Jamie Jackson

I hate to "quote" myself , LOL. But I posted on June 3rd the method I use. It's super simple and no hammer nor nails are involved. Very easy to replace the landscape timbers after 8-10 years as they will eventually decompose. I make my beds in units of eight's and four's. The landscape timbers are generally 8'. I cut 4 in half (8 four ft pieces) and leave 8 of the landscape timber uncut. I simply stack them using small, iirc, 3' T-pieces sunk to hold them, Then fill with a combination of bagged manure and garden soil. I run chicken wire around the tops leaving plenty of space to weed-eat. I staple the chicken wire at it's base as the friggin' rabbits will otherwise climb in and feast! They are incredibly easy to maintain, but being raised may require more frequent watering than in ground beds...depending on natural rainfall, soil content etc.I usually water mine every 2-4 days. fwiw the "long bed" is 16 feet and that's a 16 foot piece of cattle panel fencing I picked up from Tractor Supply about 9 years ago. Cucumbers, beans, anything that vines, love to climb and adhere to that sucker! Below are a couple of pics from yesterday. If you look at my post from June 3rd, you can see how well these beds can produce. We'll be taking our 4 cutting of the Bright Lights Swiss Chard today. I know there are multiple methods for raised beds, but this is the simplest and most easy to maintain that I've ever made. Keep us posted and share a few pics. We can all learn from each other.

I'm sorry you are experiencing this Greg. They suck! I had my first outbreak at around age 40 (I'm 65 now). Being a nerve pain they are their own special kind of hell. But like @Sunfish said, they'll run their course which is usually 10-14 days with lessening intensity. For me, ibuprofen makes the pain tolerable. But after you've had them once, you can tell when an outbreak is about to start...that is a particular painful sensation (usually in the same area or region as the initial outbreak site...mine is almost always along the nerve pathway on the right side of my neck.) For me, protracted exposure to direct sunlight (8-10 hours) can trigger an outbreak. So I try to avoid that if possible, or at least wear a covering garment (broad brimmed hat etc) if I have to spend that much constant time in the bright raw sunlight. I've never found the anti-viral meds to be of much use. As I mentioned, I can generally tell when an episode is starting (and it happens to me at least every 1-2 years since my first outbreak). THIS IS NOT MEDICAL ADVICE! A friend of mine back in New Orleans, a Cardiologist of Thai descent who had a solid understanding of "natural medicines" recommended L-Lysine ...more in a minute... you'll read various proponents and discounters of this "remedy" and probably not find any evidenced based studies, especially from pharmaceutical companies (since they can't make any money off of this treatment...) What works for me, and I stress this is not medical advice, is that when I first notice that particular nerve pain sensation, again usually in the same nerve pathway on the right side of my neck, I take two 1000mg L-Lysine (Spring Valley from Walmart), once in the morning, at least 1 hour before of after any caffeine consumption, and two 1000 mg tablets about 12 hours later. I do this for 3 days running and this usually keeps the area from breaking out. There is residual tenderness aka pain, but this works for me to greatly reduce (attenuate) the outbreak and discomfort. I've shared this "plan" with several, many several, folks over the years and it's worked to one degree or another with them. Generally very positively. I can't promise it'll work for you or anyone else. But it works for me. I keep a bottle of the L-Lysine in my locker at work (12 hour shifts so I can't just run out and pick up a bottle). Best of luck to you and I wish you a speedy recovery and that you never have a recurrence. Again... this is not medical advice. I'm just sharing my personal experiences with this cursed affliction.

I love surprises like that! Can't wait to see what it produces peejman!

You're welcome Good Sir. Like Greg said, you still have time for cukes. I added a couple of plants 2 weeks ago and they are growing fast!

There is some serious truth here! The one cherry tomato plant I planted last year had us eating cherry tomatoes daily and I took pounds upon pounds of them into work and gave them to my co-workers. They were delicious though. But that experience (they literally overwhelmed the rest of my garden) is what caused me to plant my lone cherry tomato plant in a large planter away from the rest on my garden. Those suckers can grow! Good looking plants kentmck!

LOL. I wish. That looks like a great trap...but alas, we had a pet rabbit for several years. Now my missus views all rabbits as pets. As I plan to stay married, the rabbits are welcome to lounge around all they wish...

Here's a couple of quick pics. The peppers and Chard were started from seeds indoors in March. We usually purchase our seeds from Johnny's. We always have an excellent germination rate using Johnny's seeds. https://www.johnnyseeds.com/ I like this system of bed building. Simple, fast, and easy. The weight of the soil holds the landscape timbers firmly against the t-posts. The chicken wire keeps the rabbits out, and believe me, we have a bunch of rabbits in our neighborhood, and especially in my yard!

Nice peppers @peejman! We ate our first mess of Swiss Chard just last week and will be cutting another today I've learned over the past 10 years that the landscape timbers I use last approximately 8-9 years before they deteriorate. So I tore down the 8 beds I had last year (2018) and I started rebuilding them using a "nailless" method. This will make replacing the timbers in another 8-10 years much easier than having to cut those suckers apart with a Sawall! At my age that's something I needed to take into serious consideration. I'll take some pics later this morning. All of our tomato plants are blooming and setting. The peppers are just now blooming. I added some red and yellow bell pepper plants and a couple of cuke plants just last week. @Ronald_55 Don't give up brother. My most productive raised garden year(s) ever was when I was working 50-60 hour night shift weeks for a 3 year stretch. Raised beds can be set up to require remarkably little time and effort. The results certainly brought my wife and now my son and his family into the fold on this. Gardening leads to canning, canning leads to food storage because of the potential yield...first thing you know a person is teetering on the edge of being a "Prepper". I know there's a negative connotation linked to Prepping these days...so how about just becoming more "Self Reliant" I'm certain I've posted the below pic before, but it's what I was able to accomplish in 2010 when working a bunch of hours (to get us out of debt...a Number 1 priority!) I doubt I'll go that big again until I retire (at age 70 which is less than 5 years away, God Willin'). LOL...I see that pic from a post I made last year (July 2018) ...please disregard the redundancy... btw...we are still eating dehydrated veggies from that garden yield. I have no idea how long the shelf life will be, but some okra and bell peppers I used in a pot of French Market soup last week tasted and smelled fresh off the vine after rehydrating overnight. Delicious!

Good post Garufa. I picked up a .22 LCR from a member here and use these dry wall anchors for dry fire practice. They fit perfectly. They wear out quickly but are inexpensive enough it simply doesn't matter. I haven't tried them in a semi-auto. Might give it a try. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000H5WVCS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Welcome to TGO and Knoxville Marshal. As mentioned ORSA is a good place to shoot with a variety of shooting options available. I've been a member there since I moved to Knoxville in 2006. In West Knoxville I can speak very positively for Shoot Point Blank indoor range. Very nice facility and friendly folks. Again, welcome.

Outstanding! Thank you Sir!

I agree! Never Forget!

Thank you for the review @Grayfox54 ! Now I gotta figure what what I can sell 'cause I obviously need one of these.

My experience with lead free primers has been a pretty negative one. They were Tula lead-free small pistol primers , but let me add that I've loaded in excess of 10-15 K "regular" Tula small pistol primers with absolutely no problems. Of the 5K tray of lead-free Tula I loaded, I'm guessing 5% were either duds (would not ignite) or required a second strike to ignite. It's always possible I got into a bad run of them. This happened back around 2013-2014 by my records. Lead free primers from other vendors may be fine, but I personally shy away from them. I'm sticking with standard Winchester and Federal primers at this point. As far as loading suggestions: just make sure your primer pockets are clean and seat them properly. Please share your experiences once your decision is made.

What an excellent thing to wake up this morning! Thank you Garufa! Sufficiently Breathless and Dancing Madly Backwards are two of my favorite Captain Beyond songs but I love all of their work. I stumbled on them around late '73 and literally wore out a couple of their vinyls. I'll be listening to this with my morning coffee. Much obliged.

I wasn't even aware the rebates were still being offered. They do make the process challenging... at least I found it so.

While I don't have experience in .30 cal, I do like PPU and I've had good experiences with S&B in 9mm. As a handloader I find the S&B to have really tight primer pockets. But if you don't plan to reload them it's a nonissue. I went through about 1K of Blazer Brass 9mm last year when I borrowed Jericho's RMR'd G19 to see if I wanted to go that route (I did!). I found the Blazer Brass to be fine ammo and noted minimal residue issues. I don't know the current state of aluminum cased Blazer, but I've run it through quite a few high round classes back over 10 years ago. OK...I'll probably be labeled a heretic, but I run several thousand rounds of Tula and Wolf in both 9mm and 45 acp. While somewhat odoriferous and it does leave a bit of residue, I found it to be quite accurate and very reliable. I've also not tried the current Geco but I've had positive experiences with the BAT round they once exported. I look forward to hearing other's experiences and to what you learn my friend.

These are tempting...very tempting Here's a fairly informative article I shamelessly stole from another forum I frequent. https://www.realguns.com/articles/1096.htm

This truly is sad. I was fortunate enough to have visited the Cathedral a couple of times as a young man back in the 70's. It's one of the few places I truly hoped to see again. What an incredible place. Truly sad.

So sorry as well. Prayers continue for you guys. God Bless.

I should have mentioned PSA as well. They have very frequent specials ("Daily Deals" I think they're called) with free shipping.

SGAmmo fan here as well. Great on hand stock and fast shipping for bulk quantities. Bonefrog Gunclub for Self Defense ammo.

Thoroughly enjoyed it. And that Gun Shop...

I totally agree. He's helped me more than I could ever repay. Very generous with his time and expansive knowledge. Happy to hear he's doing well Mac.

Welcome aboard Tom.