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Spaulding Smails

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Everything posted by Spaulding Smails

  1. My go-to recipe is chicken fried breast. I've tried to roast a whole wild turkey and even tried to smoke one. Both were pretty tough. From my experience, the breast is good, but the thighs and legs aren't worth doing anything special. The last time I harvested a wild turkey, we actually used the wings, thighs and legs in gumbo. That was probably the best use I've found so far. Would love to hear if anyone has any whole bird recipes.
  2. Took my boy out Easter weekend to our place in Kimble County. Didn't see any turkey the first two years, but my mom put out a turkey feeder, and we actually started to see them this last fall. We saw a big group of hens, but no toms. He did shoot the big boar (220 lb or so) that we've seen on the game cam. Which was nice... The following weekend, I was cruising around looking at property in Hays Co with a big mug of coffee on an early Sunday morning and came upon THREE groups of big toms within a mile of each other along a little side road head the headwaters of Onion Creek. I'll post pics when I can download them. Any sound I made from 100 yds away in my truck had them blowing up. Rios will come to a dog barking if they're chasing hens. We used to have a tom that lived in the creek behind our old house. We'd hand feed him. During the spring, he'd gobble back at a fart once you got him interested.
  3. Good choice. The Islander is nice. Given your group, Islamorada is a great spot. Plenty of restaurants in Islamorada and Key Lago. The drive is manageable from Miami. Robbie's is fun and has decent food. Lorelei's and the Sand Bar are great spots for a drink. Hit up the Green Turtle Inn for breakfast one day.
  4. That was going to be my thought as well. Too much water. Those little biodegradable containers are awesome, but they tend to hold moisture more than the plastic ones.
  5. Got my suppressor ordered today. Just 8-10 months until it arrives! And, after three months of back-and-forth bullshit, I FINALLY got confirmation that my two-stage trigger shipped yesterday. Should be able to finally assemble my left-handed AR this weekend. Which, coincidentally, is perfect timing. I'm taking it with me tuna fishing next week. You know. To finish off those pesky tuna. Forecast calls for spotty squalls. I hope it doesn't fall overboard via a rogue wave or something silly like that.
  6. Quarter size hail this morning in Western Kimble County.
  7. A pool. Technically, we started right before the pandemic, but we put water in it Mother's Day, so we had all summer to swim. Worth every damn penny.
  8. Not sure if this counts for this thread, but I've also found a TON of fossils at the creek behind my house. Lots of common deer hearts but also a few gastropod fossils as well.
  9. I found this at our place as well. Not an arrowhead, but pretty cool nonetheless. Very limited production time and the ranger at Ft McKavett helped me identify it. My mom put together the shadow box and we have it displayed in the house at the ranch. yed
  10. Found my first one at our ranch last summer. Not the prettiest and not fully intact, but still fun to find on your own land. Haven't really gone searching, but happened upon it when trailing a little sow my buddy's son shot.
  11. After a multi-year quasi hiatus (averaged maybe 3-5 rounds / year over the last six or so years), I'm actually pretty damn focused on getting back into golf. I've played a few times this year. I finally got a few BIG work projects in my rearview mirror, so my schedule is much more flexible. And, I'm looking forward to entertaining clients on the golf course as well. I live in Dripping Springs, so local options are fairly limited (Vaaler Creek is actually the closest to my house). But, my office is in Southeast Austin, and I'm < 10 min from Onion Creek. It's always been one of my favorites in this area. And, honestly, it's easier for me to play during the week than on a weekend at this stage in my life. I went there with a new set of eyes last week for a tour, and I'm strongly considering joining. Anyone a member out there? Any general feedback on joining a club? It's non-equity, and the initiation fee and monthly dues are reasonable. No monthly minimum for food & beverage. Decent range. Nice practice area. 27 holes, so it'll be nice to get some variety. They have over 500 golf members (more if you count tennis only and social members), which at a glance, seems like a bunch. But, the cap in their bylaws is 750, so they feel like it's a manageable amount. They were purchased by Arcis Golf who appears to be putting some decent money into the course and they recently renovated the pro shop, club house and fitness center. They also reciprocate with Twin Creeks, River Place and The Dominion in SA. I'm optimistic that I can play 2-3 times per week, so I feel like the value is there. I'm also digging the fact that I can hit the fitness center in the morning and shower before going to the office. Or hit the range for an hour at lunch. With the recent boom in golf interest after the pandemic, tee times seem harder than ever to come by. So, that's part of the allure as well. I'll hang up and listen. Thanks.
  12. Good start to the thread! I'm pretty much done planting for the spring. I'll do a late round of maters around May 1. I'll plant okra, eggplant and melons around that time too. This spring, we have tomatoes, jalapenos, bell peppers, yellow squash, zucchini, carrots, potatoes, cucumbers and green beans. Believe it or not, my garlic, onions and strawberries survived "snowpocalypse". Garlic and onions are doing great and should be ready for harvest in about 30 days, but strawberries appear to be stunted somewhat.
  13. This is good insight. I fish the surf maybe once a year. I have a Penn Battle with an inexpensive Shimano spinning reel that I use for chunking bait. And, I take a 7' moderate fast rod with a spinning reel for fishing the gut. I don't throw a baitcaster because I've dunked more than one reel in the surf.
  14. @Onboard 2.0 @RMac5 @McFly https://www.amazon.com/ECOTRIC-Steel-Lumber-Storage-Wall-Mounted/dp/B07BY5F99V I have three sets of these in my shop. They're awesome. The only criticism I have is that the lag bolts that come with them seemed a bit undersized. I used larger ones for the one rack that I store my steel on to be safe. I have every one of them loaded down.
  15. The heavy duty shelves at Home Depot are actually pretty damn good. I have these in the garage. Only modification I made was to put a sheet of plywood in one section where I store smaller things that are prone to not sit evenly on the wire. I'm also a huge fan of these for lumber, pipe, etc. Save tons of space by having them wall-mounted. Cheap and easy to install.
  16. Agreed. But the greens were the least of my concern. Even if you can't control that, you can control the customer experience, interaction and perceived value.
  17. Played Wolfdancer yesterday. Won't be back any time soon. Which is a shame. That course always kicks my ass, but I still love the layout. Range balls were old / slick. The whole course just looked disheveled. Greens were average at best. Bumpy, uneven and full of weeds in spots. We teed off at 10:10 and got stuck behind two sloooooow groups. Ended up playing a 5-1/2 hour round. Bev cart girl disappeared on the back 9. Never saw a Marshal once. Bar / Restaurant was closed. So, we couldn't even sit at the 19th hole and settle up bets. We had to do that on the tailgate in the parking lot. Oh, and green fees were $175. To add insult to it all, it was $12 to park that you have to pay before you can leave the property. From a pure value standpoint, it may have been one of the worst golf experiences of my life. For $175, it better be an "experience". It was far, far from that.
  18. Ahhhh. Good idea with the adjoining rooms. I may go that route. Thanks for the idea.
  19. I have about 500,000 Marriott points and about 200,000 Southwest points right now. I've accumulated them through my business by using my cards for business purchases and employee travel. I'm guessing I'll have about double that by this time next year. For Spring Break 2022, I'd like to take my wife and two of my kids on a tropical vacation (probably 5 nights). Thinking Hawaii, Costa Rica or somewhere in the Caribbean. I've done some high-level searches for hotels and flights, but the bottom line is, I'm trying to maximize my points value. Ultimately, I'd love to find a location with nearly direct service via Southwest (we don't mind a 2-hr drive), and a Marriott branded hotel with a points upgrade option to a 2-bedroom suite. I have Ambassador Elite status as well, so may be able to get upgrades, but that's not guaranteed. Seems like the 2-bedroom suite ask is going to be the deal breaker. It either pushes the points threshold beyond the level of value of there just aren't any options there. For example, the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua has a killer 2-bedroom suite... for 5,000,000 points. Any suggestions?
  20. Damn. I slept right through this. That little hook is just north of my house. I fell asleep around 10:30 with a little lightning in the distance, but nothing more. Looks like we had about 0.3" of rain. No wind damage. I'll take it.
  21. Yep. This is who we used. First class operation. Can't say enough good things. They know their shit. And they know that area like the back of their hand. @Born to Run regarding ability, they did a great job of tailoring the trip according to ability. I'm a good, but not great, skier. I can handle blacks and moguls, but I'm not super fluid and I don't do the double black diamond stuff. I had skied in powder before, but not like that. It took some getting used to. For example, I veered off to the side and the chopper pick-up location on one run, and took my skis off and sank to my chest in powder. By the third run, I was more comfortable and started taking more aggressive lines that actually helped all around. If I did it again, it would be a completely different mindset. The group that we were paired with (husband and wife) were amazing skiers. The husband skied competitively in his younger days. We had two runs where the chopper dropped me and my buddy off at the normal launch point, then took the guide and the two of them up to a more difficult segment that ran down to us. It was a blast to watch them carve up those steep areas between rocks. To me, the most critical part is physical aptitude. If you can't ski all day, or if you're out of shape, don't do it. You need to be ready for getting after it to make the trip enjoyable. So, to summarize, if you're a high-intermediate skier in good shape, you'll be fine. Anything less than that, and I don't think it would be very enjoyable.
  22. Haven't been to the ranch in 6+ weeks. Headed back Easter weekend for turkey hunting, shed hunting and maybe dropping an axis doe. I also need to cut up about a metric ton of firewood to replace what we burned back home during the snowpocalypse.
  23. San Juan Mountains. Just north of Telluride. Chopper flew out of Mountain Village.
  24. OK. So, heli-skiing was insane. Legit bucket list trip. But, damn I got my ass kicked. Humbling, breath taking, amazing and about a jillion other superlatives. Will upload pictures tonight or tomorrow.
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