Spaulding Smails

Haven't played the north ones on that list in a while. Falconhead is usually pretty good. Lost Pines used to be my absolute favorite in the area. It's gone way, way downhill IMO. I played their last spring. $185 and it was not in good shape and the service sucked. Plus they ding you for parking which is just annoying. My votes would be Avery, Star and Falconhead.

This exact topic has been a major point of contention with my dad and his five siblings over the 15+ years as my grandparents passed. I have one aunt who considered EVERYTHING sentimental. "That was the wooden bowls that the kids ate ice cream out of, you can't possibly give that away!" On the other hand, my uncle wanted to sell every bit of it. In the end, things were relatively amicable. There was an old 19th century Regina music box that belonged to my great-great grandmother that was pretty rare. I think my aunt lost the battle on that one, and the siblings finally sold it for upwards of $30K. On the flip side, when my great grandfather passed, his three grandsons (my dad and his two brothers) inherited a lot of his military gear. He was a lifer in the army and was a full bird colonel. One of my uncles ended up with his two service issued Colt 1911s. Then sold the pair for $1,000 a few years later. My dad was sick when he found out. My folks don't have much that I would consider sentimental. The only thing that I wouldn't part with would be an old Schlitz brass bottle opener that my Grandfather on my mom's side always had sitting on the kitchen table.

I honestly forgot about this thread! I sold my house and thus my smoker setup. Just moved into the new digs and still a few months away from rebuilding the pit. Which was unfortunate because we processed an elk, an axis and a whitetail this winter. Had help this time, and did over 250 lb of sausage. Plus a lot of roasts, etc from the elk. I can't remember the final tally and I didn't take any pictures, but we had pan, Italian, Greek, Andouille and traditional smoked link sausage. Gave a ton away, but still have a bunch in the freezer. I'll try to post pics of the setup this winter. Got a pretty nice processing station in my garage now with a gambrel on a rail, floor drain, rolling stainless table and two-compartment sink. It should really make things a lot more efficient from now on.

https://bestretrievers.com/ They're aggy, but they're awesome. Great facility and the training was top notch for both obedience and upland / waterfowl. They also do boarding with a "tune up" program. We've sent Murphy there during summer vacations the last few years, and it really does improve his skills right before dove season.

When it comes to geography and maps like these, I tend to look at it and say, "that makes total sense for this or that reason." Not this one. I'm perplexed. I'm not questioning the validity, but I can't draw any conclusion as to why certain areas are the way they are. West Texas peaks the earliest of any part of the US. Including Alaska and the highest mountains in North America. Then there's that little spot in Illinois and Indiana. Can't figure that out at all. I'm guessing it's some blend of latitude, altitude, coastal proximity, prevailing winds, typical precipitation and land heat retention. Mix all that shit up to get the answer.

That whole area is really taking off. It's been fun to watch it grow. I'll be curious to see if your neighbor gets that amount. We're seeing most dirt in the $4-6/SF range right now, and he's just a tad over that window. You're sitting on a gold mine with your property!

That sounds about right. My office is SE near Creedmoor and there's a significant amount of activity down here as well. We're actively looking for 15-25 acres in that area for our next office. @Armybrat let me know when you're ready to sell!

I'd notch the 6x6 then run the carriage bolts through. You have plenty of meat on the 6x6 for the carriage bolts and can still get the load to bear down vertically instead of relying on the carriage bolts to support the weight.

We can't talk about the olds without talking about phone ringers. My wife and I are fortunate enough to both have our parents. All four in great health and in their late 60s. All four insist on full volume ringer at all times. My Dad: Standard ring tone, full blast 24x7. Ignores most calls. Lets it ring and ring even if it's a telemarketer and right in front of him. My Mom: All of her friends and family have a different ring tone. Full blast. She will answer every phone call every time. She would stop surgery to answer a call from an unknown number. FIL: Some custom ring tone of a Harley revving then "Bad to the Bone" song playing. Bonus points because he talks on speakerphone at all times. MIL: Flashing light + custom ring tones + the Siri voice announcing who is calling. Double bonus points because she constantly loses her phone and has hearing aids, so it rings and she's on a fire drill to try to find it.

One story or two? Any chance to plant some decent shrubs / trees there? It's incredible what shade over windows will do for your electric bill. We have a ton of windows in our new house, but were strategic on orientation and overhangs. There's one wall of windows that gets direct morning sun, but everything else has lots of shade. Makes a huge impact on our monthly utility bill.

Same. It's expensive, but it goes a long way and is almost idiot proof. We did the majority of our cabinets with Rubio Monocoat.

I've noticed the exact same thing. Point to dollar value seems skewed not to mention the increase in average room rates. We've used points a few times this year, but have actually cashed out a ton with Amazon gift gards. If you don't want to use them on travel, check out the other redemption options. I have a Southwest card as well. Considering getting rid of both that and Bonvoy and moving to AMEX Platinum or something similar. We just don't travel like we used to, so I'm not getting the value any way you slice it.

I've noticed the same thing. Got my first 9/9 yesterday. I struggle any time the expansion teams are present. My Topps complete sets ranged from 1985 - 1994, so my team knowledge is heavily weighted during that time frame. I would organize the set by team then player in alphabetical order and put them neatly in the 9-sleeve plastic sheets in big a binder I got from my dad's work. I think I could probably tell you Ozzie Virgil's hometown and how many games Kent Tekulve pitched in 1988 when he was on the Phillies. I got 8/9 this morning but got stumped on Rockies / Tigers. I've been consistently in the 5-7 range. There's no way that many people are baseball statistic savants to hammer 9/9 consistently.

Not the best, but for chopped beef sandwiches on the river, it passes muster.

I've been fortunate enough to do tons of activities that I would consider extremely Texan. But, I have two very Texan days: August 2019. Left the house around 7 AM with a few buddies and their sons, snagged breakfast tacos from Flores in Drip, picked up some BBQ from Lam's in Junction a few hours later, kayaked / fished the South Llano while drinking Lone Star and eating BBQ sammiches. Drove to the ranch around 4 PM, got in the stand and saw my son whack a big sow right before dusk, came back to the camp and grilled steaks over open coals, then wrapped up the night watching the stars as a big thunderstorm rolled in from the west around midnight. October 9, 1999. Texas-OU. Had seats on the 40, watched Major lead us to victory 38-28, hopped in the truck and drove straight to Arlington, sat down in our seats behind home plate right before first pitch, watched Roger and the Yanks clinch the ALDS against the Rangers (as a Longhorn and Astros fan, I was rooting for Roger), drove to Ft Worth and watched Robert Earl play at Billy Bob's. Caught a ride back to the hotel in Dallas. Both top 5 days of my life. And extremely Texan.

Firming up our plans for CR. Arriving 8/2 to Liberia. We're staying three days at Rio Celeste Hideaway Hotel up in the jungle / mountains, then five days at the JW Marriott on the beach south of Tamarindo. Me, wife (no pics) and two kids (15 & 11). Booked a full-day offshore trip. The rest is kind of up in the air. Any must-do activities or restaurant recs in Tamarindo? And, I'm really trying to figure out if we're going to rent a car or not. I have one booked, but trying to figure out if it makes sense to do that or rely on a charter service given how spread out we are. Just looked and the JW is 30 minutes from Tamarindo. We're more "eat in town / explore" than "hang out at the resort" people FWIW. So, we're more likely to run around than stay camped out at the beach for five days.

This right here. Had serious sciatic flare for the first time in my life last November. To the point I couldn't put my boots on in the morning. Had to stop on the way to and from work multiple times to get out of the truck. Started stretching 2X daily. 30 days later, it was damn near gone.

It was one of the ones I missed today, but it sent me down a rabbit hole.... Since 1937, The As have only had one player with 200+ hits in a season. That's pretty incredible. My Carney Lansford guess was off.

I have one Ford Lightning in my fleet. My BizDev guy drives it. He went to a DC charging station Monday, and they had the power essentially "turned down". So, instead of a 15 min charge, it took 2+ hours to charge his truck.

I was working yesterday afternoon fixing some fence. I was drenched in sweat after just 30 minutes stretching barbed wire. It reminded me of the hottest I've ever felt in my life. In 2019, I was digging post holes with my uncle and cousin and it was absolutely unbearable. 100 degree heat and crazy humidity with no breeze. I felt like I was breathing through a wet paper bag that just got out of the microwave. Not official obviously, but check out the heat index from that day.

If a golfer is honest with their scores, the handicap is amazingly accurate. The scores pretty much follow a bell curve exactly. Here are my last 10 scores net to my handicap: +0.7, -2.3, +1.3, +3.5, +2.3, +1.9, +0.5, -1.3, -0.4, +1.7 And, I think home course plays a big part in that too. My home course has a few configurations, but handicap and slope ranges from 68.8 / 125 to 71.4 / 137. My buddy's course is 71.0 / 137. His course is easily 3-4 strokes tougher than my 71.0 / 137 configuration. Member-Guest at my club this weekend. I like that he's a 6 because it'll post, but he'd be a 2 or a 3 if he played my course more often. Format is interesting. All scoring is net Stableford. Thursday - 18 holes: best ball Friday - 27 holes total, 9 holes: scramble, 9 holes: shamble, 9 holes: alternate shot Saturday - 18 holes: individual play Flighted. Winners of flights face off in a 3-hole shootout.

We bought three of the AWS blinds plus three of their stand-and-fill feeders about five years ago. Another vote here for AWS. We have two 5' off the ground and one ground blind. All 5x5. Fit two adults comfortably. I think it was in the $500 range to have them delivered and set up west of Junction.

Made chicken and waffles for supper this evening. Added two over easy eggs on top. It did not disappoint. Will do it again. Soon.

Yep. It was really the only option for us given the configuration.

From a privacy / sound standpoint: swing door > pocket door > barn door. But in our case, this is to the bathroom in the master. That opening is directly across from some French doors that go out to the backyard. Realistically, the only time these will be closed is if there's people over and one of us is in the shower. The bed is far enough away that light / sound should be minimal if one of us is getting ready in the morning while the other is sleeping.