Author |
Message |
Costacat
Member
07-15-2000
| Sunday, July 15, 2007 - 7:50 am
I dunno about the rest of the country, but SDG&E will work with those who cannot afford their energy bills. Granted, we don't have many "heat waves" where a/c is a necessity (unless you live outside the city proper). But I recall reading articles in the paper last summer -- our really hot summer -- where peeps were having problems with their bills and SDG&E was working with 'em.
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Kstme
Member
08-14-2000
| Sunday, July 15, 2007 - 11:57 am
Cost, I 'think' there is some kind of program here, also. There HAS to be!
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Urgrace
Member
08-19-2000
| Monday, July 16, 2007 - 6:57 am
Yes, remembering your lovely tall ceilings and open living area - nice to look at but apparently costly! Do put that call in to your electric company.
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Escapee
Member
06-15-2004
| Monday, July 16, 2007 - 7:02 am
We have 12 foot ceilings and it's a hotbox in our dining/living room during the day, but nice and cool in the back part of our house. DH is going to install another ceiling fan in the dining room for added air movement. I would not be able to pay a bill that was $500. Mine last month was $150 and I almost choked to death.
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Kstme
Member
08-14-2000
| Monday, July 16, 2007 - 7:07 am
Gracie, my income is too high to qualify for any type of benefits. Thekid and I split the household in half, so it's not bad. I just find it disgusting! I think of all those people who aren't able to pay it and it makes me very sad.
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Cdbga
Member
10-04-2004
| Wednesday, July 18, 2007 - 4:13 am
EEEK! Just got my first electric bill from the new house and it's $78...the "EEK" is because the bill only covers a 10-day span...so a month would be 3 times that and I cannot afford any $200+ electric bills. When I moved to the house I had to switch from my beloved Greystone Power to the dreaded Georgia Power. If I can find one of my Greystone bills, I want to compare the costs per...unit of usage...yeah, not remembering what that's called. The really bad thing is that I don't feel like I've even used much power...my dryer doesn't work...I've done very little cooking...haven't used the dishwasher. So, I don't even know what I can do to cut down on the power I'm using. Yesterday I did turn off all the lights (until it was too dark to see) and close off all the air conditioning vents in and doors to the rooms I wasn't in. And I turned the pool pump off, too. It has a timer on it and I need to check to see when its set to come on/go off. *SIGH*
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Rissa
Member
03-20-2006
| Wednesday, July 18, 2007 - 5:00 am
Cdbga, I don't know if it's a good idea turning the pool pump off. You really need to keep that water circulating or you will get bacteria growing superfast. Not pretty, not healthy and expensive to get rid of. On the other hand our pool HEATER drives our bills up fast. We turn it on when we open the pool in May for a couple weeks and then again for a few weeks in the fall before we close it for the winter.. but all summer it stays off and the sun does the work for us.
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Cdbga
Member
10-04-2004
| Wednesday, July 18, 2007 - 7:16 am
I'm going to turn it back on when I get home today. Just wanted to keep it off for the night. The pool people recommend that it stays on at least 16 hours, so if I can figure out the timer, I'm going to set it to be off at night. And we'll see how that effects things. Today is shock-treatment day, anyway, so hopefully I won't have grown any bacteria that can't be killed. If I had outdoor lighting, I would have gone out this morning and turned it back on before I left for work, but it is still VERY dark when I leave and there is no lighting anywhere near the pool pump.
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Kstme
Member
08-14-2000
| Wednesday, July 18, 2007 - 7:46 am
Cd, we've had pools and the pump needs to run for the recommended time. In Vegas, we ran ours 24/7 during the summer and about 16 in the winter. During the coldest part, we ran it at night to prevent freezing. Good luck with that bill! We've had 14 days above 105, so next month ought to be worse than this one. <sigh>
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Rissa
Member
03-20-2006
| Wednesday, July 18, 2007 - 7:51 am
Sounds like you have it under control. LOL When we first purchased this house, the previous owners had decided to save money (since they had vacated weeks before we moved in) by turning off the pump. In those 3-4 weeks our pool looked like a swamp. You couldn't see your fingers if you held them right under the surface. Took us WEEKS until I trusted the water quality enough to let my kids use the pool. The previous owners???? Well they saved a couple hundred in electricity but had to pay almost 1,500 to fix the problem. LOL I am still trying to convince hubby to just backfill the dang thing and plant grass. LOL
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Cdbga
Member
10-04-2004
| Wednesday, July 18, 2007 - 8:22 am
Uggghhh, that sounds really gross, Rissa. One of the houses that I saw with my realtor had a pool in that kind of condition. I couldn't understand how anyone would show a house like that! While they were showing my house, they had the pool looking gorgeous...and the sellers were nice enough to leave all the chemicals and pool equipment (like the vacuum) for me. He even bought a new hose/head for the vacuum because there was a problem with the old one. I'm still figuring it all out, though. We've had so much rain and I have just gotten it back on track to the sparkling beauty of that first day (and don't even get me started on the frogs...don't mind the live ones at all, but after a rainy night, I usually find at least a couple of dead ones in the basket...Hee! I'm only 2 weeks in and I already have a "usually"!) But, at least I'm the only one who swims in it...so if there's anything nasty in there, I'm the only one who'll get sick!
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Max
Moderator
08-12-2000
| Wednesday, July 18, 2007 - 10:38 am
AFter waiting six weeks for them to arrive, the installer came this morning to put in two remote-controlled blinds on the upper, east-facing windows in my great room. Of course our heat wave is over for the moment and it's raining, but I'm sure they will come in handy later. But the gripe is this: One didn't work. It would only raise/lower about four inches at a time. The installer made a phone call, got to one person and explained the problem, got transferred to someone else, only to then reach a voicemail system that informed him the mailbox was full! So he had to take the non-functioning blind back down (we're talking 15-foot ladders to reach the window here) and take it with him. He said when such a malfunction has occurred before, he's had to send the blind back for a replacement. So now I have to wait another one to two weeks for him to get the replacement. But there's more! He's going on vacation the first week of August, so I may not get it installed until after he gets back. So here's the list of my gripes: 1. It takes too long to get this stuff in the first place. 2. When it finally arrived, only 50% of the order worked. Where's the quality control???? 3. What is up with the customer service at Hunter Douglas that the one person who apparently can assist the installer has a FULL voicemail box? HuH??? 4. ARGH!!! The installer is just as frustrated as I am, if not more so. It costs him money to have to come back again. Bother!
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Rissa
Member
03-20-2006
| Wednesday, July 18, 2007 - 12:57 pm
Gotta love the frogs floating in the skimmer. LOL The worst is when they are only *mostly dead* and floating at the top of the skimmer in desperate little circles. We had mice last year too but when we moved in we plugged sonic repellers all around the outside of the house and we haven't had a mouse in months. Mack, four words for ya... old sheets and thumbtacks.
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Chewpito
Member
01-04-2004
| Wednesday, July 18, 2007 - 5:31 pm
can I just say that I am sickend by all the graphic video on CNN, local news... of the Dog fighting for profit..Iligal dog fighting.. I Go to the gym this morning and kept my head down the whole time cause the main tv in front of the treadmills is CNN and thease poor dogs being raised to be mean and kill and tortured for others sick pleasure....... Thank goodness I thought (cause I dont have cable, only local stations at home).. Surely I wouldnt have to see this Sad sick crap on my local news...But NO..Once again I look up to see this crap.... I know its happening and it sickens me.... But the video they are putting out there is graphic and honestly in my opinion sickening... allright, rant over....
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Ophiliasgrandma
Member
09-04-2001
| Wednesday, July 18, 2007 - 6:09 pm
Chewy, amen to what you said. I had to leave the room during the national news tonight. Why do they have to show that stuff one might ask? Ratings? Sick, sick, sick!
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Chewpito
Member
01-04-2004
| Wednesday, July 18, 2007 - 6:21 pm
Ophilia, I dont have small children in the house but its bad enough that we have war,murder and every other bad thing out there on tv, but the visual of theas poor animals that have no chance disturbes me beyond belief... People that do that kind of stuff need to suffer the same punishment as for any other crime against humans as well.... All the video that they put out there was way over the top very disturbing... I just needed to hug my own dogs and try to put it out of my head... but it really is troublesome...
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Ophiliasgrandma
Member
09-04-2001
| Wednesday, July 18, 2007 - 6:43 pm
I just know there is a special place reserved in hell for people who hurt little children and animals.
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Cdbga
Member
10-04-2004
| Saturday, July 21, 2007 - 7:39 am
Had the plumber in last night to fix a leak in the bathroom. Turns out the leak is caused by the shoddy installation...no soldering or seal whatsoever at the pipe connections. Of course, this isn't covered by the Home Warranty, so that's a ton of money out-of-pocket for someone who doesn't have the extra $$ right now.
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Serate
Member
08-21-2001
| Sunday, July 29, 2007 - 11:26 am
NOSEY NEIGHBORS! Last Sunday one of the neighbors across the street came over to "introduce" herself. Oh that's nice right? We've been here 6 months. No problem there we keep to ourselves. It was just an excuse to come over and tell us everything that is wrong with our landscaping, trees, and that there were grass clippings in the street. You do know there is a city ordinance against lawn clippings in the street and drain? Oh really, don't see anything that is ours in the street. [We had just mowed the yard the first in almost a month. There were no GREEN grass clippings in the street they were all dead so there for they were from neighbors up the street.] Did you know this tree not in compliance with city ordinance. You know when we moved here you couldn't even walk on the friggen sidewalk as the limbs covered the sidewalk from ankle high up. We took care of those limbs in March once the 25 inches of snow had melted. We're not going to cut anymore off. If the city tells us we need to we'll just cut the tree down. YOU CAN'T DO THAT. I'm sure you don't know but this is the kid's bus stop. [We moved here in January and school got out in June I think I know.] What does that have to do with us cutting the tree down. Well the kids like to climb it. The kids aren't allowed to climb it they can climb their own trees we don't need a lawsuit. You can't tell kids they can't climb trees. If they don't have your permission they can't sue you. Have you ever heard of "attractive nuisance?" They can sue us. Well all you need to do is cut this limb off and that limb off. Nothing will grow under this tree so it needs mulch to make it look pretty. Red or gray would be nice. MMMMMMMhhhhhhhmmmmmm. My husband decided after he retired to take care of our lawn instead of having [some lawn company I wasn't really listening] take care of it. He hates it now because he has to take care of it instead of calling and telling company there's 2 weeds in the front lawn get rid of them. Would you like their number? I'm sure they could help alot. Ummmmmmmm Oh did you know your lawn needs an inch of rain a week or it will die? No I didn't thank you for telling me. Well if you need us to show you how to water it we will. Thank you but I don't think we will be watering our lawn. But it is DYING! Well actually at the moment it is just dormant. But soon it could die. But I can't justify wasting so much drinkable water just to make my yard look nice. Plus I don't want to have a $300 water bill each month. Well as a home owner you have a responsibility to keep your lawn properly maintained. Well I'll let you go it looks as if you have ALOT more work before you quit for the day. Actually we're just getting ready to go inside. We're done. Bye. So when she went for a walk later I took the blower out and got all the grass - even tho it wasn't ours - out of the street and drain. I REFUSED to pick up the cig butts tho. We don't smoke and nobody who visits us smoke so I'm not touching them. Cleaned the drain grate out best as I could with the blower but wasn't about to touch anything. So it's clean and we will make for certain not a single blade of our grass [back to the bagger at least around the street] touches the street. But I will NOT pick up anybody else's crap. And we decided to borrow my brother's chain saw and butcher the tree. The city came out Friday so I figured we were in for it. They just took the "blind children playing" sign out of our yard. Saturday we MEASURED the trees limbs hanging over the street and sidewalk. The lowest one over the sidewalk was 7'10" so it was out of compliance by 2 inches. The lowest part of the lowest limb is now 16+ feet and it looks like a giant mushroom. Oh and it has some of "nature's mulch" around it. I cut all the green thingys off of the limbs [needs, fawn, whatever] and used it as mulch. Not because she said we needed mulch but because it's what we did at the college I worked at and it's less to hall away. It's green right now but will be a nice reddish color so mayve that will make her happy. We measured the other tree where it was hanging over the sidewalk and street. 14 feet for both. City ordinance is 12 feet for streets. But we went ahead and cut some down anyway so it's 17 - 18 above street and sidewalk.. That tree - I think it's a maple - looks pretty darn good, darn it. We did get a letter from the city yesterday but forgot to check our mail till today. Nothing about the street or the drain, just a generic letter stating when they went out to check sidewalk compliance [they did this in APRIL] they noticed we had some trees out of compliance. Yeah right. Neighbor behind us got a letter too. Neighbor besides us and the one across the street should have too, their's were worse than ours. What gripes the the most I guess isn't the nosey neighbor, it's the fact that the tree on the corner has had to have been out of compliance for YEARS as bad as it was when we moved here. But that is life. Hubby says if she offers any more "helpful" advice he'd going to start trimming the tree again, from the top down and leave a band of green in the middle. AND in order for them to water their lawn they pull a hose across the sidewalk [I'm sure THAT's not in compliance to some city ordinance!] and put the sprinkler on the curb and point it towards their house. And it's not one of those lazy soft up and over sprinklers, it's one that goes half a circle and then shoots the water out in jets really hard. I've seen little kids get hit in the face with the water and start crying because it hurt. And since I'm on a tyrant, if I'd had known what she was going to be like, I'd have corrected her when after finding out where my husband works she said Oh I guess you used to be a Veteran. No lady he IS a Veteran. He's still alive.
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Serate
Member
08-21-2001
| Sunday, July 29, 2007 - 11:26 am
Whew I feel much better. Thanks. *L*
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Pamy
Member
01-02-2002
| Sunday, July 29, 2007 - 11:42 am
she sounds like such a biddy! I think you should TP her house! call me if ya need help!
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Ophiliasgrandma
Member
09-04-2001
| Sunday, July 29, 2007 - 12:03 pm
Serate, I like what it says in the Bible: (Paraphrased) As much as it depends on me, let me be at peace with all my neighbors. I don't advocate being a doormat by any means, but again I don't mind a bit of bending over backwards either. In this day and age the out of control neighbor that someone has cheesed off and has wound up dead because of it is growing by leaps and bounds. Revenge and retaliation is scary stuff.
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Serate
Member
08-21-2001
| Sunday, July 29, 2007 - 12:24 pm
What's your number? *L* OG not planning on any revenge or retaliation, just needed to get it out or the next time she came over I might explode on her. I don't think it falls under "peace with my neighbors" for me to do something I don't believe in - wasting water - and having to spend a butt load of money to do that. If that is the case SHE needs to find peace with what I'm doing. Although I am thinking of writing a letter to the city because of their dangerous practices watering their lawn. But that's more for the safety of pedestrians and especially the little kids who ride their trikes on that side walk. And if it makes me feel better, that's just an added bonus. Or is it an added bonus for the safety of the little kids when I write the letter out of retaliation? One of the reasons we chose this house is because there was no HOA. Our yard does NOT look bad. It's just not golf course green, and we don't have any flowers because I hate flowers and I'm allergic to alot of them and I hate flowers and I'm lazy and don't want to tend to them and I hate flowers. Oh, did I mention I hate flowers? If I TP'd her it might blow into my yard and I'd have to clean it up. pssssssssst Pamy what did you say your number was? *L* Actually we were thinking of going and getting some butt ugly lawn ornaments and placing them all over the front yard. Just don't know if we should do pink flamingos, gnomes, race cares, ducks, etc. Hey this might be a good poll question for Lori - how should serate make her front lawn obnoxiously ugly!!! j/k OF course if we had a TVCH meet in Podunk and we just HAPPENED to TP that house........ *L*
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Chewpito
Member
01-04-2004
| Sunday, July 29, 2007 - 12:33 pm
Oh the stories I could tell about MY neighbors... (and they are not going any where, and neither am I)... But id get winded going on about them... I think what Ophilia said rings true... I try to keep my distance and not get revenge... when I have a issue I try to bring it up in a polite manner..... these day's you never know if people will poisen your dogs, kill you or worse... I try to not give to much notice to my "underscoring anger" inside... just smile and go on with my buisness...
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Chewpito
Member
01-04-2004
| Sunday, July 29, 2007 - 12:38 pm
Can I just say one thing about my neibors though..they havent mowed the lawn..Or weeds...in over 5yrs, and the same "dead" xmas tree from that same yr...still sits propped against the house... 5yrs... If they were not so scary Id go mow thier lawn and haul the tree away... Id do it for free!!... but like I said, they are scary.... Serate, Its good to vent!!!
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