MacGyver

Keep it sharp and that sharpmaker will serve you fine. A good strop wouldn’t hurt.

The claymore is a nice knife. D2 is an interesting steel choice - it’s an amazing tool steel - but it does require some care. It’s a hard use steel. Take care of it and it will serve you well for a long time. Corrosion resistance isn’t as good as some of the more modern super steels. But, this is a powdered CPM variant - so it’s also not your grandpa’s D2. It’s a coated blade, so this should be a non-issue for most EDC folks. If you get caught in the rain - wipe it down. If you cut up a bunch of oranges - wipe it down. Just keep it clean and don’t worry about it. D2 does take some practice and determination to sharpen. As has been mentioned above - it’s easier to keep it sharp than it is to get it sharp once it’s dull. I also wouldn’t worry about this much. Invest in some decent tooling if you haven’t already and sharpening won’t be an issue. Note that I’d reach for my diamond stones first on a dull D2 blade. Use that old whetstone you’ve got in the garage and you’ll be at it for a while. The final thing I’d note is that this blade is hardened to a Rockwell 60-62. This is hard. You can get a blistering edge - but it’ll be prone to chipping if you don’t make good choices about what you cut. All in all - a good choice for an EDC that won’t let you down if asked to do bigger jobs.

This forum is rife with threads of people getting stitches because their auto opened in their pocket. Heck, one of our group buys was endemic with them opening in pockets - and that particular knife was a hidden mechanism. There was a time when there was a real market need for autos. I was carrying an AFO on a search and rescue team when I got the first Spyderco Rescue any of us had seen. In a season we went from 100% autos to no autos. The conditions on the ground just changed. We have so many great options these days that fill the same space autos once dominated. If you want an auto by all means get an auto. For me, that means three things have to be present: 1. It has to have a manual safety 2. I need to have full control of the knife even with my thumb pushing the button. There should be no questions as to whether or not it’s going to jump out of my hand. 3. The locking mechanism is really important to me - this is often a weak point on autos. If there’s a question as to whether hard use is going to make that mechanism less reliable - that’s a no for me. 4. I guess I’ll add a fourth - it needs to come from a vendor who’s going to offer good warranty service.

I’ll take the under on this. And I say this as someone who loves Benchmade and has a bunch of them. The AFO set the standard for what a good auto should be - back when you had to have credentials to own one. They’re amazing - but you can get a great auto for a lot less money these days. I’d start with something less expensive with a lock. The kershaws are great. Notice a trend of how many folks have had autos fire in their pockets. Honestly, I guess I’m in a place in my life where I can carry about any knife I want - and have more than I’ll ever reasonably carry. My daily carry is one of a few Spyderco PM2s. They’re practically as fast as any auto out there - and one has yet to either open in my pocket or jump out of my hand.

I told everyone who called me all the government agencies came calling. May as well spread the anxieties around.

A capful or so of a good predator lure around/under where you park your truck ought to keep the squirrels away. https://www.jrandsons.us/trapping-lures/52-predator-scent-.html If you come out and a coyote is having his way with your tires - probably best to just let him finish.

Seems like an honest guy who shows up on time could make a good living doing pest control.

It better be a good offer…

Man, that’s pretty.

I have two non-negotiable requirements for a pistol that I'm going to pocket carry - but a lot of moving pieces affect both of them. If I'm going to pocket carry, I have to first be able to get a full firing grip while it's in my pocket and second, I do not want to have to readjust that grip when it comes out of my pocket. If either of those conditions are lacking - it's a no go for pocket carry. In a full stress situation, you're not going to have time to draw, readjust your grip, and get on target. At best it's going to slow you down a lot - at worst you're going to fumble the pistol. The only pistol that has ever fit that bill for me is a j-frame riding in an aholster. Obviously all that is affected by a person's frame and build, and their clothing choices. So, YMMV.

Goodness that car! Modern engineering is truly amazing - on the automotive end and on the phone end. I am so thankful she’s okay.

Which one did you end up choosing?

Also, as to sit-on-top or sit-in - you're going to have a lot more flotation with the sit-on-top. If you're kayaking alone - wear a life jacket and all of that - it provides a little extra peace of mind knowing you've got more flotation. Also, you can throw a cooler on the back, etc. You can do most of that in a sit-in - but it's more of a pain to get to stuff. And, you're almost certainly going to get wet if you're entering the boat from anywhere other than a dock. With a sit-on-top - you can walk on and generally stay dry. Seats are almost always going to be better on a sit-on-top. If you're going to use it for exercise for more than an hour or so - that matters. I don't know exactly how old you are - but it's a lot more comfortable and you're likely to stick with it longer if the seat doesn't suck. Happy to let you try out my pro angler 14 if you like

I can't recommend the Hobie enough. Their Mirage drive is better than any system on the market. I actually like their older Turbo GT model without reverse the best. It's a couple hundred dollars cheaper - and gives a little more speed. It's a great workout. In that same class boat - you might consider the Hobie Passport as well. It doesn't have all the same fishing features the Compass does - Lowrance mount, rod holders, etc - but it's typically about $600 less retail. It comes with the traditional GT fins instead of the popup 360 fins. I think both have the same seat - which is something Hobie does well.

@TGO David ought to be able to take a look.

Y'all are still in my prayers. Thanks for keeping us updated.

There is very little good that follows the Dorr brothers showing up.

I'll add an anecdote from a friend who had a problem with her PitBoss grill - the igniter was damaged during shipping and she didn't notice until she had the grill entirely assembled. She could have returned it and got a new one - but she decided to call the company instead. She told me that engineers from the company got on the call when she called customer service and helped her diagnose the problem, that once they found the problem they overnighted a new igniter and main control board, and that they called to follow up to make sure she was squared away. They sent her swag and called her a couple of months later to make sure everything was still good. She said it was the best customer service experience that she had ever experienced from any company she had dealt with.

This is a crazy good deal on an overbuilt smoker that will easily last decades

Nice. Like that stamp!

The MLK Tapes? Yes. Bill Pepper may not be a totally reliable narrator - but he doesn’t have to be. The King family doesn’t believe he did it either.

One of my hobbies as a forensic scientist is going back and taking an in depth look at old cases - and being amazed at the ones we couldn't even bring to trial today much less get a conviction on because the "forensics" is garbage. So much legacy crime scene forensics is pseudoscience at best. Most ballistics, blood spatter, fiber analysis, is just garbage. Case in point - one of our most famous cases in Tennessee. James Earl Ray bought a Remington 760 Gamemaster in Birmingham that was recovered on the street - neatly wrapped up in a quilt - in Memphis. It was chambered in .30-06. A 30 caliber slug killed Dr. King on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. Problem is - the fragments of the slug recovered from Dr. King absolutely don't match the twist rate of the aforementioned Gamemaster. The rifle that was recovered didn't kill Dr. King. Same with a famous case from my childhood in Atlanta - Wayne Williams - convicted of the Atlanta child murders. We couldn't even bring that case to trial today.

This is encouraging - even if we find ourselves in a weird liminal space right now. Independent investigative reporting hasn’t (and likely won’t) replace traditional media outlets. But as so many local papers are being gutted - it’s encouraging to see examples like these. FWIW - I subscribed to CT to see what else they were covering and to “support us so we can do more of this.” I don’t know what I was expecting, but their reporting is surprisingly compelling. I enjoy reading it.

Yes, you just can't turn the EDM up too loud when you're doing the EDM - it messes all kinds of stuff up.

I was thinking he just needs to bite the bullet and buy a wire EDM machine.