Spaulding Smails

@RPM Brugal is a great value rum. One of my favorites from DR. Rum is, far and away, my summer time sipper. They tend to be fairly inexpensive, too. In my opinion, Venezuelan rum tends to be richer and more full-bodied. Atlantico has been my staple for a while for sipping rum. But, I just stumbled on Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva, and damn it's good. My new #1.

What causes cucumbers to turn yellow? I have never had luck with them. It seems like the majority of mine end up getting yellow before they get ripe and they grow round rather than long. It's been that way the last three years. Not sure if it's moisture levels, soil or sun exposure. Any ideas?

https://www.mcmillanrunning.com/ This is what I used to prep for a marathon a few years back. I wanted to run a sub 3:30, and this helped me figure out what my pace needed to be in order to achieve the goal. I found it to be surprisingly accurate.

We were down there last June for our anniversary. Did a fun inshore trip with Capt Barry Hoffman. Very knowledgable and professional. But, he (like most of the other inshore guides down there) is catch-and-release only. I'm relatively certain that most of the others are in the same boat. By the way, it was hot as balls in the Everglades. We cut our trip short due to the heat. Did a 6-hour instead of an 8-hour. Caught lots of fish that morning and the bite shut off just before lunch, so we weren't pressing to keep grinding. Not a breath of wind and water temps were 90+, so it wasn't even refreshing to dip your feet in the water. I think you're going to have to go offshore if you want a meat haul.

@Anastasis I've had trouble with plants under those "islands". Nothing seems to do well. Even the "deer resistant" plants seem to take a beating. I think the root system is close to the surface there, so nothing really takes hold like it does adjacent to the house. I really wanted something low and full. Just planted some Purple Lantana to see if that would take off. In that picture, I think you can see some Salvia, Creeping Rosemary, and Mexican Mint Marigold. The pale green plant in the far island is Lambs Ear. It's blooming for the first time this year. Pretty cool plant.

Looking good @krevo. I had some fungus on the back side of my house where it stays shadier than other areas. Definitely sucks. Your yard is looking solid, though!

This is my setup from last year. Looks about the same now, but I haven't had to use the shade cover at all. I moved a few things around this year as well and trying a few different things, but mostly the same configuration and layout.

Subscribed. I have rough plans drawn up for one of these. Would love to hear your thoughts and feedbacks. Biggest variations I am planning are a cable counterweight system over a pulley and a flat top instead of the angled or rounded top.

We're at the point where we're getting more vegetables than we know what to do with. Seems to always happen in early June, which is a good thing. Tomatoes seem to be ripening slower than normal this year. Should finally have some ready to pick next week. Getting all the potatoes out of the ground tomorrow to make room for eggplant and okra. Onions Blackberries Garlic

While I always appreciate and commonly reference the "how do I deal with this issue or that issue" posts, let's share some bad ass lawns and landscapes. With all the rain this year, we gotta have some lawn pron. I'll start.

New motion activated pig light is awesome. No pigs Saturday, but looking forward to having something to do when we're at the ranch this summer. Also got some skeet shooting in. Wife (no pics) is getting better and Murphy the dog is in mid-season form.

I've always had luck on dark colored 4" or 5" Senko worms wacky-rigged during the day. Purple, green/cream. Lots of smallies and largemouth with that rig. Early morning, you can catch em on topwaters. I've had luck with frogs and mice. Red crankbaits seem to work decent in the larger pools, and I've even seen a few guys catch em trolling when paddling in the larger pools. I've always targeted the smallmouth just below the rapids and largemouth in the pools above the rapids. Have fun and post pics. We're headed there the second week in June for a quick trip with my son.

Did a job at a restaurant a few years back and snagged this 8x8 walk-in cooler. Still runs, but a little rough around the edges. My old man and I put it together a few weeks ago. Fun project. Went together fairly smoothly, but still had to make a few modifications. Hoping to get the refrigeration unit up and running this summer so we can hang deer this fall. In the meantime, we have a nice place to store corn and protein.

I'm not an architect, but I think this vantage point of the National Museum of Art got me interested in architecture. So clever and sensible. To create alignment of a building in the background with angles from the foreground building takes amazing forethought, planning and an eye for design. Dude was a wizard for sure.

Love this stuff! We've found a number of common fossils in our creek bed in the last few months after major rains. Tons of deer hears and several ammonites and steinkerns. I found an old, unspent rifle cartridge out at the ranch in Kimble Co a few months ago. Gave it to my mom, and she did some research to find the caliber. I think the made a little shadow box for it. I'll post pics later, but we think it may have been from a calvaryman at Ft McKavett. We're about 20 miles south of the Fort.

We had seven hens and two ducks to start the year. My wife wanted some exotic chickens, so we ordered pullets online. Minimum order was 15, and we somehow ended up with 17. We've lost two so far. Both had janky legs. Not sure if it was genetic, or if they got stepped on, or what. We gave them each a shot at survival by quarantining them, but neither showed much hope, so we put them down. Our original plan was to raise them a bit, then give half away to friends, but now I think we may try to keep them all. We have a big enough coop, but probably need to modify it some with more roosting spots. These Polish chickens may be my favorite.

This is what I was expecting. I would've been fine throwing him $300-$400. Heck, if anything, he got to ride out the storm drinking a Coke in the garage with his boat safely moored at the dock as opposed to getting his ass whipped by the wind and rain during the 30 min ride back to the boat ramp. The guide we usually use was booked this weekend, so we got this guy on a referral instead. Said he's been guiding in Rockport for 20+ years. Is what it is, but I thought it was bush league. He even balked when we asked him to leave the croaker so we could fish under the lights that night.

Fished Rockport Friday. On the water for an hour wade fishing when a big storm blew in. Luckily, we were only a 10 min boat ride from the pier. We sat in the garage with the guide for 3 hours to see if it would die down, but the wind was still whipping, so we called it. Guide still charged us a full-day rate which I thought was kind of bullshit. Any thoughts on that? We did fish off the pier that night and caught a few trout under the lights before the big storm that hit Austin arrived. Temp dropped 20 degrees in 60 seconds. 50+ MPH winds and lots of rain. A buddy got this cool shot. Once we saw that lightning, we high tailed it back to the house.

We rolled straight from our winter garden into our spring garden. I'm actually waiting for a few winter crops to finish playing out so I can get my last few spring items in the ground (cucumbers, squash, zucchini). This is also the first year that I'm planting tomatoes in three runs about 3-4 weeks apart. I'm hoping to get a longer total yield time throughout the spring and summer instead of a month of more tomatoes than we can eat. I just pulled up the last of the lettuce, kale, spinach and collard greens. I pulled up the rest of the carrots a few weeks ago. They were amazing. We had probably 60 lb total produced. Strawberries are going strong, and we're getting bout 50-80 twice a week. That strawberry plant is a holdover from last year. Never died off in the summer or the winter, and just started producing again. Tried artichokes for the first time, and we're getting a few. I just don't know if I'll do them again, because they take up a ton of space without much production. We still have garlic, shallots and onions awaiting harvest soon. Potatoes are going strong, and first round of tomatoes are a few weeks away from producing. Also starting to see seedlings pop up for cantaloupe, watermelon and green beans. Gonna be a good year for the garden.

Sounds like an amazing trip, @Assman My buddy that took me to the Masters in 2016 had a decent six day span. He waited until it was done to call me and talk shit because he didn't think he was going to be able to pull everything off with work and whatnot. Wed: Masters Par 3 Thur: Wake up early, drive to Pinehurst. Play afternoon round on #2. Fri: Played Pine Needles in AM. Drove back to Augusta. Sat: Played Forest Hills in Augusta Sun: Final round of Masters Mon: Drove home to St Augustine, then left to West Palm Beach that evening Tues: 18 holes @ Seminole Golf Club That would not have sucked.

I drive this stretch almost every damn day, but when given the option, I'll go home through Buda instead. I encourage my wife to stay in Dripping as much as possible and I'm dreading the day my kids are old enough to drive primarily because of 290. Lost a friend on that stretch in 2017 and our community had a 7 year old boy end up in a wheelchair thanks to an accident on 290 just a few months ago.

FYI, if anyone is planning a Devils River trip, this spring is the time to do it. My buddy ran Bakers to Big Satan last week and didn't have to drag at all. Only portage was Dolan Falls. I'm headed down the first week in June with my son for a day trip.

Good recommendations so far for viewing. 11 green / 12 tee box is an awesome spot. 13 fairway is great if you get at the apex of the dogleg because you can see them tee off and hit into the green. 16 bleachers were my favorite bleacher spot. Top of 15 bleachers is a good spot too b/c you can watch the approach on 15 and the tee box on 16. Hill below 6th is fun and underrated. They tee off above you. Fun spot for a few tee shots. Middle of 10 fairway is a great vantage to watch tee shots and approach shots as well.

I'd vote to spend a little time in Alpine, but try to make it to Fort Davis for night 1. Stay at Hotel Limpia and catch the Star Party at the McDonald Observatory. Only 30 minutes from Alpine and on the way to Guadalupe Mountains.

This right here. Finally made the upgrade in December and haven't missed a minute of it. Family of five + dog riding comfortably... check. 85 mph and quiet with all the bells and whistles for 4+ hours to West Texas... check. Load 15 sheets of plywood with the tailgate up... check. Haul a trailer loaded down with a Bobcat, two attachments and a pallet of ready mix... check. Pull dumb ass neighbor out of the mud thanks to 4WD... check. Each of these scenarios transpired in the last month and each I couldn't do with my 2004 F150.