Greg - your last paragraph above really hit home ! My home.
I too have stayed away from this Forum for the past week or so in the hopes that I'd come back to a peaceful and friendly place to talk trains and modeling, and the first two posts I make have to deal w/ how I'm fed up with all the garbage that is infitrating and polluting this forum lately. Go figure - there I go getting sucked right back in !
The past week or 52, I've been remodeling, re-landscaping, painting, plumbing, ducting, trimming, framing, wiring, one house to get it sold, and then my wife buys another one that "just needed some flowers, grass seed, and a little paint." Right. We weren't here but a month, when we maxed out the 10% off one-time newcomer discount from both Loew's and the big orange box store. Now I know why HD's stock is slowly rebounding! Here we go again, or should I more acurately state, "here I go again. . ."
At least the past two week I have been framing the basement for my wood shop and model railroad room - a luxury that I have never had, and have certainly earned, for all the 'honey-dos' that I have had to do all of the 23 years we've been married. (Shouldn't there be a 'honey-due' for guys, since they have a 'honey-do' for us?)