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CleverNickname

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Posts posted by CleverNickname

  1. 4 minutes ago, troph said:

    show pics please.

    20240330_123444.thumb.jpg.9c4de6d84d1ecece9007a9d580b26e42.jpg

    random shot. Way in the corner is the leaf diverted and the vertical pvc is the first flush. I should have the tank right there, but instead I have these aqueduct to take the water to the 1550 tank. It used to be a straight shot, but I built a carport to park a kawasaki mule.

    Next Pic shows tank. The bulkhead and important buts are in that wood box. Inside is a ball valve. The pipe goes to a hole in the screw top lid. There is a screen there. Overflow goes to a trough. Lil oak is in the wire cage. Temp piping because O was building the carport amd it started raining on me. Thumb top left.20240316_132614.thumb.jpg.f5ea25f73f5a7970128b941f2d1a798a.jpg

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  2. We collect 2/3 of the ~1000 sq ft cabin roof (barndo) into a 1550 gallon poly tank up at the ranch. Backside goes to a separate 550 gallon tank just for wildlife waterer trough. It is our sole source of water. Cabin was off grid for a few years. Still haven't done a well. Plenty for quick showers and toilet flushes on frequent weekend visits. 

    It is pretty simple. A 12v RV water pump moves the water via underground pipe, plugged into a cheapo 110v inverter. Can still plug into 12v marine batter as backup. I unplug the pump when I'm gone so that some leak doesn't flood everything and drain the tank. No major freeze damage to the tank bulkhead, but the pipes after the manual cutoff have burst if not drained adequately.

    Rear tank is just a 550 tank on 4 courses of cinder blocks (28 total, 7x4). Enough height to trickle a wildlife trough about 75 feet away.

    Rainwater gets into tank after going through leaf catcher and filling pvc first flush. I don't really water much with it, but I do douse with bleach every so often. Don't drink or brush teeth with the water. Sometimes I fill a 330 tank with overflow or pump into it and have a watering timer keeping a Monterey oak alive through the summer.

    I think all my parts were just home depot 3" Pvc and assorted special bits from rainharvest.com. And those were just a downspout filter ($50) and a first flush T and float valve ($50).

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  3. I'm going to try Hims compounded oral (or another telemetry outfit) when it's available in Texas. I'm out at >$300/mo, but if it's more like $100 I will try it. I'm 5-11, weighed 227. Just enough to put me into obesity. Nothing special to my story. Weighed maybe 190 when I got married. Kids and the usual +0.5 lb per year caught up with me. BP controlled with men's, hypertriglyceridemia (meds), and now just too fat, outting me into pre-diabetic. Thats 3 reasons to try it. My GP wants me to try and diet first, but said a semaglutide was not out of the question. Basically implied with my insirance out of pocket telemed probably cheaper than going through a conventional pharmacy. 

    https://support.hims.com/hc/en-us/articles/25901088679707-Where-do-you-offer-your-Compounded-Semaglutide-GLP-1-treatment

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  4. 4 minutes ago, Chips O'Toole said:

     

    I am also thinking about getting some type of kit with educational materials for them to work through to earn some app time, but I haven't researched that.

     

    Amazon has workbooks.  Probably aimed at homeschooling, but the same kind of desk work we did all the time as kids. But you'll have to grade it (answers in back, etc). 

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  5. In our 401k/403b/457/Roths we are 99% in Vanguard Target Retirement 2040 Fund or a similar target fund (fuck Empower). We could probably be more equity tilt, since she has TRS (and can do social security, since AISD pays in, so no WEP) and I have ERS. Both are effectively non-COLA fixed coupon bonds. Both Rule of 80, 2.3%; both eligible ~2032, age ~52.  Might switch to a 2050 target fund, but if you look 2040 is like 90/10 and the 2050 is like 91/9 this far out. Both have pretty good international exposure - to our detriment this year. In retirement, travel 2 years, then see about part-time employment. She could be a permanent sub (get Sept/Oct and May off for prime National Park time), and I could probably get a new statey gig. Maybe I would sub with her. Or just dig holes.

    We can probably retire at 52 (2032) and live solely on my pension, and bank her pension. Gov't FIRE. Do a 457 withdrawal if we really needed it early (no < 59.5 penalty) but mostly use SS as a COI kicker on our state pensions down the line. Draw on 403b when the inflation eats the pension income into a lower tax bracket pr RMDs start. Roths are house money for grandkids or just inheritance. Would like to downsize the house, depends on where kids land and put down roots. If that's out of state, sell the ranch (51ac, optimistically 300k, yeah right) and buy a new tract to putter on. I want to move to the Western Slope, but I know will probably end up near a kiddo helping with childcare. Might last a little longer than 2032, depends on how much the 529s have packed for the college. Realistically it might be more rational to take the golden ring, and then come back and grind as a retire-rehire in a lesser position. More time for our sex cult, thank you Hims. Less stress, the same or more annual pay.

    I know a thing or two about life insurance. Been around it about 20 years. There are only 2 products I tell my friends to consider: 20 year term life or 30 year term life. Twenty if your spouse works and yall have a start on retirement savings, definitely buy 30 if they SAH or your kids are more than 5 years apart. Buy em just before you have kids, ideally before you get fat and blood pressure spikes. But never variable life, whole life, variable annuity, indexed linked life, universal life, CDA, etc. Straight immediate annuity if inheriting a windfall, maaaaybe. I bet the higher interest rates means there are some better offers now. The last 10 yrs of zeros had been hard on life insurer actuaries. For a while you couldn't even really purchase a COLA adjusted immediate. Fwiw immediate annuity quotes are a good way to ballpark the value of a pension. I think they are a great was to think about safe withdrawal rates too. Those actuaries probably smarter than me on selecting reasonable variables for PV or FV calculations. In theory a deferred annuity should make sense, and yet they never do. Seems everyone gets cold feet and buyers remorse, and the surrender chargers have bite.

     

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  6. the Colorado river basin doesn't go but a few miles east of 183. So it's already now halfway Lampasas / Brazos. But it will take some time for the creeks to run on down past the gauge in Bend. I was up in Mullin last night and it was all very green and moist. Should be good for a lot of runoff.

  7. if they have divorced parents, one might declare a Texas primary residence for the prior 12 months. I'm not sure if that has to be the primary parent (probably?), but I imagine reasonable coparenting ex's can figure out how to play the right cards for their shared child. Just decide who is going to declare the dependent on the 2023 1040. No university is going to asm for divorce records, just tax stuff. Declaring the TX residence as primary might be a little sketchy, but probably not too much of a paperwork burden. I think you can also show TX residency as a parent if you own a TX business; or maybe if parent is married to someone who is a TX resident. 

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  8. I was trying to find some way to get excess Brazos water from PK or Lake Whitney down to a NE tributary of Pecan Bayou near Blanket or to near Lometa. Then let the water run down natural course into Lake Buchanon. But I think the elevation won't work - the Colorado simply runs a good 400 ft higher in elevation across that fairly short 80 miles of latitude. I guess we do have a lot of wind and solar power in the area that could push water. People have crazy plans to pump the Upper Missouri over the continental divide, so some hills near Commanche ain't shit.

    Anyhow, my little creek near Mullin was running about 5 ft deep yesterday judging by the debris today. Had to mess with a water gate. Down to ankle deep by 10am today. 

    20240505_101932.thumb.jpg.1dffd56535721af7a05b983f0e8416e3.jpg

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  9. that gauge showing 4600 cfs seems to have died at 920pm. I presume conditions an FM 45 and the river north of Richland Springs are now one giant floating anthill. 

    The downstream gauge showing climbing above 2000 cfs steeple. 

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  10. 22 minutes ago, texasdago said:

    A question... Does getting a bunch of rain in the Lake Buchanan watershed do anything to help Lake Travis?

    its good - great even. Buchanan has an enormous capacity and could pass water down to Lake Travis, while keeping Travis free to absorb Llano or Pedernales flooding.

    4" bomb on Pecan Bayou - that's the sweet stuff. 

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  11. as far as I can tell, boys are fine with a phone alternative. It's the girls that are social media monsters. I am not sure what it is like to be a teen woman, but I don't think I have it takes. If they gotta kill a tourist on Rainey Street once in a while just to feel something after survivng middle school, who am I to judge?

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  12. does anyone else thinks it's weird there was the pic of Peterson in the Russian benzo coma dicksucking machine selfie, and *also* he mistakenly tweeted about a hoax Chinese CCP cum milking conspiracy? I mean, like... that's a he'll of a coincidence. 

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