CleverNickname

My hole would be compliant with Health and Safety Code 711.008. So if I croak, my wife can just call it a private cemetery and save some cash.

I had no idea VW bought part of IH.

You are probably right. Most will pick colleges to be near family, or for particular degree programs, or based on reputation. And my daughter is very privileged. We have a good sum in 529s, so we have financial options. And she is super smart, and will probably ride PSAT scores into financial packages. But nonetheless, we are at least one anecdote of this driving young folks out of Texas.

I say this with complete sincerety: any Surly (or minor wards you can kidnap) are welcome to come to my next hole digging session. No pay. No benefits. No OSHA, no MSHA oversight. I have water, but it's untreated rain water and last time I had to clear a dead mouse from the tank screen. Lots of angry fire ants. But there is Hole.

What's stopping you?

If it happens, it happens.

Instead of the plurality position, a highly gerrymandered system encourages maximalists positions. When HB 1280 passed Rs told Scott Braddock that it meant kthi g because they expected Roe to stand. The majority of folks would be okay with a 14 or 15 week limitation. So more restrictive than the last 49 years! Instead we get HB 1280 and Sen McConnell saying an R fed legislature (because of Senate and macro factors, all but guaranteed) may abolsih filibuster and ban all abortion nationwide in 2024 while various state politicians not ruling out banning contraception or Plan B. This is where we are. Think ivy is hard to get in now, try McGill or McMaster next year. Like most, a variety of reasons. Employment handcuffs for one. Pension. All this was theoretical until Dobbs. I have varied policy preferences from state leadership, but the state has sort of muddled through just fine anyway. Bickering about taxes, school finance, pros and cons of medicaid expansion, merits of climate change policies, and transportation priorities are honestly pretty tangential to my life. I go to work, Target, Home Depot, and my kids practices/games. I would miss HEB, I guess. And easy access to my ranch, with its new hole. Trump didn't change that directly (you could blame the Garland freeze out and RBG being stubborn and unstrategic, too), but through SCOTUS appointments. And now we have Dobbs. I'd actually be okay with another kid, but that's not a unilateral decision in a normal marriage, we are probably nearly all dried up, and anyway none of your business. We have access to Plan B for now (future pro tip: grab it in CO along with weed and hope the okies don't confiscate it). Hell, we could fly to Monterrey if we had to. And let's be honest: rape is more of a threat for young women (particularly those dating and going out) than my middle aged MILF wife. I mean, I bone her seven days a week, but I bet she's what that Amy Schumer skit would call past her last fuckable day. But this is real real. More real and personal than the vast majority of political bullshit. Even more important than Arch Manning - or at least as important! We have saved for retirement well over the years, and with the skyrocketing Austin home asset inflation, we wont have trouble relocating when our kids graduate high school. If we have to vote with our feet, so be it.

Not sure if you were referring to my CR-ish thread bomb. But my point was actually not about crime rates or whatever. My point was I'm not sure I want my daughter to go to school where first trimester abortions are banned. I'm not so much worried about stranger danger rape (though the thought is of course terrifying). I am worried about the friend-zoned dweeb that takes advantage of too much alcohol, or "nice guy" who gets aggressive when she wants to stop at second base, or the creep boyfriend who stealths a condom. Those crimes are very rarely reported, but 100% something women have to consider. In Texas, sometime this summer HB 1280 will kick in. Abortions will be eliminated in Texas. Birth control is not perfect and for some women hormonal (or IUD) birth control just doesn't work or messes them up too much. It is possible that in 2023 the Texas Legislure will adopted further restrictions. I am not some super pro-choice advocate. I would probably be okay with a ~15 week window, if it included decent enough life of mother caveats. But HB 1280 has no such limitations. It's a full elimination of abortion in Texas and it is already law. Yes, I am sure Darrmouth or New Hampshire have plenty of date raping assholes. And that sucks. But - and this is critical for some of us thinking about college choice now or in the future - in August of 2022 in New Hamshire a woman who was raped can get an abortion. In August of 2022, a young woman raped at UT-Austin or Rice or whatever, cannot. This is a factor plenty of normal not-particularly woke gun owning people like me will consider. My daughter is still a few years from college choice. Fortunately she is smart enough that I bet some out of state college will offer scholarship money or at least an in-state tuition deal. Because I don't think I want her to go to college in Texas. And if she moves back after, that will be her adult choice. https://capitol.texas.gov/billlookup/History.aspx?LegSess=87R&Bill=HB1280 https://www.texastribune.org/2021/05/11/texas-legislature-abortion-roe-wade/

I think the thread subject pretty much answers most questions asked. In retrospect I should have a least rented a mini backhoe and dug down thw first 4 ft. But now it will be all manual labor. It may be a other 2 weeks before I get back out and finish mucking out my topsoil. Then the hard work begins. I have purchased metal brackets to make a platform out of 4x4s. I figure it will be nice to make a roof over the hole, and eventually mount a winch.

I got to thinking. Lots of people think about digging a hole (maybe?). I have property where a guy could build a hole. And sure about 16 inches down it becomes partially cemented caliche. But only partially. I own a San Angelo bar. And I don't think I will hit a big layer of solid limestone. I saw them dig a septic ta k, and it never had a big problem. So not only could I dig a hole, but that hole could be dug. Picked a spot. Started digging. Off with the grass.. Old scrap cedar 2x of the approximate size for frame of reference. Once I'm down a ways the goal is to be 2.5x4 ft clear with sets made from 4x6s. Or maybe steel panels. It sure yet. I figure I've got plenty of back breaking labor before I have to decide. My helper. I told him I was going to dig a hole. He's in. One day he will inherit my hole. Our hole. Only got about 2 hours of labor in the hole. Hoping to go back out soon and get it all squared up and dug to the harder layer. Then it will be time for my cheap electric jackhammer.

I mean, if there is a college or state with a dramatically different murder rate, that seems like a reasonable filter too. Real world shit matters.

No, but a state that does not allow abortion in cases of rape is off the table when selecting colleges. Sexual assault happens, particularly to young women on campus. Certainly as important a factor to my family as percent in on campus housing, Div I sports, or winter weather.

My daughter is 12. Amen. When HB 1280 kicks in, I will be encouraging her to leave the state and never look back.

Spoiler because this is sort of edgelord jerkoff hot take and I only 49% believe it:

Crypto is stupid. Crypto mining is super stupid. Tax dollars having anything anything to do with Crypto is grounds for immediate impeachment.

Movies have taught me a grand romantic gesture can't lose.

Boaz. Love me half forgot Old Testament names.

They might be part red wolves. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/03/science/red-wolves-dna-galveston.html

I could see how it might hurt property rich school districts. But really, the fix is the Leg to account for having to pay teachers more in higher COL areas when it does its Robinhood calculations. I sort of this of the increased homesteaf exemption as as close as a progressive tax adjustment ad we will get from this states GOP.

Go to realtor.com or your favorite local website and cruise for similar houses in your neighborhood. Shouldn't take more than 5 mins to verify general accuracy of countu appraisal.

You are 3 years too late. Just kidding. Sort of. Soccer is a good one. Sometimes there are mini (6 week) basketball seasons in the winter to try something knew. Softball is an option, too. Some teams get into elaborate chants and stuff. I could see girls really enjoying that. You'll find out soon if she is okay with contact. If not, then tennis. If she okay with contact, then there are more team sport options. Women's lacrosse looks fun as heck.

We would have to pump to Vegas, just to the continental divide, right? So like, to Silver City NM.

YIMBY solution: rewrite zoning. Allow for smaller lots, lot subdivision, reduce setbacks, and duplex/fourplex by right. You can either crash demand (not likely) or ramp up supply.

Fwiw I'm enjoying playing Tiny Tina's Wonderlands. It is a little more PG than the BL series, and I'm enjoying playing it coop with my 10 year old.

NW Austin: 414k to 694k. And honestly I see a nicer updated version of my home (same approx size) listed at 800k. So yeah... if I put a sign up that said FSBO $700k, I might get that. It was under 200k in 2014, and 330k in 2018.