What Irked You Today?

[stitchdup]

Can someone explain to me why you folks in the US spend so much time raking leaves? (seen loads of passive aggresive notes posted online on this subject) Where I live in scotland we just leave them where they fall, though I do mow the ones off my mothers lawn, but even that gets spread out again in the spring as free compost but that could be cos I'm cheap. Even when I worked for a gardening service when I was younger, out of about 50 customers we only had a couple that wanted them picked up but they were both hotels so that made sense to me as it would save cleaning

Edited December 14, 2018 by stitchdup
spelling always spelling

[cowboy rich]

5 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Why? It's never made any sense to me, since I was a little kid. 

PS. I just let mine stay where they fall. In the spring, my lawn looks at least as good as anyone's who spends effort or cash removing them. I guess my grass just doesn't know any better.  

It's never made any sense to me either, yet my mom does it daily. Dont get it.

[1930fordpickup]

5 hours ago, stitchdup said:

Can someone explain to me why you folks in the US spend so much time raking leaves? (seen loads of passive aggresive notes posted online on this subject) Where I live in scotland we just leave them where they fall, though I do mow the ones off my mothers lawn, but even that gets spread out again in the spring as free compost but that could be cos I'm cheap. Even when I worked for a gardening service when I was younger, out of about 50 customers we only had a couple that wanted them picked up but they were both hotels so that made sense to me as it would save cleaning

For me several reasons. 

1 I do not get enough wind to blow them away or at least to thin them out.

2 Oak leaves take more than 1  winter to break down and kill the grass under them when they get thick. 

3 They always gather by the garage door and blow inside when you open it. 

At my father's house I just  chop them up with the mower and they are fine. He has open fields bu him so he gets plenty of wind. At my house I have a large compost pile about 20 x 20 that has leaves from about 5 years running. Plenty of dirt on the bottom now, just need to get some time to move it all. Great stuff for the garden or planters. 

[aurfalien]

8 hours ago, stitchdup said:

Can someone explain to me why you folks in the US spend so much time raking leaves?

Hi,

Well I enjoy it and go a step further with my lawn, I level it.  I got this lawn leveler a while back and it's awesome;

 

[Mark]

I rake leaves to get them off of the lawn before the snow starts falling.  If they aren't removed, the snow packs them down against the grass, leaving bare spots the next year.  If everything were nice and dry after the last leaves fall, I'd get the mower out and mulch them, but they're always wet by then.

[iamsuperdan]

Plus raking prevents forest fires and other natural disasters.

 

*cue the angry comments*

 

 

[Rob Hall]

Just now, iamsuperdan said:

Plus raking prevents forest fires and other natural disasters. 

I've heard that, esp. in drought prone areas.  NE Ohio is wet enough so that's not an issue. 

[aurfalien]

1 hour ago, Rob Hall said:

I've heard that, esp. in drought prone areas.  NE Ohio is wet enough so that's not an issue. 

Well, not that its' not a good idea to rake them for this reason.  But based on my first hand experience, it's the larger shrubs/chaparral/very tall grass which is a bigger problem.  And of course pine and palm trees.

That is unless you've large piles of leaves.

However firefighters usually clear down to the dirt as part of seasonal maintenance.

[stitchdup]

Thanks folks, I had'nt even considered the fire aspect but its usually pretty wet where I am.

[1930fordpickup]

31 minutes ago, stitchdup said:

Thanks folks, I had'nt even considered the fire aspect but its usually pretty wet where I am.

That is why you ask, to learn. 

It is different everywhere, so we all do things differently. 

[HomerS]

On 12/13/2018 at 11:51 PM, stitchdup said:

Can someone explain to me why you folks in the US spend so much time raking leaves? (seen loads of passive aggresive notes posted online on this subject) Where I live in scotland we just leave them where they fall, though I do mow the ones off my mothers lawn, but even that gets spread out again in the spring as free compost but that could be cos I'm cheap. 

I have a huge oak tree in the front yard.  Oak leaves don't breakdown in a compost pile.

They are GREAT for igniting the fire pit....burn hot and fast.  At least the dry ones.  Wet ones burn but throw off enough smoke (and not much flame) that SWAT could use for a diversion.  Yes I learned that lesson the wrong way. 

[OldTrucker]

What irked me????

Some deleted word broke a window on the car, ransacked it and found the almost 300 Christmas presents for our grandkids in the rear well under the floor of our HHR.

We had been out shopping and were at the last stop (Walmart) at the time. A big 4X4 suv parked next to us after we had parked so the car wasn't visible on the stores security cameras.

Only have liability so we are sol on that. The only plus was her cousin runs a body shop and happened to have an HHR door off a repair job that had a good window glass in it and her fixed it for free.

I'll be going over to "visit" a few days and clean up in the shop for him so I don't feel bad about not paying for the work and window.

Hope the grandkids understand.

add on top about 3000 in doctor bills medicare is refusing to pay.....

Be glad when this year is over.

[HomerS]

Weekend No 2 taking pics w/ Santa for a dog rescue.  We had a deaf lady and her son bring in their two dogs.  One of the other volunteers knew minimal sign language and was able to communicate with her.  In talking with one of the other volunteers, her daughter (about 13-14 years old) said their public school offers sign language as a foreign language....in middle school.  Wow....it makes me realize how out of touch my son's school system (my alma mater) is.  Both my boys learned sign language in their private pre-school.  THAT is just one of the things I think we should be teaching instead of classes that are of no use unless they end up on a trivia game show!

[MrObsessive]

This bugged the heck out of me the other day! I ordered tires online for my car (Challenger) as I refuse to pay upwards of $300 for a single tire like I did before when I had to get new fronts a few years ago. I found a brand new set online through a retailer and for a set of four tires (245/45R/20's), I paid only around $460 including tax.

The shipping was free and they said that the tires would be coming via FedEx.

No problem.

I get a notice from FedEx telling me that the tires would be delivered by this past Thursday between 5-8 PM. There's just one problem...........I'm usually just getting UP at 8PM to go to work that night and I DID NOT want to miss the delivery. I called FedEx to ask them can they move the delivery date to the next day (Friday) to possibly late morning/early afternoon. Since I don't go into work that night, I can at least stay up and not worry about losing any sleep trying to wait up for them.

Well............the person on the other end said they could not move the date. I asked why not?? He couldn't give me an answer as to why he just said they had to be delivered on that day. He then said could I pick them up at a local Walgreen's or something? I said NO, because we're talking about four VERY LARGE passenger car tires and there's no way all four tires are going to fit in a Dodge Challenger.

I said could you take my number and have the guy text me when he's on his way so I can be sure to meet him at the door and get the tires in the house. I said "DO NOT LEAVE THE TIRES OUT ON THE SIDEWALK AS THEY MIGHT GET STOLEN!!

He took my number and then said he would definitely pass it on to the driver. So.......I wait and wait all afternoon for the tires and now it's approaching 5:30 and no word on the tires. I happen to check my email for a second and I get a notice from FedEx telling me the tires have been delivered.

I go huh??...........I rush downstairs and look out the the door and there are all four tires right out on the sidewalk for all the world to see! I was more than livid as I SPECIFICALLY wanted to be at least called to let me know they were there!

Now it's past 6:00 in the evening and I'm waaaay past my time that I'd normally be sound asleep in bed. I was so ticked off that I called the job and told them I wouldn't be in. There's no way I could have gotten by with only 3 hours sleep (or less) as that would have me coming in with a REAL ATTITUDE even though I work alone.

So.........the next time I see something's going to be delivered by FedEx, I'll see if I can ask the seller to HOLD the shipping till a certain day so that it's either delivered on a Friday or Saturday.

As I thought about the whole ordeal, there's only two reasons I can come up with as to why they would not change the delivery date despite their website saying they can do so. One reason is perhaps this time of year. It's very busy for them I'm sure and it was just physically impossible for them to do that. Not a good excuse but one I can see. Another reason is the fact that there was free shipping and I got the cheapest/no frills delivery method possible. No notification, no changing of dates..........zip.

Just the same, that put a real bad taste in my mouth over FedEx.

[crazyjim]

Sorry to hear about your Fedex issue, Bill.  I was wondering though, how you get mail order tires mounted and balanced?

[OldTrucker]

Bill, I have had Fed ex inform me my package was being delivered by USPS only to come back home a day before it was scheduled to be delivered and find it on the porch!

I would check the email and would find an email that said "a truck was in your area so we will deliver your package a day early! It came the same day as it was delivered!

Where I live the postman won't even leave a package anywhere but the postal package boxes in the mailbox area of the park due to the huge theft problem here!

 

Edited December 16, 2018 by OldTrucker

[Ace-Garageguy]

51 minutes ago, crazyjim said:

...I was wondering though, how you get mail order tires mounted and balanced?

Take 'em to the tire store. Usually (around here) it's $20 per to demount the old ones, mount and balance the new ones, plus $5 "disposal" fee per old tire if you don't keep 'em.

[crazyjim]

There's no tire store around here other than WalMart.  My thought was that places wouldn't mount/balance the mail order tires because they're not making any money on the sale.  Like taking your own parts to a mechanic to install.

[Ace-Garageguy]

16 hours ago, OldTrucker said:

What irked me????

Some deleted word broke a window on the car, ransacked it...

Nothing I hate worse than a thief who destroys property getting to whatever he's stealing. I don't mean it irks me. I mean I HATE destructive sneak thieves. Far as I'm concerned, the best punishment for somebody caught doing that is to just put him through a wood-chipper. 

 

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

5 minutes ago, crazyjim said:

There's no tire store around here other than WalMart.  My thought was that places wouldn't mount/balance the mail order tires because they're not making any money on the sale.  Like taking your own parts to a mechanic to install.

I've never had anyone refuse to mount and balance tires, even takeoffs (which I almost always use on my own daily drivers). They whine and moan sometimes, but they do it. For me, anyway. Your mileage may differ.

Edited December 16, 2018 by Ace-Garageguy

[espo]

1 hour ago, MrObsessive said:

This bugged the heck out of me the other day! I ordered tires online for my car (Challenger) as I refuse to pay upwards of $300 for a single tire like I did before when I had to get new fronts a few years ago. I found a brand new set online through a retailer and for a set of four tires (245/45R/20's), I paid only around $460 including tax.

The shipping was free and they said that the tires would be coming via FedEx.

No problem.

I get a notice from FedEx telling me that the tires would be delivered by this past Thursday between 5-8 PM. There's just one problem...........I'm usually just getting UP at 8PM to go to work that night and I DID NOT want to miss the delivery. I called FedEx to ask them can they move the delivery date to the next day (Friday) to possibly late morning/early afternoon. Since I don't go into work that night, I can at least stay up and not worry about losing any sleep trying to wait up for them.

Well............the person on the other end said they could not move the date. I asked why not?? He couldn't give me an answer as to why he just said they had to be delivered on that day. He then said could I pick them up at a local Walgreen's or something? I said NO, because we're talking about four VERY LARGE passenger car tires and there's no way all four tires are going to fit in a Dodge Challenger.

I said could you take my number and have the guy text me when he's on his way so I can be sure to meet him at the door and get the tires in the house. I said "DO NOT LEAVE THE TIRES OUT ON THE SIDEWALK AS THEY MIGHT GET STOLEN!!

He took my number and then said he would definitely pass it on to the driver. So.......I wait and wait all afternoon for the tires and now it's approaching 5:30 and no word on the tires. I happen to check my email for a second and I get a notice from FedEx telling me the tires have been delivered.

I go huh??...........I rush downstairs and look out the the door and there are all four tires right out on the sidewalk for all the world to see! I was more than livid as I SPECIFICALLY wanted to be at least called to let me know they were there!

Now it's past 6:00 in the evening and I'm waaaay past my time that I'd normally be sound asleep in bed. I was so ticked off that I called the job and told them I wouldn't be in. There's no way I could have gotten by with only 3 hours sleep (or less) as that would have me coming in with a REAL ATTITUDE even though I work alone.

So.........the next time I see something's going to be delivered by FedEx, I'll see if I can ask the seller to HOLD the shipping till a certain day so that it's either delivered on a Friday or Saturday.

As I thought about the whole ordeal, there's only two reasons I can come up with as to why they would not change the delivery date despite their website saying they can do so. One reason is perhaps this time of year. It's very busy for them I'm sure and it was just physically impossible for them to do that. Not a good excuse but one I can see. Another reason is the fact that there was free shipping and I got the cheapest/no frills delivery method possible. No notification, no changing of dates..........zip.

Just the same, that put a real bad taste in my mouth over FedEx.

Depending on which online seller you use they will often have a relationship with a local tire store where they will have the tires delivered and the tire store will mouint and balance the new tires at a set rate. I have done this using The Tire Rack before and it worked well. The fact that your tires were still on your door step is amazing no matter where you live anymore. Just a side thought on that, the local PD's in my area have been using decoy packages to catch "Porch Pirates" around here.  

[Muncie]

Bill, sorry this didn't go well with FedEx

6 minutes ago, espo said:

Depending on which online seller you use they will often have a relationship with a local tire store where they will have the tires delivered and the tire store will mouint and balance the new tires at a set rate. I have done this using The Tire Rack before and it worked well. The fact that your tires were still on your door step is amazing no matter where you live anymore. Just a side thought on that, the local PD's in my area have been using decoy packages to catch "Porch Pirates" around here.  

Same here - tires were shipped direct to the tire store - it was painless.  Even better, I checked with  local tire store first to set it up and they matched the online price.

Edited December 16, 2018 by Muncie

[MrObsessive]

3 minutes ago, crazyjim said:

There's no tire store around here other than WalMart.  My thought was that places wouldn't mount/balance the mail order tires because they're not making any money on the sale.  Like taking your own parts to a mechanic to install.

Jim, I got the tires from a vendor on eBay actually. The ended auction is here.

I have a garage just a few miles from me that will mount the tires of course for a price. I had them mounted the next day as I wanted them on the car as I wanted to take the trip to Maryland for the MAMA club meeting/party. While it was on the rack, I had them do a four wheel alignment and with mounting, balancing, alignment, discard fee and tax, it came to about $185. I had to make a couple trips to take the tires there because they were so large, but that was no biggie as it was only a few miles back and forth.

Still a great BARGAIN simply because had I gone back to where I got tires before, it would have cost me over $1200 for four tires which to me is absolutely CRAZY!

So far the tires are riding great and they got a good workout as it was pouring down rain on the way there and on the way back home.

5 minutes ago, espo said:

Depending on which online seller you use they will often have a relationship with a local tire store where they will have the tires delivered and the tire store will mouint and balance the new tires at a set rate. I have done this using The Tire Rack before and it worked well. The fact that your tires were still on your door step is amazing no matter where you live anymore. Just a side thought on that, the local PD's in my area have been using decoy packages to catch "Porch Pirates" around here.  

This isn't the first time I've had trouble with FedEx. About a year ago, I needed a new picture card for my digicam as I was really tired of the old one which filled up way too quickly. I ordered a 2GB card online and FedEx was going to be the deliverer. I got a notice that the card was delivered, but when I opened the door I saw nothing. I looked on the porch, in the mailbox........no card.

I called FedEx and the driver swore he delivered it, however he was too lazy to simply put the (a small envelope) package BEHIND the storm door which logic should have dictated. No, he simply tossed the envelope on the porch more than likely and someone came along and snatched it up. Of course, FedEx claimed no responsibility and I ended up spending 25 bucks ALL OVER AGAIN! The next time I INSISTED that it be sent by USPS as this guy has the brains to put something like that either in my mailbox or behind the door where it belongs.

Can you tell I'm NOT a fan of FedEx??

[HomerS]

1 hour ago, crazyjim said:

I was wondering though, how you get mail order tires mounted and balanced?

Amazon sells tires and I read that they had an agreement with Sears Auto Center to install them.   The money I save on tires would be burned driving TWO HOURS each way to the closest Sears.  To Sears, any $$ is good $$ but Amazon didn't really think that one through.....

[MrObsessive]

What attracted me to this auction was that #1.....the shipping was free and #2.........they did accept returns in case there was some problem. I knew the tire size already so that wouldn't be an issue. But considering what the shipping cost might have been for items weighing 120 lbs total, I can't complain about the cost in the least!