Gitchi Gummi wrote:

If I was going to stop and eat anywhere in Duluth, I’d stop at Northern Waters Smokehaus.

Duluth Grill is a good choice as well

Moose Lake Agate and Geological Center in Moose Lake State Park (right off I-35 40 miles south of Duluth) i sinteresting.

A buddy in Eau Claire tapped over the weekend, they are dripping. I won’t tap this year due to travel plans. Going to miss it.

Steve Root wrote:

Randy, in case you haven’t heard this enough….you’re a good man and deserve a lot of respect for doing the right thing even though it’s tremendously difficult at times.

SR

Absolutely agree. Went through this with my MIL, my wife took most of the burden. You do what you must for those you love. Don’t be afraid to seek more help. Seen too many hurt their own health by taking on too much care for a loved one.

Got married sooner. Knew my wife for ten years before we got married. Only had one child. He’s fantastic but we would have loved more. Some health issues that may have been mitigated by starting younger. Still, we’ve been married 37 years and my life is good.

munchy wrote:

e is waste, cut it. But not everything is a wasteful program. Spacex has some of the smallest contracts in government. Why? Because Elon looks for waste in every single part of his businesses and removes it. Why do you think it only costs millions to send a Space

Elon has more than $20B in contracts with NASA, not small potatoes.

gim wrote:

Clinton conducted the largest purge of the federal budget in the modern era during his 8 years in office in the 90’s. But he did it the correct, legal way. Almost none of it ended up in court and when he was done, there was a budget surplus for 3 years afterwards. That’s the route to take. Not this one, just my opinion.

When all these actions end up in court (which they are), it costs us, the taxpayers money. Lawyers and court fees are very expensive.

Agreed. Trump ruling by executive decree is a losing approach. He loses nearly every time he he ends up in court, be it election challenges, executive order challenges or civil suits. Getting Congress aligned with his agenda is a troublesome approach but it is the legal and appropriate way to do business.

Out on a small lake west of Tonka on Friday. Eater size crappies were around but mobile. Catch a couple out of each hole and the school moved on. Could also tell when a northern showed up, fish on the flasher then suddenly nothing. Caught a few snakes and took home limits of crappies.

gim wrote:

Most of the crude oil in the Midwest comes from Canada. Gas prices will be going up for the foreseeable future. Luckily, only a 10% tariff was placed on imported Canadian crude.

Some parts of the country will see no change because their crude is supplied elsewhere.

True in the short term. Longer term since the crude oil market is global and buyers will pursue lower cost crude from other suppliers the price in the world market will increase. Crude pumped in Texas won’t remain local if someone in Europe offers a higher price.

Pushing Mexico and Canada to stop fentanyl and illegal immigration does nothing to address the demand for drugs and cheap labor in the U.S. Expecting other countries to fix our domestic issues doesn’t seem to be a reasonable approach.

Not a fan of early season tomatoes – Early Girl, Big Early, etc. Mid-season have done well with Champion and Better Boy. Love heirlooms for late season – Boxcar Willie (one slice covers the entire BLT sandwich), Brandywine and Big Beef are favorites.

Retired network engineer, IT project manager, IT infrastructure manager. Best job was project manager for a manufacturing company building data centers in new facilities. Then transitioned to PM for their Y2K corporate program. Not my best job.

LabDaddy1 wrote:

eard this. I don’t buy “fat free” stuff but certain sauces/dressing, I.e. ranch, western, mayo, I will buy the “lite” version. Not really sure if that’s any better?

Often include added sweeteners and salt to pump up flavor otherwise provided by fat and sugar.

Before purchasing a third party extended warranty research the company and confirm their financial status. No good buying a warranty if the company isn’t there to stand behind it.

Bass Pundit wrote:

What a fun game if you are not a Packer fan. Da Bears! I was live blogging it over at Bass Boat Central. I thought for sure the Bears had blown it yet again. Caleb had his moments of clutch play in this one.

Most Bears thing ever. Win a meaningless game, drop from 5 to 10 in the draft. I get that coaches want to win but it cost them talent and/or trade position. Unless they seriously improve the O-line and get some WR talent it will be more of the same next year. Moore and Allen are likely both gone.

Several years ago it was grouse, we’d knock down our limits several times each fall. Now the dog gives me the “I did all that work and you missed” look far too often.

Listened to the Brewers broadcasts a lot over the years. Became a fan of the Brewers and especially Uecker in college 40+ years ago. Still listened to the Brewers broadcasts through last season. He had a great life and brought joy to many people.

Agree on simplification and cartridge confusion. We’ve resolved it by me shooting a .30-06 (long action) and my son shooting a .308 (short action). Recoil for us isn’t an issue, I’m 235 pounds and he’s 6’2″ and 185 pounds. Far different than a youngster shooting their first deer rifle.

That said, I’ve always hankered for a 7mm-08. Shot a couple and had very good results.

sandbar wrote:

Skratcher – What year is that Charger in your profile pic?

Looks to be a 1971.

Eelpoutguy wrote:

I usually have Sushi for 2 delivered once a week, but it’s only for me.

Isn’t that called “cut bait”?

Gitchi Gummi wrote:

ry conscious of my salt intake. Once you start limiting your salt intake to safer levels, you’d be surprised how salty everything tastes. I even make my own taco seasoning so it can be salt free. The store bought taco seasoning tastes like saltly chili powder.

What you said! Taco seasoning, fajita seasoning, pizza sauce (with Cento crushed tomatoes) and more) all taste better without all of the salt. We live a block from a Broadway Pizza, grew up loving it but can’t eat it anymore. Has to be homemade with fresh mozzarella or it’s too salty.

Lakeshore RV Park in Ortonville is on Big Stone Lake. Good walleye and panfish, pool for the kids, really nice folks run it.

gim wrote:

ne who drinks alcohol?
Id bet a good percentage of doctors partake in one or the other or maybe even both.
I only know two doctors personally. Both can put the beers away with the best of them. Can I trust their advice?

Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner. I know several docs and they act exactly in this way.

Bearcat89 wrote:

Enjoy your vacation hopefully you guys have a fantastic trip. And good luck with the knee replacement, my dad did both his knees within the 8 months. First one was 7 months ago and the second was about a month ago.

Thanks. Had the right knee replaced in 2022 but the appliance is starting to separate from the femur. Trying physical therapy to see if additional strength in the knee will offset the pain but not a lot of success in two months. If it doesn’t go my way they will replace the knee again.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

But only 9 days is trying to drink from a firehose.

Daughter in law is a teacher, we’re going on her spring break so time constrained. Son is providing transport (free other than NZ to Australia and any flights within NZ). FW and I can stay longer on our own and still fly free from Sydney to MSP. Really trying to lean on her to stay an extra week or more.

I asked you all in the hope that it will help narrow down some choices. We’re tied in to flying to Aukland and out of Sydney. Everything else is up for grabs.

Really appreciate the information provided. Maybe I’ll stay solo for a couple of months and spend some time fishing and exploring. Not likely, will be getting my knee replacement replaced this summer.

Fished Black Lake open water on November 18. Tons of crappies but we tossed back a lot of smalls. Did keep a limit of 9-11 inchers.

Steve Root wrote:

You’re going to New Zealand and not fishing? Inconceivable!!!!!

Have a fun and safe trip.

SR

Trying to wedge in a half day, my son would love to go as well. The ladies are utterly uninterested but likely can be convinced that they are sick of being with us halfway through the trip.

BigWerm wrote:

FWIW Sydney is not really on the way home, unless you are world touring thru Asia and Europe. I’d recommend spending that time on the South Island if that’s not already in your plans. Oh, and supposedly the fishing is great around all the islands just outside the breakers. I wish I had spent a half day doing that after chattign w/ some guys at Piha that landed their boat on the beach.

We’re flying on Delta passes and Aukland to LAX direct (seasonal route) ends three days before we want to leave. The kids have to go back for work but don’t want to leave early so we’re flying back through Sydney. Tyying to convince my wife to stay a week in Sydney. We’re retired and don’t know if we’ll every get back that way.

Counter height and five foot high power outlets. The higher outlets allow you to keep cords up and out of your way.

Also, wall mounted J-hooks allow you to coil long cords and hang excess out of the way. Keep eight inch hook & loop straps in a drawer, great for keeping coiled cords together. (I was a data network engineer and project manager, love cable management stuff).

jwellsy wrote:

Every thing about this is suspicious. It’s eating up so many news cycles, it makes me wonder what’s not being talked about. Is it to distract attention away from the deep states’ stated goal to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power in DC and not certify the election results this week? I’m sure there’s more distractions (bigger than this) to come in 2025 to keep the Nuremburg II trials at bay.

Satire or do you rea[[y mean this?

LabDaddy1 wrote:

f you listen to the whole podcast, there’s a plausible theory that the guy faked his death and did this as a way to get people to pay attention to his manifesto – all the stuff about the Afghanistan incident checks out – the drone and gravitational control stuff is somewhere between insane and terrifying, maybe both. Not saying I believe any of it, but it’s very interesting. I like Sean Ryan and his guests are the real deal, terrific insight and uncorrupted. – I try to take it with a grain of salt, like everything else, but if even 10% of the stuff he’s uncovered about our government lying to us is accurate, then we might as well fold-up the tent.

Absolutely agree. Podcasts as a “source of truth” are by and large garbage.