What Changes are Happening in your local area?

Just a little check in to see if anything has changed. I like to hear if these are isolated to my area/region or are happening all around.

Gas prices are holding steady here at the $4 mark.

Crime is up, we are getting notices from the local area townships to lock up your doors, and install cameras.
Burglars are breaking in most during daytime hours. Car break in are up.

Small food shortages, and prices up all across the board, some things are up significantly.

Here's a NEW one. Things must be going South. I am now able to get contractors to show up (yay). Sales people are also a lot more aggressive than in the past.

People are starting to sell off non essentials, cars, boats, jewelry, antiques. Houses are still very overpriced, and am now seeing price reductions.

a reply to: JAGStorm

All about the same is happening in my area, Texas Hill Country. Whats somewhat new and increasing is the huge number of illegal aliens moving through our area. Also, the Feds now dump 120 to 150 processed aliens at the bus terminal in the small city 34 miles south of us. The local officials put them on busses to the nearest big city, San Antonio, to keep them moving threw the area. Car thefts are at an all time high, it's an epidemic.

The wife was watching Days of our Lives and Biden came on, he says he is releasing a million barrels per day from the reserves. Why do we have the reserves? In case of war, so we have fuel for ships, planes, tanks, etc.... I suppose there is no chance of a war in the near future, so he can sell the huge stockpiles Trump bought cheap a while back to keep the oil companies afloat.

That is what is going on in our area, nothing much different here other than gas at four dollars and twenty eight cents a gallon and increased prices in the stores. At least there is pasta in the stores again, it was pretty hard to find it two weeks ago. Also there are some random shortages of other things like Daisy sour Cream in some stores.

Crime is not really up here, almost all households here have a gun or more...that deters people breaking into houses when there is someone there. If there is a car in the yard that is shoveled out, chances are nobody will break in. I did have around five gallons of gas siphoned out of my plowtruck about a month and a half ago, but nothing since. I should get some cameras I suppose.

We have been doing some shopping, stocking up on things over the last four weeks we normally use because there were some pretty good sales...cat litter and cat treats are essential in our house and with prices rising we decided to get some extra stock to save in the future. We did buy a bunch more chicken, a ten pound bag of leg quarters and another two whole chickens at a dollar and four cents a pound at Walmart. At least their cheap chickens have some flavor, most of the other brands other than the Ahmish chickens lack flavor around here. Can't afford to start buying organic free range chickens...which are most times full of flavor...because chicken should not cost four bucks a pound...I am cheap.

People are working, but since prices are rising, they are losing ground. Most of the younger people I know are going more into debt, their credit card balances are ballooning. Prices of houses have gone way too high as have used cars....we are actually going backwards, the little wage increases cannot cover the increases of those items or the extra rent being charged because of house values skyrocketing here. Not good.

a reply to: rickymouse

I did have around five gallons of gas siphoned out of my plowtruck about a month and a half ago, but nothing since. I should get some cameras I suppose.

Get a camera. I'm adding more. Not just to deter crime, but i've been capturing some of the most amazing wildlife I've ever seen. Pregnant squirrel, baby cardinal, deer galore.

a reply to: JAGStorm

I'm seeing lots of folks putting their time and money into their homes and families, basically fortifying their foundations for the hard times to come. The folks at my local plant nursery have said they're seeing lots more people coming in for supplies and seedlings for vegetable gardens. I know my neighbors and myself have planted a little extra this year with the expectation that more people might be in need of basic foodstuffs.

Thefts of car batteries, catalytic converters and gasoline are shooting up. I'm pretty sure someone siphoned a couple gallons out of my car Sunday night. I only realized it because the "gas cap" light came on, and sure enough it was not screwed on properly, and I was about an 1/8th of a tank lower than when I last parked it. I've got a new solar powered motion-activated light out there now!

a reply to: Boadicea

The folks at my local plant nursery have said they're seeing lots more people coming in for supplies and seedlings for vegetable gardens.

Our local nursery had a sorry display of seeds, actually the worst I've ever seen. Luckily I save a lot of my own from my heirloom crops, but I like to get some flowers or new ones. They had a lot of the same thing and very low variety. I think people are going to be shocked come spring/summer planting time.

a reply to: JAGStorm

House prices are up 33k from last year in the UK and the local council has let the area look like a tip by not doing a good job of cleaning up the parks or footpaths and prices are rocketing in the shops rampant shrink flation on food items and pet food .

Crime is normal,we don't tolerate it here pee of the locals and you get run out of town fast ,real fast but when you pull up the court rolls of who is up in front of the judge a surprising number have foreign names , early today one of them set fire to his home and decided to attack the police with a knife he was quickly shot ,which is really unusual here .

But everything looks normal except the idiots still walking about with face masks for something with a death rate of 0.035 of 1 % .

But buisness is booming for some who work from home

Oscar Meyer bologna is damn near $7 a pack.

$7!!!???🤦🏾‍♂️

Regular gas = $5.96+

Crime is relatively the same as I'm in a small coastal city, more like town, and it's a predominantly sleepy retirement community.

Traffic is noticeably lighter in the region and there's less employment opportunities than usual.

About 80% of folks are not wearing masks and businesses are done enforcing it on customers but I notice a lot of businesses still requiring their employees to "suit up".

Personally, my new gender confused neighbors OF COURSE applied for a service animal verification for a dog because we can't have dogs here, so to add insult to injury, they decided on a purebred German shepherd for a less than 600sqft apartment with a 6x10 patio.

(I have yet to see them take the dog for a walk.)

OF COURSE they put in hardwood floors in their new apartment on the last turnover so now I get to hear this moose of a dog clompity clomp clomping back and forth next door, sometimes half the night.



Joy.

Groceries up an excruciating amount, freezer and cold food section, along with the rice and pastas still struggling with emptiness.

Vehicle thefts way up (was pretty much unheard of up until a year or so ago). I see the fancy and not so fancy campers up for sale all over the place.

I used to grab lunch out once a week, but the restaurant prices have gotten so high I cut it down to once a month. Figure I'm gonna need that extra money somewhere down the road real soon...

a reply to: tinker9917

I see the fancy and not so fancy campers up for sale all over the place.

I've seen soo many RV's! Now that gas is soo high it is not affordable to a lot of people.
During Covid RVs were in such demand and gas was still pretty cheap, now I bet a lot of people are
regretting that decision. Boats too, i've seen a lot of boats.

I’ve seen more erratic and dangerous driving in the last year or so. I noticed this especially with people with junkers, or old crap cars. They’ll pull out right in front of me, pass on double solid lines, fail to give the right away, fail to come to a complete stop nearly nailing me. Ride my tail, etc etc. The heck is going on.

a reply to: JAGStorm

Our local nursery had a sorry display of seeds, actually the worst I've ever seen. Luckily I save a lot of my own from my heirloom crops, but I like to get some flowers or new ones. They had a lot of the same thing and very low variety. I think people are going to be shocked come spring/summer planting time.

That's a real shame to hear. One of the reasons I love my nursery is because it's family-owned and their plants are locally grown so they are adapted to these growing conditions. A little more expensive than other places, but the quality is exceptional and definitely worth it. They've had a great selection this year. Better than ever, and I never had any complaints before. I haven't checked any other nurseries or any big box stores. Maybe my nursery just planned a little better than others.

a reply to: EternalShadow

Personally, my new gender confused neighbors OF COURSE applied for a service animal verification for a dog because we can't have dogs here, so to add insult to injury, they decided on a purebred German shepherd for a less than 600sqft apartment with a 6x10 patio.

That's just cruel. Work dogs like shepherds need plenty of room to run and romp and exercise. He will suffer for it sooner or later. So cruel!

a reply to: Boadicea

Maybe my nursery just planned a little better than others.

I live in an agricultural area. I know people here plan early, but the displays were just so much smaller. In previous years I remember at least two aisles, (four rows) of seeds or seed products. This year it was 1/4 that, and of that it was a lot of duplicate items. For example, Burpee ford hook seeds, and then some generic ford hook seeds etc.

I know they are desperately hiring people too, and this silly place is still paying in the single digits. So some of the problem might be labor and not product.

originally posted by: JAGStorm
a reply to: rickymouse

I did have around five gallons of gas siphoned out of my plowtruck about a month and a half ago, but nothing since. I should get some cameras I suppose.

Get a camera. I'm adding more. Not just to deter crime, but i've been capturing some of the most amazing wildlife I've ever seen. Pregnant squirrel, baby cardinal, deer galore.

We feed the birds all winter, and some of the summer, we have soodpeckers that go after the seut hanging on the deck too. We have two Martens that come here to eat seeds and they like bread and fresh homemade apple cinnamon rolls too. They are our new outside cats, they keep the mice and chippies from filling the muffler with acorns.

The deer left before Christmas this year. We feed them homemade organic bread, potatoes, and carrots usually...Usually they stay around till the end of January, but left early this year. I expect there will be a few does this spring coming around to eat with their fawns. It is so nice seeing the fawns walking around. I have shot five deer in my life, all bucks, I would never shoot a fawn or doe, not even a spike horn. I am repaying the deer for all the meat I got from the five deer, we have probably gave them two hundred loaves of bread, thirty bushels of potatoes, three homemade pies, three dozen homemade cinnamon rolls, and a hundred pounds of carrots over the last ten to twelve years. They tend to enjoy organic food better than commercial. That is just the last ten to twelve years, we have been feeding them for maybe twenty five years...some years there are up to nine deer that come around, now we usually only get around five or six that frequent this four star restaurant. Heck, deer will even eat pasties if there is not too much meat in them. The little ones like fruit loops a lot. Makes it a little difficult to have a garden, but oh well, that's life, a six foot fence will not stop them.

The reason we don't have a camera here with a motion sensor is that it would just produce videos of animals...it needs to be hardwired in for power because the batteries would need to be changed once a month with all the things that walk around here. Plus, I don't want to be avoiding the camera when I take a leak when I am outside working on something.

originally posted by: JAGStorm
I've seen soo many RV's! Now that gas is soo high it is not affordable to a lot of people.
During Covid RVs were in such demand and gas was still pretty cheap, now I bet a lot of people are
regretting that decision. Boats too, i've seen a lot of boats.

Gas for RVs and boats is only part of the picture. It's when they fall apart within a year from not being maintained or properly stored that it gets expensive. And halfway under a tarp in the driveway is not storage. I'd expect a bunch for sale this spring, full of water leaves and raccoon #.

Besides that, this area is similar. Crime is WAY up.

a reply to: JAGStorm

Gas is around $5 a gallon here. Food prices have gone up every time we've gone shopping this month.

There are no more houses available for sale in my immediate area. We had a Japanese family recently move into our town. We met them at the dog park yesterday. My wife is going to show the wife around.

Someone keeps walking through my property at around 2 a.m. I haven't had anything turn up missing. So, I am unconcerned about it at the moment. I have an unlocked outbuilding that we use to store stuff that we really don't need or want. I wish someone would steal the stuff that's inside. That'll save me from having to eventually do something with it all.

I haven't been able to buy any turkey for a couple of weeks. It's a bummer because that's the usual protein that I make my dog food with.

I read that cat food is in very short supply.

Southwest Michigan. Gas $3.99 today everything up but utilities are locked in so they will be fine. New truck finally arrived after 8 months and 10 days. Had all the parts so it doesn't need to go back. Getting 47 MPG going to work so I guess it's just in time. summer tourists are starting to come in and not liking the 50% increase in Restaurant prices. Grocery store shelves are full and the people that demanded $15 an hour now want $20 or their quitting. Lots of jobs for $20 and above but miss a day and your gone.

a reply to: JAGStorm

3 cops got shot in my little town today, that’s a change. Violence is getting bad here since a huge influx of people coming here from nyc and who knows where the # else.

Link

a reply to: JAGStorm

Theft of large pickups has skyrocketed in our town. This includes all manner of work trucks. Rural houses are reporting a much higher number of break-ins. Gas and utility prices are off the hook. 30 dollars got me a whopping quarter of a tank. 30 dollars usually gets me just under 3/4. If this keeps up, I'll be walking to work and taking the bus home. Food prices have just kept on rising as well.