Spaulding Smails

So, I just bet an employee that I could beat him in a mile.... and I'm giving him a 90 second head start. We've agreed to run March 31. So, essentially a month to prepare. He said he's running 9 min miles right now and running 2-3 miles 3 to 4 times per week. I'm running about 30 miles/week right now, but not really training for anything, just trying to drop a few pounds and get healthier. I'm averaging 7:30/mi on my short runs (< 4 mi) and 8:15/mi on my longer runs (5 - 10 miles). I think I have this in the bag barring a meltdown or some serious improvement by him, but I want to make sure of it. I've trained for marathons and half-marathons in the past, but I don't have any strategy to train for a mile run. Any suggestions on a 30-day training program?

Let me preface this with the fact that I've been married 16 years and I have three kids, so sex can be anything from wild monkey sex to a 5 min quickie. Depends on the situation and available time. My wife does a good job of keeping things fresh, but sometimes it's more of a pressure relief than a drawn-out event. Last week, Aunt Flo was in town, so my wife offered up a BJ. I gladly accepted. Just before beginning, she said, "do you think your mom still gives your dad head?" I'm usually not one to let things distract me, but I gotta admit, this got into my head. I powered through, though. Just took some serious mind shifting.

Our breeder (Classic Labs near Brenham) felt that, in order to get silver, they had (to that point) been too closely bred and that her experience with them was that they were too much of a crap-shoot due to borderline in-breeding. She's a very old-school breeder and was very, very careful with lineages. That was just one breeder, and my wife really wanted a yellow, so it sealed the deal with Murphy. Sounds like you got a great dog! Here's Murphy this last dove season. Dogs make hunting so much more fun.

How old? What's your experience been? I had a chocolate right out of college that lived to 14. Took a few years off from having a dog and thought about getting a silver. The breeder where I got my chocolate lab talked me out of it. I ended up going with a yellow lab, and he's been great. But, damn, those silver labs are good looking dogs.

I'm digging the pedestrian bridge. Looks like they're trying to emulate Pennybacker.

Same spot. Was an Extended Stay Hotel prior to recent demolition.

This. It's so good. And, I actually prefer the taste of Mantuano over the Reserva. Easier to find, and about $5 cheaper, too.

Oreo and Reese's PBC are 50/50 for me. I've tried the Cookie Jar, the Royal flavors, etc. Too much. Oreo and Reese's are just the right blend of mixins and ice cream. I think the flavor of the month in March is the Mint Oreo. Also finominole.

These murders occurred several years before I arrived on the 40 acres, and I vaguely remember it being in the news when Springsteen was arrested, but I never really paid much attention to it. That being said, I picked up "Who Killed These Girls?" by Beverly Lowry last summer. Great read. The book does a solid job of conveying the thought processes and influences of all involved parties including the suspects, the family members, the police, the DA. So many different factors that went into the decisions, but the takeaways I got were how shoddy the police work was, how much forensics and crime scene investigations are now compared to then, and how influential the media and the desire to find ANYONE guilty was on the investigation and subsequent trial.

This is so true. There are a number of legitimate restaurants that cringe playing the delivery game because of the hit on quality that they see when food sits. It affects their reviews and customer satisfaction, and they don't have any way to impact it or improve it. When a customer picks up food from the restaurant, they see that it's hot and fresh. So, if it gets cold or soggy on their 30 min drive home, they seem to understand that's on them. But, when they're paying UberEats to make that 30 min drive, they somehow expect the food to be perfectly fresh and piping hot and take it out on the restaurant when it doesn't hit those marks.

It's hard to give it an exact number since we rolled it in to the initial build. I own a construction company, so I did it myself (no GC fee), and a lot of the work was done by my employees (masonry, countertops). All the stone work went into the masonry budget. Same with electrical and plumbing. I spent $8K on appliances (refrigerator, griddle, burner, charcoal grill) plus stainless cabinet fronts. I'd say the outdoor kitchen was $20-25K give or take, excluding patio cover but including associated masonry work, fire pit, etc. Like I said, you can get a pretty nice setup, including foundation and cover for $35-40K. They do tend to collect dirt and insects. But, I still think it's worth it. I keep knives, platters, etc out there and I like not having to go back inside to wash them.

It's just regular 2-1/4" patio stone (limestone). I had my mason cut it to random sizes. We used a colored mortar (Eldridge Buff from AHI) on both the patio stone and the stone veneer.

Good point on the dishwasher. Same as the garbage disposal. If you're tied in to your sewer line, do it. It's a pain the in ass hand-washing and/or dragging everything inside to clean.

From the perspective of what to get, go with what you know / use from a cooking standpoint. For me, I bypassed the gas grill and went with a built-in charcoal grill. Get an outdoor rated fridge. They're expensive, but if you go with a cheap one that's not rated for outdoors, you may be replacing it every few years. A sink is a must. Small electric on-demand water heater as well. If you have the flexibility to tie in to the house's sewer line, consider adding a garbage disposal. Run plenty of power, too. I added a griddle and a big power burner. Get plenty of under-cabinet storage if you have the room. TV / surround sound goes without saying. That's a healthy budget, and you should be able to get something pretty kick ass. From a brand perspective, there's lots to choose from. Lynx is popular, but expensive. We went with Bull and have been very happy. Bought everything from Four Seasons Outdoors in Driftwood. The owner Will is a good dude and can really help with product selection. I think they do design and even turnkey construction as well now. We had a warranty issue on one of the burners of the griddle, and they took care of it including pro-actively replacing the other two burners that would have eventually failed. Regarding construction, make sure it's either CMU or metal studs. DON'T let anyone use framing (even pressure treated). Consider finishing out the interior of the cabinets if they're not self-contained units. I regret not doing that. The inside of my cabinets are just raw masonry. Not visible to others, but stuff gets dusty when stored in there. I went with galvanized countertops to save money and to match our aesthetics. It goes without saying, but make sure your countertops are durable and won't get too hot (avoid dark colors) in the sun.

Rocha's El Catan Bar & Grill in Laredo serves it. Pretty damn good. Only restaurant I've every seen serve it on the menu.

Also, when we kayak the Devils River, we bring space bags. Wine-in-a-box without the box. Tie a length of paracord to it when we stop for the night and drop it in the river to cool off. Cab in a bag tastes amazing out of a coffee cup.

Captain Morgan and Sprite. Tastes just like cream soda.

I had a 94 YJ. 4-cylinder. Mowed eleventy billion yards between the ages of 12 and 16 and paid cash money for it brand new before my 16th birthday. I wish I could have pulled off keeping it as a second vehicle. First sign I was going to sell it was showing up to my scholarship interview my senior year of HS covered in sweat from sitting in Houston traffic with no AC. Second sign was taking my girlfriend (who's now my wife) on a date that summer and getting caught with the top down during a torrential thunderstorm with both of us soaking wet. Final straw was orientation at UT and getting my ass whipped by the headwinds and hills on 290 headed to Austin. Paid $14K for it. Put nice tires and wheels on it. Sold it three years and 24,000 miles later for $18K.

I'm sitting this year out. Putting in a pool and guest house, so my backyard is a wreck and my water is shut off to the garden. I haz a sad. On the plus side, I'm going to go ahead and go full underground irrigation in the garden when we re-do the lawn and landscape irrigation in the back. So, I got that going for me. Which is nice.

He's messed up like a snake in a lawnmower That boy could screw up a wet dream I'd bang her like a screen door on a shrimp boat in a hurricane

Agree 100%. We did this with our two kids two years ago and it was awesome. Split a great house with friends and avoided the long lines. We were at Breck, so it was still somewhat crowded, but way less than our previous trip there.

I can't argue with that statement at all, and perhaps it's true, but every time I've seen her she's been stone cold sober and loving some Jesus.

Do you remember the welder's name? If he's from Joaquin, there's a >50% chance he's related to my wife.

I had to re-watch this a few times. Looks exactly like my wife's cousin. However, she's strict East Texas teetotalling bible-thumper, so the odds were slim it was her. And, yes. Wheelhouse.

We damn near went this route. My parrillero buddy had one already built with legs and whatnot. When the guest list grew (except for @deadshank whose invite got lost in the mail, evidently) and we added the second cabrito and the chickens, I went with the parrilla style. Just means I need to find another reason to try this alternative method. Please do give it a spin once that fire pit is ready and report back on your pending cabrito iron cross success.