ECF Refugee Thread All welcome

[chopdoc]

I had a kinda-sorta understanding that gov't was corrupt, for many years. It was only when I switched to vaping that I came face to face with the truth: gov't would rather every single American smoked and drank themselves to DEATH, just so that gov't could keep harvesting those sin taxes -- nobody in gov't gives one single shit about any of the people who put them there, and pays their salaries.

I also had no idea exactly how corrupt BP is, the fact that helping people get over this or that ailment is the merest side effect of BP's ever increasing thirst for profits at EVERYONE'S expense -- they make Dracula look kind and benevolent.

And in this modern world, there's no longer any place at all that one can go to escape all this corruption and greed -- BP is multinational, not just an American evil, and I daresay that BP is one of the biggest causes of that infamous law about corporations being the same as persons. God knows that CDC and WHO are every bit as corrupt.

I'm 57, will be 58 in May, and it's possible I may not live to see any justice brought home to those who've created this massive cancerous evil... but maybe I can live long enough to help bring it about, eventually, by refusing to shut up, by spreading the truth as far and wide as I possibly can. Even if I never live to see justice, helping to START it would make mine a life well lived.

Andria

No Andria, the government is out of control and they dont give a damn about us at all. Yet that isnt anything new. If it was the Affordable care act would of addressed the real problem of affordable healthcare, which is the greed of the medical industry yet instead they went after insurance companies until no one could afford health insurance anymore. Plain pathetic. BP is just a part of big medical and thats went form being an honorable profession to what it is today, just pure greed. With the amount of money funneled into politics from big medical ensures not a damn thing will ever be done to right the injustice of it all.

I can remember how things was when I was real young. I would get sick, my mom would take me to see old Doctor Dean in Cleveland Oh. He would examine me, give me a shot or medicine from large bottles he had and my mom would pay cash and we went home. Simple as that. Today to see a general practitioner ya better have $150 for the visit plus money to go to the drug store and get your prescription. That is how far things have changed since the early 70's.

So dont just blame BP Andria, they are only part of a bigger cog greasing politicians hands.

 

[AndriaD]

No Andria, the government is out of control and they dont give a damn about us at all. Yet that isnt anything new. If it was the Affordable care act would of addressed the real problem of affordable healthcare, which is the greed of the medical industry yet instead they went after insurance companies until no one could afford health insurance anymore. Plain pathetic. BP is just a part of big medical and thats went form being an honorable profession to what it is today, just pure greed. With the amount of money funneled into politics from big medical ensures not a damn thing will ever be done to right the injustice of it all.

I can remember how things was when I was real young. I would get sick, my mom would take me to see old Doctor Dean in Cleveland Oh. He would examine me, give me a shot or medicine from large bottles he had and my mom would pay cash and we went home. Simple as that. Today to see a general practitioner ya better have $150 for the visit plus money to go to the drug store and get your prescription. That is how far things have changed since the early 70's.

So dont just blame BP Andria, they are only part of a bigger cog greasing politicians hands.

I dunno; it's BP's massive wealth that has corrupted the gov't -- so who is more corrupt, the gov't for taking it, or BP for corrupting the gov't with it? 6 of one, half-dozen of the other if you ask me. BP has the Big Bucks... which nowadays is the same as power. Power corrupts... absolute power corrupts absolutely. The kind of money that BP has is that "absolute power."

The gov't wants to play like they care about The American People. BP wants to play like they actually care about people's health. Both are the biggest lies EVER. It's the Ouroboros, the snake eating its tail.

Andria

 

[chopdoc]

The more I think about it, the more I cant help to think it is the way of things. Its not right, its not good and there isnt a damn thing we can do about it other than bitch and moan.

 

[chopdoc]

Well fugee's, another wet miserable day.

Me thinks today will be a good day to do some leather working. Been a long time since I had the opportunity or ambition to do any yet I got a lot of my leather working stuff out the other day and found a piece of leather I cut out for a holster over a year ago. Yesterday I was able to do some work on it and start the sewing process. With luck in a couple of days it will be done and then I will see about making another one. I have 6 civil war era black powder revolvers. All of them are fully functioning firearms that are replicas of the originals. 3 of them dont have a holster yet so I need to get busy

 

[AndriaD]

I've been thinking lately about starting another blog... probably mostly about vaping. I don't have a webhost anymore, nor even a domain name, but lately I've been kinda feeling the lack of something techie and artsy-fartsy to do; building websites satisfied in both areas.

Andria

 

[chopdoc]

Almost have my holster done.

Went looking around and after this, I am out of leather of that thickness so had to order some. Typical me, I never do anything half ass, so I had to order a piece 10 sq foot, then another piece thats thinner 5 sq ft and while I was in the ordering mood went ahead and ordered 8 sq ft of deer hide bucksin and some italian sheep leather That should be enough to keep me occupied for a year or so

 

[AndriaD]

Howdy you fuggers. Miss y'all. Been so busy with Quora, Twitter, and getting my new site up and running, haven't had much time for VU lately, other than this latest crap with Gottlieb resigning and being informed about the $100 mil extortion.


Andria

 

[chopdoc]

Seen the radar this morning and was thinkng of you Andria. Seen some wet stuff almost on top of ya.


Been busy around here too. Got the first grass cutting of the year out of the way and other than that been just trying to breath. At times thats all I can do is just try to breath.

 

[AndriaD]

Seen the radar this morning and was thinkng of you Andria. Seen some wet stuff almost on top of ya.


Been busy around here too. Got the first grass cutting of the year out of the way and other than that been just trying to breath. At times thats all I can do is just try to breath.

Yeah it looked last night like it would surely be outta here before this morning, but no such luck; dragged its heels, and it's been fit for ducks since about 11am. Or maybe geese.... saw a whole family of 'em crossing the road on the way home from the bank.

Hate to hear that about your breathing; I know exactly how scary that is, and then trying not to hyperventilate in pure terror. Was exchanging msgs with a lady on CASAA's FB page, who's had a similar experience to mine, with vaping and her breathing -- she seems to have "asthmatic bronchitis" (what my son suffers) rather than bronchial asthma, but she noted that since switching from smoking to vaping, her breathing at times is actually worse now. I mentioned about the topical anesthetics and bronchodilators in cigarette tobacco, which definitely *masks* asthma symptoms, so after quitting, I don't think the asthma actually IS worse, just more noticeable. I suggested she might want to try a high-PG vape rather than high-VG, since high-VG does seem to cause some breathing problems for some folks.

I've posted the URL for my new site in some other threads, though primarily to its vaping-related section -- there are also sections about my home, and our kitties, y'all might care to see -- Middle-Age Miracles

I put the site together with a site creator online called Weebly, and it really is nice to not have to fuck with all the damn code, and just concentrate on the content... but yesterday I had to go add "meta descriptions" to all the pages, just so the damn search engines can find it. First I had to remember HOW.

Andria

 

[chopdoc]

Yeah it looked last night like it would surely be outta here before this morning, but no such luck; dragged its heels, and it's been fit for ducks since about 11am. Or maybe geese.... saw a whole family of 'em crossing the road on the way home from the bank.

Hate to hear that about your breathing; I know exactly how scary that is, and then trying not to hyperventilate in pure terror. Was exchanging msgs with a lady on CASAA's FB page, who's had a similar experience to mine, with vaping and her breathing -- she seems to have "asthmatic bronchitis" (what my son suffers) rather than bronchial asthma, but she noted that since switching from smoking to vaping, her breathing at times is actually worse now. I mentioned about the topical anesthetics and bronchodilators in cigarette tobacco, which definitely *masks* asthma symptoms, so after quitting, I don't think the asthma actually IS worse, just more noticeable. I suggested she might want to try a high-PG vape rather than high-VG, since high-VG does seem to cause some breathing problems for some folks.

I've posted the URL for my new site in some other threads, though primarily to its vaping-related section -- there are also sections about my home, and our kitties, y'all might care to see -- Middle-Age Miracles

I put the site together with a site creator online called Weebly, and it really is nice to not have to fuck with all the damn code, and just concentrate on the content... but yesterday I had to go add "meta descriptions" to all the pages, just so the damn search engines can find it. First I had to remember HOW.

Andria

I tell my doctors and I tell them its not getting any better and I all hear back is to lose some weight. I already lost 75 fuckin pounds, I am 50 lbs less than when I was walking 10K steps a day and my breathing is getting worse. Then the insurance got involved in my meds for breathing and I am having to switch and take two of them now that doesnt have the medicine in the one I am taking, yet since nothing seems to be working anyways I really dont know I I need the medicine they are talking about. Who knows Im just sick and tired or the medical industry.


Cool page but really Andria, you didnt have a better picture of Tuxie for the front page? She looks like a solid black cat in that pic

 

[AndriaD]

I tell my doctors and I tell them its not getting any better and I all hear back is to lose some weight. I already lost 75 fuckin pounds, I am 50 lbs less than when I was walking 10K steps a day and my breathing is getting worse. Then the insurance got involved in my meds for breathing and I am having to switch and take two of them now that doesnt have the medicine in the one I am taking, yet since nothing seems to be working anyways I really dont know I I need the medicine they are talking about. Who knows Im just sick and tired or the medical industry.


Cool page but really Andria, you didnt have a better picture of Tuxie for the front page? She looks like a solid black cat in that pic

Well, that was the first page I did, and my requirements were a) landscape rather than portrait orientation, and 2) colorful... many of my indoors pics of her aren't colorful at all, just a black/white cat with a gray wall behind her -- BORING. I'm still in the process of getting pics of her resized for posting -- all the ones I had on an earlier site that went down when I fired my last host, were lost when my HD crashed back in the summer, so I'm having to re-download them all from the camera's SD card.

I may have some other pics of her in that same colorful flower bed that show more of her white "bib", but truthfully, that white bib doesn't always show very well; she's very much a TRUE tuxedo, with only the white bib, white stripe down her belly, one white foot, and white snout-whiskers -- pretty much all the rest of her is just black. Hence wanting color in the pic.

I don't have a lot of pics of Annabel at all, so I guess i need to take some... if she can be induced to hold still long enough.

Andria

 

[chopdoc]

Well, that was the first page I did, and my requirements were a) landscape rather than portrait orientation, and 2) colorful... many of my indoors pics of her aren't colorful at all, just a black/white cat with a gray wall behind her -- BORING. I'm still in the process of getting pics of her resized for posting -- all the ones I had on an earlier site that went down when I fired my last host, were lost when my HD crashed back in the summer, so I'm having to re-download them all from the camera's SD card.

I may have some other pics of her in that same colorful flower bed that show more of her white "bib", but truthfully, that white bib doesn't always show very well; she's very much a TRUE tuxedo, with only the white bib, white stripe down her belly, one white foot, and white snout-whiskers -- pretty much all the rest of her is just black. Hence wanting color in the pic.

I don't have a lot of pics of Annabel at all, so I guess i need to take some... if she can be induced to hold still long enough.

Andria

Tuxie is a pretty girl. I know because you shown her pics a few times Sounds like Tuxie and her mommy need to spend some time together outside with a camera

I wish I had more pictures of my girl Tigger. She passed away last year and is missed Wouldn't mind another cat and I know some that would love to be a spoiled house cat but its not time yet. Still missing my old gal.

 

[AndriaD]

Tuxie is a pretty girl. I know because you shown her pics a few times Sounds like Tuxie and her mommy need to spend some time together outside with a camera

I wish I had more pictures of my girl Tigger. She passed away last year and is missed Wouldn't mind another cat and I know some that would love to be a spoiled house cat but its not time yet. Still missing my old gal.

We've been keeping her in, during the winter, since it gets dark so early, and we have those fucking great horned owl bastards around here. Now that it's daylight savings, it's getting to be time to let her go outside again, but we're a little bit leery; she's not a young kitty anymore, she'll be 8 this summer, and her appetite has fallen off just a little. I think it's because she's not getting much exercise, confined to the house, but on April 6, Planned Pethood is having a vaccine clinic, so we're going to take both kitties, make sure Annabel's shots are where they should be, I think she needs one more, but she was so sick when we first got her, we couldn't even think of giving her MORE shots; Tuxie probably needs some boosters, and we're also gonna get her microchipped. Annabel is chipped since we adopted her from the animal shelter, but Tuxie never has been. And also make sure Tuxie is in good health; the lesser appetite is always a concern with pets. She eats, but seems more finicky, more of a grazer than a snarfer.

Andria

 

[chopdoc]

We've been keeping her in, during the winter, since it gets dark so early, and we have those fucking great horned owl bastards around here. Now that it's daylight savings, it's getting to be time to let her go outside again, but we're a little bit leery; she's not a young kitty anymore, she'll be 8 this summer, and her appetite has fallen off just a little. I think it's because she's not getting much exercise, confined to the house, but on April 6, Planned Pethood is having a vaccine clinic, so we're going to take both kitties, make sure Annabel's shots are where they should be, I think she needs one more, but she was so sick when we first got her, we couldn't even think of giving her MORE shots; Tuxie probably needs some boosters, and we're also gonna get her microchipped. Annabel is chipped since we adopted her from the animal shelter, but Tuxie never has been. And also make sure Tuxie is in good health; the lesser appetite is always a concern with pets. She eats, but seems more finicky, more of a grazer than a snarfer.

Andria

Probably nothin wrong with the girl. They do that. My girl would pester the hell out of me util I freshen up her feed bowl and then sniff it and turn her nose up at it and stomp off. Thats how cats are

 

[chopdoc]

.

 

[chopdoc]

Gotta quit posting stoned

 

[AndriaD]

Probably nothin wrong with the girl. They do that. My girl would pester the hell out of me util I freshen up her feed bowl and then sniff it and turn her nose up at it and stomp off. Thats how cats are

I hope you're right. I didn't wanna keep her when she first turned up, but after nearly 8 yrs of having her in the family, I've grown very attached to her. She's so sweet and affectionate, compared to Annabel, who's more one of those "Fuck you, I am CAT!" type of cats. You have to watch Annabel's tail very carefully, to know if it's safe just to give her a pet -- if she's feeling frisky, that tail switches like mad, and if you try to touch her at all, she'll scratch and even sometimes try to bite. But she's still young, just over a year, so maybe she'll mellow out.

Andria

 

[chopdoc]

Heya Fugee's.

Hope everyone enjoyed the first day of spring Down right beautiful today.

 

[chopdoc]

Found out sumptin today that shocked me. Social security benefits are as of 2018 no longer taxed.

I looked over my taxes a few weeks ago and looked over them again last night and knew I was gonna have to pay around $5K this year. Last year I was awarded disability and given back pay and I was dreading doing my taxes because I knew it was gonna cost. Today I dropped off my papers with my tax girl who been doing my taxes for many years. She calls me this afternoon and tells me that with the new tax laws I have zero income to report because social security benefits are no longer taxable income so I dont even have to file this year. Hot diggity damn Im happy now

 

[The Cromwell]

Yah I pay no federal income taxes.
I think I can earn up to an additional 15K without being taxed.
But that would mean I have to work

wife and I together are just below the tax limit on SS.
Paid none last year either.
State now is another matter.

 

[AndriaD]

Hmm, that's damn odd.. but maybe our case is different since my husband is still working full-time? We paid our normal taxes plus a bit more on 85% of his SS earnings during 2018; we're set to get back $975, which is about half what we usually get back. But the diff is that his normal "work" income is around $37k; with a half-year of SS income with it, it pushed it up to nearly $45k, so our taxes were a little higher.

Andria

 

[chopdoc]

Hmm, that's damn odd.. but maybe our case is different since my husband is still working full-time? We paid our normal taxes plus a bit more on 85% of his SS earnings during 2018; we're set to get back $975, which is about half what we usually get back. But the diff is that his normal "work" income is around $37k; with a half-year of SS income with it, it pushed it up to nearly $45k, so our taxes were a little higher.

Andria

My W2 form from SSI showed I owed taxes on $54K from last year. They paid me back benefits as well as a year of monthly benefits. According to my tax girl none of that is taxable. If I made any other income last year then it would of been taxed I guess.

 

[The Cromwell]

If you have income other than SSI the rules change. With your hubby working still it puts you in a different tax bracket I guess. My tax girl was saying something about that yesterday. If your only income is SSI then its non taxable.

And I think if you get a lump sum back pay from SS it may put you into a taxable situation.

 

[AndriaD]

I guess it's because he's still working, so does still have to pay regular taxes, plus a little tax on 85% of his SS payments. One thing that was cool was that the state kinda helped out because of paying a little tax on the fed money; normally, we get about $1800 from fed and about $600 from state, but this time, we're getting $975 from fed, and we got $926 from state. So it's still about $500 less than usual, counting both, but the higher state refund helped somewhat. He's going to talk to the SS folks about doing regular withholding on his SS payments, so that maybe next year, when we have a whole year's worth of SS to figure in, it might not hurt us so much.

Andria

 

[chopdoc]

lol did it again

 

[The Cromwell]

sigh...

 

[The Cromwell]

70 deg here yesterday.
Might get to mid 40's today and down to mid 20's tonight.

Springtime in KY.

 

[JuicyLucy]

We got up to 49 yesterday!

 

[The Cromwell]

We got up to 49 yesterday!

Doing better overall than Poor Rich is.

 

[chopdoc]

We was up to 80 yesterday and a front came thru this morning. 51 right now and still kinda wet.

 

[JuicyLucy]

It's already 44

 

[chopdoc]

It's already 44

Aintcha moved to Hawaii yet?

 

[JuicyLucy]

Aintcha moved to Hawaii yet?

Going for most of next month

We have one-way tickets purchased for Sept. 3

 

[chopdoc]

Going for most of next month

We have one-way tickets purchased for Sept. 3

Hope Mr Juicy been doing better.

 

[JuicyLucy]

Hope Mr Juicy been doing better.

Hope you have too Mr

 

[susieqz]

andria, i'm convinced kits do better when they can hunt outside.
drifter is still feral so must go out.
her son cuddles was born inside, but cries n cries if i don't let him out.
they are better behaved when they use up their energy outside, anyway.

 

[JuicyLucy]

It depends on the cat. Ours are strictly indoors because of all the big predators we have

They are very happy - but it will be nice to be able to let them learn about outdoors someday

 

[susieqz]

i'm not worried about predators, much.
drifter lived her whole life avoiding the bold coyotes we have.
her mom must have taught her.
if there was traffic here, i'd keep them in.
they don't understand cars..

 

[JuicyLucy]

We have ermine, mink, bald eagles, golden eagles, owls, bears, coyotes, wolves - cats and small dogs often disappear quickly

 

[susieqz]

i didn't know ermine n mink were a danger.
eagles would be a problem.
my guys spend lots of time on the roof.
we only have hawks here, so it's only coyotes.
not sure a bear could catch drifter. she's very fast.
we don't have them here.
lucky thing.
i have no gun big enow for bear.
i'd love to see those critters in the wild.
i never have.
you live in a wonderful place.

 

[JuicyLucy]

i didn't know ermine n mink were a danger.

Male mink are vicious, as are both male and female ermine

Once saw a bald eagle almost take out a cat once, the cat barely made it under the house

 

[inspects]

Going for most of next month

We have one-way tickets purchased for Sept. 3

YEY.........................

 

[JuicyLucy]

YEY.........................

So when you heading south?

Seems we've both been swearing we're moving before the end of the new year, lol

 

[inspects]

So when you heading south?

Seems we've both been swearing we're moving before the end of the new year, lol

My house is completed, I just returned the end of January, but I have a business to run here for a couple more years.....have to wait until I become older and more decrepitate to stay there permanently.

For now, I'll just enjoy flying there when I can.......

 

[chopdoc]

My house is completed, I just returned the end of January, but I have a business to run here for a couple more years.....have to wait until I become older and more decrepitate to stay there permanently.

For now, I'll just enjoy flying there when I can.......

Dont wait until your too decrepit Inspects. Ya want to be able to enjoy your retirement

 

[chopdoc]

Male mink are vicious, as are both male and female ermine

Once saw a bald eagle almost take out a cat once, the cat barely made it under the house

For some reason or other Rascal has developed an extreme hatred for hawks. Only thing I can figure is he maybe seen one go after one of Rascal kitty buddies at my house and now he hates them. Them are his kittys and he does protect them.

 

[chopdoc]

.

 

[JuicyLucy]

At least he doesn't grab them by the pussy

 

[chopdoc]

Ya would think I would of learned by now

 

[AndriaD]

andria, i'm convinced kits do better when they can hunt outside.
drifter is still feral so must go out.
her son cuddles was born inside, but cries n cries if i don't let him out.
they are better behaved when they use up their energy outside, anyway.

It depends on the cat. Ours are strictly indoors because of all the big predators we have

They are very happy - but it will be nice to be able to let them learn about outdoors someday

We're going to get our older cat (nearly 8 yrs) microchipped, as well as examined, and see if she needs any booster vaccines, this Saturday, and after that, she'll be allowed back outside, in the daytime (unless it's a rainy day), now that it's not getting dark so damned early. The damned Great Horned Owls are probably the most dangerous predators to cats, around here, which is why we started keeping her in, in the winter, since it gets dark so early -- prime hunting time for owls! There are a few coyotes now and then, but Tuxie is well able to get away from pretty much anything she construes as a threat -- which definitely includes ALL dogs! Even if she has to run up a tree! The problem with the owls is that when they're perched up on a tree or phone pole, they don't look large enough at that distance to make a cat fearful -- she thought she was stalking an owl once, which was actually stalking HER.

Our younger cat, just over a year... my son says he thinks she'll be remaining a housecat; she's very "contrary," stubborn, and doesn't seem terribly intelligent to be honest, and he isn't sure she would come home, if let outside. Tuxie was an outdoor cat originally, so the fact that she comes home is because she's accustomed to us and hates/fears everyone else, and she gets regular meals and treats here -- she's well aware of the location of her various food bowls.

Anyway, nice to see y'all again, after a while away. I got busy with my new site, and Twitter, and writing some articles. I wrote one called "Kids Under the Bus, Vapers Down the Slope," after an argument on twitter with someone who is trying to appease Tobacco Control, which of course, doesn't work. i was a bit concerned since it's not a very "politically correct" point of view, but it seems to have gone over really well with a lot of vapers. Hope y'all read it, let me know what you think! Another, much longer one I wrote recently was a rebuttal to Michael B. Siegel's "11 million lies", in which he states that "honesty has been at the core of Tobacco Control for decades," and I just COULD NOT let that slide by, uncontested. It's "11,000,000 +1, and Counting."

Anyway, I just started feeling that hanging out here all the time isn't doing anyone any good, when I could be advocating online and trying to correct some of the vast ignorance and disinformation out there, about vaping.


Andria