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Spaulding Smails

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Everything posted by Spaulding Smails

  1. That was always a rational fear. This was on Lake Medina in the early 2000's, and we always made sure to do it back in Elm Cove where we knew there were no stumps, but I always worried about a log floating just under the surface. I'm 40 lb heavier, 25 years older and that lake has 98% less water now, so no chance I'd do it there or anywhere else for that matter.
  2. I've done it a hand full of times starting off a wake skate on my ass with behind a tow rope, and I needed to be right at 40 mph. I'd pull my buddy who was 5'6" 140 lb at right around 37 mph. Lots of fun until you fall.
  3. There's still a surprisingly significant amount of Orangeburg pipe around Austin. It was used commonly right around WWII when iron was at a premium and before PVC became the mainstay. @Armybrat those tunnelling / excavation jobs are no fun. There's a reason we sub out the excavation and just do the plumbing ourselves. Those guys make great money, but that's some hard ass work. We just finished a commercial tunnelling job that had two 4-man crews working for three weeks straight. Belly crawling with shovels and jackhammers pulling material out one bucket at a time. No thank you. [sales pitch] if anyone on the board in the Austin area ever has any drain issues, shoot me a PM. I have a drain specialist on staff with a badass Ridgid sewer camera. I'll run that thing for free for you. That thing helps a ton at identifying the location and diagnosing the problem. She's a journeywoman plumber, knows her stuff and is great with steering the conversation for insurance purposes as well. Lots of other companies will make you sign an open-ended contract and charge you for the exploration. We know exactly where the blockage / breakage / sag is and can typically cut down on the overall cost with that degree of accuracy and precision in the location. It's loud and costly, but much better than a hole in the middle of your living room floor. [end sales pitch]
  4. Just thought of another one I hardly see out from behind the Pine Curtain, let alone outside of Texas / Louisiana. Mayhaw Jelly. My absolute favorite. Love it on a hot, fresh sourdough biscuit. My wife's aunt has a pint or two for me every time we go visit the farm.
  5. We always called these Sport Peppers. Knew my wife was a keeper when she had those on the little bistro table in her kitchen when we started dating. I'm also a big fan of Chile Pequins in a vinegar sauce. Back before my big plant froze, I'd pick a ton in the late summer, jam them down in an old Crystal hot sauce jar, add vinegar until full, and pop the lid back on. Awesome on stuff like green beans and Texas hash.
  6. What, if anything are you doing to keep the hole plumb / square? Looks like you're doing a good job maintaining dimension, but are you doing anything to keep everything straight? Does it even matter?
  7. Total green depth.
  8. Where are you located? Depending on budget, you may be better off finding a decent set of used "game improvement" irons. I think for the value, they'll be better than an off-brand at Academy or Dick's. You may even want to go to PGA Superstore to hit some demo clubs. Figure out your swing speed and something that feels right, then try to find them used on FB Marketplace or some place like Play It Again Sports. Just my two cents.
  9. 10 months post TJ surgery, my son got back on the bump against live batters for the first time yesterday. Just 3 batters. I didn't see it, but he said it was a mixed bag. He struggled with control, but his arm felt good. He's slated to pitch Tuesday (20 pitch max) on JV. He's worked hard during recovery and followed a pretty dialed in protocol. Big improvement in core and leg strength over that timeframe. Got a really good pitching coach with experience in TJ rehab and a good grasp of biomechanics, so his delivery is way more consistent and repeatable. I think he's in a better, healthier, more disciplined spot than he was prior to injury. We're really trying to keep him from overdoing it, but he's 17 and pushing the envelope.
  10. I was digging through some old keepsakes that my parents gave me when they recently moved. Found my first little league picture. American Little League tee ball in Corpus Christi circa 1986. I was the only gringo on the team. We were the Yankees. We had yellow and white shirts emblazoned with "Yankees" in script across the front and a yellow hat with "American" across the front. This was complemented by blue jeans since we couldn't afford baseball pants. Nothing about our uniform resembled the Bronx Bombers. The league, my team, my family couldn't afford baseball pants let alone the full licensed apparel. Kind of funny to show to my son after spending the last several years playing select ball with multiple uniforms for every team.
  11. I watched this in its entirety a few years ago. And again this morning. Thanks for posting. Like @TwiceHorn said, these genre-bending things bring me so much joy. THIS is the kind of stuff that I love about our country. There's a great book called Mexifornia by Victor Davis Hanson. I talks to the historical significance of assimilation in California and the thin line between keeping national pride and heritage and insulating yourself against outside influence to the point of boxing yourself into a corner as an ethnic community. But, these Mississippi Chinese examples and my Sri Lankan buddy are shining examples of our melting pot country. Now back to the LULZ pics and vids!
  12. I'm buddies with a Sri Lankan guy that grew up in Lafayette. Not super thick, but the Cajun accent is there. Loves to duck hunt, deer hunt and fish. Always has a lip full of Copenhagen. Freaks people out when they've spoken to him over the phone and meet him in person.
  13. I have a golf rangefinder that I have on long-term loan. Played in a golf tournament at least two years ago. Invited by a buddy. He put together a team last minute. I kind of knew the third guy but had never met the fourth. Fourth guy was from Houston. He left right after golf and left his rangefinder in his cart. We found it after he left. I was headed to Houston the next week for work, so I volunteered to sync up with him. Got his number from the third guy. Texted him when I was on the way, and he never responded. Tried to reach out to him on two other occasions when I was headed to Houston. I even verified the number was correct. Zero replies. Nada. Hence the long-term loan situation.
  14. Man, that really sucks. With the additional context, I say.... screw those guys. Go full no-lube on them. Six months and you got that?!?! When I first replied, I figured you had a trim carpenter do it for $500 or something over a few days without any shop drawings. Or maybe it was a relative or buddy. But, $1,250 and six months!?!? I'd ask for a full refund or replacement. That's blasphemy. I owned a high-end luxury remodeling company for 12+ years with our own in-house millwork / cabinetry shop. We cranked out some awesome stuff. What you got was a DIY hack-job that I bit my lip about because I was trying to be nice. If someone who claims to be anywhere near a cabinet shop sold you that, I'd be demanding a refund.
  15. Damn. Just saw the link. That's a full inlay in that image. WAY more expensive to build, but would definitely look awesome in that powder bath. @harpercollins not sure if he gave you shop drawings to approve or if you paid him in full yet, but that's a big miss on several fronts if that's what he was supposed to build. The image you sent is probably a $2,500 vanity from a good cabinet maker.
  16. Looks like plain sawn White Oak which is very grainy. It would have to be stripped down, but I'm a big fan of the Rubio Monocoat products. It's expensive, but it doesn't need to be sprayed on, and provides a low sheen in several different colors. Link below and an image attached. Trimming out the drawer fronts with the Shaker style trim may dress it up some too. https://www.rubiomonocoatusa.com/
  17. Corn is tough in small areas. Worth a shot, especially if you want beans and squash to trellis up it naturally, but I've never had much luck with it, and an old gardener friend of mine told me that you needed. Squash and beans will take off, especially green beans. Throw some cucumbers in there too if you like 'em. They're pretty bulletproof as well. Okra does great through the summer if you can get enough water to them. Those four seem to be the ones that I have the most luck with.
  18. Typically the threshold weatherstripping continues on the secondary door beneath the astragal. Maybe they cut it back because it was dragging? I'm guessing you could pull both doors off the hinges and affix new threshold weatherstripping to both doors, then cut to length to narrow the gap. It looks like there's a multipoint bolt that drops into the threshold from the astragal, so you may have to modify the new sweep to go around that. Assuming both doors have standard grooves, those replacement threshold weatherstrippings are super easy to install. It takes 10X as long to get the doors off the hinges as it does to actually install the weatherstipping.
  19. My buddy fished with Austin Young out of Charleston a few years back and loved it. He's a great photographer too. https://www.aceoutdoorscharleston.com/
  20. Took a pretty nice axis Saturday night at the ranch. Tipped out full velvet. Not as big as the one I shot a few years ago, but should make another nice mount. Right at 29" main beams. Then, this crew showed up right at dusk last night at the cistern in front of the house. That one in the middle is legit. I'm thinking he's pushing 34". Hoping to take my son out this coming weekend to see if he sticks around.
  21. @4th and 5 that's finominole. Assuming you broke par? I pulled my usual routine Sunday. Mostly consistent, a few amazing shots, and some absolute blow ups. Amazing punch shot on 1 (par 4), then drained a 30 footer for bird. Pull the tee shot on 2 (par 3) to a waste area. Double. Par on 3 (par 4). Stick a 6 iron to 5' on 4 (par 4). Bird. Drain a 20 footer for bird on 5 (par 5). So, I'm -1 through 5. Up and down through the middle, then finish double, par, triple, double for an 82. Been working to draw the ball more consistently, and that's occasionally turning into a pull hook. Goal for this year is to minimize my mistakes and get away from those big numbers.
  22. How far of a run from the spigot to the trees? I've previously DIY'd a similar setup with this type of product. You can either buy a kit or mix and match at Home Depot. Not ideal long term, but worked for a year or two. Get it set up, then throw it on a timer. Plus, you can cut the supply line to length so you're only irrigating the trees and not wasting water between locations.
  23. Two years ago, I went helicopter hog hunting in Dilley about this time of year. Only shot two pigs, but it was still a blast. Group shot 12 total. The previous year on the same hunt, they shot just over 200. The highlight of the flight was when we jumped a BIG mature buck. Couldn't count points, but he was at least a mainframe 10. He was bedded down, hopped up and ran about 20 yards before jumping over a little briar patch. When he landed on the other side... POP! Both antlers flew off. Never seen that in my life, let alone in the air. I had my GoPro running, but that buck was on the other side of the chopper. We circled for a bit to see if we could find an open spot to land and find the sheds, but it was so incredibly thick that we would've had to land 200 yards away and wade our way through some crazy dense brush. 16774F0C-FB87-4778-B561-EBC02CDFEFBF.mov
  24. PEX is far superior for freeze protection. That study that Risinger did was very informative. A properly built house should have PEX insulated on all exterior walls BEFORE spray foam or batts insulation. It's a belt and suspenders approach, but it makes a huge difference. And, I agree on the manifolds @drt. They're cool, but not practical. I'm also a big fan of running hose bibs on a separate loop. This allows you to shut off water to the bibs an drain them completely prior to a freeze, and it allows you to put a loop in for a softener to the house without it affecting water for irrigation. Lastly, I'd highly recommend a leak detection system. Phyn is my favorite, but Moen makes a good product as well. Some insurance providers are actually offering rebates if you install one, and rumor has it Chubb, Pure and a few others may require these to be installed to maintain coverage. It's <$4,000 installed and worth every penny to prevent a catastrophic flood. Phyn's technology is pretty amazing. It's programmed using sonar and can detect minor leaks, let you know exactly where they are, and allow you to shut off water to one area or the whole house remotely via the app. https://phyn.com/products/phyn-plus-smart-water-assistant-shutoff-v2 I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn last night, but I do own a plumbing company in Austin. We install several per month, and the reviews are fantastic.
  25. Saw this elsewhere. So freakin' cool. How amazing would that be to hook into that big girl with downtown as your backdrop!?!? Also, someone said he looks just like Bob from Bob's Burgers.
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