CrushedVamp

Not laughing at you at all because they are different beasts of course, but on tugboats they do not even have electric starters. The air compressor and back-up air compressor does, but that is only because it must be fired up first, get proper compression and then use that air for the air powered starters for the main engines. Thiee by the way are two locomotive engines so about 4000 hp apiece. For electrical power they typical have 250 KW gen sets, having a back up genset as well. Everything on a tug has back up systems. I am in no way comparing a canal boat, just explaining how a tugboat is set up in case people on here care.

Good for you @mlroseplant I think it is so good to give the younger generation compliments. They get so many negative ones now, to the point where they now say a high schooler has the stress levels of a graduate student of 20 years ago. As a father of daughters I always tried to encourage them to dress nicely and at times insisted on it. And of course their mother also dresses nice which hopefully will show them that dressing nice is important in life. That is nice though that you complimented her and in a real, complementary way and one that was not creepy. I think today where encouragement is so often lacking that when it is done, it is ten times more powerful then the suggestions to dress like a slob.

To me AI only does the "fun stuff" or at least for me. I like to write and draw, picking out my word choices, structuring sentences and getting my point across, or making some picture in my mind into a nice book cover, and AI is either butchering that, or stealing from what I have written online somewhere, or God forbid, one of my many novels. I do not need a computer to regurgitate in repeated fashion what I already know, or can get information about, let AI do my dishes, clean my house, or wash my clothes; you know the drudgery of life and let me be creative. Instead, it is the other way around, doing the fun stuff in life leaving us to be more and more bored and relegated to doing miserable stuff with our time. I do think it is interesting that they claimed AI would make the blue collar worker obsolete and it is actually now the opposite. AI is taking white collar jobs while blue collar jobs are soaring in demand and pay. And nuclear power in the United States is starting up again as AI data centers are being plugged in behind-the-meter to nuclear power plants directly. 3 Mile Island is now being taken out of mothballs to fire up a AI Data Center. Who would have thought!

I have been looking around some and it seems real fur is coming back into fashion again which I think is good. I was hoping for sable but see that is well outside of my price range, she is my wife and priceless but not a $25,000 dollar fur coat priceless. I draw the line there. I was looking at some coyote fur bomber style jackets though that looked stylish and warm and in the $1400 range which is far more practical. I think I am going to pull the trigger on that for a Valentine's Day present. Maybe that will set her up for a March 14th Day present for me! 🙂 (Don't look that holiday up while at work though... NOT safe for work!

We have a similar community here, but rather than live along canals they moor to public docks. There is a monthly fee because they are plugged into shore power with their vessels, but its their home full time and year around, which here is important because the Coast Guard does not break ice in every harbor. I knew of some people that lived like that and it was its own, unique community. I was not a part of it, just invited to go see how they lived, and know they really looked out for one another just because they really had too. I was a mariner myself then, but it was much different as I lived on tugboats which is a more industrial form of how you live @shyheels . So we were always in and around those that lived in the harbors. Sometimes they needed this or that, and because we were so self-sustained, we would lend them a hand when we could. (I was an engineer aboard). Its how I got my job now which at that time was keeping powerplants and generators running, and now I do the same, but am land-based in doing it. It still has the same problem though, power generation on land or at sea is a 24/7/365 task.

The only "heels" I know of today that is accepted in footwear for men in general terms is the "Logger Boots" that have a taller heel to them. I wore those for years, and probably still would if it was not for most having steel toes and being lace-ups. I have to wear safety toes, but they have to be composite and not steel because of the high voltage I work with, and the specific grounding situations inside substations. As for laces, I have just got accustomed to Sketchers slips in for sport, casual and work wear. It is interesting about the history of heels though and how it came about. You are right though, in fashion once something is given the stigma of feminine it is hard to get back. I do have another one though: leggings. They are slowly being adopted by men and women. It is more of jock wear then general acceptance but considered "unisex" now.

Some houses depreciate too, or at least here in the USA they do. Mobile homes, also called single wides, and double-wides here not only depreciate yearly, but some lending institutions will not loan money on a single or double wide that is over 10 years old. I buy my houses with cash as I hate having debt, but I will not buy these types of houses because it would mean only cash sales would limit the number of people who could buy them. And there is no motoring up the canal to get away from crappy neighbors either. 🙂

That is too bad. I saw this very same thing with my ex-wife and her mom. No matter how she tried it just was never good enough, yet my ex-wife kept trying for the impossible, hoping. It has ruined her life. I brought her out of that saga for ten years, but then she got sucked right back into trying to please her mother. It was not just our marriage that got ruined, but several before ours, and she has a trainwreck of a life just because she tries to placate her mother. Deep down inside she knows she never will, but she keeps trying... Sad.

My view on fashion is convoluted because it is ironically so simple: who gives a flying flip about what gender it is supposed to be for if its what you want to wear? I wear leggings because they are warm and comfortable compared to sweatpants or long johns. And I think it is great that guys are wearing high heels because they were originally men's fashions. I don't care that women wear them now, but I would love to see it go back to where it is common place for men to also wear them. I really cannot define it, but I just like seeing outfits that are well thought out and coordinate well. I can't define it, but I know when I see it.

That is the beauty of houses. Twenty years ago people bought them to actually live in but now houses are how average, everyday people make an investment and cash in on that equity. Its pretty easy to do and no huge risk. Add in the need for towns to have tax revenue and there is a LOT of reluctance to let the housing market fall. Not that it can't, but it is the last thing they want. With the stock market averaging 7% per year, and the housing market averaging 17% pe year, it is easy to do the math. Myself, I love fixer-uppers.

Maybe, but I have seen the opposite as well. I once worked at a powerplant and decided since we had a locker room I was going to dress nice to the place and back. While on shift I would be in blue collar clothes but not to and from the house. Not a suit and tie kind of look, but dressed nice like my wife and I typically do while we are out and about, or going to a doctors office or something, On the second day of dressing nice, management came and asked me if I would be part of management.... TWO DAYS! I turned them down because I have no interest in that as I like what I do, but it was an interesting social experience. Granted it could be just a coincidence, but I don't think it was. When you dress nicely, you do feel better about yourself instead of feeling frumpy, but you also project a sharp image that resonates with people. I am never about being fake. My wife and I get accused of it all the time, but we are actually the opposite, while we are dressed sharply, we don't dress for attention, we dress because of how it makes us feel. But I get it, someone sees us dressed sharp and they make assumptions. That is just human nature.

We just had a rare earthquake earlier in the week. It was a 3.8, which was the 5th largest we have ever had. Sorry to hear about your termites though. That really sucks. We do not have termites here, or any poisonous snakes either, but as I type this it is snowing and -7 below zero (f) with high winds. Summers are nice here, it's just they only last from July 3rd to July 5th! 🙂

Can you lift it up? I had a desk that I loved but it was just not the right height. Since I am a writer, it HAS to be the right height, so I lifted it up on four bricks. It is ideal now. But I understand there may be others in your home or apartment where height changes may not be agreeable with them. Glad to have you back. I have not been on here for years either.

Thank you for typing all that as I learned something. It makes absolutely perfect sense though I did not consider it before: a basement is a livable area and a cellar is not. I therefore have a cellar. I do have outside and inside access via stairs, but its height is too low. I would put it at 7 feet, but its the wastewater lines that mess things up. Some are five feet high. It really is too bad as the masonry work with the locally found slate and granite being superb and actually nice looking. I do not drink but always thought a wine cellar would look good down there. I would either have to reroute the plumbing lines, dig down the earthern floor, or both to make it livable. I do not see it anytime soon as we have an unfinished 3rd floor that we seldom go into now, and its just me and my wife here. Property taxes are kind of bad though. A house on the river but with only 1 acre of land, surrounded by conservation land, and a 3300 sq ft house with 24 x 24 two story woodworking shop costs me $2200 in property taxes per year in US dollars. Aside from that though, the part that is nice about living here is that we have NO BUILDING CODES. None. We have some state laws we have to abide by, like having a septic system so we don't pollute the river, and can't build within 50 feet of the main road, but other than that, they figure here, you have to live in whatever you build and ultimately sell it, so that is on you how you build it. The permit cost to put an addition on your house will set you back by $20 USD, and to buy raw land and build a new house will cost you $50 USD. Our lack of building codes stems from so many people having sawmills. Because US Building Code Standards means you cannot saw your own lumber, most towns voted down building codes. One year one woman wanted to force every house in town to have smoke detectors and we all rallied together and got that defeated. Needless to say that lady no longer lives here.

I am a mans-man through and through so I never thought I would post publicly on this topic, but here I am. In any case with an ingrown toenail a few years ago a doctor told me they did not do that at the clinic, but a nail saloon would easily take care of the problem. She also told my wife that if she had never been before that she should go. For medical reasons I did, and I was hooked. I do not color my toenails, just clear, but have now for two years, going monthly. It was awkward at first but nowhere near as unheard of as you would think, lots of men go. I don't even consider it a gender thing anymore but a medical necessity, kind of like going to a massage therapist every few weeks. Sure, that can be a foo-foo massage for sure, but the kind i get are deep tissue to keep me going. Climbing up those high-tension towers is havoc on my calves and there are no second chances with falling from height or getting lifted at elevated voltages. I need to stay limbered up.

I watched a 1980’s show yesterday where in trying to show how she was a materialistic woman of sorts, she wore a mink coat. That got me to thinking, everything old is new again, so is it acceptable to wear real fur again. I was thinking of buying my wife a fur coat. I know for many years the wearing of real fur has been declared wrong, although my own ideas on that are a little different. I had a farm and let people trap animals, but after awhile they stopped because without a market, there was no money in the furs. This was too bad as the wildlife on my farm got really out of whack. I looked up some coats the other day and the prices are now reasonable but was curious as to how that coat might be approached by others?

I think a lot of it is personality, and that is whether a person is buying things or talking to a woman about woman's fashions. For me, I raised six daughters and been married for thirty years, I have gone alone to the store and bought tampons and yeast infection medication; NOTHING gender specific bothers me. NOTHING! Most of the time I employed a trick in the literary writing world called "Lampshading" which is where you cover what some would consider a misdeed with an over the top admission. I might start the conversation by saying, "I can't believe I am buying this stuff as a guy but here I am". We would all laugh and the awkwardness was over. But that was me. My mother in law on the other hand, she had a senior moment once and ordered "Donut Balls" when really she wanted what we call Donut Holes or Munchkins here. That was twenty years ago and she still is embarrassed by what she said.

You are there so it is hard for me to disqualify this statement because I really do not know your lifestyle as much as you, but it is really hard to say. While different from fashion influence, I was going through a VERY hard time in my life a few years back and out of the blue I had this younger guy come up to me and say that he had been watching me from afar and had a lot of respect for me for how I was handling all that was going on. It really surprised me, but it really showed, someone that was barely on my radar I was influencing. It is easy to say, "well that is with dealing with multiple cancers" and pass it off as being different, but I actually think its easier to be an influencer for fashion. All it takes is a person to see you a few times being bold and they may be appreciative and prodded to action themselves. I know people have influenced me on this site. As you guys know, I wear leggings for warmth and comfort around the house, but NEVER where I could be seen in them. Someone made the comment of going to Lowes wearing theirs and it was an influential post...

Zero offense taken and you are right, we do tend to be on the conservative side, but my wife's fear of the fashion police stems more from her mother (84 years old). She is a major influence in my wife's life and while that is normal to come extent, it is not always healthy. I have heard my MIL say over a dozen times, "My, your skirt is too short". Or "Your heels are way too high". If my wife gains any weight (my MIL is less than 100 pounds) she goes out and buys her diet pills. But it can be anything from the wrong color of her clothes, how tight it fits, to her choice of shoes... We were once at a restaurant and my MIL had just chided my wife on how her skirt length was too short and not thirty seconds later the waitress came over and said, "I love your outfit". That was nice to hear... So it is not so much me, or my wife, but constantly hearing it from her mother that makes my wife self-conscious and that is an influential person...

I think we are all more influencers than we know, and you especially. You just have this huge love of high heels that bursts through, a true passion, so I think you influence a lot more people than you give yourself credit for. That includes a lot of people on this site. And never forget, most forums have 99 people lurking for every one that posts a reply, so you might (and others on here) have far, far, far more influence than you think. But that is what being authentic does... it shows others its fine to like whatever it is that they like!

That is all so true. I also think motivation has a lot to do with it too. My wife straight up dresses for me because she loves me and knows I like it. Since she is not dressing for others attention, I think its a look she can pull off. But people also suck. My wife and I are probably some of the most humble unassuming people in the world, but we do like to dress up and most of the time are some of the best dressed people at a venue. Not over the top bling-bling, but sharply dressed. Yet we hear snide comments a lot. Most of the time it is my wife who hears them from other women in the bathroom, or walking past just loud enough to her husband but so that we can hear, and occasion for us as a couple. I think it just becomes unusual as more and more people dress down, and in doing so they either feel guilty about how they constantly dress, or flat out make the wrong conclusions on why we do dress nice. For us, its all about this: "You feel how you are dressed". Spend a week in the wilderness bush crafting it, you are going to feel gross and yucky. But dress nicely, and you feel better about yourself.

Good for you, and as others have said, it looks good on you. Sorry you were cold, but sometimes you just got to put fashion before performance! 🙂 I think it is a true staple of fashion because there are so many versions of the pea coat. It can be mini-skirt length, or trench length, or something in between which can really go well with various outfits.

You are right, here in the USA a Victorian House is of a certain style and not an era, although often that does fall into the time of her reign. My house is thus considered a Victorian because while it was built in 1940 it is built with most of the elements of Victorian house. I would say that it was built in that style because the area is loaded with mills, one major sawmill still operating today within site of our house. Because of its style, and how it is situated at the confluence of two rivers, what amounts to a really nice spot to put a house, I think it was built by the sawmill owners son or grandson. At that time, in producing material for the war effort in Europe, it would have been very profitable times as cheap Depression Era labor was producing high dollar war material and enabled them to build a lavish house. But it changed. It seems like the front part of the house was built well, and with quality materials, but the ell… the back part, was not. I think the reason was simple. Since we did not enter World War II until 1941, at first there was money, material and skilled carpenters but as the house neared completion, not so much on the back part of the house. And that is where I have found the majority of my issues. The front part of the house is bullet proof and hardly needed work, whereas almost everything on the back of the house needed attention.

Yes, I am in the same way. It is a really nice home since here in the USA most modern construction is rather cheap and gaudy. No character. No embellishments, and now with the USA needing some 250,000 carpenters due to the shortage, no skills in workmanship. My house sounds a lot like yours though, It too is three stories tall, six bedrooms, four bathrooms, two kitchens and a great room on the third floor with living rooms and formerly libraries. A big house with horse hair plaster, hidden rooms, but due to my location, was insulated well in the 1970's. The boiler has had an upgrade too. No central heating system though one of the two fireplaces is still installed, but rather a hydronic heating system that makes this house surprisingly easy and cheap to heat, but an area I am constantly improving with better insulation and boiler components. In all out honesty, it gets so cold here that a good heating system is a requirement, and more so because I live on a river. It is not only cold here, it is cold and damp between the region, and proximity to the river, and ocean not so far away. As for the style, here Victorian is a style of house. Of which there are several variations. It typically is depicted by bays on the front of the house, turrets or towers, wide trim inside and out and of course stained glass windows. For our house, even amongst others it is known in town for its many, and very prominent stained glass windows. In buying it, I have added the ability to do stained glass in my work skills just so I can add to that house legacy and have thus added a TON of new stained glass windows to the this house since buying it two years ago. I do not have a tower/turret on this house but hope to add it someday. In considering what I wrote above, I need further explanation. While I love old houses and always have, please do not think I would NEVER be impressed with yours perhaps. My reply above used a VERY broad brush to depict newer and older houses for sure. There are crappy old houses and crappy new ones, just as there are good brand new houses and good older ones. While I make my house to seem like it is perfect, it is HARDLY that. It has really rough walls, gaps and cracks, and unlevel floors. It needs a lot of work, but heck all that describes me at age 50!

My wife asked this very question last week. We were at church and she was wearing a rather short sweater dress. Appropriate but short, and for those that like details with beige pantyhose and heels. Because of the semi-circular arrangement of our church, as a guy returned from the bathroom, and how my wife had her legs crossed, he got an eyeful of a LOT of her leg. It was clear from his grin, he liked what he saw. Since my wife is oblivious to this stuff, I mentioned I was not the only one who liked her dressed as she was, and that was when she said, "But don't you think its wrong of me to wear shorter skirts and dresses?" We are on the young side of being old (50) so I am sure these days are coming to an end, but I appreciate her, and others her age, being age-defiant with their skirt lengths,