CleverNickname

There may be some heavy breathing in this audio and I am sure it is not at all because I lifted the expanded steel lid and jumped out of my skin.

Just outside Mullin, TX in Mills County. Part of my little ranch is the old oak savannah cross timbers. I Sorry its kinda jumpy - I'm zoomed in quite a bit:

Well then have another!

Meet my new friend. Western Coachwhip (?) chilling in the firepit of la casita. Curled up a lot, but I bet he was 6-7 foot.

tagging on this thread: what age to start lessons? My daughter seems to enjoy the piano lessons* but son is less enthused but has expressed interest in guitar. What age should I let him peel off and switch to guitar? He'll be in second grade. * caveat: no way in hell we can push Age x3 minutes of practice. I can stand firm on things like making every game & practice for a team sport, because its a commitment to the team. But if I made my daughter truly practice for 30 mins each day she'd quit in a heartbeat. I got no leverage, and she knows it! Fortunately they both practice mostly daily, and the instructor seems happy to take our checks.

FWIW the gov signed the bill to (be able to) sell the Hobby building (SB 1349).

Wild. Was the gate being lowered or adjusted, or did it just give way? Not that it matters, really.

Dewater. What a great word.

The cell phone videos from the California 8.1 quake are going to be crazy.

I'm 99% confident that is not Bill.

Somehow I ended up as recruiting chair for our cub scout pack. Spring JSN is coming up. Funny enough my daughter is in girl scouts and has negative interest in cub scouts despite it now being open to girls. Quoth my 3rd grader ahead our recent spring campout (to which I dragged her along) on the Friday before "all the boys I hate are excited about going." LOL

Not any drama with AD, I don't care about that. (well, its fun, but not for purposes of this thread) I haven't been keeping up with higher education, but with Powers passing it has been on my mind. I know that UT regents and president resisted watering down the flagship, and for that Powers gets a lot of praise. At the time Perry and his crew announced an effort to make college more inexpensive, I was mostly supportive. I haven't really followed things closely. I have kids school age, and it strikes me that I'd like some good public institutions around that they could go to later. Plus good schools are good for Texas, generally. What is the deal with that 25x25 thing? Is A&M's rep backsliding? Is having more & cheaper education incompatible with having more Tier 1-ish public institutions in Texas? What is the reputation of schools like UT-Dallas, Houston, Tech, etc and how is that changing?

SSC on college admissions (long): https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/04/15/increasingly-competitive-college-admissions-much-more-than-you-wanted-to-know/

mine was mostly flat ATX, '59. First time since maybe 2008 that was true. Of course the 10% cap finally catches up with me, so it will still feel like it is going up. As much as it stings, its honestly pretty close to accurate. People in my neighborhood complain all the time, but I bet if the put a FSBO sign out for the TCAD number, some Californian would offer a briefcase of cash by the end of the day.

I am into those scale 4x4s. Recently sold my gmade but may get back into the hobby. Kinda miss it. They are great with kids, because they don't go fast and therefore don't shatter into a million pieces. And in terms of crawling and trail running, its more of a laid back intellectual exercise than fast twitch.

Yes. Did you do a strop of wood on the outside of the purlin? I did that for the insides.

re: OPs barndominium - any thought to putting up plywood on the externals walls before the metal panels? I also did steel to steel for my casita, and I wonder how much of a pain it will be if I ever have to replace the walls. Not sure what the life span for those walls would be... 20, 30, 40+? I hope I don't regret not having an under layer.

Almost a shame The Republic is so far along in planning. Maybe there could be some crazy 3 block mega development that stretched from Hobby to Garage N. I want sky bridges and a gazillion square feet.

doh! I was distracted by the pretty photos and didn't realize Hobby was already discussed.

I find Zyrtec makes me a little bit sleepy - well, not actually sleepy like a full on benadryl nap, but oddly unproductive and listless at work. But allegra (fexofenadine) works on my better than claritin. I do mostly okay with Cedar, but Oak is hell.

Since its almost entirely rich assholes, they get to network with other rich assholes, and since life in elite circles is pretty much who you know, it is elite. I

there is already forced mediation for some claims in TX. Leg likely to expand the scope. Don't forget there are 3 parties aside from the insured: doctor, insurer, and facility. It's wicked complicated.

not totally germane to the topic, but I like the morally iffy Split Insurance proposal: (subject to qualifications, like X months to live etc) Health Plan will cover treatment, expected to cost $X. Let's say $200k. Offer to patient: we will totally cover your treatment, no worries. But if you skipped it, we'd give you $100k cash on the barrel head. Give it to your grand kids, take a vacation. Whatever. Win-win (except for the squicky part).

What is the best way to sell antique firearms in the Austin area? I've sold stuff face to face with TexasGunTrader and by common carrier with GunBroker, so I know the general laws. But I want to sell some specific antiques. I'd like a trustworthy appraiser (Austin area) and a good place to do consignment. Is it worth driving down the Houston to go to Classic Firearms? Or maybe since I folks just list stuff online it doesn't matter so much. I've got a Colt Army 1861 (1862) w/ powder keg, a Sharps Rifle New Model 1863, and a Winchester 1885 Low Wall .22lr (pre-1920s) with vintage scope. I've got some miscellaneous WW2 pistols, but the apparent market value is low enough I'd rather keep them (Feramu jhv 41 and P38 with leather holster) even though I'm terrified they'd disintegrate if I shot modern ammo through them. None of my family came to the US prior to 1900, and I've never been a civil war buff. I've got no real emotional attachment to them (I've got my grandfathers $100 montgomery ward .410 which actually means something to me).

I vote Ozzie Guillén.