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I admit to not having thoroughly read every reply to your post. That being said, I concur with stress not causing ulcers. I might recommend that, while you have good insurance, you ask your wife if she needs some counseling to relieve stress and uncertainty. I mean, she’d have to stop working...

Now take the landline number, port it to an old cellphone, then to Google Voice and you’ve got a number you can put in public places, auto-screen the calls.

The original question was “will utilities shut off power to prevent fires and subsequent lawsuits”? Where it applies, probably. It will also depend on likelihood of lawsuits from purposeful outages. Utilities run a precarious balance between profits and public opinion, particularly regulated...

They’d rather pay their customers to use a few kilowatt-hours less than buy those kWh from a nearby utility OR startup a jet-engine powered peaking unit.

I live in a Phoenix suburb, so stations are 25-45 miles away. I have tile roof. I have antenna in attic, with an in-line booster. I get good signals, and I am anticipating better signals when all the transmitters are upgraded to the new digital signal.

What about renting one? Have you looked into Turo, where you can rent a car from a person for a specific period of time? You might be able to splurge on a once-a-quarter weekend driving a really fun car in a fun location, and not have to pay for the fun car sitting lonely in your garage.

A few thoughts. What about a lockbox that the fire department can open? Our subdivision has them on almost every house, all you I have to do is call them and they can access a key. I have a smart deadbolt on entry door and door inside the garage. Can unlock via Bluetooth with my phone. Smart...

We live in Sun City West, since 2020. The housing market has DEFINITELY slowed down here, so your friend's concerns are diminished. Sun City West has 8 golf courses, four recreation centers (each with a fitness center and pool), over 100 clubs, and many homes pay no school taxes. There are a...

Guess what else works with TSA? I cleaned one too many cards out of my wallet before a short trip to the midwest - left my driver's license at home. Because a relative had LOST his wallet while visiting, I knew TSA had a process to identify me. Guess what the TSA agent asked first? Do you have...

Not true. Illinois allowed ComEd (at the time) to divest itself of the fossil fuel plants, and become "merchant generators" with the nuclear units. None of the coal units could compete on cost or cleanliness of generation. The unknown was shale gas, which drove the price of natural gas way down...

Share your expertise with young people. Go to Nepris, and help a teacher use your wide range of expertise to enhance education. All done via their zoom-like system. Rewarding.

Preliminary caution: I use technology often, sometimes just for fun, mostly to make our lives easier. I dispute the first assumption, that a cell phone is required for many of these activities. We have an Apple-centric home, and we use iPads for many of the tasks the original poster listed, not...

I find it hard to believe that someone wise and wealthy enough to be on this site would take chances with their lives on a Jerry-rigged electrical configuration. FIRE is supposed to stand for Financially Independent Retired Early, not FIRE! like you can’t shout in a theater! My brother died in a...

What? It’s not REALITY? Next thing you’ll tell me is that Wrasslin’ ain’t real, neither?!?

Electrical tools I think everyone should have First, basic outlet tester. Klein Tools GFCI Receptacle Tester is nice because you can also test GFI. Second, Klein Tools Digital Circuit Breaker Finder with GFCI Outlet Tester and Accessory Kit so you can identify which breaker is associated with...

TB001, Not dumb questions! When you re-pressurize your water system, you may shake loose all kinds of stuff. Remove your strainers on your faucets wherever possible. Open a cold water faucet without a strainer closest to your shutoff. Purge as much air as possible (to avoid later water hammer) -...

I highly endorse the free Google Voice option. It takes a few steps and a few days to get it set up, but then no more landline fees. I have mine ring to my cellphone, and it requires people to say their name, then it asks me if I want to accept the call. If they DON’T say a name, it just...

Well, my brother died in a house fire when I was 8. The culprit was electrical wiring, but in 1963 the electrical diagnostics were a far cry from today's technology. I figured it was free, and it was worth a try. I did realize that it was eventually going to be a subscription, but I'm hoping the...

On a kind of related note, my home insurance company just got me a free “Ting” electric monitoring device. It looks for arc’ing and other anomalies in your home wiring, and uses wi-fi to report problems to you, and, if necessary, send an electrician to trouble-shoot and repair. I’m hoping it’s...

We moved from rural IL to Sun City West in January 2020. SCW has four rec centers, I forget how many golf courses, and over 100 activity clubs. Our clubs of decision were the Auto Restoration Club (multiple lifts, full paint booth, many tools, friendly active group) weaving, pickle ball...

There are passive monitoring systems that don’t include cameras, but can incorporate cameras. These systems use motion sensors, electrical sensors (on appliances like microwave ovens, etc. to know when it is activated) to build an artificial intelligence database of “normal” activities, and...

Hire an expert (or two) to assess your particular situation(s). Get recommendations from experts. Then listen to opinions. Here’s mine. In our rural northern Illinois home, we had our own well and septic. Our heat supply was LP gas. Our electrical distribution in the house needed to be updated...

I’m POA/Trustee with FIL, all finances my gig. He lives with family member and spouse. His trust pays family member for “care”, which includes room and board, plus visits to doctor, etc. There is a contract, which calls caregiver independent contractor, responsible for all taxes and fees. In...

Your Subaru Outback has built-in GPS that is awful. However, it should have CarPlay or Android auto, which can use Waze on your info display. That way you get a large display and audio directions. Waze is my first choice. I had my granddaughter record her voice on Waze, which is nice. Waze...

Our retirement community WAS made for us, but now... We retired in 2016 in rural midwest, with man-shed garage for antique car hobby, chickens and coop, plus large garden for DW. In 2019, while visiting son's family in Phoenix, found a 55+ community with Auto Restoration Club. We visited it...