Mark A

Man... loving the old school pit... I have a hankerin to smoke a whole hog. Not sure I'm ambitious enough to do it on July 4th in the heat but this fall I'm going to build a pit out at the property and camp out and smoke one... I just took down a bunch of hickory trees to clear an area for my septic. I think I will go ahead and chop some and split it to get it ready for this fall... Mark

The other elephants appear to be moving towards the fight, not away from it. I find that interesting.

Damn...

Damn...

Blue Angel just crashed practicing. No word on the pilot yet

It is true that black walnuts are aleopathic. They produce juglone which can be death to certain things. Apple trees, tomatoes and peppers along with potatoes are particularly sensitive to juglone. But, there are lots of plants that are not bothered by it at all. Peaches, plums, pears are not bothered. Some berries like raspberry are tolerant. Pretty much all the squashes are ok. The main thing is that in a mulch or compost the juglone breaks down in about 6 months of exposure to sunlight. So as a general soil building method I wouldn't hesitate at all to spread thin layers on the ground and let it start breaking down. Mark

Musician, nice start and I like the different methods you are trying. Not sure how long you are planning on being in your house but have you heard of chip drop? You can sign up and tree companies will come drop chips from trees they've cut down and shredded. They don't pay to dump and you get free stuff to build up soil. Just a thought. My experiment this year was wicking beds using stock tanks. I thought I did a good job of documenting it for a post but the pics were terrible. I will probably doom one more before this fall and will be sure to get proper documentation. I'm super pleased with the results so far. Mark

Good tip... I saw a bunch of stuff on clearance in our closest one but didn't think of it in those terms...

Looks like she caught herself a whale of a bluegill...

OMG!!! I so know what I am doing first thing when I get on the tractor Saturday morning...can't believe I didn't think of that before.

Dang... I knew I left my way back machine somewhere... Welcome to the crazy little world of TGO. If you aren't being given some joshing by someone you should be worried. Mark

bunch of blowhards who know where their bread is really buttered...

Thanks Jon. I will be interested to see what you think. A lot less power reserve than a regular battery but some power reserve is WAY better than no power at all...   I change my batteries every 18 months so I should be good for several years of continuous use but it would suck to have to be walking home a long ways and have a battery die and not have access to something to replace it. This along with a small charger hanging on your backpack could go a long ways towards red dot happiness...

He was a blast to train with. He rode me pretty hard in my first class but at the end you would have thought we'd been friends for decades...   I learned a lot from him and will miss corresponding with him.   Mark

That's getting close. I will email those folks to ask a few questions... thanks

A good bolt gun in 300 blk that takes standard AR mags. Why? Because...   I looked at the ruger scout in 223 thinking I might re-barrel it but I don't like the magazine. I thought the same thing about the Mossberg MVP but I'm not too sure about the bolt design.   I want a bolt action to see just how quiet I can get with the 300. And, I prefer detachable magazine weapons in general so...   Now that I've put this out there I'm sure you guys will find me 100 solutions but so far I haven't found anything.         Oh, while I'm wishing, I read about a 12 gauge upper that was designed to work on an AR-10 lower. Only problem was it used proprietary ammo. It looks like they went out of business after a couple of years. That thought was prompted by PSA having the DDI-12 on sale this weekend. I ALMOST pulled the trigger but decided to see if PSA could sell a bunch of them. If they do there will be a bunch of reviews out soon. There were only a couple I could find online and they were mostly from when the guns first came out. Lot's of teething issues but it seems DDI is taking more care with quality control so maybe they are getting things headed in the right direction...   Mark

Interesting... I only use Lancer clear mags or D&H metal mags with my 300. Don't have any of either that I've ever used with 5.56. And, I ordered a bunch of the bands from the dude on the 300 blk forum. Once we move I'm adding a second safe that will be for 300 blk and shotguns only...   It never got to the catastrophic stage but once a few years back I was in a real hurry to get to the range to get a little pistol time in. I grabbed my range bag and a bunch of mags. When I got to the range I had a 226 in 9mm, 357 sig/ 40 mags and a can of 45 acp... I opened the ammo box and was like crap... My buddy had plenty of 9mm with him so he offered to loan me some. I knew as soon as I started to load the first mag that there was a problem. After I looked at everything I decided I wasn't mentally enough in the game to be handling loaded weapons so I put everything in the car and spent the next couple of hours telling my buddy how terrible of a shot he was. Still had a good time...   I almost didn't get into the 300 game because of that. I'm glad I did though as it is a blast to shoot...   Mark

A. American (along with G. Michael Hopf) has a new book out: http://www.amazon.com/Hope-Going-Home-Novel-American-ebook/dp/B01C7ROQ1C?ie=UTF8&keywords=hope%20a%20going%20home%20novel&qid=1462056240&ref_=sr_1_1&s=digital-text&sr=1-1   I like G. Michael Hopf so I'm hoping this one is good.   Mark

Just curious, what red dots are you running these in? I have a few and a charger but only plan on using them in a true grid down situation. I just don't want to risk killing a red dot with the extra voltage.   I do like that you can charge these to a slightly lower voltage...   Mark

Gosh, you guys are making me think we need to have a 308 semi-auto meet and shoot. I've got a couple that need to get out and stretch so bad if I don't do it soon I'm afraid they may sneak out and leave for someone who will shoot them regularly... Mark

another Berkey boy here... unknown thousands of gallons through it. When it starts filtering slowly I clean the filters with a green scrubby and back flush them and good as new. I bought 2 spare sets of filters. They may outlive me...   We filter all water except shower water through it. Don't have to worry about some toxin being in the water supply poisoning me until someone dies and then they figure out there is a problem.   Water tastes like I remember the well water tasting on the old family farm...

^^^^^^^^^^^ This. If she is a true southern lady she will cherish the handwritten note. My handwriting is terrible so I print the note in a nice cursive font and then sign it.

Is it always going to be the same circuit? If so you could get the correct type of recessed twist lock, tie it into the circuit somewhere convenient and make a safe generator extension cable. Just a thought, Mark

If this were Star Trek Aaron would have been wearing the red shirt...

So... glad you found something. Hope the surgery goes well... As far as not shooting it for a while, would it be therapeautic if I came shot it for you? I will bring my own ammo... :-) Seriously though, hope everything goes well with the doc.