I hear you! My dd decided she wanted a skateboard at age 11. We also live on a steep hill in a (small) city with no sidewalks. On top of that, she is a pretty serious musician and all I could think about as broken hands, fingers, arms, HEAD, etc..... I was not in favor at all. Dh talked me down. Dd had her own money and bought it herself along with the wrist guards that I insisted upon. She wears her bike helmet too. Dd is pretty stoic about pain, so that was not an issue. But I do have to say that she has had it over a year now and has yet to break skin (or bone). She had to carry it to flat places to use it at first. In our case, that means about a 1/2 mile walk to the local park that has usually-empty basketball courts to practice on. Now that she is pretty proficient, we do allow her to board on the well-steep streets near our house but for sure not our very steep streets. I wonder if boarding might be a good step into biking? It is far more difficult IMO but it can be more "comfortable" for some kids because they can just step to the ground. I also encourage you to reconsider the bike thing. I think it is worth it to learn before adulthood. I know the pain of packing the bike up and driving. We also do not have a rack and I have to bungee the darn thing to the roof to take it places, but it is so so SO hard to learn as an adult.

Well..... I said I wouldn't go into too much detail because it really is insane but.... No trains. We have no tracks. Nearest trains are at least four hours away and in a different state. And the road in question is on an island that is only attached to the mainland by a single bridge with a single road.....the road in question. I wish I were kidding. There is absolutely no way for me, as a car driver, to avoid this stretch of road and there is no way for the trucks to either. The only ways to make it safer would be for the state to make it single lane or to restrict the size of trucks allowed. The former is the easiest IMO. The logging industry is not going to allow the latter. The only other way I see to really fix this issue is to actually tear down the (historic) downtown of the town the road goes through and rebuild the road. But all of that really is moot. The situation is the situation and you all helped me win the friendly dispute:)

Just to be very clear (because I'm thinking maybe I wasn't in the OP), the trucks are taking up both lanes of traffic going in the same direction....not oncoming traffic!

That's kind of my point. Even "safety" is pretty subjective from one person to the next. I'm with you here....just pointing out that it is not always easy for individuals to know where the line is, let alone a municipality that is trying to please everyone. At the every least, if there are ordinances, the city should be enforcing them. If those ordinances are stupid or outdated, then they should be changed. The city in the article is simply following their own ordinances, no matter how dumb they are. Should they just ignore them for this one case or every case? Or should a property owner who has issue with them do something to change them, apply for a variance, or just cry foul when they are held to ordinances that were in place before they wheeled the trailer up? I also "benefit" from the lax oversight in my city. Our house is by far the most in need of a paint job (in violation) on our block. If we get fined I have only myself to blame....although I will definitely point out the pages of unaddressed violations also occurring on my street. Then I will apply for a variance on the grounds that no painter will even return my phone calls because my neighborhood has become a slum. Because my house has lost so much value, I have a hard time justifying the cost to paint. What's the point? And while I cannot say this is true everywhere, our owner-occupier neighbors who are mostly low income are not the ones violating the ordinances. It is the slumlords, none of whom are in need of neighbors helping them paint. They are looking to squeeze the last buck out of houses before essentially abandoning them. Obviously this is a complex issue and we are not going to come up with the one true answer in this thread but I do believe ordinances have their place even if they are sometimes misguided.

Where is the line? My junkyard neighbors are not being "unsafe," although I would argue some of those cars are leaking into the soil so, maybe. My beef is not that it is unsafe. It is just really really ugly and will make it difficult for me to sell my house at all, let alone for market value. The burning garbage might not be considered "unsafe," but my issue is that it stinks and makes it miserable to open my windows or hang out in my yard. Perhaps those are "richer people" values? I do think it is well within a municipality's responsibility to protect other home owners within that municipality. I think basics like requiring houses are painted when needed, junk is cleaned up, and broken windows do not remain boarded up indefinitely is reasonable. Restrictions on size and type of houses should probably be reserved for people who want to live in an HOA. But that is *my* line in the sand and everyone has a different one. What makes something a "richer people value?" I'm not arguing for or against the people in the article. I don't see an issue with their house and would likely not mind having them as neighbors. But that is so subjective. So all we can do is fall back on the ordinances.

FTR, I am against classist ordinances. I see no reason for any city (HOAs are a different story) to require a minimum square footage/bedrooms for a dwelling or get picky about construction provided it is safe. Trailers that are safe and permanently installed do not get my knickers in a knot. Burning couches and diapers do.

I am about as crunchy as it gets and 100% for composting toilets, solar power, and alternative dwellings. That said, if a city has ordinances, residents should be held to them. You want to live off of the land? Great! Do it. But do it where it is allowed. Or apply for a variance. Or work to change an ordinance you disagree with. I do not think this is always about gentrification. I live in a small city that does NOT enforce the ordinances and I am angry. I bought my property with the understanding that I would adhere to the ordinances and my neighbors would as well. I am angry that the city will not fine my neighbors that are currently operating a junk yard in their front yard or the neighbor that has his extended family living in a dilapidated motorhome that is parked on the street or the other neighbor that burns their garbage including diapers and a COUCH. The average lot is 50x100 feet. What my neighbors do is right in my business. I could go on and on and on. Not only are these violations impacting my quality of life (garbage smoke, anyone?) but it is also lowering the value of my investment. I get it. Some ordinances are dumb. One has the option of reading those ordinances and deciding if they want to live with them before buying or moving into a neighborhood. I want chickens. There is an ordinance prohibiting them. I have been working with the city over the last two years and a new ordinance has been drafted and is going to the city council next month. I worked with several like-minded neighbors to get it changed. I knew I could just get the chickens because my city does not enforce anything but decided to do it the right way so I have a leg to stand on when I call about the burning couches.

Exactly. These towns' city blocks were built before cars were a remote possibility. Widening the road would mean tearing down the entire downtown. And yes, the choice for a truck is take up both lanes or clip the sidewalk. I vote for making it one lane but that is the state's decision and this fish is so tiny compared to the crumbling road situation in my state that there is no hope it will ever be properly addressed.

Food trucks are only one problem. Massive logging trucks are the biggest culprits. While I would love for them to be forced to use smaller trucks, I doubt the logging lobby groups are going to ever allow that. Logging is one of our biggest industries.

Yeah. Me too. I mentioned that we routinely deal with far more ridiculous driving issues. This is just one of many things I see as incompatible with driver-less cars. Like does the driver-less car people know how to program the traffic etiquette when the morning school bus is sliding out of control down the hill? We all know this happens routinely. We know where to go and what to look for on an icy morning. We know that bus is not going to be able to stop at the stop sign. It cannot almost once a week all winter. There is no way I'm leaving that decision up to a program.

This is for sure the real issue. The issue with this road is brought to the state every single year by the towns it travels through. It is a state highway so the town cannot do anything about how many lanes or the rules of what kind of vehicles can travel on them. For many reasons, the state really does not consider this issue a priority and it will likely not be resolves anytime soon. So we are left to manage it using the actual traffic laws and everyone's desire to not die. But, I am sensing the majority opinion is (assuming there is no law like WI) that it is ultimately the truck driver's legal responsibility to do what they have to to navigate the curves without collision rather than the car driver. Therefore a driver-less car would approach the curve without consideration for the truck needing that lane cleared and the truck would have to work around that.

Ah. That is very interesting! I do have to wonder if we have a similar law in the books. I don't remember it from driver's ed but at that time I lived where this was never an issue. Off to look.....

I won't go too far into the specifics because I realize how ridiculous it sounds to people who do not live here. Just assume that the trucks must travel on this stretch of road and that they cannot make the turn without entering the other lane. It is the local default that the car drivers do what they have to to stay out of the way because no one cares who is "right" when you have just been squished by a logging truck. But it is sounding like it the legally the responsibility of the truck driver to do what they have to to approach a curve without possibility of a collision. They do usually squeeze out the other lane before the actual curve by straddling the two lanes if a car (or cars) is not proactively backing off or zipping ahead to clear the lane. There are other completely ridiculous driving situations in my area that most people would never believe but that are "routine" here. This is not even close to the most ridiculous.

The speed limit is 25mph and the trucks are generally going well under that. The "curves" in question are 90 degrees and it is actually impossible for some (most, actually) trucks to take those and stay in their lane. The particular stretch of road I am thinking of has two 90 degree turns, one right, one left, within a 200 foot stretch of road. There is no shoulder and due to heavy snowfall, the road is often even narrower because of plow mounds. There are a few other examples of this situation in my area. Everyone seems to know what to do and I have not seen or heard of a collision in this situation. The "dispute" came up when a group of us were discussing driver-less cars and how they would "read" what we all thought was the car driver's responsibility to allow the truck to have both lanes. After discussion, we wondered if it really was the car driver's responsibility or the truck driver's. So for discussion's sake, assume that the trucks indeed cannot navigate the curves without using both lanes....even if you think that is crazy or impossible.

Help settle a dispute. Say you are on a non-divided state highway with two lanes in both directions. The highway snakes through lots of small/medium-sized towns so traffic slows, the road might have curves/turns, and the road essentially narrows since there are no shoulders in town, just parking and sidewalks. There is a lot of thru-traffic on these roads and therefore a lot of semi-trucks, logging trucks, and other large vehicles. On the curvy parts of these roads, the large vehicles cannot make the turns without taking up both same-direction lanes. Cars generally know to hang back or get ahead of trucks before a curve. The more experienced truck drivers will start to force their way to straddle the two lanes well before the curves so cars cannot accidentally end up next to them. Who is at fault if a car does end up next to a truck on a curve and is hit, the driver of the car or truck?

This is going to sound crazy, but I swear it is magic. I mix about 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper with about 1/2 cup water. Take a big swig and gargle as long as you can stand, then swallow. It relieves the pain for about an hour. Repeat as necessary. We do this at the first sign of a sore throat and sometimes it seems to prevent the illness from setting in.

Is it possible she didn't know? I teach engineering classes that use various software design tools. I know those tools pretty well but once in a while someone will ask how to do something in class that I don't think the software will do. I try always to say that I "don't think" the software is capable of whatever because the minute I say that it won't, one of my students will take great delight in figuring out how to do it and letting me know....in front of the whole class:)

Around here where most houses had to have bathrooms added after indoor plumbing because a "thing," almost every house only has one bathroom and it is often not on the same floor as some or all of the bedrooms. Anytime I think to worry about that, I remember how lucky we are to not have to go outside to use the bathroom!

I'm over 40 and have maintained the same weight (aside from pregnancy) my entire adult life. I am 5'7" and stay within 5lbs of 120lbs which I reached at about age 16. I do not think it has much (if anything) to do with habits, will power, or how I was parented. I eat more than I think most adults do. I am vegetarian and eat mostly whole, organic foods. I sit down for three meals a day and typically at least one additional snack....often in the evening. I do like my treats but am more likely to crave cheese, fries, and crackers rather than sweets. I like the occasional cookie or chocolate but almost always turn down dessert or break room treats because I really have to be in the mood to want anything sweet. I eat until I am full and rarely fret about diet other than trying to be balanced. I never drink soda or juice. But I do have 2-3 servings of beer/wine on most days. I am very active. Unless ill or injured, I run/bike/swim/ski at least one hour, five times a week. This seems to have almost no effect on my weight. In fact, when I am training for something, I typically gain a pound or two. Not sure why. There have been eras in my life where I have not been active at all and that did not effect my weight. My shape does change based on activity. One thing I have noticed is that I have always been restless. I do not go to movies because I cannot sit still through them. I was the kid always tapping my pen/foot/whatever in class. I used to power walk between classes as a kid and even into college to get it out of my system. I can walk/hike for hours and hours without thought. I have often wondered if that is a factor.

We have spent far too much time discussing whether things we hang on the walls should be parallel with the ceiling or floor....or split the difference? There seems to be no rules about this.

1885 here. And super harsh climate. Since we bought it 12 years ago, we have updated the plumbing and electrical. The windows had already been replaced with 1970s vinyl inserts which are super-tacky but I am thankful to have windows that are easy to open/close and are not drafty. The handful of windows we have that do not open are original with he waves or stained glass. We can see outside through parts of our basement so rodents and spiders would be an issue except that our cats take care of them. Pros: Solid construction Awesome woodwork including some birdseye maple flooring Nice warm character Everything seems "sturdier" Cons: No storage. At all. We have to plan on one semi-major project a year Dust, rodents, spiders Undoing whatever past owners have done Nothing is level. At all. Like so not-level that one end of our piano requires 3" of shims For us, all said, the pros outweigh the cons and we would do it again. We are not handy. Not even a little bit. So, we do have to hire out almost all work. It is a hassle. But the house itself was about half the price of a comparable new house so while we do have to shell out for projects more often, we are still coming out ahead. And I would rather deal with the cost and expense of fixing something that has been around for 130 years than be mad that a newer house needs work too. I see the no storage as more of a pro than a con because it prevents us from collecting stuff. I am a minimalist so it works for us.

It is hard. My dd is in 7th grade and has no homeschooled friends. And she is an only child. Luckily, she does have two very close schooled friends and a pretty big collection of not-so-close friends (also schooled). But I do worry that these kids will be less interested in maintaining a friendship with dd as they get into high school age. We have found that even schooled kids do not seem to have the same time and ability to just hang out frequently. People's lives and families are just too busy. I bend over backward to ensure my dd can participate in any activity she shows interest in just to spend time with peers.

I wash all together and no bleach. We don't generate enough laundry to do separate loads. If I waited long enough to have enough, things would mildew. All is either dried on hot in the drier or out on the line in sun. I only do 2-3 loads of laundry a week, one of which is the cleaning rag, kitchen towels, napkins, hand towels, hankies, socks, undies, and dh's t-shirts load. All other clothing in the second load. Sheets and bath towels every other week in the third load. That has been my method for 15 years and we are all still alive and healthy so it must be OK. Any time I doubt myself about this (or many other things), I think of how people in this country lived 100 years ago. I relied on laundromats for many years and got into the habit of minimizing and streamlining our laundry to save my time, sanity, and money. I do run separate loads for cleaning rags, hand towels, napkins, and hankies anytime someone is sick and I always run guest towels and sheets in their own dedicated load since I know not everyone is as lax as I am about these things. I also always ran cloth diapers on their own load.

I have never had moths but my mom had a 20 year infestation that has scarred me for life. So much so that I would not open packages she mailed me inside the house. I opened them outdoors and put whatever she mailed in the freezer for a few days. But I buy a lot of bulk grains and legumes. I know that the store I buy them from has occasional flare ups. So I take all of the precautions already discussed. I use mason jars to store them. In fact, I fill the jars directly at the store so they come into the house sealed and ready to put in the pantry. If I have items that are either too large or no suitable for jars, I store them in the freezer. I always have 25# bags of wheat berries, rice, and rye going and I store them in my chest freezer whenever possible. When the freezer is full (after the end of the harvest), it is cool enough outside that I can store those bags in a sealed container out in the garage until enough room frees bad up in the freezer. I always check my mason jars before opening. A handful of times, I have found live moths in a jar. I FREAK OUT, then calmly take the whole jar outside and dispose in the compost bin. I pour boiling water over the jar and lid before washing as normal. Then thank my lucky stars it was all in the jar and no harm was done. Unless your items are visibly teeming with life, would can probably salvage much of it by putting it in the freezer.

I would take a very close look at the route. The Greyhound lines that service our area are all overnight but require transfers at "bus stops" in the middle of the night. These stops are not manned places. They tend to be parking lots and gas stations. So one might have to wait for 30 minutes at 3am in a gas station parking lot for the transfer bus. Alone. I'm pretty confident about sketchy travel situations but was not at all comfortable waiting alone, in the dark, at 3am, in 10 degree snowy weather. It was all fine but having done it, I would never let my own dd do it until she is an adult and decides for herself.