Spaulding Smails

I can't thank you enough for this post. We just bought our place in Kimble Co earlier this year. Put out standard feeders this spring, but considering switching to straight protein next year. The food plot idea is most intriguing. I'll PM for more details if you don't mind.

Soil Water Seeds In my opinion, that is the order of importance. Buy good soil. Water frequently. Buy good seeds (or seedlings). It's not rocket science, but it takes consistency. You need to be out there every other day at a minimum, making adjustments along the way.

This was the first year I did them, and I learned a bunch. I waited too long to harvest them and didn't understand how deep they grow. I harvested at about 125 days instead of 75 and ended up with a bunch of huge, rock hard taters. Those were the keepers. Next year, I'll harvest at 75 days and we'll get a much better yield.

Good call on breaking it up with different varieties. We did three different ones this year. Two types of sour and one type of sweet.

Pound for pound, Jacks are the best fighting fish, IMO. So much fun to catch.

After recently reading the article in Texas Monthly about Jeff Henry, this drawing looks to be about as sophisticated as their water slide plans.

Got off the water a few hours ago in Key Largo. Great guide. Very knowledgeable. We caught a ton of fish, but they were all small. Hot, still and humid today. Nothing to site cast in the flats. Water temp was 90+. Green algae bloom had the water screwed up a bit, too. Caught a ton of rat reds and mangrove snapper along the back bay islands. Mixed in a few trout, and a couple of solid jack crevalle in some of the draws closer to the Everglades. One small snook too early in the morning. HUGE bull shark almost took a snapper just as my wife brought it to the boat. Guide estimated it to be 8 ft and I think it was every bit that big. No bonefish or permit to be had. Threw at a few small tarpon, but couldn't raise a bite. Great trip with a great guide. Would do it again.

Great pic! What kind of skiff is that?

A buddy of mine owns a painting company. He has a group of Hondurans that are damn good painters. Basically, his whole crew is a bunch of brothers and cousins. They were repainting the exterior of a house in Pemberton Heights. Nice house. Big house. Lots of wood siding with tons of sanding. Homeowners are gone to work and his guys are working away outside. I guess one of them had to shit and couldn't hold it, so he bowed up in the corner of the backyard, then went back to work. The family dog proceeds to come out through the dog door while half the guys are in the front and the other half are up on ladders. The dog is nosing around in the backyard, then decides to take a nice roll in some fresh Honduran man-shit. The lead guy is up on a ladder and sees the events unfolding. He hurries down just as the dog re-enter the house through the dog door. Too late. Doors are locked. Dog door is too small to squeeze through. They watch through the window as the dog decides to continue his rolling escapade on the rug. And the furniture. And rub against the curtains. Shit everywhere. They call my buddy, he thinks it's a joke and soon realizes they aren't fucking around. There's a dog going hog-wild in the house rubbing human feces all over the furniture. He had no other choice than to bite the bullet and call the homeowner, have the entire house steam cleaned and knock half off the paint job and beg them not to trash him on social media. As a contractor, that's why I include "sanitation services" as a line item for every single project that lasts longer than a day. $120 for a month's rental on a shitter is good insurance for not cleaning party mud off of Suzie Q Homeowner's sofa.

Crazy how my garden has continued to produce since I installed the shade covers. I'm still getting tomatoes daily. Just harvested all of my sweet potatoes. Eggplant, melons, bell pepper still producing pretty regularly, and okra is going crazy. I planted spaghetti squash and pumpkins two weeks ago, and they're starting to take off. Irrigation + shade cover have literally given me year-round gardening in Central Texas. This was one harvest last Friday.

Great point! I know that's a whole different level of hunting. And one I really want to try... eventually. Same with fly fishing. But, I have too damn many hobbies and not enough time at this point to try either of them. I know I'd be hooked on both. All in due time, I suppose.

THIS. I started hunting when I was about 8. Single shot .410 and a lever action .22 (same ones my boy shoots now). Had to learn to be patient and selective when shooting dove and quail with my dad. You can't throw the Hail Mary shot because you only get one chance. And i had to learn to aim small at squirrels and rabbits. Once I got to about 10, I'd deer hunt from the stand with my dad, go back and eat breakfast, then walk around the ranch for a few hours with my .22. So much fun to bring back dinner. My dad would make me clean them and he'd cook them. He wasn't fond of eating squirrels and rabbits, but he'd humor me and it taught me to respect what you kill. I'm not a marksman by any stretch of the imagination and I don't practice nearly enough, but I still prefer to shoot an over/under. My buddies will go through 3-4 boxes to get a limit of birds, but I can usually do it in less than a box. It's not that I'm all that good of a shot, I just don't spray lead unless I know I have a good shot at knocking the bird down. My son's learning the same principles with the .410 now and he's starting to get the concept of swinging through the bird, adjusting for distance and speed, etc. It was so nice to seem him comfortable behind his new 243 last winter when he took his first doe. He was calm, patient and waited for the right shot. We had talked so much beforehand that I didn't even have to reinforce it when he had the crosshairs on her. His shot was a bit far for him to be comfortable for a head / neck shot so he took aim behind the shoulder. He waited for the other smaller does and yearlings to clear before firing. I was watching through the binoculars and saw it hit and saw her run, but I couldn't tell exactly where he hit her. I was afraid I was going to have to track her forever, but he reassured me that it was a clean lung / heart shot. He was right. 30 yds from the sendero, she folded up. I attribute that not to time on the range but time shooting free-hand through iron sites on a 22. It's so easy to throw a scope on a 22 or buy a kid a semi-auto, but there's something to be said for forcing them to learn to take the right shot.

I ran through a very strange change in Texas climate last week. Hot and humid in Austin Monday. Rockport Tuesday where we got hammered by a big thunderstorm that evening. Cool air that night. Not a breath of wind on Copano Bay Wednesday AM. Literally glass across the entire bay. Got hot in a hurry. Drove home that evening and awoke to 59 at my house in The Drip Thursday morning. I woke up and was out the door at 4:30 that morning, and thought I had slept through August and September. It was glorious. Drove to Junction Friday to check on some stuff at the ranch. Drier than a popcorn fart out there. Dust everywhere and all the vegetation is burnt to a crisp. Then, went to Houston and saw scattered thunderstorms and 1000% humidity Saturday. Went for a four mile run at 2 PM and looked like I just swam across a lake. But, dammit, that rain sure did have everything looking nice and green. It's amazing what 150 miles in any direction from Austin can do to the weather and landscape.

That's a great list above. If he hasn't shot much before, bring him a BB gun too. My son had a blast shooting small targets while we waited for the birds. Bring snacks too. Also, don't underestimate the need for ear protection. Makes a huge difference if he is new to it or sensitive to loud noises.

Headed to the Florida Keys later this week with my wife. Chasing bonefish and snook Friday. Snorkeling and diving for lobster Sunday. It's a chill / beach trip so didn't want to push the fishing envelope too much. Regardless... can't f'n wait.

I second San Antonio over Austin. That time of year, I'd recommend Lost Maples, Enchanted Rock and Government Canyon.

I remember it being pretty good. Nothing I'd go out of my way to eat again, but if in Mobile again, I'd order it. Kind of like "catan" or alligator gar in Laredo. Not bad, but wouldn't make a point to seek it out again. Kind of a "when in Rome" order for me on both of those fronts.

The folks from Mobile to Pensacola would rather eat mullet than trout or redfish. I guess it has a lot to depend on what the mullet are eating.

My company has 58 employees (including myself). We're in construction, but we pay very well when compared to our peers. We offer health/dental/life insurance, PTO, and a 401(k) with a 4% company match. Most of which is not common in our industry, especially for a company of our size. And I have a whopping five employees who take advantage (again, including myself) of 401(k). Less than 10%. Two hourly field employees, two office employees and me. 53 employees are essentially giving up free money. And we did a big company-wide retirement workshop with our 401(k) provider when we rolled this out in early 2017 and include several pages underscoring the need to save in our new-hire packet. The majority of people don't think about retirement. They are truly living paycheck to paycheck. And no amount of help can force them to change their habits.

On the retirement front, I've seen five different people retire recently that have affected my perception of what it means to retire and my desire to do so. 1) My dad. Retired five years ago at 58. Completely right decision for him. He would've keeled over from a heart attack if he didn't go cold turkey. He's doing the things he loves now and didn't give a shit about leaving business / business relationships behind. He also had a decent nest egg built up so that he and my mom could continue to live a comfortable life. No real changes to spending habits. 2) My FIL. Retired last year at 61. Owns a side business that keeps him engaged and income coming in, but retirement account from his primary employer wasn't off the charts. A decent retirement income, but needs the side business income to maintain his comfort level. Right decision, but he's handling it poorly. He's become more isolated, hasn't taken care of his health, and hasn't found other things to occupy his time. And if the other business goes away, he'd be forced to change his habits. 3) My MIL. Retired last month at 63. Put off retirement four times over the last year. I'm almost certain she'll go back to work as a consultant. She's already wigging out about money and has nothing to do. She misses the routine and engagement with others. 4) My former business associate. Sold his business eight years ago and made a killing at the age of 42. Retired for two years, bought a sweet ranch. Hunted and fished every day for a year, then decided he missed running a company. Started a new business. Sold that one earlier last year for another modest killing. Earlier this year, he decided again that he missed the day-to-day engagement and business environment. Went back to work in sales for another mutual friend. Doesn't need the money, but wants to be productive. 5) My best friend's dad. Sold his business to his two sons last year at the age of 67. Stayed on part time working 2-3 days per week at a modest salary. Doesn't need the money, but likes to come into the office and feel productive. What this has lead me to believe is that you're probably better off scaling back and staying engaged (if possible) for a multitude of reasons. Heck, going to work as a golf course marshall or Home Depot associate seems more enticing than going cold turkey unless you have a very comfortable retirement nest egg PLUS activities (travel, ranching, hunting, golf, fishing) to keep you busy.

Like minds, bro. I'm two years younger than you and of the exact same thought process. 10-12 more years of grinding, try to get kids through college so they don't have to think about loans, then start to slow it down, spend more time at the ranch and maybe travel some. But, I don't see myself ever retiring. At least not anywhere near 61. I'd rather scale back my work load, make less money, but stay engaged in the workforce and keep income flowing in. The one thing that I've learned about myself (and my wife) is that we tend to spend more when we're not working. Working would allow me to make more and theoretically spend less.

After thinking about this since yesterday, the one change in my stance is on the accumulation of student debt. If I knew my degree course and ultimate career was something I loved doing but was going to produce an income at a level that wouldn't enable me to pay for my student loans, why not slow down your degree plan, go to community college where possible, work nights, etc to minimize the debt? I had a full academic scholarship to UT. My parents said, "Great! That means we don't have to pay for shit!" Full scholarship meant tuition, room & board and sometimes books. I worked part-time every fall/spring semester and full-time every summer. I had no interest in accumulating even a penny of student debt. How many of these recent grads with huge debt loads worked while in school? I'm a big fan of controlling what you can control. You can't control life expectancy, inflation or wage stagnation and you can kind of control healthcare costs but you can 100% control the debt portion of that equation.

This is well summarized. In a vacuum, it's easy to look ignore those factors as a whole and attribute it to entirely too much avocado toast and lattes, but each of those factors absolutely contribute to the inability to contribute effectively to a retirement plan. Heck, I'm 38 and I've seen my own preparedness for retirement change due to a number of factors. I went from ahead of the curve to behind the curve to trying to catch up with the curve in the last 10 years. Add to the fact the obligation to pay for higher tuition for my own kids and that $ number for retirement gets tougher to achieve.

Thanks for the clarification. I had no idea that there was an income contingent plan. I just assumed you were paying it off in a traditional fashion. Sounds like your income contingent plan wasn't even covering interest. That sucks, but you did what you had to do. At this point, it certainly sounds like you are correct to just ride it out for seven more years. It also sucks that, to a certain degree, it's in your best interest to have a lower income during that timeframe.

You should pay it off with your credit card, then pay down that balance every month... How is that even possible? Are you paying the minimum every month? Only the interest? What kind of balance are we talking about here? I'm just trying to wrap my head around that kind of math.