So far, my skin therapy is working out. My reaction to the creams is quite minimal. I do have some redness and the occasional tingle or itch, but it isn't bothersome. I have to keep reminding myself not to scratch or rub the itch.

I received the VA's final decision letter on my claims evaluation, and I am pleased with it. Not that I am pleased with the diagnoses, but that my issues are now recognized (after 35 years) as service-connected and that the compensation is fair.

I had to research their Compensation Table because, Government Math.
My individual ratings are 50% + 40% + 30% + 10%, which equals an overall disability rating of 80%.

The theory is that each disability is considered separately. The rating is a determination of how disabling that condition currently is. Since no one can be more than 100% able-bodied, the separate ratings are combined using a formula to determine the overall disability rating.

The logic behind the formula is that (in my case), the 40% rating is not added to the 50% rating because the 40% rating is being applied to a veteran that is already 50% disabled. So, those two numbers are combined in a formula to reach a number, then the next rating is combined with that number, and so on. The final result is then rounded to the nearest 10%.

Now that that is settled, I have one more loose end before I move out of state this summer. I am still waiting for my birth certificate from Pensylvania. The website states that processing time takes 20 weeks (5 months), and I submitted the change application back in January. My concern is that the state may give in to the federal guidelines that would prevent the application from being processed. Birth certificates and other vital statistics (death, marriage, etc.) are handled at the state level, not the federal. So the state may just process the application as usual, or if they buckle under federal guidelines, they could reject the application for gender change.

My bank account shows that they cashed my check, so I am hopeful that all is well and I will receive my birth certificate by the end of May. Hopefully, sooner.

Good luck, Lori. It's just a small piece of paper, but it means so much. Especially now.

Love always -- Jess

Where do you want to move to, Lori?


You should come to England, lol. If only for a vacation. I would treat you to the best fish and chips we have to offer. Followed by a cream tea. Because stereotypes.

Quote from: Sephirah on March 13, 2025, 07:02:46 PMWhere do you want to move to, Lori?


You should come to England, lol. If only for a vacation. I would treat you to the best fish and chips we have to offer. Followed by a cream tea. Because stereotypes.

I'd love that.

I really would like to visit Lincolnshire where my ancestors are from. My great-great-great grandfather is buried at Louth.

Right now, the plan is to go back to Colorado. Most of my family lives in Northern Colorado, so I am looking at the southern part of the state. (Plus, the weather is better down there.) The plan is to move in July, so I have stuff to get done between now and then. Little things like go and look at homes in the area.

I will be traveling light. A trick I learned from my dad long ago is to sell or donate your furniture instead of moving it. Then, buy new ones when you get to your new place. You save the cost of hauling the heavy/bulky stuff and can get what you need to fit the new home.

That's the plan anyway. We will see how it goes in a few months. 

Quote from: Lori Dee on March 13, 2025, 08:43:00 PMI'd love that.

Me, too. Lincolnshire has among the best British sausages. You have to have a traditional bangers & mash (sausage and mashed potato) with good quality Lincolnshire sausages. It's to die for. It also goes some way to explain your somewhat unorthodox common sense, lol. Ask any northerner in the UK and they don't take no crap. I should know.

Quote from: Sephirah on March 13, 2025, 09:14:41 PMMe, too. Lincolnshire has among the best British sausages. You have to have a traditional bangers & mash (sausage and mashed potato) with good quality Lincolnshire sausages. It's to die for. It also goes some way to explain your somewhat unorthodox common sense, lol. Ask any northerner in the UK and they don't take no crap. I should know.

My surname is a very common Yorkshire name. I was convinced that we were native to that part, specifically West Yorkshire. I was rather confused when I couldn't trace my family tree back any further, then I found a census record that showed his birthplace as Marsh Chapel. He moved to Leeds for work, married and had kids there. Then when work dried up, moved back to Louth. After his death, the widow and kids moved back to Leeds where she was from.

I suspect that somewhere back in the deep, dark past, we were from West Yorkshire, then moved to Lincolnshire for some reason. But the only way to research this further would be to travel to Louth and review the Parish Registers for birth, marriage, and death records. Those could give a clue.

Until then, I am stuck.

Sausage and potatoes sound pretty good right now.

Quote from: Lori Dee on March 13, 2025, 08:43:00 PM]Right now, the plan is to go back to Colorado. Most of my family lives in Northern Colorado, so I am looking at the southern part of the state. (Plus, the weather is better down there.) The plan is to move in July, so I have stuff to get done between now and then. Little things like go and look at homes in the area.

I will be traveling light. A trick I learned from my dad long ago is to sell or donate your furniture instead of moving it. Then, buy new ones when you get to your new place. You save the cost of hauling the heavy/bulky stuff and can get what you need to fit the new home.

That's the plan anyway. We will see how it goes in a few months. 

That's where the rocky mountains are? I can see why you would be at home there. The images I quickly googled, it'd a breathtakingly beautiful place. Like most of your country, to be honest.

Hi Everyone

Quote from: Sephirah on March 13, 2025, 09:14:41 PMMe, too. Lincolnshire has among the best British sausages. You have to have a traditional bangers & mash (sausage and mashed potato) with good quality Lincolnshire sausages. It's to die for. It also goes some way to explain your somewhat unorthodox common sense, lol. Ask any northerner in the UK and they don't take no crap. I should know.

Only if it's smothered with Holbrook's Worcestershire Sauce    

Best Wishes Always
Sarah B
Global Moderator
@Sephirah @Lori Dee

Quote from: Lori Dee on March 13, 2025, 09:23:24 PMMy surname is a very common Yorkshire name. I was convinced that we were native to that part, specifically West Yorkshire. I was rather confused when I couldn't trace my family tree back any further, then I found a census record that showed his birthplace as Marsh Chapel. He moved to Leeds for work, married and had kids there. Then when work dried up, moved back to Louth. After his death, the widow and kids moved back to Leeds where she was from.

I suspect that somewhere back in the deep, dark past, we were from West Yorkshire, then moved to Lincolnshire for some reason. But the only way to research this further would be to travel to Louth and review the Parish Registers for birth, marriage, and death records. Those could give a clue.

Until then, I am stuck.

Sausage and potatoes sound pretty good right now.

I am a South Yorkshire lass. But my family mostly hail from Derbyshire, a little bit further south. I have a lot of friends from West Yorkshire, though. Leeds especially. It's kind of the Yorkshire Metropolis. That explains a lot!

That is quite exceedingly cool, Lori. I always knew you were a kindred spirit! <3

Quote from: Sarah B on March 13, 2025, 09:25:04 PMHi Everyone

Only if it's smothered with Holbrook's Worcestershire Sauce    

Best Wishes Always
Sarah B
Global Moderator
@Sephirah @Lori Dee

No. No no no no NO! Sorry but no. Being from Sheffield... Worcester sauce is heresy. It has to be Henderson's Relish.



They don't sell it outside of Sheffield, other than on Amazon at like 5x the price. But it makes Worcestershire sauce look utterly amateur. There's some kind of law that says they can't sell it even anywhere else in the UK.

Once you have this, you will never go back. Trust me.

Quote from: Sephirah on March 13, 2025, 09:24:11 PMThat's where the rocky mountains are? I can see why you would be at home there. The images I quickly googled, it'd a breathtakingly beautiful place. Like most of your country, to be honest.

I went to high school there. I fell in love with the Rockies back then. I used to have pictures from hiking trips to some of the highest peaks. When I left Illinois, I wanted to go to Colorado but the cost of living in the northern part of the state is crazy high. Once they legalized marijuana, the prices kept going up. South Dakota had the mountains, and the cost of living was decent. Now that South Dakota has followed suit, the same thing is happening here. Housing prices are through the roof.

The difference is that South Dakota is a dangerous Red state for LGBTQ, and central/southern Colorado is Blue and supportive. The state has a strong Democrat base in and around Denver. The Western Slope of the Rockies and the northern part of the state are the exact opposite. They even have an area nicknamed "Trump Valley" because of all the Trump signs everywhere.

Quote from: Lori Dee on March 13, 2025, 09:32:03 PMI went to high school there. I fell in love with the Rockies back then. I used to have pictures from hiking trips to some of the highest peaks. When I left Illinois, I wanted to go to Colorado but the cost of living in the northern part of the state is crazy high. Once they legalized marijuana, the prices kept going up. South Dakota had the mountains, and the cost of living was decent. Now that South Dakota has followed suit, the same thing is happening here. Housing prices are through the roof.

The difference is that South Dakota is a dangerous Red state for LGBTQ, and central/southern Colorado is Blue and supportive. The state has a strong Democrat base in and around Denver. The Western Slope of the Rockies and the northern part of the state are the exact opposite. They even have an area nicknamed "Trump Valley" because of all the Trump signs everywhere.

I will be honest... as a Brit... how the cost of living anywhere in the US can be high is a bit bewildering. Your houses are as big as some of our villages. The place is just so vast. Most of your country has no one living there. A bit like Australia. As a Brit... that literally breaks my brain, lol.

Quote from: Sephirah on March 13, 2025, 09:41:23 PMI will be honest... as a Brit... how the cost of living anywhere in the US can be high is a bit bewildering. Your houses are as big as some of our villages. The place is just so vast. Most of your country has no one living there. A bit like Australia. As a Brit... that literally breaks my brain, lol.

We aren't as big as Australia, but the places here where no one lives, there is a reason they don't. I grew up not too far from Death Valley. You can buy a chunk of land there cheap. But the weather is brutal, and not many people have the fortitude to endure it. Usually, places like that have no industry or businesses, so there are no jobs and, thus, no customers either.

I went to grade school in Hinkley, California. It was a nice community then. But Erin Brockovich exposed the local power company's pollution of the ground water. People got sick and died, most moved away. The place is a ghost town now. The school is abandoned, most homes were demolished, and they even shut down the Post Office. It's really freaky.

Quote from: Lori Dee on March 13, 2025, 09:53:53 PMWe aren't as big as Australia, but the places here where no one lives, there is a reason they don't. I grew up not too far from Death Valley. You can buy a chunk of land there cheap. But the weather is brutal, and not many people have the fortitude to endure it. Usually, places like that have no industry or businesses, so there are no jobs and, thus, no customers either.

I went to grade school in Hinkley, California. It was a nice community then. But Erin Brockovich exposed the local power company's pollution of the ground water. People got sick and died, most moved away. The place is a ghost town now. The school is abandoned, most homes were demolished, and they even shut down the Post Office. It's really freaky.

I think I read something about that. It is not a whole lot different to the foods you eat over there. They dump carcinogenic dyes in them because it's just cheaper and you have to pay for your own healthcare. You folks are literally the guinea pigs for all the crap that gets invented in the world. If you had socialised healthcare, 99% of these companies wouldn't be able to get away with the stuff they do, because it would just be too big a burden on the government.

Viking blood line then! Proper Worcester sauce from Worcester for me not that I have seen any other.

Quote from: Lori Dee on March 13, 2025, 09:53:53 PMWe aren't as big as Australia, but the places here where no one lives, there is a reason they don't. ....

According to aboutaustralia.com,

"The land area of Australia is 2.989 million square miles compared to the land area of the US at 3.797 million square miles"

so your country is bigger than you think.  Last time I checked, the huge state of Wyoming still had less than a million residents. 

Americans seem to be appreciating nature now more than the pioneers did.  To them, I suppose it was understandable to regard wilderness and its denizens as dangers and obstacles.  The British were even more ruthless, wiping out all of the wolves, bears, lynxes, reindeer, beavers and wild boars, although the latter three have been reintroduced to small areas (the boars illegally by animal rights protesters).  Even the British ancient forests are nearly all gone, except, ironically, in the steel producing city of Sheffield.

Many Americans still like to hunt, of course and I approve.  British activists don't understand that in populated areas, wild animals are replaced by domestic stock if they are not exploited.  They produce varied and delicious meat and hides, not just trophies.  Only hunter-killers need really large amounts of wilderness to be conserved.  Camera hunters find all they need in national parks.  A hundred moose hunters need a hundred mooses but a hundred cameramen can all photograph the same moose.

However, I gather that in the USA, wildlife once rare is becaming more common and widespread.  In the 1960s, there was no permanent wolf population in the USA but now they are common in a number of northern states.  In New Jersey, black bears had been extirpated but now the state has the densest population of bears in the USA.  Moose have returned to Massachusetts and Connecticut and beavers are now found in every state except Hawaii.  Even mountain lions are turning up in surprising places.

I do understand Sephirah's envy and surprise but I see your point that to earn money, you need customers and therefore people.

Conservationists have indeed been working to restore many endangered species. Many were saved in zoos or wildlife refuges until their numbers increased enough to sustain themselves in the wild. Here in South Dakota and Wyoming, the bison was hunted almost to extinction for its meat, hides, and horns.

What we have learned is that hunting is necessary to cull overpopulated species. Very often, a species will reproduce faster than their food supply, or weather conditions (like drought) can have a huge impact on it. When they are not healthy, disease can spread quickly and wipe out large numbers. So regulated hunting is helpful.

This can also affect domestic livestock. When we lived in the desert, a bobcat (lynx family) killed all of our chickens and ducks. My dad killed the bobcat and found out from the local Sheriff that due to an exceptionally dry season, there wasn't as much vegetation growing. In the desert, that is a problem. This resulted in the local jackrabbit population being smaller, so the bobcats were venturing in closer to ranches in search of food. This became a problem, and the Department of Fish & Game issued a bounty on bobcats.

We then had a wet season, the desert bloomed, as did the jackrabbit population, and the bobcats stayed away from human areas. Once the bobcat population was determined to be within tolerance, the bounty was lifted.

Quote from: MaryT on March 14, 2025, 05:29:48 PMAccording to aboutaustralia.com,

"The land area of Australia is 2.989 million square miles compared to the land area of the US at 3.797 million square miles"

The land area of the UK is 242.5 THOUSAND square kilometers. 94.3 thousand square miles. The size just breaks my brain, lol.

I can kind of understand Oz, though. 90% of the country and wildlife literally is designed to kill anything else that lives there. No wonder most people live around the coastal areas.

Quote from: Sephirah on March 14, 2025, 06:17:26 PMI can kind of understand Oz, though. 90% of the country and wildlife literally is designed to kill anything else that lives there. No wonder most people live around the coastal areas.

There used to be a lot more inland.

But the wildlife got them. 

Quote from: Lori Dee on March 14, 2025, 08:31:34 PMThere used to be a lot more inland.

But the wildlife got them. 

Throw another unfortunate backpacker on the barbie!