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Spaulding Smails

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  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. Any idea whereabouts on the Devils? Good friend of mine has a place in Blue Sage.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. 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.
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
  13. 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.
  14. I have two businesses. Residential general contracting and plumbing / electrical / HVAC service.
  15. 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.
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