MacGyver

I wonder if it was either Silver Spoon's Cafe (that's what we had in Georgia) or Mozzarella's American Cafe (same company here in Tennessee)? They were both heavy on the brick and I remember both using those flickering bulbs. The one in Green Hills Mall was the first place I ever recall seeing those open strings of decorative bulbs suspended from the ceiling - but that was later - earlier they both used the flickering bulbs on the wall and in the fixtures.

I know it does. I’m fortunate that in both our families of origin and the family we’ve chosen, we’re around people who get along and love to spend time together. I hope our kids take that with them.

It was enough for fish tacos - and my personal favorite - old Florida style smoked fish dip. The thing about it I love the most is all the kids that we’ve traveled with all the years have come to love the evening when we have a giant dinner of fish tacos with all the fixings. It’s cool to hear them pray and give thanks and really understand God’s blessings.

I fished the surf in the Outer Banks last week. Water was still right at 70F, but good redfish bite and about all the whiting you could want to keep the kids busy. My 12 year old has a formula. She says one whiting equals three fish tacos. We like fish tacos.

Thought about just using a fire pit from the local big box store? They’re generally big enough for months of household mail - and they’ve generally got screen covers that will keep your flaming bank statement from taking flight and burning down the neighborhood.

Goodness. Y’all will be in my prayers.

I bet if we ran a poll, the number of people on here who’ve sized a gas port with a hand drill is way greater than those who’ve used a drill press. And both of those are way bigger than the number of people who’ve ever even seen much less actually used a reamer.

What a shame. There’s no one who’s done as much for the 1911 since John Moses Browning.

Careful… Pretty sure the gates to hell are in Daytona Beach somewhere.

That’s awesome.

Doesn’t seem like I’ve seen Brent around much of late. Hope he’s well.

He’s the guy you have to thank for the round. As popular as it is, .458 SOCOM isn’t really a plug and play platform. Rock River is about as close as it comes commercially. Even then you’ve got to really be dedicated.

Back in the day, Marty wouldn’t sell a barrel without a corresponding bolt that was matched to headspace correctly. I think both my .458 SOCOM and .338 Spectre barrels were sold as a pair with a bolt.

Good fishing on priest today. Took my kids down to paddle the creeks. I fished while they played. 25ish assorted panfish. 2 largemouth. 2 smallmouth. Decent catch for as much noise as they were making.

I tried to set him up, but he got all squirrelly and bit somebody when I told him he’d have to fill out the paperwork for accounting.

I fished out at the southern end of Priest on Saturday - was actually not too far away when the plane went down even though it’s so skinny back there I had no idea. I was in the kayak fishing for panfish on an ultralight rig. Really just out there to enjoy the weather. The bite was pretty good, though.

I would say every creature inside that fence got really lucky they didn’t get mauled.

I bet you can feel the muzzle blast on that thing the next county over.

That looks like a solid, scriptural dinner.

There are some things we know from the last several decades of vaccine science - coupled with things we've learned about this virus in the last year. 1. All of the vaccines available here in the US - whether you're getting one of the mRNA variants or a traditional viral vector variant like J&J - generally will generate a higher antibody response than the body will generate on its own in response to the getting the virus. There's a lot of well studied science here - but think of it like this - while you're fighting the natural variant - you're body is already compromised. It's not going to perform at its best. 2. People who've recovered from the virus successfully will naturally have some immunity. What's unknown is how strong and how long lasting it's likely to be. There are a lot of studies that are ongoing with people that got the virus early on trying to see what level of immunity they still have. 3. This is why early on when vaccines were scarce - providers were generally recommending people who had recently had the virus not rush to get the vaccine unless there were other mitigating conditions. 3. Even after the your bodies original antibodies have faded - your body's T cells and B cells will remember how to make the antibodies. To what extent is a topic that's getting a lot of research right now. Obviously we'd like to see a strong response years from now - but that's unlikely. 4. The virus is mutating - rarely do mutations become less effective. 5. The current vaccines respond well to the current mutations. Off the top of my head in order of effectiveness - Moderna, Pfizer, then J&J. 6. There are a bunch of mutations around the world that are being closely monitored. We don't want breakouts. If I could suggest one reason for getting vaccinated here in the US it's this. The longer we delay full vaccination here - the longer it takes the rest of the world to get vaccinated. And a major event in a place like India or Brazil will have follow on effects on the world economy. 7. Fading immunity from whatever vaccine you received plus mutations that break out will likely require most people to get a booster. Will that be yearly like a flu shot? Every 10 years like a tetanus shot? We just don't know yet. Here's what we don't know - we still don't really have any idea why this virus is a relative non-event to some and kills other people like @Steelharp. Until we do, I'm going to hedge my risk and get the vaccine.

The biggest issue you’ll have is keeping it in the smoker long enough to absorb much smoke. I don’t know that I’ve ever had one in more than about 2 hours at 225F.

Venison can use all the fat it can get - but the smoker is a great way to cook it. I’d wrap it in bacon. Any decent rub would do. Salt and pepper would be fine. So would about any store bought rub for beef. I’d add a little brown sugar and coat it the night before to tenderize it some - it shouldn’t need it but it definitely improves even a good backstrap. The real key is to watch your temperature with a good meat thermometer. Assuming I know the source and that the deer was treated with integrity after the kill, I like mine below 140F for a nice medium rare. Take it up to well done temperature and you might have a dry piece of meat.

Someone described goats to me the other day as livestock that actively looks for ways to kill themselves and wreak the maximum amount of havoc in the process.

If you separate your kids from the community they inhabit - then it’s unlikely to be a priority. Kids generally have strong immune systems and are low risk for serious disease. But, for most of us, we can’t separate them from the community around us - and don’t want to. We go to church around older people. They go to school with older teachers. They take piano lessons. We hang out with friends who are immunocompromised. We’re a part of a larger community. So we vaccinate because while it’s low risk to our kids, we care about the community around us.

Would you believe me if I told you the speed in developing these vaccines was due to cutting bureaucratic red tape and removing the funding delays that typically slow things down? That’s how we got it from an average of 12 years down to 11 months. I’m not a public health person - but I am a scientist - and I can say confidently that there’s not been a vaccine developed since they started blowing dried pustules from cows into open lacerations on people that has been done in a more open and public manner. These are literally the most advanced vaccines that have ever been made. And with the success of the mRNA technology that Moderna and Pfizer have brought to market - if you pay attention over the next ten years you’re going to see advancements against diseases that have plagued humanity for hundreds of years. Moderna has already gotten good phase I results from a malaria vaccine. That has the potential to change the world for the better. Now to testing, I get the hesitancy over the EUA. It was a trade off to combat a disease that went from zero to a top 3 cause of death in a year. Is there risk there? Yes. But it’s a measured (and closely monitored) risk with limit stops in place. You saw the J&J vaccine get paused to study the risk of certain blood clots. That’s the system working as designed. The process to full FDA approval can’t be shortcut. There is data required that has path dependencies that are time based. We need six to nine months to collect those samples. On the plus side, we’ve got a huge pool to draw from - so that path should be shorter rather than longer. I know there are talking heads who are saying these were rushed, not designed well, and not tested. Of course there was a rush - but there is a robust testing process that is working. You can see evidence of that by the vaccine candidates that didn’t move forward.