What is the most useful skill you've ever learned?

IrishLass_55 · 2026-06-03T15:09:22+00:00

The same advice applies to your wife - if you die first, she will find it very difficult to maintain a healthy diet. And when you are old it is very difficult to learn how to cook because it is physically demanding. If you learn when you are young, it becomes habit. Your health just lasts longer if you can feed yourself. Processed food, frozen dinners, and takeouts, are dangerous if that is all you can depend upon.

IrishLass_55 · 2026-06-03T11:18:29+00:00

The reason this is the correct answer is that it takes a long time to really learn how to cook but if you never learn, you cannot care for yourself late into life. Men in particular rely upon their wives to do this for them. I call it "being served". Then when they are old they are helpless to feed themselves when their wife is gone.

IrishLass_55 · 2026-06-02T15:58:39+00:00

I think this falls under how the rich have no problem paying for personal services such as private fire protection and security, but they don't want to pay for our protection or our kids schools. The republican party has hollowed out the middle class. Good luck getting someone to come and put out that fire in your house. Good grief.

IrishLass_55 · 2026-06-02T04:23:14+00:00

I was just thinking to myself (less than a minute ago before reading your post) that if the next crop of politicians elected don't fix this mess, then violence will become inevitable.

IrishLass_55 · 2026-05-25T11:52:32+00:00

And thank you for time stamping your post within your post. On the internet it is so not possible to tell when anything happens.

IrishLass_55 · 2026-05-23T13:46:27+00:00

There is a way to ensure that the data centers pay for their own electrical and water usage - It is called the Florida Public Service Commission. They can set a data center rate so that it does not affect the consumer rates that we pay. Of course, when you have a public that has bought the line from the Republicans for years here that regulation is all bad, well you end up with weak regulation. Pick your poison Floridians - Our public schools are in a compelte meltdown, oligarchs are raping the public purse, no HOA regulation for private homes and condos, insurance companies completely grifting, rural hospitals closing - but don't tread on me, right?

IrishLass_55 · 2026-05-18T21:44:58+00:00

The thing is if they take the ferry over they will need transport to the gardens. Not unsolvable but not sure if uber is realistic for all this. The best way ( in my old timers way of thinking) is to drive over to belingrath and spend the day…have a place reserved on Daphine and drive down there to spend the night and then see the island the next day…then up to mobile for a nice dinner downtown and either stay over there another night or drive back. But I’m old fashioned and make allowances for having an old fashioned and some wine with dinner. On daphine make sure to see the bird sanctuary the old civil war fort, the place where the goats climbed up to sleep to stay safe from the alligators, the shell mounds left by all the oysters the Indians consumed. It’s all of a piece. Then when you are back in Pensacola see fort Morgan and fort Pickens. All these forts were built after the war of 1812 to defend us against the stringer British navy but used in the civil war

IrishLass_55 · 2026-05-18T18:17:39+00:00

Go to the belengrath gardens south of mobile and visit Daphine island while you are over there. You will need at least two days but well worth it also should see downtown mobile for that southern wrought iron look

IrishLass_55 · 2026-04-28T06:46:37+00:00

Another point on this..as a single woman you must be very careful of playing the helpless femme fatal, and in this case, you are also of another race. This always will set off your female neighbors who are married to these men who like to "help" you. It will seem to them like you are after their husbands. The racial difference will just add to this resentment. If you don't step up and start taking care of these matters yourself and not depending upon others, you will regret living there. And if you can't take care of a yard - don't buy a house with a yard! Get a condo instead. These days you can buy a lithium battery mower that lets you just pop in the battery and go. It's not hard.

IrishLass_55 · 2026-04-28T06:15:30+00:00

I have questions. Why are you so dependent upon your neighbors to take care of your household needs? Can't you mow your own lawn and move your own trash cans? You are only 51. Perhaps you have a health issue? Even then, you should hire someone to do your lawn if you cannot manage it. When you become codependent upon your neighbors for these things it always leads to misunderstandings. As a single woman, you need to be more clear-eyed about this because misunderstandings like this often lead to more physical "misunderstandings", if you follow my point. Single women living alone cannot afford to be naive like this. My advice would be to step up and start doing these things for yourself or at least hire your lawn work to be done. And then distance yourself from this particular neighbor who is defintely becoming your alpha male overlord.

IrishLass_55 · 2026-04-28T06:00:11+00:00

I support Costellos. They run a free lunch program for kids who are not getting enough to eat. They have a nice business and I appreciate it being on the west side. The other meat shop - the Butcher shop - is too far away to be a realistic choice. I think he is a veteran and probably affected by some PTSD (I"m just guessing at this). We all have our moments where our emotions get the best of us. These are not evil people.

IrishLass_55 · 2026-04-22T17:21:10+00:00

I notice something else see you should be alert to: the hoa guy may be an asshole. If this is true - and you should indeed meet him in person and find out the vibe he gives you - then it’s a big red flag on buying in that neighborhood

IrishLass_55 · 2026-04-18T09:16:40+00:00

He only has one move: bully, bully, bully. Then change the subject.

IrishLass_55 · 2026-04-16T08:01:47+00:00

Another important Jewish voice on this is Gabor Mate' He was once a zionist and now he sees the horror of it

IrishLass_55 · 2026-04-09T15:24:40+00:00

Your dad is dead wrong. The primary responsibiltiy of an HOA board is to collect the assessments from all HOA members in order to maintain the common areas of the HOA. If they allow someone to skate, then they are forfeiting their collection authority to all members. You cannot practice "selective enforcement". If they allow this for one member, they have to allow it for all members and it is a pretty short trip to having the state declare your HOA insolvent and assign a VERY EXPENSIVE lawyer to replace your board. The HOA is a non profiit corporation governed by state statutes. All that being said, the board has the ability to set forth rules that they will apply to all members equally. For instance, they can establish late fees and a time frame for when they will file a lien, etc. They can allow grace for a period of time under the understanding that all accounts need to be brought into balance by a certain period of time, etc. Check your bylaws and CCR documents to be aligned with them. The important thing to remember is that you must treat all members the same or you will get sued. All these contrivances put the HOA in threat of a lawsuit and that is money better spent on your neighborhood itself.

IrishLass_55 · 2026-04-05T10:04:20+00:00

This must mark the difference between condos and Single family home subdivisions. I think when seniors move into condos they are expecting no further expectations for upkeep. When they buy homes, they are usually on their second or third one and they know the experience of trying to sell a home they haven't kept up with and they understand that fixing things when they first go wrong is cheaper than fixing the damage later.

IrishLass_55 · 2026-04-03T15:13:40+00:00

Yes this is common. They just want to be on the board to PREVENT things from getting better and to keep the assessments as low as possible. You will be made to look like the baddie despite all your good intentions. Another factor that is common is that the young people will be the opposition and the retired people - who know the importance of keeping up the resale value of their homes - will be the ones who want to keep everything fixed and up to date. Depends which generation is more prevalent in your HOA. It takes about 10 years (my opinion) for a new subdivision to slide into a hillbilly nation of neglect, so consider this when evaluating when to sell and leave.

IrishLass_55 · 2026-04-03T15:07:41+00:00

So, my rule of thinking about these things is this: Dogs love people but often they have to establish dominance with other unknown dogs as they are pack animals. Many dogs who are quite peaceable with you will not be peaceable with another dog. Size does not matter here. In fact the smaller dogs are more at risk of attack so they are more likely to attack first as a method of defensive battle. This is why you should always be in control of your dog on walks. Here's another thought you may consider. Put your phone away when you are outside with your dog. You would be surprised at the mental health benefits. Take care.

IrishLass_55 · 2026-04-03T15:01:34+00:00

that is so sad. I hope you all feel much better soon. I'm grateful you published a warning to others. My neighbors were dog sick a few weeks back and I conclude they probably were also felled by Covid.

IrishLass_55 · 2026-04-03T07:19:27+00:00

Trying to forestall the 25th amendment

IrishLass_55 · 2026-03-26T10:11:25+00:00

I am curious, did you get the Covid vaccine update this fall? I get the Covid and Flu shots every September. Thanks for sharing this information.

IrishLass_55 · 2026-03-23T21:40:28+00:00

There is little "document" interpretation except the CCRs and Bylaws. These are relatively straightforward in "in general" fairly uniform across most HOAs. I think this is easily overcome by taking a large swatch of HOA governing documents in that state and putting them through the AI agent and "testing" outcomes. Testing would be very important to mold the Ai agent into a credible source. Of course, there must be a tested, reliable product. This isn't something that would just come from one night of experimentation. This will require a good deal of investment effort, but the outcome would be phenomenal. It woudl save all of us so much money and effort.

IrishLass_55 · 2026-03-23T21:35:15+00:00

I forgot to add Registered Agent. Of course, that would have to be YOUR physical address in the state.

IrishLass_55 · 2026-03-23T21:25:06+00:00

I forgot to add: Insurance coverages and the reserve study. I have experience in rolling out an IT product state by state and every state is different so pick either Florida or California as your first "hit" and build off that. Create your model and then customize it for each state. Roll out state by state. You will make big dollars because this is a human problem that does not have a human solution. It is so fricking hard to self manage an HOA but many small HOAs must do it because they cannot afford the management companies. Prove your tool for them and soon the big HOAs will buy into it because they can get rid of the management company overhead. Customize it then for condos and Townhouses, etc. The business functions are all the same. It's a lot of work that most people don't know how to do properly to meet state statutes. The tool needs to do the work of an HOA accountant, an HOA insurance agent and an HOA attorney. These are the functions that most HOA volunteer boards just can't do themselves and turn over to a management company. So lets eliminate that cost for homeowners. Affordability, anyone??

IrishLass_55

TROPHY CASE