Spaulding Smails

Last winter, we did a work weekend in our neighborhood. Clearing brush, fixing fences, etc. A different neighbor of mine wouldn't even let me put a chainsaw in the back of his truck. He didn't want it to mess up his bedliner. Evidently, I live in a neighborhood full of pussies.

You serious, Clark? Because according to your criteria, this is a "truck".

Lulz.... I hope you backed that 32' gooseneck into the driveway like a champ while he was outside changing his blinker fluid in his Audi. Yeah, that neighbor of mine drives a Toyota Sequoia that he refers to as his "truck". I tend to lean towards a Swiss approach to neighborhood conflict, so I just grin and nod. He also refers to his riding lawnmower as his "tractor". So, there's that.

My neighbor ragged me when I got my F350 two years ago, insinuating that it was overkill. I reminded him that I own a construction company. He rebutted that I was an "office guy". Truth is, I use the piss out of it hauling our tractors, the occasional dump trailer, etc. He just never sees that when I pull in the driveway. A few months ago while doing our backyard pool project, I rolled up to the house with a pallet of tile in the bed of the truck, and three pallets of stone on the trailer. My truck didn't squat at all. Needless to say, he hasn't criticized my choice since.

Previous two tips plus get a long spatula so you can scoop everything up at once. Also make sure you get good bread. Bread makes all the difference IMO.

Grape jelly and eggs. I used to love it as a kid. Started when some grape jelly spilled off a biscuit. I also love Sriracha on chicken salad. Not sure if that counts, but it's the perfect mix for some reason.

You're the third person that's mentioned the grilled cheese + mayo thing within the last month to me. Sounds like I need to give it a shot.

Love this topic. K Paul's in New Orleans. Took my wife along with a client and his wife. Everything was amazing. Steak. Redfish. Bread pudding. Wine. Went back a few months later and it was meh. Not sure what it was about that first trip. Apis in Spicewood. Did the pre-fixe tasting. Blew me out of the water. Chef brought us into the back for a special dessert since it was my wife's birthday. Same thing, though. Went back a few months later, and it was just decent. I cooked BBQ at the deer lease several years ago. We had an old pit, and I did brisket and pork spare ribs and a big pot of pinto beans. Something about it was just over the top good. I also grilled a whole beef tenderloin with mushrooms and asparagus over an open fire on the banks of the Devlis River during a three day kayak trip. Bag wine and tenderloin under the stars was glorious. There's also been a hand full of meals we've cooked at home that have been off the charts. There's so many variables there which gives me that much more respect for a great chef and a well run restaurant.

The previous one he had been on was sponsored by the little league, so it was very affordable. $500 all in. This one has paid coaches, etc. $1800 for the spring. But, I don't think that includes uniforms, so tack on a few hundred more.

This was how it was explained to me as well. The forgivable loan isn't taxable, but you can't claim the expenses that it was used to offset. So, essentially, your expenses shrunk by the value of the forgivable portion of the PPP loan, and you'll be taxed on the extra "profit" as a result.

Has anyone heard any verifiable information from the IRS regarding taxes on PPP funds? I had a call with my CPA last week about the PPP and tax implications. Seems like that is still up in the air. No news. He said that he didn't think there would be clarification until after the inauguration as there would probably be some better language in a second round of PPP funds (even if we don't qualify for those) that would set the precedent from a tax perspective. Worst case scenario, we rat-holed 30% of our PPP into a separate account (out of sight... out of mind) in the event that taxes are due on those funds. If not, we pay off several financed vehicles and invest at a much faster rate on some of our pending 2021 capital purchases. FYI, we're 99.99% confident that our PPP is going to be 100% forgivable. '

Same here. Super fortunate. 2020 will end at about 30% above 2019. That's despite March-April-May being down 25% YOY. 2021 budget calls for another 20% growth.

Just made the deposit for first year of club ball for my son. 13U. He did a quasi-select team sponsored by the LL the last two years. The team kind of fell apart after the fall season, so we're making the leap. I had always been averse to true club teams for younger kids and he's typically been middle-of-the pack, so clubs team weren't really justified given his skill level either. But at 13, it's probably time. It'll be nice for him to get a new set of eyes and better coaching.

Years ago, I had a nice little Tejas offset pit. I was smoking some pork spare ribs and a few chickens. We had about a dozen people coming over. The meat looked great, and both my wife and I were actually ahead of schedule on food prep. We were building out house at the time and in the middle of frame stage, so my wife and I decided to take a quick trip out there before our guests arrived to check things out. We were back at the house within an hour. I went out to check on the pit, and the thermostat was PEGGED. I hadn't cleaned out the main chamber in a while, and grease spilled into the firebox. Massive grease fire. Chicken and ribs were essentially charcoal. We ended up eating sausage wraps instead. The fire got so hot, that it actually ruined that thermostat.

We were in Telluride last March when it closed, and if the mountain closes, the whole town will shut down. We caught the tail end of restaurants being open, but everyone basically said, "if you don't live here, then you need to leave". Granted, that was right when shit started hitting the fan, and nobody had any clue with regards to contagiousness or how COVID spread. We're going back there for a re-do in March over spring break. Based on the limited capacity on lift ticket sales, I'm anticipating the mountain to be open, but bars / restaurants to be at a minimum of severely reduced capacity and maybe even closed completely. As previously posted, I think trips to ski resorts this winter will be fine if you're in a VRBO and prefer to be low-key, then you may have an awesome trip if the snow is good. Lift lines should be short and the mountains should be wide open. But, if you're looking at a hotel-style room and enjoy the apres ski experience and milling around with lots of friends, this may not be the year for you.

I get the point, and I read the title. But, my point is confrontation is valid when somebody completely drops the ball. Like if the service tech would have no-showed on those two days you took off. In this case, I don't think confrontation is valid... yet. You're obviously a successful business owner in a professional environment, and we're talking less than $1,000 here for expenses that should be part of your budget for a discrepancy over hours billed. And you had to come in on your day off. That sucks. But, it's part of owning a business. I get that it's frustrating, but not worth a confrontation and calling somebody's boss's boss at this point. Write em a check, find somebody else to do the work next time, and move on.

Nothing better than a good bite on a spoon. Probably my favorite lure to chunk because it's so stinkin simple and is a tried and true money maker.

Fix it yourself. All kidding aside, what is stopping you from doing just that? If you are capable of doing so and were to try to fix it yourself, how much time would you spend troubleshooting, tracking down parts, etc? As the owner of a service company, it's incredibly infuriating and demoralizing when we hear a customer "I could have done it myself in half as long as it took your guy to do it!" while ignoring the time spent troubleshooting, tracking down parts, checking for safety / functionality and cleaning. Did you approve or sign their hourly rate sheet on the front end before the work began? Now, to play the other side of the coin, it does not sound like this service company has been transparent with you, and many companies put people out there who aren't the best and either screw things up or basically get paid to learn on the job. Or, they have shitty processes that rack up hours without any work getting accomplished. I'm guessing your experience is rooted in one of these. We constantly ask our employees to present "clearly communicated realistic expectations". Sounds like they failed here. If they knew it may have taken three trips, they should have communicated that up front as a possibility. And, if they're learning on the fly, they should be transparent and receptive to billing at a lesser rate. My guess is this is a larger company with an absentee ownership group who's simply trying to hit a metric for hours billed with no common sense oversight on individual transactions and a lack of empowerment for that tech to make those types of decisions around discounts, etc. We see that a lot when service companies are big and fragmented. So, where do you go from here? Are there other service companies you can try? Or, are you essentially starting over if you bring someone else in at this point in the game? I'm dealing with that exact scenario with my AV guys. They were awesome when they did the install four years ago when we built our house. Now, their service absolutely sucks. I've been waiting two months for them to replace something that is sitting in their warehouse. They send over new people every time I schedule service and they're basically charging me to re-learn my system. It sucks, but I'm between a rock and a hard place because I don't want to pay a different company who won't cover the existing warranties and would really need to re-learn everything. That being said, I'd reach out to your service company and try to be nice at first. Explain to them the situation and see how they react. If that doesn't work, then escalate. But, you have to ask if that extra time and energy solves anything and ultimately costs you more in the long run.

I like all of these additions. The overall list is decent but misses some of the more unique texas fare. Like chili pequins, barbacoa, redfish on the half shell, calf fries and a ranch water to wash it all down.

Same here. We checked into our hotel the day that they closed the mountain in Telluride this past spring. Luckily, we were one day at the hotel before checking into our VRBO. The owner was cool, and allowed us to re-book for this coming Spring Break. So, we're going to give it a go again in a few months. But, our house is ski-in / ski-out. So, not a huge deal if the on-mountain dining is closed. We'll have five kids and four adults and we're driving, so we were planning on having most meals at the house anyways. If the snow is good and capacity is limited, it could actually be better.

I'd go as simple as possible in this case. To your point, it doesn't look like weather will be much of a concern, so if you can at least keep water from dripping on it, you should be golden. If you want it to look nice when not in use, use a durable exterior wood (Cedar, Ipe, Massaranduba). Cedar WAS way cheaper but has skyrocketed in price as of late. The easiest way to build it would be with bi-parting swing doors (like you'd see on a dart board cabinet). Or if you want to go super slick, look at getting gas charged lift supports like you'd see on an awning window so it can lift up and stay out of the way when the TV is in use. If you have moderate carpentry skills and a miter saw, this should be a fun and easy project. Don't overthink it.

Can you send pics of the area that you want to put it? Exposed to the elements or under cover? My company built a few over the years. A lot of my recommendations are contingent on exposure both from a weather and sun perspective. I don't even cover mine under my patio. Just leave it out and exposed. I bought a relatively cheap TV and just plan on replacing it every 5 years or so. My folks put a fabric cover over their TV and it seems to do a good job of keeping moisture out, but they get a bit more sun and driving rain exposure than I do. I helped a buddy build his out of Cedar with an awning style door that acts as a shade cover. It has weatherstripping around, so it's relatively water tight. And, we've built some that are fully exposed with steel surrounds or even Star Board which worked pretty well.

100% this. Well, except for the fact that I have about 75% of the OCD gene that my dad has. So, I'm definitely more OCD than not. I like things neat and in order, but I think it's relatively passive compared to my pops who is over the top. Except for the yard. That has to be perfect. I have finally acquiesced to letting my son mow. When he started last year, we did "post mow debriefs", and I gave him pointers on flow, pattern, deck height adjustments and bagging procedure. He's about 80% of the way there, so my anxiety has waned a bit. Mowing the yard is serious bidness.

Our place isn't huge and is low fenced, but we still try to be selective. We have bigger, younger deer, but it's always a crap shoot to balance between watching them grow and getting them before a neighbor does. I'll try to get more pics this weekend when I'm up there.

Kimble