They’ve even got a homemade tank and set up roadblocks in an attempt to stop the gunmen, who are said to be responsible for a rise in homicides locally.

Holy homemade tank batman!!

We had an old manual Ford Escort that we had drilled the ignition out of and put a switch in instead. No one figured it out without us telling them (friends family borrowing). Ours wasn’t even really hidden, just unexpected… thieves rarely want to spend extra time and effort on unexpecteds.

Kindnessskills makes some great points. Bet they smell fresh as a daisy out camping!

We used to do outdoor music festivals and would camp for days so we could have a safe place to walk “home” to drunk and stoned. I learned some tricks from those party folks on staying fresh while young n sweaty and tent swapping. Just being able to get a lil fresh water with soap and/or wipes to the stinky triangle (pits to crotch) helps a ton.

You mentioned you already use a tub. How do you feel about taking a bath to get all soapy and sudsy and then just doing a shower rinse off? Even a quick soak ensures it soapy wayer gets in all the crevices.

Other folks mentioned wipes… might want to look into nursing home hospital stuff. Many things made for people who cannot shower or take a proper bath and still want to be clean (found lots of useful things for camping!) As said elsewhere, daily showering (especially hot water) is very rough on the skin.

Not quite the same but, near me there is an on-ramp for a highway that they added a turn lane onto. They used an existing straight lane and added lines and arrows to denote the change. No one heeded these new lane rules so they added a row of standing, plastic, reflective Ballard like lane dividers to separate the turn lanes from the others. They were quickly driven over by all the traffic and no longer exist.

We used to live near an intersection that, at night, the red turn arrow would just never change. There would be 0 other traffic, cycle after cycle, so… yeah. In some rare cases I’d rather safely go on red rather than wait hours for morning traffic to arrive.

Phew! I hoped that had come off as snarky and fun. Hard to tell with text.

I’m fairly crafty but I may need some tips from that uncle of yours.

Not where I live. All those charges for the use of their electricity here. I definitely do not have space to set up my own personal nuclear reactor on my patio. Not even sure I could scavenge enough free materials to build it, even if I found free designs/blueprints.

Our girl missed a jump from the toilet seat to the sink today. There is about a 5" gap between the two. Gravity must be heavy today!

You made me curious since we have one that is trying to devour our other plants from its bucket on our patio. Looks like I don’t have to replant!

https://cultivatedelight.com/grow-tomatoes-in-balcony-pots/

They got their base last year to deride everyone who mentioned US democracy with “We’Re a rEpUbLiC!” I imagined it was for making the lack of any democracy the new normal.

Curious, I think what you call lorries are what we call a semi (semi-truck). Ours mostly use diesel fuel. Do yours take petrol instead?

… or did I just think way to hard into a joke

Some of do wish we were tall. Not all of us care what a potential mate finds “cute”. We want to be able to be safe wearing seatbelts instead of higher chances of decapitation. We want to be responded to like adults, especially in our 40’s, instead of treated like children. We want to be independent while working on and around our homes without fear of falling of stools and ladders to put dishes away or calling a man for help. Being told a job your interested in wouldn’t be a good fit, because of your size…

I even have pairs of “shit stompers”, as my friends call them, platform boots that give me about 2 1/2 inches more height so I can be self-reliant. Sold as “clubbing boots” but I wear them regularly for mundane shit.

Getting literally looked down on, by everyone, everyday, gets really tiring, especially after decades of it. I am 5"3 (so not even THAT short) and can’t see shit in large crowds besides asses and backs. Have been actually stepped on by tall folks (even people just at 5’6"… like, come the fuck on) who don’t realize there are people shorter than their eyes and don’t care to look down. My head gets hit by average and tall people’s elbows (hard) in club or crowd environments because again, they have no idea someone can exist below their eyeline, or just don’t care. Can’t go to bars or clubs alone because we are easy “marks” so we need an adult or a man to accompany us, to dissuade sexual preditors.

Anyone remember vehicles with bench seats? How degrading is it to not be able to reach the pedals because the seat only has 3 notches, and the closest one is still for people taller than you? Getting told “you should get yourself a booster seat” like I’m a kid in a restaurant.

Not every girl wants to be “cute”. Some of just want to “be”, and be safe. Self defense classes really drilled into my head the dangers of “looking like an easy mark” it’s assumed short women won’t put up as much of a fight and are easier prey. Learned to carry a “big” presence, and found a lot less sketchy characters would try to approach me. Staying that alert is fucking exhausting and makes going out, at night, in cities, to large parking lots, to bars and clubs, to concerts, a lot less enjoyable.

Sorry for the rant. But just because some folks might see short as cute, does NOT mean we short folks concur, or see that “cute” makes up for the rest of the shit and dangers we have to deal with. Or, even want to be “cute”.