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Spaulding Smails

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Everything posted by Spaulding Smails

  1. On the retirement front, I've seen five different people retire recently that have affected my perception of what it means to retire and my desire to do so. 1) My dad. Retired five years ago at 58. Completely right decision for him. He would've keeled over from a heart attack if he didn't go cold turkey. He's doing the things he loves now and didn't give a shit about leaving business / business relationships behind. He also had a decent nest egg built up so that he and my mom could continue to live a comfortable life. No real changes to spending habits. 2) My FIL. Retired last year at 61. Owns a side business that keeps him engaged and income coming in, but retirement account from his primary employer wasn't off the charts. A decent retirement income, but needs the side business income to maintain his comfort level. Right decision, but he's handling it poorly. He's become more isolated, hasn't taken care of his health, and hasn't found other things to occupy his time. And if the other business goes away, he'd be forced to change his habits. 3) My MIL. Retired last month at 63. Put off retirement four times over the last year. I'm almost certain she'll go back to work as a consultant. She's already wigging out about money and has nothing to do. She misses the routine and engagement with others. 4) My former business associate. Sold his business eight years ago and made a killing at the age of 42. Retired for two years, bought a sweet ranch. Hunted and fished every day for a year, then decided he missed running a company. Started a new business. Sold that one earlier last year for another modest killing. Earlier this year, he decided again that he missed the day-to-day engagement and business environment. Went back to work in sales for another mutual friend. Doesn't need the money, but wants to be productive. 5) My best friend's dad. Sold his business to his two sons last year at the age of 67. Stayed on part time working 2-3 days per week at a modest salary. Doesn't need the money, but likes to come into the office and feel productive. What this has lead me to believe is that you're probably better off scaling back and staying engaged (if possible) for a multitude of reasons. Heck, going to work as a golf course marshall or Home Depot associate seems more enticing than going cold turkey unless you have a very comfortable retirement nest egg PLUS activities (travel, ranching, hunting, golf, fishing) to keep you busy.
  2. Like minds, bro. I'm two years younger than you and of the exact same thought process. 10-12 more years of grinding, try to get kids through college so they don't have to think about loans, then start to slow it down, spend more time at the ranch and maybe travel some. But, I don't see myself ever retiring. At least not anywhere near 61. I'd rather scale back my work load, make less money, but stay engaged in the workforce and keep income flowing in. The one thing that I've learned about myself (and my wife) is that we tend to spend more when we're not working. Working would allow me to make more and theoretically spend less.
  3. After thinking about this since yesterday, the one change in my stance is on the accumulation of student debt. If I knew my degree course and ultimate career was something I loved doing but was going to produce an income at a level that wouldn't enable me to pay for my student loans, why not slow down your degree plan, go to community college where possible, work nights, etc to minimize the debt? I had a full academic scholarship to UT. My parents said, "Great! That means we don't have to pay for shit!" Full scholarship meant tuition, room & board and sometimes books. I worked part-time every fall/spring semester and full-time every summer. I had no interest in accumulating even a penny of student debt. How many of these recent grads with huge debt loads worked while in school? I'm a big fan of controlling what you can control. You can't control life expectancy, inflation or wage stagnation and you can kind of control healthcare costs but you can 100% control the debt portion of that equation.
  4. This is well summarized. In a vacuum, it's easy to look ignore those factors as a whole and attribute it to entirely too much avocado toast and lattes, but each of those factors absolutely contribute to the inability to contribute effectively to a retirement plan. Heck, I'm 38 and I've seen my own preparedness for retirement change due to a number of factors. I went from ahead of the curve to behind the curve to trying to catch up with the curve in the last 10 years. Add to the fact the obligation to pay for higher tuition for my own kids and that $ number for retirement gets tougher to achieve.
  5. Thanks for the clarification. I had no idea that there was an income contingent plan. I just assumed you were paying it off in a traditional fashion. Sounds like your income contingent plan wasn't even covering interest. That sucks, but you did what you had to do. At this point, it certainly sounds like you are correct to just ride it out for seven more years. It also sucks that, to a certain degree, it's in your best interest to have a lower income during that timeframe.
  6. You should pay it off with your credit card, then pay down that balance every month... How is that even possible? Are you paying the minimum every month? Only the interest? What kind of balance are we talking about here? I'm just trying to wrap my head around that kind of math.
  7. My wife's grandmother still has the invite and name badge from that fundraiser. She and my wife's grandfather were already in Austin when news of the assassination started to make the rounds. I've never asked her if they got their $200 back. Next time I'm in East Texas, I'll try to get a picture of it.
  8. Yep. And the shitty thing is, short of digging it all up, you're pretty much screwed. I had one spot at my new house that showed signs of heat stress before anything else last summer. I put down 2-4" of thunder dirt from GeoGrowers everywhere before sodding. Evidently, we were light in that area. I took a sharp shooter and I hit a rock shelf about 4" below surface. Don't underestimate how much impact that can have on the turf.
  9. Cactus can chime in on this, but I've learned through my last two houses that the soil beneath the turf is everything. It's so disappointing to see 95% of builders scratch the existing dirt that's been trampled during construction then slap sod on it and expect it to grow. Very few take the time to amend the soil. Once the sod is down, you have an uphill battle. From my experience, annual top dressing with high quality soil is about the only way to try to rectify the situation.
  10. Good feedback. Thanks as always. I had one freeze back pretty bad, but it sprouted up from the base of the trunk and has actually been the strongest grower of the four. I'll give them into next year to see how they perform in a third growing season.
  11. Don't waste your time with the new Netflix thriller "How it Ends". Watched it last night on a whim without reading reviews. Holy crap. What a shit-tastic movie. Great (although over-used) premise about armageddon, but the lack of character development, random events that don't even remotely affect the storyline and absolutely gaping plot holes plus a bullshit ending left me pissed off more than amused. That move sucked all kinds of ass.
  12. I have four fig trees that I planted when we moved in last spring. They were in 1 gal pots. Minimal growth in year one and the same in year two. They have plenty of foliage, but aren't growing any larger. I've tried more water, less water, tree fertilizer. No noticeable impact on anything. They're planted in well-draining soil, get full sun and have good mulch around them. I made sure that the root ball was slightly above grade when I planted and I've kept the roots clear from too much mulch. Any idea why they're not growing? Anything I can do differently to promote growth?
  13. Don't forget "Butt-Fuckers" in the Fuddruckers font in the top left corner. I chuckle every time I see that one.
  14. Barn looks great. Super jealous! I put this product down in my garage. Works best with new concrete. I did it in one weekend myself. Pretty straightforward and holding up really well to hot tires, etc. https://www.sherwin-williams.com/painting-contractors/products/hc-shieldcrete-waterbased-epoxy-garage-floor-coating
  15. Daniel Stone is probably your best bet. On 290 in Cedar Valley. They're not the cheapest around, but will be the easiest for that small of an amount.
  16. Get as much knowledge from the outfitter as possible if you don't have anyone that's been. I'm assuming you'll do a three day trip. If you're putting in at Del Norte, Dolan Falls is only about 1.5 miles down river. You can paddle upstream a bit that morning and not lose any time. There's some springs there and the smallmouth fishing can be good. Portage river right at Dolan. Water will be low, so watch out for submerged boulders if you guys are swimming / diving off the bluff. Three Tier can be worse when the flow is down. I've seen that rapid tump more paddlers than anywhere else (myself included). Stay river right if you try to run it. You can camp just down river from Three Tier on some rocks (just past John Eddy's mansion) along the bank river left. Or you can go a bit further to the new paddler camp at mile 20 river right. On day 2, you'll encounter some reed banks. Stay left on almost every single one. Dandridge will be OK with a lower flow and is a really cool stretch of river. That's where Blue Sage starts and you'll see quite a few houses. We call the stretch below Dandridge "Lake Motherfucker" because it's always dead into the wind. Side note... about half way down Lake Motherfucker, there's a submerged airplane engine. No fuselage. No propellers, but definitely a big V8 airplane engine. We found it last year while snorkeling. Nobody has any idea that it's there let alone how it got there. See if you can find it. Just right of center of the big lake at the start of Blue Sage.... Dry Devils Rapids can be tough too. Mid-way through Blue Sage. The lake below Dry Devils holds the biggest bass on the river, IMO. Fish deep if you want to catch them that time of year. Turkey Bluff is below that. Look for the cave drawings river left to figure out why it's called Turkey Bluff. You can either camp on rocks in the Narrows (Turkey Bluff is the start of the Narrows) or there's a paddler camp at mile 29. I'd vote to enjoy the Narrows and camp there. My favorite stretch of river from a beauty standpoint. If you go all the way to the second paddler camp, it'll be a long day 2, then you'll just be dicking around at the Big Satan (Dan Hughes) take-out which is at mile 30. It's easy to miss. Not well marked, but river left across from the big bluff. Fishing there can be decent. You could paddle past that and come back up if you're feeling froggy. We did that once and found some nice spots and some decent fish.
  17. Another friend that goes with us uses one and likes it. I prefer to pump my water into a larger container so I don't have to dick with the straw every time I want to drink. I use a Katadyn Hiker Pro. About $80. Also, make sure at least one of you has a jet boil. Eating a warm meal in the evening beats the hell out of jerky. And necessary for coffee. I have a portable French press that I take. Nothing better than sipping a hot cup of coffee watching the sun rise above the Devils.
  18. Harrumph. My alcohol choices have consisted of this (also substitute Gatorade packets instead of Arnold Palmer... you know for hydration purposes and whatnot). Also good whiskey when it's cool out. And you can't underestimate a nice box wine with your MRE. Take it out of the box. Tie about 10 ft of paracord to it and let it chill in the river. Ice is stupid to even mess with. I tried it once with block ice and failed miserably.
  19. Flow will be slow, and you'll have to drag quite a bit, but much better than starting at Baker's. I'm assuming that you're going through Amistad Expeditions. Do you have your own kayak? Even if you do, I'd consider renting one of their Coosas. I'd do it if I were in your situation. If you're even mildly into paddling or fishing, it will be a great experience. Fall out there is so awesome, that I've foregone many football weekends for the sake of the Devils. I've even tried to bring an old school radio to listen to the Horns game (didn't work for shit). My advice is to pack super light, and invest in good water shoes, a good self-inflating sleeping pad and pillow if you don't have them. Have the others that you're going with done the Devils before?
  20. @Hank_Hill You need to find out which stretch you're doing, who your outfitter is, what size the group is, etc. As mentioned above, water flow is always relatively low during late summer, but it will be especially low this year. I went in June and the flow was way slow. If you do Baker's you'll be dragging a ton. It's definitely a bucket list trip if you haven't done it. But, choose wisely on where, when and who you go with. It can make or break the trip. PM me if you want more info. I've been down the river 12 times over the last seven years, so I'm pretty familiar with it.
  21. Yep. Gotta be Eckrich. Which should only be purchased as an ingredient for a crawfish / shrimp boil.
  22. Same thing was happening with us last summer. It was OK when it was fresh, but once you put it in the freezer, it separated more. Left a film on the roof of your mouth. I'm a huge ice cream fan, and an even bigger homemade ice cream fan, so I was perplexed. We switched from Horizon 2% organic milk to "regular" whole milk this summer, and it's back to normal with no issues. Try to change your milk to the cheap, whole stuff and see if that helps.
  23. Fantastic. "Pinto Beans" and "Lots of Greens" is code for canned black eyed peas and a few pieces of wilted lettuce.
  24. Old Time Grocery is legit. Perfect lunch spot though not sure what time you'll be hitting Lafayette. We just had some friends come back from the Tabasco tour at Avery Island. Said that was a lot of fun too if you have time.
  25. Benny Hill double speed is amazing. And damn near had both the taze moment and ceiling fall moment coinciding with crescendos.
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