Spaulding Smails

No Titty Bingo in the lineup? CSB... did a ton of work for the lead singer of I Love You, But I've Chosen Darkness back in the day. His son worked for me for a stint as well. Had no idea who they were. I guess they were a big deal in Europe for a while.

No experience with Tikka, but I love my X-bolt. It was the only .270 I could find with a left-handed bolt. It drives tacks. Good feel, relatively light weight. It's my default weapon when hunting in Texas. I added a Mark III in 300 WinMag (also LH) two years ago when I went elk hunting. If you can spend a little more, I'd look at the Mark III as well. I was in the same boat as you. Wanted to get something I could hand down to my son eventually. The stock is gorgeous. A bit heavier than the X-bolt, but worth it.

This problem really started bubbling up about a year ago and dates back several years. It really sucks. A good friend of mine built his pool in late 2019. Super lucky to have it in the ground before Covid. They started noticing big cracks about two years ago. Lawsuit. Settlement. Finally demo'd the pool last fall. The settlement didn't come close to covering the increase in costs over the four year time span. He saw the well drying up and figured it was better to get something than nothing. Right now, he just has a big hole in his backyard. Trying to figure out if he can even afford (or wants) another pool at this point. Another friend of mine is a structural engineer. They designed a big house in West Lake Hills. Part of his scope included the design of the pier system that supported the pool that was kind of hanging off a cliff. You guessed it. That pool has failed. This homeowner has much deeper pockets and won't settle for pennies on the dollar like my other buddy. That pool contractor filed for bankruptcy, so now they're suing the house GC, the architect and my buddy the structural engineer for latent defects. Basically going after anyone who has an insurance policy that may cover the damages.

I think the mountain lion and bear sightings are a combo of more trail cameras with expansion of territories. I think I posted these previously, but we saw a black bear two summers ago on the banks of the Devils getting some water right at dusk. Probably 200 yds away from a kayak, so the picture quality sucks. And, a buddy of mine caught a lion and a bear at two separate water troughs within the same week at his place outside of Comstock last winter. I've never seen a big cat in person, but they're out there. Especially in the southwestern part of the state.

Any idea whereabouts on the Devils? Good friend of mine has a place in Blue Sage.

My parents lived on Lake Medina for 15+ years, and my aunt and uncle have lived on that lake for almost 30 years. My dad got tired of his cove being dry and sold their place when the water level came back somewhat about a decade ago. I spent damn near every summer weekend in college down there wakeboarding and hanging with friends. Those are some core memories for sure. It's the oldest man made lake in Texas. It's absolutely gorgeous when it has water. I've seen blame cast on SAWS for over-drawing water and The Medina Irrigation Co for wasteful allocation. Heck, I even heard that the original surveyors screwed up on the watershed calculation and overestimated the breadth of the Medina river when it was built in the early 1900s. I'm sure the truth is somewhere in there. Regardless, it's so sad. Not sure it will ever come back.

Yep. Drainage holes on both sides. But it also sits under an overhang and has lots of 2" bull rock that I had left over from another project in the bottom, so it should drain well regardless. I don't have irrigation yet, but also ran a sleeve of PVC vertically with a 90 and a hole in the bottom to pull drip irrigation through eventually. Already tired of hand watering it.

Westbrook Metals. I think it was about $1,800 for all the materials including the cuts on the plate. Way more expensive than the last significant build I did 3-4 years ago. Easily double what I was thinking.

I had a big section of exposed foundation near our mudroom entry that I was having a tough time figuring out how to deal with. It was kind of narrow, so it was gonna be hard to do any big plants to soften the space. I had some 1/4" steel plate cut to spec, then welded up a raised planter box. 16" deep and about 36" high. I forgot to take pics during the build, but I used 1x1x1/8" angle iron to stiffen everything up and cross-brace it. Finished it with Penetrol as a clear coat. It'll take some maintenance, but I didn't want it to rust out, and I didn't want to paint it. Planted a few smaller plants, and hoping the rosemary spills over. May do some ivy at the base too. Still need to fill in the gap between the steps and the box with some decomposed granite or mulch if I go with the ivy, but really happy with how it turned out.

I only have one commercial property, and we saw a 45% YOY increase in commercial insurance when we renewed in February. Shopped it around some and couldn't find anything better. It's a NNN lease, so ultimately it gets passed onto the tenant, but it still sucks, and it definitely will cause conversation when their renewal comes up in a few years. Don't get me started on commercial vehicle insurance. Just got our renewal proposal there. 35% YOY increase on an already ridiculously inflated rate. To the point, I'm restructuring my fleet allocation and potentially moving lots of folks to vehicle allowances. I'm not sure what the best way to tackle the property insurance conundrum is, but I really thing commercial vehicle insurance is going to eventually have to go through some sort of tort reform like workers comp went through.

There's one as you're coming into Johnson City too. It took me about a dozen trips up 281 north before I quit getting fooled.

Had two "aha" moments last week. Saw myself swinging a driver. Buddy filmed a drive without me knowing. Saw my back elbow flying out. Made a little adjustment and hit 10 of 13 fairways. Then, watched a video about amateur golfer shot distribution where it showed how to adjust your aim target when hitting into greens based on being shorter when you fade it and longer when you draw it. Only hit 5 GIR, but misses were minimized. Basically, kept the big numbers off the scorecard with the exception of a bad break on 17 that resulted in a triple. Finished with an 81. Need to keep that same mentality in place this year to try to get the handicap down into single digits for the first time in 20+ years.

Like @huge said, Troon North. Definitely We-Ko-Pa. TPC Stadium is fun simply because of the WMPO. Haven't played there in 10+ years, but Talking Stick is decent (two courses). Wildfire @ the JW Marriott is pretty good as well. Had a buddy that played Grayhawk last year and enjoyed it (I haven't played it). McCormick Ranch and Camelback are both much cheaper. Decent if you're on a budget but lesser quality.

What can I say? I'm a glutton for punishment, I suppose. I still say my dream job is owning a business that has no customers and no employees. Haven't figured that one out yet.

I have two businesses. Residential general contracting and plumbing / electrical / HVAC service.

You're making the right call. Range >>>>> fridge. Those tend to be the two biggest ticket items in the kitchen. I'd splurge on a Wolf range and cut some budget with something in that middle of the road price range for the fridge. We've had some good luck with GE Cafe refrigerators on projects the last several years. Doesn't break the bank and looks pretty sharp. As @blacklab said, Thermador and SubZero are awesome if you can swing side-by-side 36" units or if you want to have them panel ready. I'm a big fan of Bosch dishwashers. Wolf and Thermador for the range. Viking used to be the best range by a mile, but their quality has slipped some in recent years.

Muchos thank yous @fattyflattie and @T’Boo Ted Marshall. Happy to give the Surly Asshole discount if anyone needs help in the Austin area.

I've threatened to post pictures of my rainwater setup on this board before but keep forgetting. I actually just had them painted last week when we had some good weather. We experimented a bunch and found that STIX primer worked really well on the PVC. Sherwin-Williams makes a product called Bond Plex that is available in an aluminum finish. It worked really well, matches the gutters and seems to be holding up. Our AirBnB on the property was painted 18 months ago and still looks great.

It's pretty wild to think how far blinds have come in the 35+ years I've been hunting. Seeing pics of the octagonal blind with a full bar and poker table in the middle makes me laugh. When I first started hunting as a kid, every blind was homemade. Some much better (and safer) than others. My dad scored a couple sections of scaffolding from a masonry contractor he knew. We built a kick ass blind atop two sections of walk-through scaffolding with guy wires on all four corners. My uncle was a drywall contractor and used to build all of his out of metal studs. Fully insulated too. They were the tits, and I always tried to sit in those on cold mornings. I shot the biggest buck of my life out of an old tree blind we called "the widow maker". I used to sit with my pocket knife as the sun came up, cutting hundreds yellow jackets in half as they started to move around. We'd bug bomb that blind before every season, but that thing was a magnet for those suckers. Opened up another one of those black plastic 4x4 tower blinds one day only to be face-to-face with a barn owl who had made it his home. Lots of sketchy shit including filling feeders while on my tip toes balanced on the back corner of a pickup bed rail. Now, my kids get to sit in big, comfortable insulated Atascosa blinds while watching YouTube or college football. Pretty amazing upgrade.

@deadshank nailed it. I haven't hunted yotes in many moons, but we used to have luck with the wounded rabbit. 5-10 minutes then shut it down for a bit. Try to mask your scent like you're bow hunting and play the wind. Saw this guy at about 300 yds while elk hunting two years ago. Mid-afternoon. Had a predator call on my phone and called him in without a speaker. Shut off the call to catch a video. Dude got within 25 yards of us. Never stopped but never really bolted. Just a slow trot right on by. IMG_0508.mov

I spent 10+ years in sales then managing national accounts. So, lots of time on the road. What you're describing was commonly referred to as the "Hampton Inn Pit Stop". In the front door like you own the place, take care of business, slide out the side door. Nobody uses the lobby restroom at a hotel. Absolutely spotless 99% of the time. Another great option is high-end office buildings. I'd head out super early, catch some coffee, and find a nice office building around 7:30 AM before any of the office folk showed up. Almost always freshly cleaned and not a soul in sight.

I started typing out my responses, then read your post. You nailed everything. I mean, it was pretty much exactly what I was writing. Kind of uncanny, really. I'm the one across from Camp Lucy. Have been in this area since graduating from the 40 acres in '01. Our food options in DS mostly suck. Tons of average pizza and a few places that are good one day and sub-par the next. Flores for breakfast tacos and Leyla's are the only two I puff my chest out for.

You looking for just a shuttle or fully guided experience? For a shuttle, Amistad is the best. https://www.amistadexpeditions.com/ Shoot me a DM if you want a guided experience. I have a referral there but have never been with an actual guide / outfitter. I've done the trip probably a dozen times in various forms and fashions.

I absolutely sympathize with that. I hunted between George West and Orange Grove for almost 15 years. 1,400 low-fenced acres. We did all we could to manage the herd. Shot the right deer at the right age and protein fed. We shot a few freaks and saw some trash here and there, but we just didn't have the genetics to get anything above 160. Still miss that place, though. I miss hunting in South Texas.

Had a similar experience when I was a kid. Maybe 11 or 12. Over Christmas break. Left Corpus super early with my dad and uncle to head to my uncle's lease outside of Falfurrias in time for the morning hunt. I remember it being super foggy once we got south of town. I'm guessing we were around Premont when we saw him. My uncle slammed on the brakes. We sat there for a good 30 seconds looking at this just absolute tank standing on the right shoulder. Just a massive, typical 12 point probably 30 yards from the hood of the truck. Had to be 26+" wide with 12+" G2s/G3s. Maybe it was because I was tired. Maybe it was the scenario. Maybe it's 30+ years of embellished memories, but it was the biggest buck I've ever seen on the hoof in the wild. By a wide margin.