. Then again, they might be finding original ep01 simply because, with so many views, it turns up on generic Transport Fever search results. It that case, my work is for naught. Well, not totally for naught. It's a new series entry, after all.

None of my videos garner much of a following.

I stopped worrying about it. Make them because they're fun.

I still need new editing software.

I don't really 'worry' about it. They're not monetized, after all. And newer episodes get so few views it's sorta beside the point. Like you, I make and publish 'em coz I'm pleased with the results of my in-game activities (or at least satisfied), and enjoy showing them off.

I suspect my YouTube video creation to slow if not halt before too long in any case. My poor TpF1 map is succumbing to 'late-game' lag, stutter and other issues. I don't dare add much more scenery for fear of pushing it beyond playability. I at one time thought I had one more TpF1 map in me, but am no longer sure. I don't see TRS19 as a substitute, though I might create a few more episodes with it.

I feel bad about your Filmora issues, as I sort of recall recommending it to you. If you still have your 9.2xxx download, is it possible to re-install that and let it update itself the latest version of 9.2x? Or do you maybe still have 9.2x installed on your PC somewhere and just need to reestablish a launch icon? I've no idea if 9.2x and 9.3x share a directory / files, since I never 'upgraded' to 9.3x.

I never got 9.2, they'd already upgraded and no longer offer older versions. :/ part of the problem.

I like the program, it's just not stable and I need stable. Not dropping 60 on unstable software. Never even got my first video finished.

Found a sweater pattern today. Gonna start this weekend I think. 3

You expecting a cold summer?

It's short sleeves with a collar neck. I think itll be fine. I get cold in summer here, too. If it's under 25 I'm freezing nuts.

Project started, but I have no pics up yet.

The way the yarn crocheted up makes a camp pattern in the fabric, but instead of brown, black and greens, it's teal, blue and purple.

https://i.imgur.com/xajvkBQ.jpg

Just today's work.

While I truly am a manly mancrow, I am impressed by that kind of handiwork. It's much easier to nail two boards together and it doesn't even have to fit someone's body

Well, I weigh in at 115kg so this is gonna take quite some time to make. Gonna do it on weekends I think.

If I was making one for my sister in law, it'd be smaller and faster to work.

I didn't say MIL because she's rather.. erm... busty so it'd be pretty big too (main measurement is around the chest, divide by two, make two panels that width)

Thanks bird! :3

This is my new wood working area


As you can see I have electricity available, a lamp and some other bits and bobs. More will come in time. Oh, and that's the garden furniture I'm fixing. Not a complete overhaul but it'll be good enough. I would replace some boards but I need a plane first so I can fix the thickness.

Is this the (*sniff, sniff*) Little Yellow 'Cavator's former shed?

I am in love with these chairs; I really want to sit out in the sun in them with your family and look out over all your handy homemade sheds with them! Next you can make a round table with an umbrella in the center so we can put the chairs around it and eat out there in your chairs and at your table!!!!




https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/fallout...=20170509214727

Nice workshop, mirocu!

It is indeed. While I would have wanted to keep it, I didn't make a mistake selling it. It has served us very well over the five years I had it, but time has come now to move on. I've always missed the workshop we lost when dividing up the place between my dad and his sister, and the Cavator's former parking place will now provide me with the space for essentials like finally a proper workbench!


And as you can see in the pic, I do have a roundtable for those chairs. I renovated it in 2013 but I didn't bother making a hole for an umbrella as we never used it anyway. You're still welcome to sit down by it, though


Thanks, Acadian

Yay workshop!

I had to go back and look = are you talking about that tiny side table the one chair is resting on? = No, no = can't put several chairs around that little table; and it wouldn't hold an umbrella. You need to make the diameter of the round part bigger so you can picnic at it while outdoors.

Yes, the table diameter is a bit smaller than original but it does have a stand underneath to support an umbrella. And I am thinking of making the table a bit bigger again; could be a summer project!

WOO HOO!!! I hope you do; and if so I hope to hear about you and your family sitting around outdoors enjoying the sunshine at it! That is one thing all my house mods have in any of my games = a round outdoor table to sit around and socialize, lol.

Project: Backing up all my crap on my external HDD

Status: Ongoing.

I bought a laptop and want to get some stuff saved to transfer over.

Skyrim mods, World of Warcraft(to save a 70 GB download and install). Among other stuff.

Movies, music.

Oye.

That's awesome! That became really important to me a few years back when backing up my Win 3.1. It meant keeping stuff even now when that computer is down. Gotta back it up before it's too late.


You got that one you showed me?

The khameleon yeah. That Razer would have been nice but no.

Or did I post it here? Sec...

https://www.komplett.se/product/1147203/gam...arbar-gaming-pc

This one.

Because I really wish it were a real game and I want to know what would be going on there in that universe, I decided to start writing my vision of what Fallout: Florida would look like. I'm not writing a full-blown story for it, mind you. That's because 1) It would be too time-consuming and 2) I'm afraid of writing cringy fanfiction.

Instead, I'm going to write a guide of sorts of what would be there in my headcanon. It wouldn't at all be technologically feasible to implement my whole vision for Florida into a future Fallout game even if they did set one in Florida. The guide is going to have information on:

-The regions of Florida and the former counties they encompass (all 67 of them are the real-life counties in the state, and the regions I have made are somewhat arbitrary but do have a real-life basis)
-Major and minor factions involved in each
-A bestiary
-The major conflict in each region that I've made
-Other smaller stories going on
-Post-Divergence history and real-life historical events, as well as some real-life events that have some differences in how they played out in the Fallout timeline
-Major and minor settlements
-Other points of interest a la how they would be explorable like in the modern Fallout games
-Totally fictional settlements

If I feel good enough about what I write, maybe I'll post it in the fan fiction subforum if anyone is interested. I'd actually like to see what other people imagine is going on elsewhere in the Fallout universe too. I just need to get the creative juices flowing.

Sounds like fun.

I was once tasked with writing the epilogue of a tabletop RPG campaign I played in.

It was cringe.

I kinda did the same for my Fallout: Postbellum New Orleans setting.

Started a project today; building a small roof where we have a bench and the wood cleaver to protect them from dripping rain coming down from the shed. This was a project meant to be done on my vacation but I have all the support up already and I just need to lay the plastic and then the roof itself.

Pix of the structure tomorra!

Bird the builder, can he build it? Yes he can!

... taps foot; looks at watch ...








Yes he can !!!!!!

Yay bird!

Gentlesquirrels, you may stop your tapping

Pic one
Pic two


The shed is like "Get this crap off of me!"

Awesome job!!!!! I picture a big stack of wood going under that!

** Are those two braces strong enough to hold a load of snow?

No firewood goes there. What we sell is to the right in the pic, and our own is in that storage I built last year.


Thet may look thin in the pic but I reckon they are plenty strong enough. The weight is evenly distributed and those beams won't shatter easily. Besides, if we get a lot of snow I'll just get it off the roof. It's low so it's real easy to do it

Yeah, was gonna say if there's enough snow you're supposed to shovel the roof off if it's not steep enough for it to fall off. They make special things you pull the snow off with.

Mikael just gets on top of it with a snow shovel. our roof is a relatively flat pitch. but it's metal so I'm nervous getting up there.

Looks good bird!

And I want a shed like that. To keep chickens in.

I absolutely love the work you do on that place! Everything you do is so perfect; you even paint and trim the additions to match the original building = it is amazing to see! That is why I love you posting pics of everything you do = they are inspiring just to look at!

Baby Barn's growing wings!

Haha Acadian!

Thanks


Very kind words; thank you so much, mALX


Yeah

Wings. Hehe.

Here's the new roof


At least now water from the shed won't drip down on the cleaver and the bench.

Gorgeous job!!!!

A nice little project to extend that roof.