MacGyver

Guys, I can’t stress this enough. You don’t want to have to go to the hospital for anything right now. They’re overrun. Especially in the far eastern and western portions of the state - but here in middle Tennessee, too. I have a friend in the facility where @steelharp passed that is sending folks to the nearest bed they can get over two hours away in Kentucky. For the next couple of months, this load should probably affect your risk assessment for other activities as well.

Hey, congrats!

We got a great view 2 nights in a row with my Leupold spotting scope. At 60x, you could see 4 of Jupiter’s moons clearly tonight and Saturn’s rings were no problem either - even here in the city lights.

Most of my hog hunting is Alabama and Florida - so file accordingly. TWRA has done a pretty good job reducing some populations here in Tennessee. As a general rule, I’ve found you’ve got to put in the work to find hogs. We go way back in the woods down in Alabama. Places where you can bait them may be a different story.

Young ones and smaller ones eat just fine. They are generally leaner than factory farmed hogs. Taste can vary depending on what they’re getting in their diet. Interestingly, people often describe it as meatier tasting than regular factory farmed pork. As with any hunt, I think treating the animal with integrity after the kill has more impact on taste than anything.

It would seem the word “public” in public gathering is the word failing to carry the weight here. Consensus is that nothing in the order would keep Dave Ramsey from having another 1000 person Christmas party in his taxpayer subsidized headquarters. Where you find 1000 people to attend said party in this environment is beyond me.

Yeah, I bet that thing weighed every bit of 350 lbs. It was one of those situations when you’re a kid where you realize, “oh wait, adults don’t actually know everything.” I have a distinct memory of me, my dad, and one of my friends kind of sliding that thing back to the point where all of the weight was on us and suddenly thinking that this was a really bad idea.

My dad got an ‘85 4Runner the day it came out. We took the top off exactly one time in all the years we had it. I remember thinking at the time, that they had basically cut the rear window out of a pickup and put a factory camper top and rear seats in it. It still had ribs in the bed under the carpet. I learned to drive a manual transmission in that truck. I don’t know why we sold it - but I drove the XJ we got afterwards for a bunch of years.

I know so many people who had that same experience with Dodge trucks of that era.

Do y’all actually live in that house, or is that just a rental with a really clean garage where you keep your truck? My garage wouldn’t look that clean if I emptied it out.

That’s an unfilled space in the market where I expect they’ll see some success. It’s been a while since we’ve seen a truck the size of the older T100s or Rangers. Not everyone needs or wants a bigger truck - my mom would by an old Ranger-sized truck in a heartbeat.

Let’s have a review of that rooftop tent.

Governor Lee is holding a press conference tomorrow at 1900CST. I’ll be surprised if he says much - despite his wife testing positive today. I expect another stern talking to like he did this week while we were waiting fir the vaccines to be delivered to the photo op at Vanderbilt. Police and health department responded to a big wedding tonight in the Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood. Apparently his son was in the wedding party.

I sure like that step and the grab bar in the tailgate of the newer F-150s. I’m skinny and still pretty agile, but I sure wouldn’t mind seeing those catch on.

Good looking truck. I’m sure they’ll sell a bunch of them. I’m an American engineer that had always wanted to root for Ford deep down in my soul. That said, there’s no way you could convince me to put down my hard earned money on a first year, first generation Ford product. Truth told, I wouldn’t get that choice anyway. My wife owned a first generation Focus when we got married. She refers to it as the last Ford product any member of our family will ever own.

“Sold” it for cattle. Good luck of late at TSC. Maybe out in a co-op somewhere.

If the Sig appeals to you because of the size - they other competitor in that size at that price point is the Walther P22. The first generation of those pistols suffered from similar issues - but I hear the newer ones have addressed the issues pretty well. Personally, for .22LR pistols, I’m pretty far down the rabbit hole with customized Ruger Mark series pistols. When I introduce someone to shooting and bring out all my .22LR pistols - they almost always end up purchasing a Ruger for themselves. That said, were I looking for an off the shelf .22LR pistol that would be okay in small hands, I’d probably go with an M&P22 compact. With that, you’re picking up a full 6061 milled slide with the same ergonomics as its big brothers in the series. No .22LR pistol is 100% trust your life to it reliable - that’s just a function of the round. But the M&P is probably the most reliable in the class.

They weren’t terribly well reviewed. As I recall, the slides were cast aluminum/zinc “pot metal” in sort of standard GSG style. They weren’t reliable - And were frankly just downright frustrating. A lot of us had high hopes for them, but they were pretty much junk. To my knowledge they’ve been discontinued for a bunch of years. I’d pass.

Speaking of dogs - if anyone of you decide to try one of these - I'd probably keep your dogs inside...

While I recognize they're saying that this is technically a trigger pull and thus this qualifies as legal - I wouldn't want to test it. Their "locking bar" functions like an auto-sear that has a machining burr on it and didn't pass QA. A few thousandths off of that thing and you're into full rock and roll territory. They've basically moved the "third hole" into the receiver and contain it within the mechanism. It's like a drop in trigger and auto sear all in one. Since you need the full auto bolt carrier for it to function - I just don't see it passing muster.

Yeah, this is one of those cases where government reticence actually hasn't served us well - and I don't know that most of us have the visibility most times to even recognize it. We haven't sent any corporate executives of note to prison since the Enron/WorldCom/Tyco/Global Crossing days of the early 2000's. There are probably a lot of factors that influence it - but the future political ambitions of a lot of AGs have translated into we're not even willing to try cases that we don't know for certain we'll win. That means a lot of things are going unpunished that shouldn't. For as "law and order" as a lot of the right is these days - this should be a bigger deal. Wage theft is almost as big a source of theft as all other thefts combined. That's corporations stealing from workers. Asset forfeiture - that's the government stealing from people - is bigger than all other sources combined. This isn't necessarily the thread to talk about all of that - but we should be trying more cases like this.

Listen, I know there are a bunch of people around here who have somehow me classified as a liberal - but that's just not right. Today's GOP would call George W. Bush a liberal (and he wouldn't win a single primary today). The best you can say for me is that I'm just willing to make people work for their ideas. But, we need some actual liberals around here. I miss the likes of you and @Bronker who could actually bring an honest liberal voice. Be kind - but don't shy away from bringing an actual competing voice. We're all better when our ideas have competition.

It seems what's getting the most traction is them cancelling orders and then relisting it at a higher price. Interestingly, what could have ramifications up the line in other cases is Texas classifying guns and ammo as essential items.

Welcome to TGO. I think.

This is truck stop food - and unfortunately Nashville thinks it’s bigger than that these days. Culver’s has one - but I can’t imagine traveling for it. Hank’s Honky Tonk down In Murfreesboro has one that looks pretty decent. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/59061f216b8f5b6083924623/t/59934d39f14aa10e7f827958/1502825803329/Hanks+New+Larger+Menu.pdf