Well, that's out. They've been stripped of their "Royal" titles.

https://sussexroyal.com/

ETA: Maybe they can change the website to sussexgrace.com and the brand along with it to Sussex Grace. It still sounds nice.

Keep calm and keep with tradition.

Got a letter from the County. We're doing a reassessment of properties and your assessment is tripled.
Go to the website specified, get 90% through scheduling a hearing, it freezes up.
Call the phone number on the website and get a recording saying they're experiencing unexpected call volume, call back later.
Triple my assessment and you don't expect me to call? You do not want me to come there, motherfucker.:mad2:

Scrape the paint off the house, set some goats loose, and put a couple Fords for your front yard. How the hell does it get tripled? That's nuts.

I bet it was an error that affected lots of people, and that's what caused the crashed site and unexpected call volume.

No, not an error. Court ordered county wide reassessment by this outfit, they send a assessment based on maps and real estate sales over the last couple years. But they don't know the intricacies of the area.
They know what's coming, they've designated four locations for these 20 minute interviews, seven days a week during March, April and May. So I get to argue with them, then they give the final number to the county.
At that point I can(will) appeal to the county assessment board who are familiar with local intricacies and go through it again. If I don't like their number I can sue or appeal again in a year.

What a pain in the ass.

Around here, they like to pee on us and tell us it's raining.

"We're lowing property tax rates! Aren't we wonderful!"

*government lowers the tax rate a hundredth of a percentage point*

*then government raises the assessed value of each home by 5%, causing the actual tax owed to go up by $500.*

Rinse and repeat, year after year.

Obviously, I'm making these numbers up for illustrative purposes, but they are very close to the truth.

On the other hand (maybe this isn't the case for you) the assessed value typically is less than what similar homes are actually selling for.

What prompted this the first time years ago was the people buying McMansions for a half a million bucks complained that ma and Pa Kettle who have lived in their house since WW II are paying less taxes when they both have the same number of bedrooms. Of course 5 of the Kettles 6 bedrooms are unused except when the children/grandchildren come home for Christmas, whereas the McMansionites have 4 spawn in school where most of the taxes go. They are also the ones telling the schools they need more of every thing that doesn't help educate the kids. The local school board paid some consultant $500,000 to investigate ways to make the high school look less like a school. :speechls:
I stay away from the whole thing to avoid arrest.

Also, traditionally houses were reassessed when they changed hands either by sale or inheritance.

I do not give a fuck.

I'm beyond miserable. The hits keep on coming. I don't know how to make it better. I don't want to be a zombie on drugs and as my health insurance is costing $1000+ a month that I don't have, that won't be an issue for long anyway. I just can't list all the things. It's too horrible. 2nd anniversary of Beest's death is friday too. I honestly can't imagine that's going to make it worse. Living without him is not living.

Oh monster! I am so sorry.

:sniff:

Me too.

dammit

Monster, I'm really sorry life is so rough right now. I wish I could make it better. :hug:

I don't have any magical wisdom, but I'm glad you're talking about it.

I can't do anything, but I wish like hell I could. I'm sorry and I hope it gets better someday.

"...Russia’s Avangard missile has been operational since December last year. It is capable of flying 27 times faster than the speed of sound, and carries a nuclear weapon of up to 2 megatons (2000 kilotons, or over 13 times the destructive power of the Hiroshima bomb)."
If Covid19 don't get you, it will.

27 times the speed of sound is about 20,000 miles an hour: about 35 minutes from anyplace to yours.

update

today I give a fuck.

The other night when I had no fucks to give, I was moaning about my own predicament--NOT commenting on any previous poster's situation.

we now return you to your previously scheduled programming.

Gotta have a fuck to give one. congrats

Griff's right, every... most every... time I give a fuck I get fucked. :yesnod:

You know, I have my retro sewing machine broken...I was really upset.
I know there are sooooo much modern options. There are lots of computerized machines and so on, but I liked this old fashioned mechanism. I know nothing is eternal, but I'm still a bit upset. How can I make myself purchase one of those soulless machines?
All these computerized sewing machines deprive a person all the magical moments of crafting.
I know I need to choose something like this, but I think they are all the same.

What about picking up a vintage sewing machine on ebay?

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...hines&_sacat=0

I'm not usually queasy, and I don't know what exactly it was, but I got lightheaded watching this, and had to turn it off.


Snake venom effects on blood:

I was going to post this yesterday but it slipped past me.

So ... some may have seen me post in the whats' bumming your stone thread a little while ago about Carrot's brother, Merlot being very ill, and the two Js being stranded here in the UK desperately trying to get back to him before he died.

Jude even got a flight to Hanoi, but when he reached Seoul for his connecting flight, discovered the entry requirements had changed so had to come straight back to the UK.

Merlot passed away yesterday - he'd rallied the way they often do near the end, and the kennel staff sent them videos of him happily bumbling about the place - he had the run of the kennels, due to the indefinite nature of their stay, Merlot and Biscuit have been treated like the kennel's dogs rather than guests.

He went peacefully - had palpitations and then slipped away on the lap of one of his favorite people at the kennels.

On the one hand, I am glad that dogs don;t think like we do - that Carrot is unaware and will remain so - on the other hand, there is this tiny illogical bit of me that feels almost guilty that I know this and he doesnt. He'll never see his brother again. He doesn't know this and doesn't miss him - they only saw each other a few times a year usually and he hasnt seen him for over a year since he moved to Hanoi - but I know it. And that makes me feel quite sad.

I also feel deeply sorry for the two Js, especially Jude - he moved heaven and earth to get to his poorly boy and got sooo close. I know he's hurting. They both are - but Janet's a lot better at coping with shit like this than he is.

Anyway - that's what is upsetting me at the moment.

RIP Merlot - you were the happiest most optimistic dog ever - right to the end. I will miss you being in the world. And if Carrot was capable of knowing - he wold miss you too.

Damn.:sniff:

Oh that really sucks. I still remember when I went from an old mechanical typewriter to an electric one - ahhhh felt so weird - like there was suddenly a distance between me and what I was writing. Got used to it - but it took a while.

Yeah. So sad.

RIP Merlot.

RIP Good Boy.

He was a Good Boy, he really was.

I parked my car yesterday and everything was fine.

Then, Popdigr drove my car to town, cuz his is in the shop.

Today I walk out to my car to put the top down so it'll be habitable when I'm ready to go somewhere, and there's a foot-long tear/break in my rear bumper cover, right on the corner. I noticed it right away cuz that bumper cover was cherry, damn near perfect.

And nobody knows nothing about nothing.

Now I need both bumper covers.

And now I'm grr.

That is very grrrr.

You can customize it with two black ones. There are people that repair those things, I had one repaired when none were available anywhere.

Irritating.

I just opened my mouth and started to turn my head to ask beest something .... like he was in the kitchen right behind me just tidying up and getting the dishwasher on before heading to bed which was how it was at this time of night. I suspect this will never stop, I need to find a way to deal with it better. 2.5 years. I've got my head around most of the stuff, but these unbidden moments....

A lot of years of habit to untrain, it will take time. Eventually on the rare occasions it does happen it'll make you smile.

I'm sorry for the unexpected reminder. For what it's worth, I think you're dealing with it in exactly the right way. It's a good thing when the grieving starts to ease a bit, and the happy memories get to take back over for just a second here and there.

the stuff I've gotten my head around is (some of) the practical stuff, and it isn't fun. And thinking "oh I'll ask..." .... fuck. But when I'm off guard it ... yeah

I had a brief dream respite for the last few months, but he's back.... Just mundane every day life anxiety dreams..... and for a while it was just me. and sometimes it still is. The only resolution is dawn either way.

I have never woken expecting to find him there, though. So there's that. That would be horrible(r), I think. But maybe that's because his side is full of clean laundry waiting to be put away and a multitude of pillows to try and help with my rapidly aging body randomly needing support in weird places in the night :D

My son, He is suffering from fever.

What's a bumper cover?

It's the, usually gray or black, plastic or vinyl piece that covers the actual, structural steel bumper.

Visible on both of ends of m'little Cherry Bomb here.

Below the damn cat.

Okay so maybe I'm focusing on something really really small because of all the really really world changing crap that is going on today. That being said can someone please explain to me how coffee can be crunchy.

you could freeze it?

eat roasted beans

They probably added the word "crunch" after finding it was contaminated with coconut shell.

This seems unreasonable.

Perhaps; but, reasonable can be boring.

I'll be reasonable; however, just for you, just this one time.

The flavor is produced by more than one brand. Another one explains it:

Apparently, Coconut Caramel Mac didn't go over well.

I hope you're happy now.

What kind of filters do you use?

Well yes thanks for clearing that up. However using that logic McDonald's could sell a quarter pounder as a one-ton hamburger if it came from a 2000 lb cow.

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