OldIronFan

So I went electric for my suburban yard a couple years ago. I have Kobalt 80V equipment. Mower, Blower, string trimmer, edger, hedge trimmer, and chainsaw. It has been fantastic and I have 3 or 4 batteries, a couple chargers and the tools. None have let me down. I ran across a Kobalt 80V snow blower on a local auction site. Looked unused and was said to work so I put in a low bid. To my surprise I won it for not much money so I put it away to wait until we got actual snow. I honestly did not expect to get much use out of it but it cost me near nothing to let it sit in my crawl space and wait. I have an extremely steep front yard and drive way. Steep enough it can not be cut with your typical riding mower or zero turn. Steep enough that anything lower than a crossover, suv, or pickup is probably scraping slightly on the transition. Steep enough that my 50+ something out of shape self is not easily shoveling it safely. And steep enough that if I try to get a car out when it is snowy or icy I could end up in my neighbors living room across the street. Hence the snow blower. It works ok on the very light fluffy snow we got here last year. It blows around a bit too much so you have to be mindful of wind direction and what direction you are throwing the snow with the nozzle. It works great with moderately wet or heavy snow like we got Friday. It goes where you point the nozzle and leaves a nice clean drive. It works ok but begins to fail as the snow gets excessively wet/heavy and begins to get icy. Mostly the nozzle starts to clog with build up and then the rotor starts acting more like a sweeper pushing the snow out the front. The electric works great for the minimal snow we get. Anything more than the 5 or 6 inches we got this last week and I would probably start to hit the limits of the electric unit. If we got 8 to 12 inches multiple times a year I would go with a gas unit for sure. There were a couple of times when I ran my electric full width into a drifted snow bank or berm it would try to bog and stall the motor.

Be ready for some serious cold to start early next week. They are throwing around that "Polar Vortex" term a bunch lately in the 10 day forecast. Highs in the low 20's and single digit lows Monday and Tuesday. We got 3.5 inches in the sheltered area near the house and 5.5 at the deepest spot. It was a heavy fairly wet snow in my area. I got out an cleared the driveway late Friday afternoon as it was tapering off and my snow blower made quick work of it. What little fell after I cleared the drive was gone by the time the sun hit it Saturday morning. They did a good job in my area since they had such a solid forecast. They pretreated the road Thursday evening then plowed twice on Friday. The steep hills on our road that are normally a real problem were a non issue this time. Could have gotten out Friday if I had needed to. We did go out Saturday and the roads were perfectly fine. Even most of the area parking lots seemed pretty clear (so I was not able to attempt any AWD donuts).

Get some ArcaLock mounts. Fixed that for you... I have started running the Area 419 Arcalock equipment on my MK22, AR10 and AR15 setups. Really liking their products and the stability/security of them. I have a 40mm Carbon Fiber Tube Tripod with a 88lb load rating and a 55mm ball head that has been rock solid so far. I have a clamp setup for it as well but only use that for the non tacticool stuff with no M-LOK options. It is no where near as secure as the Arcalock stuff.

Honestly that may just be that Alabama location. I have been to at near a dozen Buc-ee's locations and that one is the only one that has been a problem. Not sure if the near void of anything else in the area or the "newness" of Buc-ee's in the region is driving the crowds but it is worse there for sure. The others I have been to in Texas, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee were all easier the get in and out of or less crowded, especially the ones in Texas. It is my go to stop for fuel and bio breaks when I am burning miles cross country in the south. There is not much out there with as many gas pumps or (clean) restrooms. The only issue I have seen has been people leaving their cars at a pump and spending 20 minutes inside. That would really cause issues at most gas stations but the number of pumps has made it a near non issue at a Buc-ee's.

It is just ok for brisket, pretty good for gas station brisket. Chopped instead of sliced knocks it down several pegs and the amount of sauce it is drowned in knocks it down several more. Better than a Circle K warmer burger or a Love's roller dog but not what I want if BBQ is on the mind. Their jerky is on point though. If they don't have a flavor you like you just don't like jerky period.

Leroy had is 6th Birthday last week so he got a cupcake.

Number 1 show in a crappy time slot is not worth nearly as much as the Number 2 or 3 show in a premium time slot. Also live TV ratings are not worth nearly as much as they once were in this day and age of streaming. I have not had cable or watched live TV in over a decade now. I have not watched a TV commercial in years either. The only person I know that does watch live TV is my 86 year old Father-in-Law. He has no desire to adapt to streaming. I don't watch new release stuff in general. If all seasons or at least multiple seasons are available streaming I will give a show a try to see if it grabs my attention. I typically watch all episodes and seasons of one show at a time. Once it is done I find the next one to start on. If there are a lot of episodes or season it may take me many months to finish a series since I only watch TV a few times a week. All that said, I have not watched this show but 14 years is a good long run. In my experience anything past 5 or 6 seasons has probably gone to crap anyway. Most major "prime time" network shows follow the same arc. They get a great pitch and pilot picked up by a network. Some big name actors are onboard and the top tier writers are fully engaged. The dialog is sharp and the story is well written. Like most creative folks, writers are addicts, they are chasing the hit, the next exciting or challenging project. After 3 or 4 seasons the story starts getting stale. The writers are not getting that same dopamine hit and they move on to the next project or creative outlet. They are not content cranking out the same work, for the same story, and the same characters for years on end. So junior writers and, quite frankly, lower talent writers step in to carry the series forward. They start more or less phoning it in or worse, forcing the story down strange paths not congruent with the original story. I prefer shows with a pre defined story arc. If the writers know what the end is when they start it is probably a more well constructed show. Not to say that all the dialog and every episode is written but if the outline is clear they can know if it is going to take 2, 5, or 10 seasons to tell the story. If the writers are figuring out what the plot of the next season is at the end of the last one it is probably time to hang it up and move on.

I have ridden/driven the complete length a couple times. South to North on a motorcycle, North to South on a motorcycle, North to South via truck, and partial South to North via truck. The rides were for my own enjoyment. The car trips were work related where I had to get down toward South Mississippi for work and had to the time to take it and stay off the interstates. The North end is very scenic and curvy, lots of pull offs and stops at points of interest. I would frequently stop and hike a small side trail for 10 or 15 minutes to stretch my legs. The South end is very pretty. Tree canopy over the road with filtered sunlight like driving through a tunnel. Spanish moss hanging from the trees. Very old south and peaceful. The middle is like the mid west, fly over. Not much to see, the road is pretty straight and boring, the views are nothing special, the side trips are sparser. There is a ton of wild life on the road, be extremely vigilant, especially near dusk and dawn. No hunting on any of this land and the deer, turkey, and associated small game have gotten the memo. You will see groups of 5, 10, or 15 animals just a few yards from the road and you will see that every 75 to 100 yards for miles. There are some areas in North Mississippi that are nice side trips, especially just west near the Holly Springs National Forest. I went off the trace to do some off road riding in that area and had a blast.

Looks like a P80 to me as well.

Paint them your self. Tons of videos on youtube or elsewhere that show the process. The spray part is easy. The quality of the finished job depends mostly on prep and finishing (wet sanding, cutting, buffing) anyway. From the work you have shown so far you are more than capable of tackling the job.

The REC 7's are being made again but not in pistol/sbr form. https://barrett.net/products/firearms/rec7-di/ 16" DI carbine version is the only one in the current catalog following the rerelease this fall.

I will take it. I have a spare parts Ender 3 that I have yet to repair/rebuild. This would save me (some) time in getting one going.

bump, will consider trade options 6mm projectiles, 7mm projectiles. 44 Mag or 45 LC ammo. 44 Mag or 45 LC reloading dies. 284 Winchester ammo. 284 Winchester Brass and reloading dies. Tang Safety Ruger M77 short action stock. Pistol Scope

bump and some trade options. 6mm projectiles, 7mm projectiles. 44 Mag or 45 LC ammo. 44 Mag or 45 LC reloading dies. 284 Winchester ammo. 284 Winchester Brass and reloading dies. Ruger M77 Tang Safety short action stock. Pistol Scope

Bump and added a trade option