Handyman plumber near me

I have a dead Rinnai RL94iN and am looking to replace it with a brand new identical model because it died thanks to the previous owner not maintaining it, not anything inherent to the brand/model.
My plumber quoted me a much higher price than I expected and while I will of course be getting other quotes, I want to get a rough idea of how many hours of work it takes to remove the old unit and swap for an identical, new one. This also isn't an emergency repair so no rush cost added on, nor is the unit in some sort of hard to access place that might jack up the cost of labor.
My boyfriend isn't a plumber but he's quite handy from years of working construction so if replacement is relatively easy, I'd rather save the money and do it ourselves.

Currently in process of looking for a small-mid size sedan to run the stock class at local dirt track near me. Looking for any tips those who have raced in dirt track/track racing before. Thanks!!

Edit: original post was removed for using the w word in a non-marginalizing way 🤦🏾‍♀️ Have replaced the word with something more archaic.
Okay so basically the plot of the dream was like Last of Us version of the apocalypse with two differences. One, I kept reviving the few times I got overwhelmed by the hoards and elements. Two, you can survive a longer time of being bitten if you cover the open wound with raw, uncured brown sugar bacon.
I totally forgot how the apocalypse started in my dream, only know that pretty much everyone I knew died or became infected. Somehow I was able to make it off my campus (the earliest part of the dream I remember was me in a lecture hall then sprinting back to my apartment). I guess I killed whatever infected and my roommates with the baseball bat I keep in my room and I took the house dog (we don't have a dog.)
The main part I remember is that I got bit on my collarbone near my neck, but me and the dog were able to hightail it out of town in a truck before the infection began to settle. We ended up pulling over on a backroad near a cliff side and I fell out the drivers seat in pain. The dog began to bark super loud, probably calling for help, and I thought "shit this is the end" thinking the infected will find us and do us in before I passed out.
When I woke up I wasn't anywhere near the truck and instead was at this campsite in the woods with the bacon on my wound. I'm confused as hell and looking around when, I shit you not, it's Pedro Pascal sitting in front of the fire with my dog belly up by his feet begging for scritches like a lowly cur (I don't blame him). Pedro explains that I lost a lot of blood and that I shouldn't even be alive, but the bacon seemed to soak up most of the infection. It's safe to say I respawned somehow in the dream.
The rest of the group joins us at the fire. I don't know who any of these people are, just know that my mind fabricated a group of sexy apocalypse survivors and they wanted me to join their group since I seem to have some sort of schrondinger's cat thing going on. They wanted to raid this Mega Target (i guess my dreams version of Super Walmart??) for more bacon and supplies and asked me to go with them. No idea if I said yes or no in the dream, can't remember, just know that we end up at the Target and I'm going in first with the dog (which i find so uncharacteristic of my actual behaviors, I would have left their asses the moment I came to irl, but dream me is a simp i guess).
Me and the dog break into the target through the bottom stairwell and it's hugeeee (this is important). There's a top floor from what I can see at the bottom, but it has to be at leas twenty-thirty flights. The dog catches a scent and leads me out of the stairwell into the store.
The Target is dead quiet with some flickering fluorescents and a low hum of music from their PA system. The store seems mostly looted on that first floor, but we can hear the faint clicks and moans of infected. We sneak our way to the produce isle in the grocery section of the store and there is a shit ton of packaged uncooked bacon ripe for the taking. I start packing as much of it into my tote bag as possible when my dog starts whimpering and growling. I look up and there's a few infected skittering past only to stop and spot us when they hear the dog. One of them makes this piercing wight-walker sounding hiss and suddenly a wave of the fuckers are charging straight for us.
The dog and I start sprinting for the exit, but the bottom stairwell is packed with infected. I start booking it up the straits hoping to outrun them and try to leap from one side of the well to the bars on the other side. But dream-me doesn't know parkour and can't pull myself up in time before an infected leaps after me and grabs ahold of my legs. The dogs fucking dead at this point, the hoard surrounded it before it could get up the stairs in time. And between the zombie gnawing on my ankle and the poor dog not making it, my conscious self is so blown that I wake up disappointed as hell.
Anyway, wanted to get that ridiculous dream off my chest. Thank you for reading.

Edit: original post was removed for using the w word in a non-marginalizing way 🤦🏾‍♀️ Have replaced the word with something more archaic.
Okay so basically the plot of the dream was like Last of Us version of the apocalypse with two differences. One, I kept reviving the few times I got overwhelmed by the hoards and elements. Two, you can survive a longer time of being bitten if you cover the open wound with raw, uncured brown sugar bacon.
I totally forgot how the apocalypse started in my dream, only know that pretty much everyone I knew died or became infected. Somehow I was able to make it off my campus (the earliest part of the dream I remember was me in a lecture hall then sprinting back to my apartment). I guess I killed whatever infected and my roommates with the baseball bat I keep in my room and I took the house dog (we don't have a dog.)
The main part I remember is that I got bit on my collarbone near my neck, but me and the dog were able to hightail it out of town in a truck before the infection began to settle. We ended up pulling over on a backroad near a cliff side and I fell out the drivers seat in pain. The dog began to bark super loud, probably calling for help, and I thought "shit this is the end" thinking the infected will find us and do us in before I passed out.
When I woke up I wasn't anywhere near the truck and instead was at this campsite in the woods with the bacon on my wound. I'm confused as hell and looking around when, I shit you not, it's Pedro Pascal sitting in front of the fire with my dog belly up by his feet begging for scritches like a lowly cur (I don't blame him). Pedro explains that I lost a lot of blood and that I shouldn't even be alive, but the bacon seemed to soak up most of the infection. It's safe to say I respawned somehow in the dream.
The rest of the group joins us at the fire. I don't know who any of these people are, just know that my mind fabricated a group of sexy apocalypse survivors and they wanted me to join their group since I seem to have some sort of schrondinger's cat thing going on. They wanted to raid this Mega Target (i guess my dreams version of Super Walmart??) for more bacon and supplies and asked me to go with them. No idea if I said yes or no in the dream, can't remember, just know that we end up at the Target and I'm going in first with the dog (which i find so uncharacteristic of my actual behaviors, I would have left their asses the moment I came to irl, but dream me is a simp i guess).
Me and the dog break into the target through the bottom stairwell and it's hugeeee (this is important). There's a top floor from what I can see at the bottom, but it has to be at leas twenty-thirty flights. The dog catches a scent and leads me out of the stairwell into the store.
The Target is dead quiet with some flickering fluorescents and a low hum of music from their PA system. The store seems mostly looted on that first floor, but we can hear the faint clicks and moans of infected. We sneak our way to the produce isle in the grocery section of the store and there is a shit ton of packaged uncooked bacon ripe for the taking. I start packing as much of it into my tote bag as possible when my dog starts whimpering and growling. I look up and there's a few infected skittering past only to stop and spot us when they hear the dog. One of them makes this piercing wight-walker sounding hiss and suddenly a wave of the fuckers are charging straight for us.
The dog and I start sprinting for the exit, but the bottom stairwell is packed with infected. I start booking it up the straits hoping to outrun them and try to leap from one side of the well to the bars on the other side. But dream-me doesn't know parkour and can't pull myself up in time before an infected leaps after me and grabs ahold of my legs. The dogs fucking dead at this point, the hoard surrounded it before it could get up the stairs in time. And between the zombie gnawing on my ankle and the poor dog not making it, my conscious self is so blown that I wake up disappointed as hell.
Anyway, wanted to get that ridiculous dream off my chest. Thank you for reading.

My parent's are hoarders, including animal hoarders. Me and my husband moved a year ago and have been trying to get the house clean. To give you an idea of what the house was like- there was rotting food, everywhere, a ton of bugs, maggots on the floor and counter, mold, rooms filled with trash, cat poop and pee and filth everywhere.
We have made tremendous progress, but we are still not anywhere near a normal level of clean. The cats are making it incredibly difficult because they pee and poop everywhere, despite us keeping the litter boxes clean. My dad has almost died twice in the last several months (because of the house) and my parents both have autoimmune conditions. This house is not safe for them to live in, and we cannot make it safe until we get rid of the vast majority of the cats.
We have tried to talk to my parents about getting rid of the cats, but they refuse. It doesn't help that my mom's 2 favorites are the main ones that pee and poop on everything. This house is not a healthy environment for my parents, or for the cats. It's not fair for them to live in these conditions. We are strongly considering rehoming them without their permission and pretending they got lost or something (they are inside/outside). I know that it will be distressing for my parents, but they are in complete denial about the house, and are unwilling to do what needs to be done.
So, WIBTA for rehoming my parents cats without their permission?

My friends weren’t exactly enthusiastic about meeting me at a place called the “Death Ridge Lodge,” even after I told them that “Dethritch” was just the name of the shepherd who used to own the land. Truth was, I was more than a little nervous myself. I’d been out of the country for five years; there had been calls and letters, but my friends and I hadn’t seen each other in all that time…would we still have the connection that we once did?
Some of the changes that time had wrought were surprising; others, less so. We’d all expected my stubborn, brilliant friend Jennifer to be an attorney like her father–but in a story straight out of a cheesy Hallmark movie, she’d married a guy from a tiny town in Kentucky and had two kids. Meanwhile, Ned–a loudmouthed, extroverted redhead–had somehow ended up working from a lonely home office as a computer programmer.
And then there was Zoe.
She’d been my crush since our sophomore year of college. It wasn’t just her auburn hair or piercing green eyes; it was the care and honesty she showed in everything she did. Before her, I’d never met someone who really listened, who really cared about other people without working their own angle. We’d all expected great things for her…but in the end, she’d wound up like me. Back in our hometown. Unsure about the future.
But now that so much time had passed, would we even have anything in common anymore?
As it turned out, I needn’t have worried. Not even the wailing winter storm and unexpected power outages could dampen our good time. Ned, Zoe, Jennifer, and I gathered around a roaring flagstone fireplace, sharing our favorite scary stories and urban legends. It didn’t matter that the howling wind made going outside deadly, or that snow had cut off the forest road to the outside world: we had warmth, food, booze–and our rediscovered friendship. We also had Lee.
When we arrived, Lee explained to us that he was the off-season caretaker of Dethritch Lodge and the surrounding cabins. During tourist season in summer, the place swarmed with hospitality workers, but from fall to spring Lee mostly had the place to himself. When the blizzard hit, he made a point of checking in on us.
“Temperature's goin’ down out there,” he warned us that fateful night. “Visibility Is almost zero. You kids wouldn’t wanna get lost out there tonight…or any other night.”
“Don’t worry,” Zoe smiled. “We have no intention of going outside in that.” She pointed to the wind-driven snow that was rattling against the window panes.
“It can’t be that easy to get lost though, can it?” Ned–always the contrarian–asked. “I mean, we’re on the side of a mountain. To go one way you just go down, and to go the other way you just go back up, right?”
“Not that simple.” Lee grunted, pulling up a stool. “We’re a hundred miles from civilization out here, and if you can’t recognize any landmarks, all them pine trees out there look the same. Even if you think you know where you’re goin,’ this mountain likes to play tricks. The gentle slope you walk down in fall might be dangerously steep in spring; boulders tumble, streams change course, and paths disappear from one season to the next. There’s dozens of trails criss-crossin’ this ol’ mountain: 1800’s logging roads, game trails, other paths so old it’s impossible to tell who made’em. Trust me, you lose your way out there, all you’re gonna get is more an’ more lost..and then you’ll start to panic. An’ at that point, if hypothermia an’ hunger an’ the bears don’t getcha, ol’ man Dethritch and his dogs will.”
“Dethritch?” “Dogs?” Zoe and Jennifer asked at once.
“Just how much do you four know about Dethritch Lodge?”
“Not much,” I admitted. “I was looking for a place where my old friends and I could meet up over the holidays, the place looked cozy, had hiking and skiing and good reviews…besides, back then, the weather forecast said we’d have a clear weekend...”
Lee nodded, as if that was about what he expected. “It’s an odd place…with an odd history. Just after the Revolutionary War, a man named Jebediah Dethritch showed up here and started construction on a cabin. He said that the mountain had called to him, that he’d seen it in a dream, an’ that Patrick Henry had gifted him the entire mountainside in exchange for services rendered during the war. There was plenty of land back then, and grants were being handed out like candy, so no one called him on it. Besides, folks wanted farmland, not the slope of a damn mountain. They all thought Jeb Dethritch was crazy, but he carved a life outta these hills, swearing that he and the land were one flesh. Jeb and his sons felled forests, dragged out the stumps, and planted orchards; they set up secret garden patches back in the woods; raised chickens, cows, and a flock of sheep. For a while, things were good.” The old man stared into the fire. “If you young people get bored with all this history, just say so…”
“Well, it’s not like we’ve got anything better to do, do we?” Ned scoffed.
“No, please go on. It’s interesting.” Zoe reassured Lee; Ned rolled his eyes.
“Well, the years rolled by. Jeb died and passed his land on to his son and grandson, who went on livin’ the same way he had. Meanwhile, towns were buildin’ up around the mountain. The more they expanded, the more folks demanded proof that the mountain really belonged to the Dethritches. By the end of the Civil War–that’s to say, Jeb’s great-grandson’s time–nobody cared about yellowed papers and ancient claims. Folks wanted the mountain developed, and kept suin’ ‘til they found a judge who agreed with’em. Amos Dethritch got a few acres and the rest went to minin’ and loggin’ companies. But takin’ advantage of the Dethritchs’ land was no easy task. See, the Dethritches refused to accept the court’s decision. They kept livin’ in their hidden shacks on the mountainside, and made life hell for the companies who, from their point of view, were trespassing’ on their property. Every day there were downed trees on the road, supplies burnt, animals missin’...it went on for decades, all the way into the 1900’s. And while nobody had been hurt in Amos Dethritch’s little guerrilla war, it was costin’ those companies more than the mountain was worth. They had to put a stop to it. The first sign of trouble was when Alice Dethritch–Amos’ wife from back east–stopped comin’ into town to sell her honey an’ fruit preserves.. A few days later, Amos was found in the middle of a dirt loggin’ road, surrounded by his three mastiffs. They’d all been shot to pieces. Ten years later, some trappers found Alice and the kids in a shallow grave. They said it looked like they’d died…badly.”
“So who did it?” Jennifer asked.
“Well, nobody can prove nothin’ about nothin,’ but a group of flashy out-of-towners rode in on the last train from Chicago that night, an’ left in the mornin.’ Folks in town said they saw lantern lights goin’ up the loggin’ road, and gunfire in the hollers…” Lee stared thoughtfully into the fireplace. “In a way, though, I guess you could say the Dethritches won out in the end. The mountain never yielded enough timber or coal to justify the expense. The companies that had fought so hard over the mountain–and even killed to keep it–all went bankrupt a few years later. This place was practically abandoned ‘til the national parks craze took off in the 1950’s. Some clever investors bought it off the bank for pennies…they built the cabins and lodge that we’re sittin’ in today.”
“But what does all that have to do with ‘old man Dethritch’ and his ‘dogs’?”
“Well, the mountain wasn’t completely left alone after all them companies closed down. The local men came up here to hunt, grandmothers collected fruit from the Dethritchs’ woodland orchards, and the teenagers…well, they came up here to do what teenagers do. But over the years, rumors began to trickle down about strange sightings in these woods. Some folks got to thinkin’ that maybe Amos Dethritch wasn’t really dead…or if he was, he was still around somehow.”
“You mean like a ghost?” I ventured.
“You call it what you want!” Lee prodded the dying embers. “I’m just tellin’ it how I heard it–and you wouldn’t believe some’a the tales the folks in town have about this mountain. Like ol’ Bruce Higgins, who came back from deer huntin’ all bitten an’ tore up, with his rifle missin.’ He said he’d been chased down the mountain by three snarlin’ shepherd dogs…just like those huge mastiffs found shot to death beside Amos. Miss Nellie Price said she saw the ol’ man himself, stalkin’ through the trees with a hundred-year-old hunting rifle an’ a sack of dead rabbits slung over his shoulder…” Lee rambled on; Jennifer tried to hide a smile.
“I’m sorry…” she chuckled. “It’s just…my dad was a hunter, and he used to see things in the woods too. Usually after his fifth beer. And my Great-Aunt Mildred was convinced she was hearing whispers in her walls…until my mother got rid of the bird’s nest in her chimney. The birdsong had been echoing in the pipes–it sounded like real human voices. My point is, there’s a snowball effect with stories like these. They live rent-free in the back of people’s minds, and when they see something they can’t explain, they just keep adding to them…”
“I’m not sayin’ you're wrong,” Lee grumbled. “I’ve never seen ol’ man Amos myself, an’ I’ve lived up here all my life. But I will say that there’s somethin’ off about this mountain. Maybe it goes all the way back to Jeb Dethritch, or even before that. Otherwise, how can you account for all the disappearances? Like the four high schoolers who went camping up here on a dare back in the 1970’s. Nothin’ was left of them but a trampled down tent an’ the soggy ashes of their fire…”
“Wasn’t there an investigation?” Zoe asked.
“Oh, sure there was. The police concluded that the girls had run away from home. Then when Terry Bannister an’ his nine-year-old son didn’t come back from their hikin’ trip, they blamed wolves. When a local artist’s car was found along a loggin’ road with spikes in the tires and the driver’s-side door hanging off of its hinges, they called it an ‘abandoned vehicle.’ They jus’ towed it back into town an’ didn’t even look for her. Don’tcha see where I’m goin’ with this? Ever since the loggin’ and minin’ dried up, tourism is the only thing keepin’ those little towns afloat. ‘The Ghost of Amos Dethritch and his Three Hell-Hounds’ makes for a fine local legend, but if the summer crowd ever found out about the real, horrible crimes that happen up on this mountain every year…it’d be the death of the whole industry.”
“I call bullshit!” Ned laughed. “This sounds an awful lot like a scary story that locals use to scare us wide-eyed out-of-towners with, am I right?”
“Call it what you want.” Lee shrugged again. “But I wouldn’t go outside ‘til the storm passes, if I were you.” He pulled on his boots and wrapped himself in his winter gear, so weathered and worn that it was all the same uniform tone of grayish-brown. “You kids got everything you need?” We nodded; he waved to us as he trudged out the door.
“Stay safe out there!” I called out too late. The only response was the rattling of the screen door and the howling of the wind–if it was the wind. I thought of the savage jaws of enormous mastiffs and shuddered.
We all slept beside the fireplace that night. Everyone had their own excuse: Ned claimed the rooms were too cold; Zoe said she wanted to have a slumber party; Jennifer had already fallen asleep in her chair. But I knew our real reason for keeping close to each other was that Lee’s tale had unnerved all of us more than we would have liked to admit. We craved the primal comforts of fire, warmth, and companionship. Before going to sleep, I dared to take a look out the frozen window, but all I could see was blackness. Too cold even for a ghost, I told myself with a chuckle, before stirring the fire and curling up in one of the lodge’s thick blankets. My dreams were haunted by worm-eaten faces in shallow graves and shadowy figures on desolate mountain paths; I woke before anyone else in the morning.
I’d always loved the peace of being awake while others slept; I took my time making my coffee and examining what the storm had done to the mountainside. The trees were bent, icy spikes stabbing into an ominous gray sky; at least a foot of snow covered the lodge patio. Frigid air blasted my face as I heaved open the sliding glass door and stepped out into the winter wonderland. Beautiful as it was, something more than the cold was bothering me; it took me a moment to fully realize what it was:
There were no footprints leading to the cabin where Lee was staying.
True, maybe the snow had filled them in–but no smoke rose from the chimney, either. Where had Lee gone? I was leaning out over the railing for a better view when I heard a low growl behind me.
I wasn’t alone on the patio.
Half-frozen drool hung from the mastiff’s gaping jaws; its hazel eyes burned with fury. Another, identical dog growled behind me–they were trying to cut off my escape! I bolted for the door and slid it shut just before a mouth as large as my face smashed into the glass, cracking it. The enormous dog lunged again, widening the spiderweb pattern on the glass. Barks and howls chilled my blood; my friends were waking, but not fast enough:
"Just a few more minutes…" Zoe mumbled while I shook her.
"Holy shit!" Ned screamed, pointing at the mastiff slamming itself into the glass.
"Get to the kitchen!" Jennifer grabbed the fire poker and waved us through before slamming the kitchen’s heavy wooden door. From outside, barks, snarls, shattering glass–
Heavy canine steps across the hardwood.
A long, mournful howl echoed through the cabin…and three sets of paws began scratching at the door. I wondered if the enormous dogs outside were calling to their master.
"Oh my god, oh my god…what the fuck is going on?!" Ned jabbed his finger at my chest like all this was all my fault.
"Is this some kind of sick joke?" Jennifer demanded.
“How should I know?!” I shouted back at Ned.
“I know what’s going on…” Zoe murmured. “Amos Dethritch. We’re on his mountain…and those are his dogs, just how Lee described them…”
“Ghost dogs?!” Ned rolled his eyes, “come on.”
“That mastiff out there just smashed its head against a sliding glass door until it broke! Would you call that ‘normal’ dog behavior?! Listen!” Jennifer put her ear to the wooden door as it shook beneath the dogs’ attack. “They’re not just scratching the door…they’re gnawing on it. Those aren’t ordinary dogs. And speaking of Lee–where is he?”
“I…I don’t think he made it back last night.” I thought of the smokeless chimney and the untrammeled snow. The kindly old caretaker was probably lying beneath it with his throat ripped out. Amos had come for him at last. The door rattled on its hinges.
“We gotta find a way out of here. That door’s not gonna last much longer…” Jennifer whispered, unlatching the small window above the sink.
“Oh, sure! Great plan!” Ned rolled his eyes. “Let’s run through the woods in subzero temperatures in our pajamas! What could possibly go wrong?”
“What do you suggest, then?” Jennifer challenged. As much as I hated to admit it, Ned was right. Last night’s fire was dead, and its warmth was fading fast. If Amos and his dogs didn’t kill us, the cold would. Zoe was already struggling to keep herself from trembling. While the rest of us argued, she had been scrounging for supplies. She’d found a few cobwebby soup cans, three dull kitchen knives, an almost-empty box of matches…and a trapdoor.
It took all our strength to heave it open, and even then the light didn’t reach whatever waited at the bottom. One thing, however, was clear: we were running out of time. The timbers of the kitchen door splintered, treating us to a view of slobbering fangs. The rusty window frame screeched as Jennifer flung it open. I looked down at her bare feet.
“Jen, going out there is suicide!”
“I WILL NOT wait to die in some dark…fucking…HOLE! We gotta make a run for it!” Of course, I suddenly remembered, Jennifer had claustrophobia. That cellar must’ve looked like her worst nightmare.
“I know you’re scared–we all are! But–”
“But NOTHING! I’m going!” Jennifer wiped away her tears with her pajama sleeve and leapt down into the snow. Behind us, the dogs had almost broken through. Ned, Zoe, and I sprinted for the trapdoor and slammed it shut behind us. The mastiffs sniffed around and dug at the floor over our heads–
But only for a moment. A horrifically human whistle split the silent winter air outside, followed by a cruel command–
“SIC HER, BOYS!”
First came barks, then snarls–and Jennifer began to scream.
Maybe it was a blessing that we couldn’t see what was happening out among the frozen trees, but just hearing it was bad enough. I pressed my fists against my ears and shut my eyes tight against the awful ripping and gnawing, barely audible over Jennifer’s screams. When it was finally over, the chattering of our teeth felt like the only noise left in the world. I had forgotten how much the cold could physically hurt. With trembling fingers, Zoe struck a match.
We were in a low-ceilinged dirt cellar. Decades of cobwebs hung like hideous curtains above us, and generations of junk had been scattered carelessly across the uneven ground. We rummaged through it by matchlight, looking for something, anything, that we could use.
“Paydirt!” Ned shouted. He’d found a canvas sack full of moth-eaten wool blankets, leather boots, and parkas beneath a heap of snowshoes. We bundled up immediately, grateful for the warmth, but there was little else of value in the heaped rubbish around us…and we were running out of matches.
“This is weird…” Zoe nudged me. She’d found an old wooden chest full of century-old dresses, leather bags and belts, and a tiny silver locket. The cellar ceiling groaned with heavy footsteps; Zoe instinctively pocketed the locket and grabbed my arm.
“Now where’d the rest of you run off to…?” The voice above us was the same one that had sicced the mastiffs on Jennifer. There was something antiquated, gravelly, and wild about it–something that made me think of the unsettling tale of the Dethritch clan.
“Amos…” Zoe mouthed, pointing to the far side of the cellar. The crumbling stone wall faded into blackness, but as I crawled silently closer I could see what lay above: a coal chute. An escape. The footsteps overhead left the kitchen–I imagined they were heading upstairs to check the bedrooms. We had shoes and a way of keeping warm–even if they were filthy and fit badly. If we were going to try to slip out through the coal chute, it was now or never. Ned’s hand shot out and grabbed my wrist as I struggled to push open the rusted chute cover.
“Are you crazy?!” he hissed. “Did you not hear what happened to Jen out there?!”
“Jen had a point, too…” I whispered. “Whoever…or whatever…is up there is bound to check down here eventually. Do you wanna be down here when that happens?”
“I’ll take my fucking chances!” Ned had found an ice ax in the heaps of junk, and held it with a white-knuckle grip. I realized that my loud-mouthed childhood friend was even more frightened than Zoe and I. To my surprise, Zoe’s cold hand slid into mine.
“Are you ready?” she asked. I nodded. “Come on, Ned…come with us. There won’t be another chance!”
“No way. I’m staying right here!” Ned shook his head. The last I saw of him was his pale, stunned face watching us scramble out into the winter sun. Zoe and I trudged through the snow, afraid to look back…afraid of what might be following. We kept our eyes away from the red patches in the white where Jennifer had met her end, aiming instead for a suspicious trail of footprints that led from the woods up to Dethritch Lodge: one large human and three dogs.
“Ghosts don’t leave footprints, do they?” Zoe murmured. I shook my head, wondering where this insane day would lead us. Zoe and I had barely entered the silence of the pine forest when we heard the gunshot: the BOOM of a shotgun blast.
Ned had been found.
Zoe grabbed my arm; I could feel her warmth through our improvised blanket-coats. It was what I’d dreamed of when I’d planned this vacation: alone with Zoe, holding her close in the winter woods…but my dream had turned into a nightmare. The triumphant baying of the dogs and a man’s maniac laughter carried to us by the wind confirmed what we already feared: our friend was dead. For a long minute we just held each other, listening to our thundering heartbeats: a reminder that we were still alive.
But for how long? The footprints in the snow seemed to follow a sort of game trail…just like the ones Lee said the Dethritches had used. A small creek ran alongside it. My feet were exhausted from slogging through the high snow, but we had to put more distance between us and pursuit. Right around the time I lost sensation in my feet, we rounded a corner and saw a slumped-over hut up ahead.
The footprints we’d been following seemed to originate there. I swallowed hard and looked back at the boulder-strewn mountainside behind us.
“Hide up there.” I told Zoe. “I’ll see if it’s safe.”
“I’ll come with you, this is no time to be a he–” she began.
“Listen. If it’s not safe, we’re both dead. This way, at least one of us makes it.”
“Are…are you sure?”
“If we don’t find warmth, food, and shelter, we’re dead anyway. I’ve got to see what’s in there, and if you–” Zoe shut me up with a strong hug.
“Let me go instead. I want you to keep watch for me.”
I didn’t like the idea at all, but I could see in Zoe’s eyes that her mind was made up. She left me with an extra blanket and the other supplies she’d dug out of the cellar; I set up a vantage point behind a boulder where I could see without being seen…or so I hoped. Now that the sun was setting and my sweat began to cool, I found myself rethinking what I’d said to Zoe. I’d intentionally exaggerated when I’d told her we’d die without shelter–or at least I’d thought so at the time. But as the pine tree shadows reached out for us like long fingers and the temperature dropped, I wasn’t so sure. I wondered if covering ourselves with dirt would keep us warm enough, or if I’d even be able to light a fire with my shaking hands. I fiddled nervously with the first thing I grabbed out of Zoe’s blanket: that weird silver locket. I realized it had a clasp: it was probably one of those necklaces that held pictures inside…
Down below, Zoe was a tiny black shape on the sagging steps of the hut. She pushed open the creaking door–
I was so concerned about what might come out of it that I’d forgotten to pay attention to the path below. I suddenly sensed a presence just a few feet away.
“You alright, son?” A voice muttered behind me. I nearly jumped out of my skin before I recognized it: Lee! I could have laughed for joy. If anyone knew a safe way off of this mountain, it was him.
“We were attacked!” I gasped. “I know it sounds crazy, but I think Amos and his three dogs–”
“Shhh!” Lee rasped. “I seen’em on my way down here, but don’t you worry. Everythin’s gonna be alright now. Where’s the girl? Is she…?”
“You mean Zoe? She’s down there by the hut.”
“Good.” Lee whistled...and his voice changed. “SIC HER, BOYS!”
Three huge mastiffs bounded down the path toward the hut, barking loudly, and Lee stepped backward. He held an ancient shotgun in his hands. Only then did I look down at the open heart-shaped locket I held in my hands. The black-and-white photo on the right showed a kindly-looking woman named ALICE DETHRITCH, but the photo on the left was captioned AMOS DETHRITCH…and the face it showed was a familiar one indeed. It was staring back at me from behind the barrel of a gun.
“Amos…?” I gasped. The dogs circled the hut below, howling. Any minute now, they’d corner Zoe…
“Don’t tell me you believe in ghosts? I thought you city folk were supposed to be smart. Try this on for size: maybe Alice Dethritch survived the awful things those flashy out-of-towners did to her. Maybe she had a baby a few months later, a feral kid who raised himself after she died from her lingering injuries ten years later. Otherwise, who woulda buried her for those trappers to find? And maybe later, that kid grew up and decided he didn’t want the family name to die with him. Maybe he kidnapped one’a them high school girls who came up here in the 1970’s and used to her get himself an heir. Maybe that heir is standin’ here right now, pointin’ ol’ Amos’ rifle in the face of yet another trespasser…”
I lifted my hands slowly.
“Just…just don’t hurt Zoe…”
“Hurt her? No, I need her. I'm gonna breed myself an heir, the same way my father did, and raise him to carry on the fight 'til this mountain is ours again. After you four go missin,' even the tourism people won't be able to cover it up anymore–"
Lee Dethritch’s speech was cut short by the half rotten log that slammed into the side of his head. Zoe hit him two or three more times, but I doubt the blows were necessary. Lee Dethritch had met the fate of his ancestors, but I could hear his dogs baying below…from inside the hut.
“You alright?” Zoe asked.
“How did you–?” I wondered.
“That hut must be where he’s been living. It was dim…and filthy…but I saw a pile of rope right around the time I heard those dogs charging down the trail. I tied it to the front door knob and left it open just a crack, while I stood by the back door and waited for my moment. When those dogs charged in, I tugged the front door shut and slipped out the back. Dethritch’s dogs are trapped in there…for now.”
I remembered how quickly the three mastiffs had gnawed their way through the lodge’s kitchen door and shuddered. But would they even pursue us without Lee Dethritch urging them on?
We didn’t wait around to find out.
Night had fallen by the time we reached Dethritch Lodge; it felt like years had passed since we had fled the cellar that morning. Too emotionally and physically exhausted to talk much, Zoe and I distracted ourselves with simple tasks of survival: building a fire, heating water, gathering blankets, reinforcing the doors in case the dogs (or anything else) came back. It had been the longest day of my life, and I ended it curled up with Zoe in front of the Dethritch lodge fireplace.
By morning, the snow had melted; the unpaved, switchbacking road off of the Dethritchs’ mountain seemed just barely passable. Once we started driving, I realized just how much danger we were in: the back of my Corolla fishtailed around every turn, and twice the tires stuck in slushy mud and began to slide…toward the cliffs beside us.
When Zoe got out of the car to help me free it, I saw something that I still can’t explain. Maybe it was just a hallucination brought on by stress, but…
I’d swear I saw another Amos Dethritch look-alike watching us from the woods.
Was the mountain really haunted? Even worse, did Lee Dethritch have a brother?
When I looked again, they were gone.
I didn’t have any answer then, and I still don’t.
But I suggest you stay away from Dethritch Lodge.
X

I've had pain in my left ear for going on a week now. It started as an occasional sharp, stabbing jolt that would cause me to wince, but then progressed to a dull ache with the same stabbing sensation that also extends up near my temple at times. I thought it was easing up, but now it's happening almost constantly. I should also mention that moving my jaw can trigger it.
I am diagnosed as having TMJ (my dentist said it's severe and may require surgery in the future if I begin to have pain) and have always suffered from headaches with pain behind my eyes, but I wrote them off because I also suffer from migraines. I've been taking extra strength Tylenol to ease the pain and I can work through it, but it's driving me crazy.
I've read that ear infections typically involve fevers and subside quickly, so I'm wondering if this could possibly be TMJ related. Have any of y'all dealt with this? Any input or advice is welcome!

I've been nearing a month of practicing Colemak, and though I've neared my goal of reaching 60wpm in a month, one thing that's holding me down is that my typing performance degrades quickly towards the end of the test (usually after the 40-45s mark on a 1min test)
While I have been able to get 60wpm until the critical 40s mark, around/shortly after then I usually mess up and either slow down considerably (~10-15 raw) or make several errors
I used to do English 200 15s tests, but I've stuck to almost exclusively 1min English 1k tests once I switched.
Does anybody have some tips to help? Is there some mistake I'm doing that's holding me back?

Almost 2 weeks ago I was here talking about my MIL and her issues with not telling me when she or other family members are sick in regards to the health of my baby, which peaked when she "failed to remembethink it's important" to tell me she had shingles. Which, turns out she was almost certainly not contagious by the time I saw her...but still should have told me. But I digress.
I had 2 or 3 posts on here about my various issues with MIL, but I have deleted them just for the sake of not wanting my posts to be found. I tend to post and then delete after some time for those reasons, so I hope you can all understand.
After my last post, my husband and I got into a really heated argument about everything. Like literally every issue came bubbling up to the surface. It was so difficult, but he and I were able to come to an agreement on all fronts after a few days of arguing and then discussing. So, we're on the same page! AND he's finally comfortable with admitting my issues are valid and that his mom can be very rude and very wrong at times, especially towards me.
I personally went no contact, information fast from in laws for about a week and a half which is a long time for me considering I'm usually very nice about sending pictures and updates on baby nearly daily. His mom tried really hard to get me to talk to her, but I'd just ignore her. She eventually learned that she needed to just go to my husband. I ended up seeing and speaking again because their dog died who was also my husband's dog, so we were present for that.
Things have been going so well, up until Saturday. We went to my in laws house and my MIL ended up trying to stir an argument up about baby care and his relationships between my husband and I, which backfired on her really hard because my husband started telling her how I helpful she's been as a grandma and told her she can't be unhappy about not having a close relationship with her grandson when she doesn't try and makes excuses and empty promises.
I think she's really upset about it because since then she keeps sending me short videos about how first time mother's know nothing about parenting, parents spend too much time on their phones, really obvious baby care, suggesting I get a night job. When she sends the videos she also includes her own little text about the video, and it all just feels like a very covert way of telling me what a piece of shit I am and how little I know. It's so irritating. I was just ignoring it all, but this morning she sent another video about not spending time on your phone, and it sent me over the edge. I basically told her it's hypocritical to spend so much time on your phone looking at videos and sending them to try and tell someone else to not spend time on their phone. It's not something I struggle with, and I also don't struggle with knowing how to care for my baby. I'm 'on' with my baby about 90% of every single day. My only struggle is finding the time to do anything else since my baby is very clingy and people flake out, make excuses and empty promises to help me. I then sent her articles on parenting issues she has, and how I plan to parent so my kid doesn't turn out like SIL#1 OR SIL#2.
Clearly I need yet another break, but I'm really proud of myself for not being a doormat and standing up for myself when she kept pushing and pushing.

When i was 13 i was abducted by 2 men when i was on my way to meet my brother. It was during the day near a carpark and happened within 2 minutes. Not going into too much detail for obvious reasons but, i was taken to a flat/apt where i was bound in front of a light and a camera stand and left there for a while before they came back in and assaulted me with toys etc. This happened for a few days and i was found by police when they were out. I think they were caught via internet posts.
This was, to me at the time, the end of my life and couldnt even imagine a future were i was alive and happy but i was fortunate enough to have a support group and love, something i know not everyone gets sadly so via the internet we can help each other out <3

Hi. I'm updated to whatever the latest stuff is. Android 13, I don't remember the last security update. Fairly recent. US model.
Past couple days I started having to reboot before charging, again. Then it nearly wouldn't at all. After many reboots and switching stuff on/off it would rarely work. But now I'm just about dead and it won't charge. I've tried multiple cords and wall adapters. I can't even get on the Nokia mydevice support app for help. It'll die quickly if I turn back on. Been stuck at 7% for awhile.
Any ideas are incredibly appreciated. Super annoying.
I recently had a permanent notification pop up saying something about a usb device connected (when nothing was) and to set for USB control for phone or USB device. Then to use for data sharing, USB tethering, or other similar settings. Wouldn't let me dismiss or change the selected options (no data transfer, control by phone, IIRC)...maybe a charging port issue? Can't imagine any damage has been done to it.
Google hasn't been of help for this non-techie. Anyone else have this issue pop up? I need this damn phone working.
Thank you so much. You Nokiaheads have helped me more than Nokia in the past so here I am.

I work for a major defense contractor and our contract was up for renewal this month. I was not included on this contract because I was "too expensive" (I've been with the corporation for nearly 30 years). This wasn't an issue when my supervisor pulled me off of a project I had been on for over 10 years last summer when they were approaching a deadline and needed me to on this contract to get them over the finish line. Now I'm on the bench and am scrambling to find a new position. They didn't tell me they weren't putting me on the renewal, I found out when the new contract was posted. I will note that every person who is on the contract is significantly younger than me (I'm 52).
Does this sound like age discrimination or am I being overly sensitive? The only thing I was told was that I'm too expensive - which again didn't matter when they needed my experience to complete the tasks so they could get the renewal. My reviews have always been positive if that matters.

Hi everyone! I’m really embarrassed to ask this because everyone works hard daily to save and earn money and I never really ask money from anyone. I like to help at most times when needed or in general but at the moment short in cash.
Would anybody help me and send $20 so I can purchase candies or food related.
I want to surprise the children who are selling Filipino meryenda that makes ends meet outside my subdivision with candy loot bags or treat them out near a local store in my area. They’re always happy when they see me and sometimes I see them go hungry when I pass by them but I feel bad sometimes I don’t buy or give them something to eat.
I live in the Philippines at the moment and would appreciate with that amount or less.
I don’t have PayPal anymore but I do have gcash, Philippines mobile wallet app. You can use wise website to send to my gcash account.
Thank you and I apologized for this request if it’s too much to ask.

My girlfriend has been looking for a job in the teaching field. She has found one online through linkedin. It is for a school that is near (80kms) bangalore. It is actually located in a village. The school is pretty new since it started in 2019 itself. The school is offering her a basic salary and in addition to that they have their own accomodation/transport for teachers. They are all like 4-5 female teachers. They do not have any male teachers. Their accomodation is 9km away from the school. The fact that they are providing so much to female teachers is a little shady to me. I have checked photos of the school online on their website and facebook page. They all look genuine but the accomodation part is ringing alarm bells for me. Can someone who has info about this please let me know anything about this whole thing and also whether the area is safe or not for females?

Hello, I’m a young marketing manager (working with my first company for 2years now). Last year we ran two “Best of” contests, essentially we pay x amount to enter the contests and we have to push our customers to vote for us to win.
We did win last year in both contests, but I’m wondering how effective of a strategy this is? The books we were published in were specific to the contest, and filled with all the winners, and the website we were posted to is also to contest website and I believe one website for travel.
I’m wondering if this is worth our time, I personally wouldn’t use the type or website/the book to find something if I was traveling or searching for “good restaurants/businesses near me.
I also feel as though it would make more sense for us to focus on industry related awards (cannabis industry). We also have other marketing plans going on that I feel supersede this, and are timely to the industry.
Am I young and wrong? Do these effect customers choices?
TIA

I’m 32 years old, I suffer from borderline personality disorder and major depression. I’m in treatment since the age of 17. I have been suicidal ever since high school age and that has never changed.
I have acted on those thoughts twice so far. First time I was almost successful but the cliche happened, my husband came home earlier from work cuz I wasn’t answering my phone which is not like me, and called 911. The second time I did not have enough substance and and all I did was destroy my kidneys.
Its worth to mention that I am also an addict. I drank heavily from the age of 19-23. Then I switched to weed which I’m smoking daily till this day. My mood would often go very low when couldn’t get my hands on any to smoke. And getting some would always make a nearly 180 degree change in me.
Not anymore. Even that doesn’t make my bitter reality any sweeter. All I dream to do is just to fly very far away from home somewhere I have never been to before. Get a motel room, get booze and drugs, take amount of substance that would knock down an elephant, and dance the night away to my favourite music till I cannot dance, nor breathe any more.

I recently got into two programs for my Masters degree. One is at a top private university, but the program seems much newer and less intensive in terms of the skills that I will learn. The other program is at a state school that is not anywhere near as well known, but it seems far more developed as a program and better for learning new skills. Both will provide me with internship experience and cover relatively similar topics. Cost is not so much an issue. Should I go for the school that looks best on paper to employers or the one that will provide me better training but not offer the wow factor of the school name. Unfortunately I know school name prestige can be big in the US. Both are great options in there own way. I’ve never done this before so I don’t know what my top priorities should be in choosing between programs. Any help is provided.

Was playing the game with my spouse (who only watched the show), and one thing she noticed was how tense the game felt. There was a survival horror aspect to it that unnerved her and characterized her experience. In several sequences she told me that she didn’t expect it to be so scary.
That’s what I felt was missing from the show. It was there for a moment in episode 2 in the museum episode, and I kind of expected the rest of the season to give some flavor of that, but it never quite did. That moment ended up as an outlier compared to how the rest of the show felt. Which was kind of annoying because it was such a tease of what else was possible.
Even the Philly portion of the game (Kansas City in the show) had totally different vibes. In Philly it all just felt horrifying: the dismemberment bodies, the random killings on the street. It has a brooding, dark, survival horror feel. And of course the hotel basement scene went to the max. The more I think about the Kansas City episode the more disappointing it is to me compared to the game (even if the Revolution concept was more interesting than just evil raiders—which we don’t really explore much in the show either).
The show did contain some of that in episode 8, but not nearly to the degree of the game, where at all times you feel like you’re truly exploring a world gone to hell, and that was deeply unnerving. There’s this grotesqueness to the way human life has become so unbelievably cheap. People die everywhere around you or they are dead and decaying in horrible positions and situations. I guess the mass execution of the “collaborators” kind of shows that? But it’s the way it’s presented to casually in the game that I felt makes it effective. People kill or are killed like it’s nothing, and you’re both a spectator of that as Joel, actively participating in it or just trying to avoid it all as much as possible.
I can seem some choices had to be made since so much of the survival horror was gameplay. But it still felt kind of missing. It makes the world feel so much more unsafe than how it was presented in the show.
But anyway. I still deeply enjoyed the show and can’t wait to see how they do Season 2. But that’s definitely something I’d like to see explored in the following season.

EDIT: englis isn't my native language disclaimer (I have read it 3 times and I still feel it might be some mistakes that I don't see, apologies in advance) I expended the last couple days playing ONLY engineer and ONLY defense. And I'm loving it, but as many know, this class is flawled in it's design, specially in the earning points department. SO here is my take.
TL DR: give them points for structures destroyed and kills near their structures, replace the medkit for an ability to make the structures strongerepair them, and let them refill spike/traps.
I decided to make this a poll just to see what the community think, feel free to comment what you like/dislike or what changes you would like to see on this class.
1.- POINTS: This is basically a bug fixing, this can't be by design, I do not want to believe the devs are this blind to their own game. A good engineer that turn the tide in a match should be in the top of the scoreboard, not in the bottom.
My suggestion for this is quite common here in reddit and everywhere you read about engineers in this game: GIVE THEM POINTS WHEN THE ENEMY BREAK THEIR STRUCTURES. And I would like to add some points from enemies dying near your structures (killed by your allies), even if it's a really small amount, it just suck when you make a great bottle neck and your team get 30 kills just from defending it but you get CERO points.
2.- Ability / Medkit: The weird thing about this point, is that some people like the medkit because it ''heal yourself too'', but I don't think the engineer should be a class with the abilty to quickly heal himself by throwing a medkit. Even the banner as many suggest doesn't make sense to me for this class, I feel most people would start using the barricades to fortify their own banners.
My suggestion here is a new ability, we will call it ''repair structures'' for now. What this ability does, is make YOUR structures (not all ally structures) become indestructible for 3-5 seconds (this can be nerfed to triplicate their health during those 3-5 seconds, or something along those lines). And after they lose this invulnerability they are at full health. This way a well timed ability can really STOP an incoming charge, while not being OP because it only last a few seconds, and doesn't affect other structures, so if there is a barricated area with 2 engis and 3 archers worth of structures, only 4 barricades and 1 spike will get the buff, while the rest will be as destroyable as usual.
Of course, every repaired structure and every hit recieved by those structures while being invulnerable should grant points for the engineer as well.
3.- Let them refill their pikes and traps. Like I get it, no class can do this, but this is the engineer we are talking about, the whole class should be designed around said structures. Still only allow one to be placed at a time, but don't make me press F10 because I need a new pike for the new choke point we are about to defend. I'm already low enough in the scoreboard.
4.- I just want to bring this point because many people say the engi needs a second weapon, I don't think that's the case, the engi's role is not to be at the middle of a fight or in the front lines, he is suposed to be behind supporting he's teammates. You have 1 weapon if someone get behind lines to attack you, you have a chance to defend yourself, but that's all.
Also, if you REALLY want to be an engineer that build it's structures and then charge face first, just built them and then grab a weapon from the floor (you can use 2 weapons once you already placed your barricades)
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So, for the context. This happened to me about an year ago. I have this habit of going on long rides on my scooter whenever I feel like "going out" and I usually go to near empty highways in evenings. I used to be generous towards Hitchhikers because I really didn't use to anywhere particular, just wandering until this one time I helped this somewhat bald late 30's guy. As soon as he got on my vehicle, The very first question this guy asks me for the sake of a "conversation" is "So... How's your sex life going?" I was weirded out by his question but I replied with "I've never done it" and he continues the conversation by telling me how he did a prostitute once. Creepy as it has already gotten. I could feel this guy's hands slowly move from my hips to between my legs. I didn't really know what to do so, I started speeding so that I could drop this guy quickly to his destination. Upon reaching there, I quickly told this guy to get off and he thanked me and went on his way. Needless to say, I was traumatized by what happened to me and I swore to never help any Hitchhikers EVER.
I don't know if it's the right sub to discuss this but I really don't know any better place to talk about this. I've never even shared this with my closest friends.

Repost due to typing errors (didn't have the right glasses on)🤦🏻‍♂️
25 [M4F] UK/Anywhere.
Well having another crack at this as I'm feeling lucky 🤞🏻
Hello to the wonderful person who is reading this my name is Thomas but my friend's call me Tommy or Tom or Tommo (nickname given after a drunken party) anywho feel free to use whichever name you like as I don't mind. Currently work as a roofer for a construction company which has been my job for the last 9 year's now.
So some technical stuff I'm 5"10 or 5"11 it's been a few years since my height was checked, slim build rocking a bit of a dad bod due to everyone's best friend or worse enemy alcohol (don't drink anymore), dark brown eyes or light hazel depending on light I also wear glasses as my eyesight is ridiculous and I have a shaved head and no facial hair. Pictures on request will be given😎 in my spare time I like to read, take long hikes through the forest amd walking trails near my house, explore museum's, play some video games, meet up with friend's and play football or soccer for my buddies across the pond, spend hours in bookshops and the list goes on. Musicly my tastes are massive I'm currently loving some classical music and jazz beats but I like a lot more music genre's so feel free to ask away.
I'm also a huge foodie and that's mostly meat so I'm basically a carnivore don't worry I'm not a cannibal you may look delicious but I promise I won't eat you...I may have a little nibble though (sarcasm)🤫. I don't mind what other dietary needs other people have as I'm not a person who judge's so feel free to eat whatever you like, I'd also rather spend a night in watching movies and having a cuddle session instead of going out partying. :Quick add I also absolutely love to cuddle so expect cuddle attacks incoming.
I also have a dog who is my best buddy so if you want me then you get him so it's two for the price of one really which I think is a great deal, you'll also get lots of photos of him and his cute fluffy looks. 🐶
I'm not really sure what else to put as I was never good writing about myself, feel free to message me if your curious and want to know more and don't worry I don't bite. 🧛🏻‍♂️👋🏻

I have a cheapo stripper I bought off eBay that has a circular blade and two chucks at 90 degrees to each other that the wire slots into. I can hook my drill up to the chuck and sling through wire pretty fast. Its served me well for all my #6-750mcm, but I've found when I try to strip my 10s and 12s the wire keeps unseating from the chuck. Anyone got any tips for stripping that size wire?
I am a second year apprentice, so it's still worth my time to strip it, especially when the scrapyard near me is offering very close to $4/lb stripped vs 1.50/lb insulated.