Spaulding Smails

Anyone ever use one of these? Installed an old walk-in cooler last year and the condenser (which was 20+ years old) took a shit. Thinking of going this route as a replacement. Primarily because I can install it myself. https://www.storeitcold.com

Bingo. My son had his first dose of middle school punishment a few weeks ago. They had to spend a full period of OFIs (Opportunity for Improvement... which is an awesome term by the way). That mean running lines, push ups, planks, etc. It whooped his ass. It was the result of other kids raising hell in the locker room. Everyone that was in there was punished. He was lamenting the punishment to me that evening. I told him to get used to it. It won't be the last time you have to pay the price for others' actions. The one moral we've always harped on in that respect is "don't put yourself in a bad situation". Sometimes you can control that, other times you can't, but you always have to be prepared to face the consequences, whatever they may be. And, if you don't want to run gassers anymore, but a boot in someone else's ass so your whole team doesn't pay the price for their shit-headedness.

Yessir.

Booked Telluride over spring break for the family. Staying slopeside at a house in Mountain Village. We haven't been to Telluride in almost a decade. Last few trips have been Breckenridge and Vail. This will be the first time that we're going to drive instead of fly. Coming that way from Austin area. Definitely going to break it up into two days of travel both directions. Any thoughts of the best route? I'm spitballing here, but I was planning on trying to make it through Big Spring / Roswell to Albuquerque on the way there. Then, come back through Clovis to Lubbock on the way back. Trying to front-load the drive to make the second day more manageable in both directions. Planning on using Marriott points for those hotel stays along the way which is why I'm using Albuquerque and Lubbock as our overnights. Any other suggestions?

Same here. They pay "brand ambassadors" to pimp their gear. And, they have purposefully steered towards people that they feel embody more than just being an outdoorsman. If you watch their YouTube videos, they seek out people like JT Van Zandt for reasons far beyond just being a good fisherman. One can argue the value of the product or the success of the marketing strategy, but they have stuck with their philosophy of being more than just a cooler.

I'm admittedly a Yeti snob. Prior to the IPO, I had an "in" to employee pricing, and since then, I still get a pretty decent discount. I have far more Yeti coolers, drinkware an swag than I should. But, I just don't get this V-series cooler. I'm sure it holds ice like a champ, but my two big hang ups are: -How is that exterior going to hold up over time? My rambler is dinted and dinged from drops and bumps. What is a cooler going to look like after I accidentally swing it into my tow hitch or a half cord of firewood in the back of my truck slides and hits it? -Isn't it going to be hot as shit in the Texas sun? I wouldn't want to sit on that thing in shorts when it's been in the August sun all day.

Pulled a few interesting pics from the cameras last weekend. [/url]

Do you own the land? Or lease it? I believe MLDP applications must be filed by the landowner. I took a cursory glance at the overview and didn't see anything regarding a variance from county antler restrictions, so that leads me to believe that those antler restrictions would take precedence. Probably worth a call to TPWD if you own the property. https://tpwd.texas.gov/business/permits/land/wildlife_management/mldp/#mldp-pdf

Rut is in full effect in Dripping Springs. I've seen more bucks coming out of the woodwork in the last week than I have all year. Saw six different mature bucks on my way home Wednesday night. Hadn't seen a single mature buck in that area in weeks. I went for a run yesterday evening with my son in his jogging stroller and my yellow lab. We had two decent bucks chasing a hot doe through one of our neighbor's pasture. They couldn't have cared less that me, my son and my dog were watching. Probably 120 yds from the road. Nose to the ground, right on her tail.

That's the perfect setup right there. Love the enclosed cab Bobcat. Do you have a brush hog for it? Grapple is worth its weight in gold when clearing brush. Nothing better than owning equipment for a ranch. We haven't gotten to the dozer point yet, but will probably pull that trigger in a few years when we try to add a food plot. We rented a brush chipper a few times last winter when we bought the place and said "fuck it" and bought one this spring. We went from busting ass for two days straight every time we rented one to banging out a few hours here and there when needed. Much more satisfying and way easier on the back to work for a few hours at a time.

Also, I've noticed that once November hits, boat traffic down there comes to a screeching halt. Everybody's hunting deer and there's a lot less pressure on the fish. Some of my best trips down there have been November-December.

So jealous. I missed my annual fishing trip to my buddy's place at the mouth of Baffin this year due to boat motor issues. Always a blast to get down there. Fishing under the lights with a styrofoam cup of brown liquor is a heck of a way to spend an evening.

Hot damn. Wife surprised me with G6 tickets as an early 40th birthday present this morning. She's a keeper for sure. Taking my old man. Neither of us have ever been to a WS game.

They must be out and about right now. I was cutting and chipping brush today. Threw a decent sized cedar into the brush chipper. Saw something moving my way and it was a smooth green snake. I almost went Fargo on the little guy. He got out just before the teeth grabbed the branch and sucked it in.

Smooth, double-tapered single wiper.

Last week, I didn't stop to eat lunch until 3 PM. I was late to a meeting and had to stop for fuel, so I snagged a can of Chef Boyardee and some Buffalo Vienna Sausages and washed it down with a Monster Energy. So, this hits close to home.

A few weeks ago we were down in South Padre for a friend's birthday party. Staying at The Pearl. First time I'd been there in probably 15+ years. Hadn't changed a bit. Literally. Nothing had been updated. But, we were mostly drunk most of the time, so it worked. After a day of fishing then an hour or two on the beach, we went back to the pool to drink and swim before heading to dinner. I jumped in the pool to cool off and swam underwater from one end to the other. When I came up, I had a band aid (not mine) stuck to my forehead. I guess it was floating in the water and I intercepted it. I chunked it into the flowerbed, chugged my shitty rum drink and decided that was enough swimming for the day.

Skunks. I used to not mind them. Actually thought they were kind of cool. My dog has been sprayed three times in the last year. Once one evening when he was out taking a leak, once quail hunting, once dove hunting. This past weekend, he cornered one on the patio five minutes after we pulled up to the ranch. He avoided getting sprayed. The griddle took the full brunt of this little guy's stink sack. I scrubbed the concrete for 30 minutes with peroxide and dish soap. The entire house and garage stunk Friday night. We could still faintly smell it Monday when we left. I hate em now. I'll shoot every one I see.

The "bun" looks like Play-Doh.

This is the correct answer. I drink beer in my garage alone when it's a weekday and I'm "working on something" in the garage. Rum or Bourbon on the back patio when I just want to relax. I added a TV and big oscillating fan to the garage this summer. Both game changers. Working on a mobile welding table right now. Hope to have that done by the end of October. A little here. A little there. Once that's done, rolling into a mobile outfeed table / router table. Hoping to have that done by Christmas. When those two tables are ready, I'll really be ready to start building shit and drinking beer. In my garage. Alone.

Double turds!

I had a similar encounter with a much better outcome about 20 years ago. I was delivering a towable 185 CFM air compressor to a wastewater treatment plant under construction. I was instructed to take it down to the excavated area where the tanks were under construction. I came down a pretty steep incline that they had cut to gain access to that lower level. Pretty steep embankments on both sides. I got about half way down the slope and saw a 220 series excavator BACKING his way up the access road. The same access road where I was now parked with a trailer behind my truck. I waited for a second thinking surely this idiot wasn't coming all the way up. Wrong. He had it at full throttle to try to keep his momentum up. Somehow, I was able to get enough traction in my 2WD truck and avoid jackknifing and get up the hill and turn off to the side. That would've been ugly if the truck didn't have enough balls or if I managed to jackknife the trailer.

You nailed it. He's all about the experience. I love that. We went with a guide in Rockport a few weeks before that and boxed three limits of reds in an hour. It was fun and all (plus I had my son with me), but ultimately, soaking bait and filling a box is light years behind wading with artificials from an overall experience standpoint. I have yet to dip into the world of fly fishing (partly because I don't need yet another expensive hobby), but I can imagine that's pushes the boundary out even further. The new boat is awesome. We had a long conversation about the switch to a Suzuki. I don't have much to compare it to, but it seemed like it had all the power you could need. He said the hole shot isn't up to par with a Yamaha, but the fuel economy was almost twice as good. The wind was whipping out of the south on our run back to Port Isabel, and we stayed dry as a bone. That boat took some pretty big chop without missing a beat. Great ride for sure.

Took my wife wade fishing for her first time every with a guide in South Padre this past weekend. She enjoys fishing, but we haven't had much time in recent years for that due to kids, jobs, career changes, etc. Finally getting to a point where we can get out some. This trip was going to go one of two ways: A) Shitty guide or shitty weather or no fish which would lead to a major setback in the progression of events to buy a house at the coast and a boat. OR B) Good guide, good weather and decent fishing which would lead to a major step forward in the progression of events to buy a house at the coast and a boat. Luckily, we got option B. Great guide (Ernest Cisneros). Very attentive and patient with her. Took her under his wing. Just a really enjoyable experience with him. Wind was blowing, but weather was good. Didn't hammer the fish, but the bite was consistent. We got back and she was stoked. Called her mom, texted our son pictures of her fish. She was on Cloud 9. She left her phone out while she was in the shower, and I saw "Bay Boat" and "Rockport House For Sale" in her search history. That's a good sign. I missed a decent trout right at dawn on a topwater. Lots of reds just below the slot for me. I didn't care, though. I was just enjoying the solitude and watching my wife enjoy her day. We ended up with five keeper trout and two keeper reds. Great trip and should be the start of something pretty cool.

For reference, I lost my lease of 10 years in 2011. We had 1600 acres in Live Oak County. In 2001, we were paying $5,000/yr total (five guns @ $1,000/ea). In 2011, that had ballooned to $15,000/yr. That included a small cabin with water and power. Low fenced and we furnished all blinds, feeders, corn, etc. We could bring guests, but were allotted one buck, one cull, and two does. No quail, but turkey were good and you could shoot as many hogs as you wanted. Deer population improved as we managed it. We'd take no more than two "trophy" bucks annually. Those were 150+ and had to be 4-1/2 or older. Had a few in the 160+ range over the years. We were somewhat a victim of our own management success, but also a byproduct of demand. They ended up making more money doing day / week leases, so they kicked us to the curb. I'd be shocked if you could get anything decent of that size for less than $10/acre. And, I'd guess that place would go for $20/acre now.