MacGyver

Low single digits at best. All kinds of people would say they support it. But peoples’ budgets are tight. I just don’t think we’d see it at the cash register. That’s not to say you can’t be successful as an American brand. You certainly can. But the quality has to be there - especially at a price premium.

That's funny that I was thinking about those earlier. They really do add needed traction on ice.

We have one scout who is absolutely all gas no brakes. At one point yesterday I looked at him, and he was in one of our class B shirts - which is a dri-fit t-shirt. He was wearing snow pants - but he was sweating from all the activity. His metabolism must be roughly equivalent to a formula 1 car

We took 16 scouts and 7 adults. I hate the cold - but you have the opportunity to teach so many lessons you just won’t get to teach otherwise. Starting a fire in the snow might save your life one day. You can’t teach it if you’re not out in it. I was really surprised that we had that many go - because it was truly cold. But I chalk that up to two things: 1. We’ve fostered an amazing amount of trust. Our parents know the ASMs and trust that we won’t put our scouts in situations where they’re in real danger. To be clear - cold like that we had this weekend is truly dangerous - but everything we did had guardrails. Being uncomfortable is fine. A lot of learning happens there. But, you need to have comfort as a parent that those guardrails are there. 2. After a week of snow - we had a bunch of parents who were like, “you need to be out of my house - right now.” Everyone was in zero degree bags - some with liners. We actually slept in a shelter - so sleeping temp was probably in the mid 20s. Where the boys slept was likely a few degrees warmer than that due to the fact that they were packed in there like sardines.

Took a bunch of scouts camping this weekend. It was -3F when we got up this morning. We had a giant bonfire and had a ball. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that much of Old Hickory Lake frozen. I had forgotten how many truly strange noises frozen lakes make. It was groaning and whining all night long. We cooked in cast irons and Dutch ovens all weekend. I bet they all consumed 5000 calories yesterday.

Those are beautiful. I bet both were a bunch of work.

A good sock is a must. I love a pair of full cushion SmartWools to start - but I would fit your boot so that it actually fits your boot with one pair of socks. With age and circulation issues - you want to make sure your base is as firm as possible. I would go for a boot with some actual insulation - as opposed to something that looks like it ought to be a cold weather boot but is actually just a dressed up rain boot. You probably want something with some Thinsulate or similar. Merrell makes some great ones. So does Columbia at a generally lower price point. Sorel is a solid cold weather boot maker. I've got a pair of Bogs insulated rubber rubber slip ons that are surprisingly warm - they won't win any fashion contests - but they were maybe $29 and my feet never get wet walking the dog in the rain. A maybe controversial opinion - UGG makes some great cold weather boots that are functional and won't necessarily have you looking like an instagram influencer.

With three plus an exchange student in the house right now - give me a minute and I might send them over. We’re all in about the same place as @Alleycat72’s wife.

Our kitchen counter looks like the dessert table at a church potluck.

Any judge would immediately side with her...

My youngest was bored - so I told him he could go clear all of our elderly neighbors cars. He was out for a couple of hours with the leaf blower and a brush. They tried to pay him but he wouldn’t let them. regardless, our kitchen had filled up with the treats they made him. Good trade in his eyes.

A two stage Kidd trigger is a work of art.

You might look for local maker spaces. I know of a couple here in Nashville that have offered classes in the past that are focused at a hobby level. Edit to add: The Forge is definitely one of those spaces.

Love some smaller brands. I’ve got two Maratacs that have absolutely been through the wringer over the last 15 years and have been dead reliable the whole time. I bet my TSAR has been in the saltwater 100 full days in the time.

I think if I lived where you do and have the issue with vandalism - I’d invest my time and effort into making sure that there’s not a car or person that comes down that road that isn’t captured on video. You’ll likely lose another mailbox in a year or two - but then you’ll have the data to solve the problem for lots of folks.

That’s the one.

@KahrMan already has the best 45/70 lever gun on here... He's just rubbing it in now

1. Hot goes on the left 2. Sh#^ can only go down hill 3. The boss is a son of a bitch 4. Payday is on Friday 5. Never eat the last bite of your sandwich

There are only 5 rules to plumbing - but I’ve added a 6th to my personal rules. If I have to break a piece of pipe to fix something a 1/4 ball valve is going inline. You cannot have too many shutoff valves.

FWIW, if the part that failed is CPVC, save yourself the headache and replace as much of it as you can with PEX now. I recently replaced plumbing in a place with CPVC. It seems like once the environmental/age conditions are met for that stuff to start failing it fails all over. I bet in the stuff we replaced because of one problem that was visible - we discovered ten that weren’t. CPVC is the devil. A brittle devil - but a devil nonetheless.

If anyone is looking to complete their "three name lone assassin" collection - this one is a perfect match for the Tennessee portion of the list.

We're going to need a reveal here after Christmas.

Typically we’re in y’all’s neck of the woods sometime over the holiday - so it’s been the one in Oak Ridge there on the river. To my knowledge the one in Nashville closed years ago. Fortunately it’s been years since I’ve eaten in either. For a few years honestly the deciding factor was that we could get on the boat and just cross the river way faster than we could drive anywhere from my in-laws house. I will give my in-laws some props about the holidays. My wife has is one of several siblings, and when the oldest got married my in-laws decided they weren’t going to fight over holidays. They just decided that in their family - whenever the holiday fell - they would gather the Saturday following. It’s been such a healthy practice that I expect we’ll recreate when our kids get married.

I will say that siblings on both sides of my family have traded giving gifts for leaving kids at home one evening over the holiday and going out for a meal together. Sometimes it’s a nice restaurant - sometimes it’s Calhoun’s. But, it’s a time to just catch up and be thankful.

I guess I’ll call myself thankful to get to spend a few days and share a meal with people that I truly love. My mom has a habit of buying people presents that are things they’d never buy for themselves. I asked her about it one time and she said, “you and your sister are productive members of society. You never call and say the kids are going hungry or we’re going to lose the house or anything like that. I’m glad to get the chance to do something nice.” I recognize that’s a privilege a lot families may not have - for a whole lot of reasons. Life is complicated sometimes. But, that’s something that I’ve tried to incorporate into my own life. Sometimes it’s nice to do something really nice for someone with no expectation of them doing anything in return.