Royal Caribbean Cruisers -- How Are Things Where You Are? (was "Routine" ​ 😁 ​day in lockdown... how was yours?)

[reallyitsmema]

13 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

Did you look at all into heating your driveway?  I have no idea how expensive it is, and I'd guess that it would only work with concrete, not asphalt.  I really like the idea of flicking a switch and having light snow coverings just melt, or maybe never accumulate to begin with. 

 

I remember that the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, where the Buffalo Sabres played when I was growing up, had this outside their main doors.  You would walk through snow covered streets or sidewalks to get to the building and then find a big rectangular area that was either completely dry or clear of snow but a little wet.  I always though that was very cool.

 

No, I did not look into that, would be a great thing to have though.  I just googled it quickly and the heated grid option under the newly installed driveway goes for $12-20 a square foot 😱  We are over 2,000 sq ft, so that is way beyond the budget for this driveway.  I can't even imagine how much it would add to our electrical bill to operate.

[Lionesss]

10 hours ago, Coralc said:

 

We have Travelers her that come by and offer to do asphalt resurfacing. It always generates a flurry of complaints from neighbors. So that was nice that they finished it. 😊

 

Now do not take this post wrong, but the town next to ours has a many independent workers "Travelers".

Almost 90% are of Greek Heritage.

They mostly are involved in summer work, from bridge painting to asphalt summer work.

 

They are a close tight knit community, where they take care of one another in time of need.

 

It is almost like a trade school in action.

The women work from their homes doing things I guess our grandparents would just do at home, from sewing to needle point to embroidery to baking and selling their goods.

 

While the men pass down their skills to their sons.

 

They are a proud community.

 

 

Now on the other side of the spectrum, living close to West Virginia where we have a small Gypsy community, their travelers come up and try to get hired from anything like roofing, to spraying tar.

Warnings usually go out by these "Fly by nights" from community action groups.

 

My parents used the Greek connection years ago to get their 3 story house painted.

 

The contract was for 25% down, the rest when completion.

 

One day over 20 workers showed up.

Day one -- one coat of paint.

Day two -- second coat 

Day three, trim work.

 

They did a great job, and the house looked great for many years.

 

Just saying.

Edited October 30, 2021 by Lionesss

[Jimbo]

7 hours ago, JamesEM said:

Regarding home repairs, I retired and moved to the South (SC) and one thing I noticed here is how a simple job that took one day to accomplish up North can be turned into a week long project. 

Yes, down south everything is more laid back for sure. Learning  no rush for anything compared to up north.

[island lady]

15 hours ago, Keksie said:

Ms. Priss was a beautiful cat.  Happy Cat Day to Marcel.  Cinnamon, Kubota and Samantha say howdy.

 

Your kitty on the left is looking at Samantha like "Yeah...there's that Prima Donna".  😄  

 

Sooo cute!!  Thanks for the kitty line up!  

[island lady]

 

duplicate

Edited October 30, 2021 by island lady

[HBE4]

7 hours ago, JamesEM said:

Regarding home repairs, I retired and moved to the South (SC) and one thing I noticed here is how a simple job that took one day to accomplish up North can be turned into a week long project. 

 

Funny thing, my brother-in-law experienced the same thing but moved in a different direction.  Living in northern NJ, not to far from NYC, he had numerous home improvement projects & repairs done quickly. Crews come in at 8:00 am sharp & work the entire day.  A few years ago, he moved 4-5 hours north to the Finger Lakes region of upstate NY and projects that should only take a week to do turned into a month. 

 

When asking a contractor for their time frame & schedule, he'd get replies like "Well, the fishing going to be good tomorrow so I'll stop by for a few hours after 1:00 pm" or "Turkey hunting season starts Wednesday so maybe next week I can start"

 

Being that he's a go-getter, Type-A personality, it took my BIL a while to adapt to the Finger Lakes version of Island Time.  I'd tell him to be happy they were at least being honest to the timing and reasons.

[island lady]

14 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Hasn't sold yet. Having renters is a big negative

 

We had that problem when we were trying to see homes for sale in Maine that happened to be rentals.   

 

Could only see it in between renters and only at certain hours.  We missed a few that we would have liked to look at.  

[Ocean Boy]

21 minutes ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

No, I did not look into that, would be a great thing to have though.  I just googled it quickly and the heated grid option under the newly installed driveway goes for $12-20 a square foot 😱  We are over 2,000 sq ft, so that is way beyond the budget for this driveway.  I can't even imagine how much it would add to our electrical bill to operate.

On top of the installation expense I can just picture the electric meter on the house starting to smoke from spinning so fast when you flip the "on" switch!😯😄

[Ocean Boy]

9 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Yes, down south everything is more laid back for sure. Learning  no rush for anything compared to up north.

I think that is why it takes me a day or so to settle into ship board life when I go on a cruise.

[island lady]

4 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

 

For me, an "outsider", it is baffling.... I would imagine that a good percentage of prospective buyers are looking for an investment, and not for a place to actually live in. Since it is a sellers market, should be plenty of those, since you have a corner unit with 3 bedrooms, direct on the beach, which you said not many are on the market.

 

So having renters from Day 1 will be a big incentive for me.

 

At least, that's how it is here....

 

Two of the apartments my cousin bought as an investment in Tel Aviv [she lives in Germany], were apartments where renters had at least 2 years of contract left.

 

She was very happy to get rent immediately, without looking for ones, and "loosing" months' rent, while the apartment is empty, but the taxes go on.

 

 

 

I think John meant that it makes it tough for the realtors to show the condo to buyers, since they can't do so while having renters currently in residence.  Could be wrong, John will clarify ......but that is what we experienced while house shopping in Maine.  

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 30, 2021 by island lady

[cruisingpeople]

11 hours ago, HBE4 said:

A fleet of trucks show up, rip out the old driveway, and down the  base layer all in a day, then the guy tells me he'll be back in 2-3 weeks after the base layer "settles".  I tell this to people and they give me a weird look saying it's not typically that long.  I figured the guy saw the "new homeowner" look on my face and took advantage of it.

 

Actually, that is a shorter than normal period for around here. When they did my driveway 3 years ago, it was 4 1/2 weeks before they paved. Our across the street neighbor had theirs done a year later. While waiting for the "settling" period, the first 2-3 feet from the garage where the tires continually drove over dropped almost 6". They came back, dug it up and compacted new process in that area. It's been 2 years now without a problem. Had it been paved with a shorter time space, the complete driveway would have had to be replaced.

[bobmacliberty]

27 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

On top of the installation expense I can just picture the electric meter on the house starting to smoke from spinning so fast when you flip the "on" switch!😯😄

 

Depending on your perspective (i.e. how much you hate shoveling snow) and several other factors, the operating cost doesn't look that bad.  You still need to get by the expensive installation cost.  This chart is from an article that does a thorough job of discussing various installation and operating costs:

 

Granted, it may be cheaper to pay your enterprising neighborhood teenager to do the shoveling.

[George C]

I was in my pool Monday and currently it is 47 in Dallas area, heat came on for first time since spring. But will be in 70’s later. Hopefully we will be on Allure in a month. 

[reallyitsmema]

24 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

Depending on your perspective (i.e. how much you hate shoveling snow) and several other factors, the operating cost doesn't look that bad.  You still need to get by the expensive installation cost.  This chart is from an article that does a thorough job of discussing various installation and operating costs:

 

Granted, it may be cheaper to pay your enterprising neighborhood teenager to do the shoveling.

 

I am going to stick with our nice, shiny new snowblower and his backup almost 20 yr old friend. 😄 Might even get the old guy some nice new shoes for the winter.  Don't want the old ones scraping the driveway.

[Ocean Boy]

18 minutes ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

I am going to stick with our nice, shiny new snowblower and his backup almost 20 yr old friend. 😄 Might even get the old guy some nice new shoes for the winter.  Don't want the old ones scraping the driveway.

Snow blower for me also. What would you expect from someone who still hasn't turned turned on the heat.😄

[Ocean Boy]

6 hours ago, grapau27 said:

Good morning.

It is a cool 52°F this morning.

It has just started raining again.

Our clocks are put back 1 hour at 2am Sunday morning so we will get an extra hours sleep before we get up for church tomorrow.

 

Graham.

Rainy day here too. I'm glad you mentioned the time change. My watch keeps dual time and the secondary time is typically set for London (yes I'm sure everyone would have guessed Rome) so I need to adjust it tonight. We don't change our time here in North America until Nov 7th.

[dani negreanu]

On 10/28/2021 at 7:30 AM, HBE4 said:

I'm 57 so of course, I'm concerned. tick, tick, tick....

 

12 hours ago, HBE4 said:

.... thank you for thinking of me. 

 

On top of everything you're going through right now, you had me at the "tick, tick, tick...".... 😢

[Sunshine3601]

15 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Hasn't sold yet. Having renters is a big negative

I'm surprised to hear that as you have a beautiful location and from photos you have shared the condo looks lovely.    Have you had any offers?      I am sure it will sell soon for the right price😃   

[OnTheJourney]

So this is the 30th anniversary of the "Perfect storm" in October '91. RIP to the valiant crew of the lost swordboat Andrea Gail. A buoy off the coast of Nova Scotia reported a wave height of 100 feet - the highest ever recorded in that area. 

 

Thanks to all those in the Air National Guard and the highly trained pararescue jumpers for putting their lives in harm's way both then and probably hundreds of times since. I have a newfound respect for these rescue efforts after what the Norwegian CHC did for me and the other 400+ "Viking Sky Survivors" who were airlifted to safety. Thankfully, everyone survived that voyage. 

Edited October 30, 2021 by OnTheJourney

[dani negreanu]

1 hour ago, island lady said:

We had that problem when we were trying to see homes for sale in Maine that happened to be rentals.   

 

Could only see it in between renters and only at certain hours.  We missed a few that we would have liked to look at.  

 

1 hour ago, island lady said:

I think John meant that it makes it tough for the realtors to show the condo to buyers, since they can't do so while having renters currently in residence.  Could be wrong, John will clarify ......

 

Pat, you raise a very valid point, which I didn't even think about.

 

One reason is that Jane ( @firefly333) bought a condo near John without even seeing it..... So I imagined it is done.

 

Second, and here the differences between our countries might enter into the picture, in every rental contract here there is a clause in which should the proprietor decide to sell, the renters have to grant entry to prospective buyers, 2 - 3 times a week, at their [renters'] convenience.

 

That's the norm here without even a second thought -- the realtors, or the owners themselves, just "book" several "prospectives" at the same hour, and that's it.

 

I assume in US it's a matter of good will....

 

 

[Ozark_Kid]

1 hour ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

Depending on your perspective (i.e. how much you hate shoveling snow) and several other factors, the operating cost doesn't look that bad.  You still need to get by the expensive installation cost.  This chart is from an article that does a thorough job of discussing various installation and operating costs:

 

Granted, it may be cheaper to pay your enterprising neighborhood teenager to do the shoveling.

By the time you take in the cost of installing and running it may be cheaper to hire a couple of teenagers to stand by and sweep off flakes of snow as they hit the drive.

[dani negreanu]

33 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

My watch keeps dual time and the secondary time is typically set for London (yes I'm sure everyone would have guessed Rome) so I need to adjust it tonight.

 

.... and rightly so !

 

OK, I'll bite.... why London? 😉

 

[Ozark_Kid]

51 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

Snow blower for me also. What would you expect from someone who still hasn't turned turned on the heat.😄

We had grandkids spend the night so we tried to turn on the heat on our upstairs unit we had replaced this spring.  It wouldn’t turn on.  They are coming to fix it.

[island lady]

13 minutes ago, dani negreanu said:

 

 

Pat, you raise a very valid point, which I didn't even think about.

 

One reason is that Jane ( @firefly333) bought a condo near John without even seeing it..... So I imagined it is done.

 

Second, and here the differences between our countries might enter into the picture, in every rental contract here there is a clause in which should the proprietor decide to sell, the renters have to grant entry to prospective buyers, 2 - 3 times a week, at their [renters'] convenience.

 

That's the norm here without even a second thought -- the realtors, or the owners themselves, just "book" several "prospectives" at the same hour, and that's it.

 

I assume in US it's a matter of good will....

 

 

 

 

Wish it was that way in Maine.   Was denied being able to see several homes we were very interested in, since the seasonal renters were there.  I can see the point of the renters, however, they have paid top $$ for that brief summer season, and I would think not interested in having strangers go through the house with their stuff in there...or making them leave to have it shown.  I know I would have been put out while we were renting up there.  None of the homes we rented were for sale though, which I made sure of.  

 

Can see both sides of the coin.  Just frustrated that we lost possible homes we would have liked.  And we are not ones to buy "sight unseen".   It was unreal how many homes we did see, of which the pictures made them look sooo perfect.  Only to find us hating it when we saw it.  😮  

 

I am not sure....but I think each of the states here could be different.  We bought our home on Merritt Island, that was a rental.  The renters were livid that the owner was showing it to us while they were still renting it.  But that was a home for sale by owner without realtor...she may have made her own rules perhaps.  

[lenquixote66]

13 hours ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

That's too bad the weather isn't going to cooperate.  Hopefully, they have raincoats and umbrellas.  We visited campuses in bad weather too and just had to make the most of it.

I assume umbrellas.I will probably hear from them later today