Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

fintail

This is a typical 1910s-20s PNW style bungalow - in the small town where my mom lives (old logging town), there are probably hundreds just like this, hers isn't too different. Cheap simple houses, but still with wood trim, built-ins, etc, and many are ~100 years old and still holding up pretty well:



I think many of these might have been from kits or from planbooks too, as the same plan can be seen repeated on every street for blocks.

oldfarmer50 said:

When I think of a bungalow I picture a small house oriented long side into the lot rather than facing the street. Sears sold them in kit form. My grandmother’s house was one of those.

stickguy

You used to be able to order those from the Sears catalog.

explorerx4

I wonder if that's where the 'Craftsman' style of house originated?

stickguy

nope. Actually comes from arts and crafts style. I did find this website that talks about it. They did have pattern books which explains why so many were similar.

https://www.rockethomes.com/blog/home-buying/craftsman-style-house

The style appears to have been popularized on both coasts around the same time.

In upstate New York, Gustav Stickley, a well-known furniture maker, took his popular furniture style and expanded it into home styles. He founded “The Craftsman” magazine, distributing it far and wide, to sell affordable patterns directly to consumers.

At around the same time, the style popped up in Pasadena in southern California, created by two architect brothers – Charles and Henry Greene – who were inspired by both English reactionary architecture and Oriental wood architecture, says Kato.

The popularity of Craftsman homes widened throughout the United States, thanks to pattern books sold directly to families by other builders and through periodicals like “House Beautiful” and “Ladies Home Journal,” Riordan notes. While originally, the term “Craftsman” meant a home built from a plan in Stickley’s magazine, now it has expanded to indicate any home built in the Arts and Crafts style.

imidazol97

I don't know what fluid your son's transmission uses, but the Dexron VI used in GM transmissions is often described as darkened after fairly low mileage checks on cars used in a manner that is actually normal use. Apparently that's a characteristic of Dex VI fluid. A mechanic said that was not a problem. I had the fluid changed in my son's Cruize at 50K about because we didn't know the history of where or how it was driven for 20K miles as a rental/lease, because I'd read these reports of dark-colored drains when people did their own changes.

driver100

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

If we say "bungalo" in Florida no one knows what we are talking about, even if they are seniors. Bungalo is an English word. In Canada we usually call a one story small squarish house a bungalo, when a one story gets elongated it is called a ranch style, or possibly one story.

When I think of a bungalow I picture a small house oriented long side into the lot rather than facing the street. Sears sold them in kit form. My grandmother’s house was one of those.

Yeh, I would call that a bungalow.

imidazol97

I tried to subscribe to a magazine my wife wants again. They will not take a subscription without AUTORENEWAL on their website. $7 for 6 issues. Birds and Blooms.

I did find it on amazon for a year at $19.xx if I didn't accept the autorenewal there.

What is it with these companies? SiriusXM again.

driver100

oldfarmer50 said:

stickguy said:

Farmer, I don't recall Scotty's exact position. I know it was don't flush, but doing a simple drain (or suck out) and refill with the same amount of clean fluid should still be OK. Just have to do that a few times on an older car. And I agree with the idea that 10 years of around town use is really hard on fluids, so needs it regardless of miles.

I did my Acura's every 4 years I think. Or maybe 30k miles. But way more often than called for. Just preventative maintenance. Will probably do the new car around 5 years, which at this pace might only be 30K miles!

So maybe the fluid was dirty just as a function of being driven in Florida by grandma for 10 years. I guess that makes sense. My worry is that dirty fluid at that milage might indicate abuse or some internal malfunction.

BTW, I found a replacement for Jipster’s beloved Mercury.

https://newyork.craigslist.org/que/cto/d/brooklyn-2007-mercury-mariner-sport/7268577381.html

It looks pretty nice and $5700 with 18500 miles seems like a good price.....it might even qualify for you, I think you would easily get 6 years for $5700 = $1000 a year.
So the kid is selling it and it is a pretty good little story, if it is a scam the kid is pretty creative.

snakeweasel

oldfarmer50 said:

stickguy said:

Farmer, I don't recall Scotty's exact position. I know it was don't flush, but doing a simple drain (or suck out) and refill with the same amount of clean fluid should still be OK. Just have to do that a few times on an older car. And I agree with the idea that 10 years of around town use is really hard on fluids, so needs it regardless of miles.

I did my Acura's every 4 years I think. Or maybe 30k miles. But way more often than called for. Just preventative maintenance. Will probably do the new car around 5 years, which at this pace might only be 30K miles!

So maybe the fluid was dirty just as a function of being driven in Florida by grandma for 10 years. I guess that makes sense. My worry is that dirty fluid at that milage might indicate abuse or some internal malfunction.

BTW, I found a replacement for Jipster’s beloved Mercury.

https://newyork.craigslist.org/que/cto/d/brooklyn-2007-mercury-mariner-sport/7268577381.html

It's been driven an average of less than 1,500 miles a year. And what's with the tape measure?

driver100

imidazol97 said:

I tried to subscribe to a magazine my wife wants again. They will not take a subscription without AUTORENEWAL on their website. $7 for 6 issues. Birds and Blooms.

I did find it on amazon for a year at $19.xx if I didn't accept the autorenewal there.

What is it with these companies? SiriusXM again.

The amazon price may be a reseller who is trying to make a profit. The publisher price is a direct sale, and they probably know if you are on autorenew there is a good chance you won't stop after the first year, and you might want to find out how much following years are going to cost....you might want to cut it off if year two is $30.94 as they suggest.

stickguy

auto renew is not a big deal. Ask them if you can pay more to not have it, they will probably take it! Otherwise just cancel at the end if you don't want it any longer.

stickguy

snakeweasel said:

oldfarmer50 said:

stickguy said:

Farmer, I don't recall Scotty's exact position. I know it was don't flush, but doing a simple drain (or suck out) and refill with the same amount of clean fluid should still be OK. Just have to do that a few times on an older car. And I agree with the idea that 10 years of around town use is really hard on fluids, so needs it regardless of miles.

I did my Acura's every 4 years I think. Or maybe 30k miles. But way more often than called for. Just preventative maintenance. Will probably do the new car around 5 years, which at this pace might only be 30K miles!

So maybe the fluid was dirty just as a function of being driven in Florida by grandma for 10 years. I guess that makes sense. My worry is that dirty fluid at that milage might indicate abuse or some internal malfunction.

BTW, I found a replacement for Jipster’s beloved Mercury.

https://newyork.craigslist.org/que/cto/d/brooklyn-2007-mercury-mariner-sport/7268577381.html

It's been driven an average of less than 1,500 miles a year. And what's with the tape measure?

tape measure? Probably in case you did not trust his interior measurements, he wanted to give proof.

oldfarmer50

imidazol97 said:

I don't know what fluid your son's transmission uses, but the Dexron VI used in GM transmissions is often described as darkened after fairly low mileage checks on cars used in a manner that is actually normal use. Apparently that's a characteristic of Dex VI fluid. A mechanic said that was not a problem. I had the fluid changed in my son's Cruize at 50K about because we didn't know the history of where or how it was driven for 20K miles as a rental/lease, because I'd read these reports of dark-colored drains when people did their own changes.

I think it uses mercon V.

Michaell

stickguy said:

In upstate New York, Gustav Stickley, a well-known furniture maker, took his popular furniture style and expanded it into home styles. He founded “The Craftsman” magazine, distributing it far and wide, to sell affordable patterns directly to consumers.

We bought a Stickley end table a number of years ago. Wife and I call it the “forever table”, because for what it cost we knew we’d be keeping it forever.

It’s too big for the house we now have, so it lives in the basement.

explorerx4

A nice warm 5 degrees F this morning.

tjc78

explorerx4 said:

A nice warm 5 degrees F this morning.

Lol. 18 here, pretty chilly.

Meanwhile @xwesx is laughing at us.

ab348

stickguy said:

auto renew is not a big deal. Ask them if you can pay more to not have it, they will probably take it! Otherwise just cancel at the end if you don't want it any longer.

Or just put it on a credit card that is due to expire soon.

imidazol97

SiriusXM just sent me an email to give them a valid credit card since I cancelled my JP Morgan Chase credit cards recently.

I think I'll give them the Citi number that I'm going to cancel in a few months.

imidazol97

stickguy said:

auto renew is not a big deal.

I beg to differ. It's a hassle to remember to not have it auto renew into a new subscription without knowing about it.

If I were to be sickly at the time, my wife doesn't have the ability to keep track of all this other than watching the credit card billings after the company has already done their damage. Then having to call and get it removed as a chargeback.

snakeweasel

explorerx4 said:

A nice warm 5 degrees F this morning.

We had the 5 degree mornings the last few mornings but today it was mid to upper 20's. But there is snow in the forecast with total snowfall of up to 10 inches, knowing the correctly named accuweather that means we may get an inch or two.

graphicguy

nyccarguy said:

I ALWAYS tip the entire bill (including tax) at 20%. If the service is particularly awful I'll leave nothing, but that's only happened maybe 5 times.

My wife and I used to go to this Spanish restaurant. We bought a groupon for it that included an autographed copy of the Chef's recipe book. The place was empty, the food wasn't cooked right, they took too long to bring out the appetizer, and then rushed the entree out. The server was nice. I tipped 20% of what the food would normally cost. We were on our way out and they asked if something was wrong. I told them everything that went wrong, but the problems were resurrected and the food was delicious as always. They then had the nerve to ask why I tipped so little. I explained that I tipped on what the normal cost of the meal was. They said to me, "But you got the book from the chef that we normally sell for $59." I walked out and haven't been back since.

I believe I’m a generous tipper. 20% minimum on the entire check. Not going to kill me and it makes a difference to the wait staff.

Stiffed at a restaurant on a tip once. It was when I was still married, so many years ago. It was at a pretty high end Mexican restaurant in the Bay Area where I was on a business trip and brought my wife with me.

I think it was a $100+ check for the two of us. Restaurant wasn’t busy. Service was super slow. Food was served cold to tepid, at best. Sent it back....twice. Yet, we could see our server chatting away with the other restaurant people while we waited for our food.

I wasn’t going to leave him any tip. My then wife left a penny. Server came running after us as we were leaving the restaurant wondering what he had done wrong. I told him. He became indignant and threw the penny at us.

Next day, I called the restaurant’s manager and told him of our service (or lack thereof). He told us to come back for dinner on him. We never did.

Even poor service gets 10%-15% from me.

kyfdx

stickguy said:

nope. Actually comes from arts and crafts style. I did find this website that talks about it. They did have pattern books which explains why so many were similar.

https://www.rockethomes.com/blog/home-buying/craftsman-style-house

The style appears to have been popularized on both coasts around the same time.

In upstate New York, Gustav Stickley, a well-known furniture maker, took his popular furniture style and expanded it into home styles. He founded “The Craftsman” magazine, distributing it far and wide, to sell affordable patterns directly to consumers.

At around the same time, the style popped up in Pasadena in southern California, created by two architect brothers – Charles and Henry Greene – who were inspired by both English reactionary architecture and Oriental wood architecture, says Kato.

The popularity of Craftsman homes widened throughout the United States, thanks to pattern books sold directly to families by other builders and through periodicals like “House Beautiful” and “Ladies Home Journal,” Riordan notes. While originally, the term “Craftsman” meant a home built from a plan in Stickley’s magazine, now it has expanded to indicate any home built in the Arts and Crafts style.

Sears definitely had Craftsman style homes in the catalog, though. There are numerous examples in the Cincinnati area.

graphicguy

snakeweasel said:

kyfdx said:

@fintail pop and soda are both wrong. It's "coke", or you may be allowed "soft drink".

I know at one time Coca Cola was lawsuit happy against anyone that used "Coke" for anything other than Coca Cola. Not sure if they still are but be careful.

I think I’ve mentioned, right after I graduated from college, I got a job with Xerox. They sent us for training at a large campus in Leesburg, VA (beautiful area, BTW). The very first training session on the very first day, they spoke of correcting anyone we heard say they were going to “Xerox” something they meant to copy. They were very concerned about the brand and didn’t want it to become generic, with the ensuing loss of their trademark.

houdini1

driver100 said:

If we say "bungalo" in Florida no one knows what we are talking about, even if they are seniors. Bungalo is an English word. In Canada we usually call a one story small squarish house a bungalo, when a one story gets elongated it is called a ranch style, or possibly one story.

They are both basically rectangles. On a ranch the long side faces the street, on a bungalow, the narrow side faces the street. Bungalow, sometimes called a shotgun house. You could shoot a shotgun straight through the front door and out the back door.

driver100

houdini1 said:

driver100 said:

If we say "bungalo" in Florida no one knows what we are talking about, even if they are seniors. Bungalo is an English word. In Canada we usually call a one story small squarish house a bungalo, when a one story gets elongated it is called a ranch style, or possibly one story.

They are both basically rectangles. On a ranch the long side faces the street, on a bungalow, the narrow side faces the street. Bungalow, sometimes called a shotgun house. You could shoot a shotgun straight through the front door and out the back door.

A ranch is longer across the front....but never heard of a shotgun house but then guns are basically illegal in Canada, so the term might not sound good.

explorerx4

There are plenty of double shotgun type buildings in Hartford, usually apartments 3 to 5 stores.

driver100

imidazol97 said:

stickguy said:

auto renew is not a big deal.

I beg to differ. It's a hassle to remember to not have it auto renew into a new subscription without knowing about it.

If I were to be sickly at the time, my wife doesn't have the ability to keep track of all this other than watching the credit card billings after the company has already done their damage. Then having to call and get it removed as a chargeback.

If I have to have autorenew I mark it on a calendar, and on my tasks and anywhere else, and it comes up every day from about 1 week before the expiry date. You can mark it and Mrs I can mark it, if you both miss it it comes out of the estate.

sda

driver100 said:

houdini1 said:

driver100 said:

If we say "bungalo" in Florida no one knows what we are talking about, even if they are seniors. Bungalo is an English word. In Canada we usually call a one story small squarish house a bungalo, when a one story gets elongated it is called a ranch style, or possibly one story.

They are both basically rectangles. On a ranch the long side faces the street, on a bungalow, the narrow side faces the street. Bungalow, sometimes called a shotgun house. You could shoot a shotgun straight through the front door and out the back door.

A ranch is longer across the front....but never heard of a shotgun house but then guns are basically illegal in Canada, so the term might not sound good.

Shot gun style house were very popular in the south, New Orleans still has a lot of them.

jipster

oldfarmer50 said:

stickguy said:

Farmer, I don't recall Scotty's exact position. I know it was don't flush, but doing a simple drain (or suck out) and refill with the same amount of clean fluid should still be OK. Just have to do that a few times on an older car. And I agree with the idea that 10 years of around town use is really hard on fluids, so needs it regardless of miles.

I did my Acura's every 4 years I think. Or maybe 30k miles. But way more often than called for. Just preventative maintenance. Will probably do the new car around 5 years, which at this pace might only be 30K miles!

So maybe the fluid was dirty just as a function of being driven in Florida by grandma for 10 years. I guess that makes sense. My worry is that dirty fluid at that milage might indicate abuse or some internal malfunction.

BTW, I found a replacement for Jipster’s beloved Mercury.

https://newyork.craigslist.org/que/cto/d/brooklyn-2007-mercury-mariner-sport/7268577381.html

That's one sweet Mariner. I think my 2008 model had a redesigned interior and exterior, which is a bit sportier looking imo. $5,700 for a 2007 with that low mileage sounds pretty good considering I got $4,000 on my 2008 Mariner with 170,000 miles.

The CL ad has the detail to make it look legitimate Buying a car from Florida, from someone who is a hand off owner a bit cause for concern. But, based on the ad alone, I'd put the "legitimate factor" at a strong 90%.

On my son's 2010 Ford Fusion Premiere, I didn't do a trans flush. I basically did a drain (siphon) and fill 2 times. Shifted fine before the fluid exchange, seemed to shift a bit smoother after...but that could be a product of my overactive imagination. ;-)

tjc78

Who needs a truck?

I was probably videoed and put on TikTok .. “oh no”. Lol.

tjc78

And holy crap .... lumber prices are just insane

5 - 2x10x10
2 - 2x10x12
3 - 1/2 4x8 plywood

$300

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

stickguy said:

Farmer, I don't recall Scotty's exact position. I know it was don't flush, but doing a simple drain (or suck out) and refill with the same amount of clean fluid should still be OK. Just have to do that a few times on an older car. And I agree with the idea that 10 years of around town use is really hard on fluids, so needs it regardless of miles.

I did my Acura's every 4 years I think. Or maybe 30k miles. But way more often than called for. Just preventative maintenance. Will probably do the new car around 5 years, which at this pace might only be 30K miles!

So maybe the fluid was dirty just as a function of being driven in Florida by grandma for 10 years. I guess that makes sense. My worry is that dirty fluid at that milage might indicate abuse or some internal malfunction.

BTW, I found a replacement for Jipster’s beloved Mercury.

https://newyork.craigslist.org/que/cto/d/brooklyn-2007-mercury-mariner-sport/7268577381.html

It looks pretty nice and $5700 with 18500 miles seems like a good price.....it might even qualify for you, I think you would easily get 6 years for $5700 = $1000 a year.
So the kid is selling it and it is a pretty good little story, if it is a scam the kid is pretty creative.

Definitely a car for me if I had need for another one. My criteria for hooptie car value is 10k miles of use for every $1,000 paid regardless of time. So for that Mercury I’d want 57,000 miles of use which seem a reasonable expectation.

The car is located in NYC so who knows what to expect. They were running a CL scam down there a few years ago where when the buyer arrived with cash they were robbed, so caution is the word.

The story is pretty similar to what the dealer said about my son’s Fusion. Claimed it was the sales managers grandmother’s and she gave up driving. CarFax seemed to support that.

Anyway, kid’s car shifts smooth as glass and further research on various forums indicates that transmission fluid can turn dark at fairly low mileage so I’m happy.

jipster

On tips....on Edmunds I may be known as the jipster, but at restaurants I consider myself "the tipster". I'm usually at 20%. Poor or unfriendly service gets a bump down to 15%. Step on my feet, or spill a beer on my head....drops down to 10%.

oldfarmer50

explorerx4 said:

A nice warm 5 degrees F this morning.

I think it was near zero up here but I’ve noticed that in this part of the country we get sun with cold weather and clouds when it’s mild. All December and most of January it was mild and cloudy. I think I’ll take the cold to avoid the depressing overcast.

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

houdini1 said:

driver100 said:

If we say "bungalo" in Florida no one knows what we are talking about, even if they are seniors. Bungalo is an English word. In Canada we usually call a one story small squarish house a bungalo, when a one story gets elongated it is called a ranch style, or possibly one story.

They are both basically rectangles. On a ranch the long side faces the street, on a bungalow, the narrow side faces the street. Bungalow, sometimes called a shotgun house. You could shoot a shotgun straight through the front door and out the back door.

A ranch is longer across the front....but never heard of a shotgun house but then guns are basically illegal in Canada, so the term might not sound good.

A shotgun house is where you get married after the girl’s father finds out she’s in the family way.

jipster

Restaurant mishaps? I ordered an ice cold beer at Red Lobster 🦞 once. No sooner than I touch the glass...it explodes...or implodes, in my hand. I wasn't cut. In touching the glass, it was still warm, as if it had just come out of a dishwasher. Perhaps there was small crack in the glass.

Another time (same Red Lobster) the waitress brings my wife and my order on a large serving tray. She serves my wife, but in coming to my side of the table she loses control of the tray, and my steak dinner plate slides off the tray and into my lap, then onto the floor.

Did have a mixed drink spilled on my shoulder once, but not my head.

Plenty of beverage spills over the years. The kind where you stand up at the speed of lightning so as not to get cold or hot beverage spilled onto your crotch.

tjc78

We had a waitress drop a glass decanter on our table right after the main course was delivered. It broke and we all got splashed. To make matters worse they had to take all our food and bring new since there was water and glass pieces everywhere. It was a table of 8 of us. They lost a lot of money on that meal. I think they took 50% off the tab.

28firefighter

I’ve never stiffed anyone on a tip. Everyone has a story and needs to make a living. If the service is bad, I just won’t go back. But I’ll never penalize a server - too much is out of their control. Plus, I still remember what it was like working in service jobs during high school and college.

It takes serious intentional bad action to get me not to tip at least 20%. And during pandemic I’ve been tipping closer to 25-30% on takeout (have not sat in a restaurant since last February).

fintail

I don't order out or eat out a ton, but over the past year I have probably increased my tip rate by 50% as well. I also always try to tip in cash, so the server or whoever is helping me can have the money immediately.

I still remember maybe 10 years ago, I was in SC and stopped for a quick simple on the road bite to eat at a sit down place. It was incredibly cheap, like under $10, and almost like muscle memory just tipped my roughly 15-20% (so maybe a $2 tip) rather than just leaving $5, I felt a little cheap about that later.

ab348

snakeweasel said:

I know at one time Coca Cola was lawsuit happy against anyone that used "Coke" for anything other than Coca Cola. Not sure if they still are but be careful.

The thing that drives me slightly crazy this time of year every year is when you see commercials for whatever on TV promoting something that would be good to buy or watch before the Super Bowl. But they can't call it that, so they all refer to it as "The Big Game".

I don't know if the NFL has actually brought legal action against anyone for using the name without permission, or if they are just really good at threatening.

ab348

On of the handful of TV shows I can stand to watch involving home renovation id Restored on DIY. It has some hokey production tricks like always setting up every commercial break with a tease beforehand, but the main presenter Brett Waterman seems pretty good. Some the clients are puzzling, but whatever, it's California after all.

I just watched him work on this one, which they call a "1911 Craftsman Cottage". It doesn't look like much of a cottage, and I doubt it came from a Sears catalog for sure. They spent $18K on light fixtures alone. But an impressive-looking home.

roadburner

My son texted me and told me that he had bought the NBC Sports Gold TrackPass so that we could watch the Rolex 24 at Daytona- I even was able to catch a replay of the Michelin Endurance Challenge race last night.
I told my wife we definitely raised a good kid!

omarman

ab348 said:

snakeweasel said:

I know at one time Coca Cola was lawsuit happy against anyone that used "Coke" for anything other than Coca Cola. Not sure if they still are but be careful.

The thing that drives me slightly crazy this time of year every year is when you see commercials for whatever on TV promoting something that would be good to buy or watch before the Super Bowl. But they can't call it that, so they all refer to it as "The Big Game".

I don't know if the NFL has actually brought legal action against anyone for using the name without permission, or if they are just really good at threatening.

From the The Lantern dated September 11, 2019. Ohio State refused ‘The’ trademark.

snakeweasel

sda said:

driver100 said:

houdini1 said:

driver100 said:

If we say "bungalo" in Florida no one knows what we are talking about, even if they are seniors. Bungalo is an English word. In Canada we usually call a one story small squarish house a bungalo, when a one story gets elongated it is called a ranch style, or possibly one story.

They are both basically rectangles. On a ranch the long side faces the street, on a bungalow, the narrow side faces the street. Bungalow, sometimes called a shotgun house. You could shoot a shotgun straight through the front door and out the back door.

A ranch is longer across the front....but never heard of a shotgun house but then guns are basically illegal in Canada, so the term might not sound good.

Shot gun style house were very popular in the south, New Orleans still has a lot of them.

One of the reasons there are a lot of shot gun houses in New Orleans is that people in the center of the country shipping their goods either to the east coast or Europe would build rafts and float their goods to New Orleans for shipment on boats. They would then break apart the rafts and sell it as lumber. This lumber was idea for inexpensive homes usually built as shot gun homes.

snakeweasel

ab348 said:

snakeweasel said:

I know at one time Coca Cola was lawsuit happy against anyone that used "Coke" for anything other than Coca Cola. Not sure if they still are but be careful.

The thing that drives me slightly crazy this time of year every year is when you see commercials for whatever on TV promoting something that would be good to buy or watch before the Super Bowl. But they can't call it that, so they all refer to it as "The Big Game".

I don't know if the NFL has actually brought legal action against anyone for using the name without permission, or if they are just really good at threatening.

IIRC they have brought legal action to people using "Super Bowl" without their expressed permission.

And for any NFL lawyer reading my name is John Smith and I live at 123 Fake street.

oldfarmer50

fintail said:

I don't order out or eat out a ton, but over the past year I have probably increased my tip rate by 50% as well. I also always try to tip in cash, so the server or whoever is helping me can have the money immediately.

I still remember maybe 10 years ago, I was in SC and stopped for a quick simple on the road bite to eat at a sit down place. It was incredibly cheap, like under $10, and almost like muscle memory just tipped my roughly 15-20% (so maybe a $2 tip) rather than just leaving $5, I felt a little cheap about that later.

I tip cash and pay the bill in cash so the CIA can’t track me.

driver100

I have almost 400 reviews on Tripadvisor and I rarely give a bad review. But one bad one was for a local indie restaurant that had pretty high prices - when they were in business before my review .

There wasn't much selection on the menu so I tried to order healthy and I ordered Monk Fish which I have never had before. When it came it was tough and I quietly said to Mrs D this fish is tough. The waitress heard me and said it has the texture of steak, I'll bring you a steak knife. That didn't help a lot and the fish was worse than Capt Highliners and the salad was just some green weed type leaves, tasteless. Mrs D's wasn't much better, Shepherds pie and the same bland tasteless weeds. When she asked if we wanted dessert we passed, why add to the misery.

The poor waitress tried so she got a 15% tip. The only good thing was they had a little shop upstairs where people sold things on consignment. We were looking for pillows and we found 2 for half the usual price, the difference almost paid for the pathetic dinner.

I looked up Monk Fish after, only a small part can be eaten in the mid section though around the tail is supposed to be gourmet dining, more like lobster - I sure didn't get that part. They are bottom of the lake garbage feeders and will eat anything. One look and I will never order it again.

driver100

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

houdini1 said:

driver100 said:

If we say "bungalo" in Florida no one knows what we are talking about, even if they are seniors. Bungalo is an English word. In Canada we usually call a one story small squarish house a bungalo, when a one story gets elongated it is called a ranch style, or possibly one story.

They are both basically rectangles. On a ranch the long side faces the street, on a bungalow, the narrow side faces the street. Bungalow, sometimes called a shotgun house. You could shoot a shotgun straight through the front door and out the back door.

A ranch is longer across the front....but never heard of a shotgun house but then guns are basically illegal in Canada, so the term might not sound good.

A shotgun house is where you get married after the girl’s father finds out she’s in the family way.

I should have seen that coming.

jmonroe1

tjc78 said:

And holy crap .... lumber prices are just insane

5 - 2x10x10
2 - 2x10x12
3 - 1/2 4x8 plywood

$300

Yep, the cost of the flipping biz has shot up. Son #1 just signed a contract for his 3rd flip house. He’s moved on up this time. No more smallish 3 BR jobs in starter neighborhoods. This time it’s a 4 BR, 2/12 bath (will be full 3 baths when he’s finished hammering) 2300 square foot colonial job. This one is only 2 blocks from me. Oh well, if nothing else my travel time has been reduced.

jmonroe

jmonroe1

driver100 said:

I have almost 400 reviews on Tripadvisor and I rarely give a bad review. But one bad one was for a local indie restaurant that had pretty high prices - when they were in business before my review .

There wasn't much selection on the menu so I tried to order healthy and I ordered Monk Fish which I have never had before. When it came it was tough and I quietly said to Mrs D this fish is tough. The waitress heard me and said it has the texture of steak, I'll bring you a steak knife. That didn't help a lot and the fish was worse than Capt Highliners and the salad was just some green weed type leaves, tasteless. Mrs D's wasn't much better, Shepherds pie and the same bland tasteless weeds. When she asked if we wanted dessert we passed, why add to the misery.

The poor waitress tried so she got a 15% tip. The only good thing was they had a little shop upstairs where people sold things on consignment. We were looking for pillows and we found 2 for half the usual price, the difference almost paid for the pathetic dinner.

I looked up Monk Fish after, only a small part can be eaten in the mid section though around the tail is supposed to be gourmet dining, more like lobster - I sure didn't get that part. They are bottom of the lake garbage feeders and will eat anything. One look and I will never order it again.

Youzer, I wonder if that’s her?

Many years ago I worked with a nice young guy. Was only married a few years and he complained that no matter how hard he tried he simply could not get along with his mother-in-law. Got to the point we teased him about it. Finally, one day he said, “I’m not even talking to that ugly fish anymore”. He got teased about that too.

jmonroe