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Spaulding Smails

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Everything posted by Spaulding Smails

  1. Ahhh yes. The Palatka Lean. That one is one of the more pronounced of the variety. I was introduced to this phenomenon during a recent trip to Northeast Florida.
  2. Jeez dude. That's awful. What a shame. Believe it or not, the majority of our damage was from the New Years Eve ice storm. We lost some major branches on the big Live Oak grove in front of the cabin. Had a big Bastard Oak fall on the well house. Tons of damage around the ranch. We have enough firewood to last decades. My pops stayed up there during the February freeze. They lost power here and there, but had it on for the most part surprisingly. We keep a generator up there, and my dad had it on standby to run a heat lamp in the well house when the power went out to keep the pump from freezing up. No significant damage for us, thankfully.
  3. Hit Bushwacker. It's a long black trail that gets groomed. So it will be so sweet with that powder on top. No moguls under neath. But with 16 inches, every run will be sweet. Bushwacker is on the list for sure. I'm stoked about hitting Revelation. Only catch is kids are with us today. Tomorrow and Tuesday, they're in ski school. Wednesday together again. Oh, and my wife just surprised me last night that she booked heilski for me Thursday. So, that doesn't suck.
  4. 16" overnight in Telluride. Gonna be a good powder day!
  5. Ended up finding a room in Telluride last night, so we made it here. Nice to not have a drive this morning, but it would've been an easy drive. Still no snow. But, this Texan was better being safe than sorry.
  6. Negative Ghost Rider. I would go as far west as possible to avoid bad roads. Do not go through Silverton. Stick to the Dolores route. Roger that. Thank you for the advice.
  7. Any recommendations on travel from Durango to Telluride in a snow storm? We usually take 145 through Dolores, but I'm thinking 550 through Silverton and Ouray may be a better bet. It looks like it adds about an hour, but may be worth it.
  8. We're headed up there now. Wife is driving for a bit. We were supposed to arrive in Telluride Sunday. Switched things around and now arriving Saturday morning. Trying to get to Durango tonight, then get up super early tomorrow morning to make it to Telluride. Telluride had zero rooms available tonight, otherwise, we would've just forged ahead. If we can make it before the snow, the skiing should be awesome. Not as much snow in the San Juans as the front range, but should still be pretty sweet.
  9. Any recommendations for a good custom boot maker in Austin or anywhere within a few hours? I'm not married to custom, but I'm ready for something a notch or two up. I'm a big fan of Lucchese. I have a pair of 1883s and a pair of Classics. Both nice. Both very traditional. Ariat is my go-to daily boot. I need rubber soles for daily use. Looking to spend $1,500 - $2,000. Don't really care about exotic leather. I just want a really, really nice boot that I can keep forever.
  10. Agreed. I didn't think about Cloudcroft at first, but that's a perfect choice for this type of trip.
  11. I second the Clearwater idea. Beaches. Decent restaurants. Bars. Most is within walking distance if you're central.
  12. Any suggestions for a quick daytime activity in Durango? Also need a good rec for a family dinner. We're headed to Telluride for Spring Break. Leaving Friday, staying Friday night in Santa Fe. Planning on getting to Durango by lunch. Spend Saturday there, then leave early Sunday to make it to Telluride when the mountain opens.
  13. I didn't think about the cold killing exotics. Haven't been to my place since the freeze, but headed up next Monday to check it out. Yikes.
  14. Same. I ordered 25 today. Friday, today, tomorrow and all of next week have been capping lines, fixing leaks, etc. Just need to get water to some people. Starting installs March 1 and we're booked through the month. Incredible.
  15. I'm on propane. You always run the risk of no fuel or low pressure. Especially when reliant on NG as opposed to your own propane tank.
  16. We've had power for a grand total of 12 hours since Monday @ 3 AM. Down for most of the day Monday, back Tuesday AM with rolling blackouts, then out since some time early Wed AM. PEC claims there's something wrong with a distribution line and a "part is on order". That's after their automated systems said we'd have power back in "45 - 90 min" before it went to "unavailable" status. Now, we're on a boil water notice. Thank goodness we're homebodies and self-sufficient with a big propane tank, a gas range and a big fireplace. I guess I should've pulled the trigger on that whole home generator this summer...
  17. Yes. Austin. We received 19 incoming leads yesterday for plumbing issues. And, we're not even a plumbing company. We JUST got our plumbing license last week, and I have ONE plumber on staff, so we're prioritizing existing customers. Temps got above freezing yesterday for a bit, and issues started arising. I'm hearing the big plumbing companies are telling folks mid to late March before they can even come out to look at a leak. This is going to dwarf Hurricane Harvey from an insurance claim standpoint. Lots of these issues are NOT minor. We have five in queue that will potentially be $100K+ due to the damages sustained.
  18. 75% of the calls we're getting are related to either exterior tankless water heaters or uninsulated copper pipes in attics, specifically those that have blown-in insulation. Spray foam houses fared well and kept attic pipes above freezing temps.
  19. Same. Other than fresh veggies and no oven, we haven't missed a beat. Since the power went out Monday, we've had big breakfast tacos, a variety of grilled panini sandiwches, chili, chicken tortilla soup and grilled venison backstrap with cheese grits and broccoli. I feel bad for people that rely on take-out and restaurants during these types of events.
  20. Kids did this Monday night since we didn't have any power (still don't). It's a staple of ours every time we go skiing.
  21. The load center panel addition is cheap during construction. Do that for sure. I think I recall you saying you're building on LT. If you're on propane, go with the largest tank possible. If natural gas, just try to bring all your utilities together in the same area if possible. If you have the gas / propane line ready and the load center panel set up, it's almost a plug and play for the whole-house generator at a later date. It was on my to-do list this summer, and I just didn't get around to it. I own a construction and maintenance company in Austin. We just added electrical services in the fall. I hired a master plumber two weeks ago. Just got our plumbing license last week. I just don't have field operations set up yet, unfortunately. Cuz there's gonna be just a bit of plumbing business in the next few weeks / months.
  22. Correct. You can also install a load center panel and just wire in a portable generator to focus on core items. Much cheaper if your primary concern is fridge, etc. and you already have a gas powered generator. There are several other options for longer duration that are more commercial / industrial in nature. We're seeing lots of demand for those recently, and that demand just went off the charts this week.
  23. $20K all-in for a whole-home Generac. Lots of higher end models available as well.
  24. I'm hearing the exact same thing from someone in the industry. Lots of blame being thrown around about lack of preparedness as a result of budget cuts, deferred maintenance / upgrades, etc.
  25. Forgot one more thing that's getting whacked. My greenhouse. I had two electric heaters running in there. They were barely keeping up. It was 35 when the power went out. 25 when I checked again at 7 AM this morning after the power went out. I'm anticipating losing all 12 of my citrus plants. All pretty big and pretty old and produce a ton of fruit.
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