tindall wrote:

Anyone know how the child credit direct payments impact taxes? I was under the impression that they would be lowering our refund if you didn’t turn them off.

It was an advanced credit for 6 months. So rather than getting a credit of $3,000 (ages 6-17) or $3,600 (ages 0-5) with your tax return. You have already gotten 1/12 of that each month for the last 6 months. Lots of people will be upset when their normal refund is lower than other years, but they fail to realize they already got part of their refund each month for the last 6 months.

buckybadger wrote:

Something that’s a couple years old and slightly used would be ideal (but obviously hard to come by at a reasonable price). If the right deal came up tomorrow we’d be in, or if it was 2 years from now that’s fine too.

That’s kind of how I was when buying a Ranger a few years ago. There were good used deals that popped up on facebook and craigslist, but you just had to be the first one to message them because they sold quick. I knew what I wanted, had cash in hand, and finally after about half a year was able to have one pop up that I saw within minutes of it being posted and owned it a few hours later.

Bearcat89 wrote:

Your guys kids don’t wake up naturally at 6 like ours do. Ever since new born. Lol thats why I beat them to it and wake up at 345

I was about a 4:30 wakeup, and had “me-time” or workout till 6:00 when they’d start to wake. Then they started getting up earlier. Then when I started getting up earlier I noticed it affecting my everyday energy levels and moods, getting irritated easier, etc. Throw in getting up 1-5x a night between all of them, and I just wasn’t getting good sleep. I’m somebody that needs sleep, and quite frankly it does wonders for your health (even weight loss) too.

BigWerm wrote:

Same here, except with my two young boys they don’t sleep in anymore which is when I used to work out, so now it’s choosing between working out and angry/tired wife or letting her sleep and having an angry/tired self.

Similar… I was in a good early morning routine and then one of our 3 kids also decided for the last 2 years that he was going to become an inconsistent early morning sleeper and wakeup between 4:30-6:00 each day. I’ve since gotten a new routine of a 1 hour window right after work and before picking them up from daycare, but I wish I could get the early mornings back. Someday..

I try to do something active every day for an hour, usually 2 days in a row of lifting, 1 day of light cardio or “active rest”, repeat.. I really enjoy weight lifting, it’s my “me time” each day. I’ve built a pretty quality garage gym over the years. If I don’t do something active every day I can notice it in all aspects of my life, from knee/shoulder/joint pain (if I don’t use them, they hurt), to enjoying life and family, more mentally happy, to getting less agitated with my young children.

Stanley wrote:

If your fsa is compatible with the hsa as far as being able to cover the same expenses just use the fsa until you hit the max then use the hsa. You can roll over up to $500 a year on the fsa and you never loose on the hsa if you don’t use it. You can also invest with the hsa after you have more than $1000 in the account. I haven’t touched my hsa in 3yrs and I max it out each year. I look at it as another investment. Due to my hsa I am only allowed to do the limited fsa maybe you signed up for the wrong one and can correct it?

It’s not compatible since it’s not a limited FSA.

Already do invest our HSA, and I agree that they are very overlooked account and everybody should max out their HSA each year.

We did sign up for the wrong FSA, I don’t believe there is a way to correct it but that’s what I’m looking into.

I am someone that thoroughly researches things, especially when they involve money, I’m pretty upset with myself on how I messed up with this one…

Stanley wrote:

I have a fsa and hsa. The fsa I have can only be used for dental and vision since I have a hsa as well. We used the fsa in the past for one of our kids braces and for my wife’s lasik this year. There are different kinds of fsa’s you would need to see which one you signed up for since some are not compatible with a hsa

We have a full, not limited. If it was the limited, then we’d be okay on dental and vision.

fishthumper wrote:

Different strokes for different folks. Some say. low to no Carbs are the key. Others say eating lots of Carbs are the key. Some say exercise is the Key. Others say diet is the key. Probably no right or wrongs here. I think what’s important is finding what works for you and staying with it.
I think to start I’m going to start drinking way more water and cut the soda’s. Cut down on the Carbs. The wife did well on a Keto diet awhile back but I was not much help and she stopped. Told her I was on board with getting back on it. Think I’ll throw in some type of fasting. I normally don’t eat in the mornings and tend to eat a large dinner. One of my main downfalls is I tend to snack in the evenings and often on poor things. I’m going to try and stop eating anything after 6:00 or so. Thanks for all the good ideas. I know the main thing is to pick something and stay with it. Getting old sucks , but if healthy and in shape I’m sure it sucks a lot less.

I think you’re on the right track, but does anybody know anyone that has sustained long-term results from Keto? Not really, because it is not fun..

A lot of other registered dietician nutritionists will say that overeating in the evening is a result of undereating the rest of the day.

Nutrition isn’t a one size fits all, and no 2 people are the same. I’d recommend spending a few hundred dollars and getting some sessions with a registered dietician nutritionist and really dialing in on a plan/lifestyle that fits for you.

I’m the opposite of fasting. A typical day for me.
6:30am – Breakfast 1, something with eggs and veggies (usually an egg bake I make on Sunday to quickly reheat each morning of the week. Try to get around 40g protein in.
9:30am – Breakfast 2, something simple that can be prepared ahead of time and eaten at work quickly. Usually overnight oats with fruit, protein powder, healthy fat mixed in. Try to get around 30g protein in.
12:00 – Lunch – something that won’t get me feeling sluggish for the rest of the day and covers all nutritional groups. Try to get around 40g protein in.
2:30 – Snack – Cottage cheese and fruit or veggie. Veggies and hummus, lunch meat. Something that can get about 20g protein in and easy to digest.
5:00 – Post workout snack to tide me over till supper. Higher carb, some protein. Usually a smoothie of various fruits/veggies.
6:00 – Supper – Something that covers all groups, try to get around 40g protein.
9:00 – Bedtime snack – usually a greek yogurt bowl with fruit and healthy fat. Can get very creative in how to make them and satisfy a sweet tooth. Try to get around 30g protein in before bed.

There’s only one way to lose weight, a calorie deficit. There’s a million ways and opinions on how to create a calorie deficit. Everybody is different, but roughly 3,500 calories = one pound. If you can go in a 500 calorie deficit a day, you should lose roughly one pound a week. Exercise is great and I’d highly recommend some form of it, but if you don’t want to do it just skip it and eat healthy.

Diets don’t exist, healthy lifestyles do. Keep it fun. Don’t restrict yourself. You want that donut? Eat it, just don’t eat 5 of them a day everyday. Slowly make healthy changes. Drink a glass of water when you wake up. Slow down when you eat. Get in quality snacks between meals.

Some thoughts I like to follow:
“eat the rainbow” – each color serves a nutritional purpose. Get in a diverse diet.
Protein is extremely important – factor every meal and snack around protein, then fill in the rest with carbs and healthy snacks. Protein also helps with satiety, feeling fuller longer and less binge eating later.
Carbs are your friend – it’s your bodies energy source.
If it comes from a plant, animal, ground, earth – eat it, as much as you want (almost). If it comes from a factory, wrapper, box, etc., avoid it or have it in small quantities.
Always enter each day or week with a plan on for all of your meals and snacks, that way you can stay on track very easily.
I would not recommend it to somebody starting out on a health journey, but tracking food with myfitnesspal is extremely helpful, although it may take the fun out of the journey when just starting off, and right now you want to keep it fun. Something simple like 40% of daily calories are protein, 40% are carbs, 20% are fats. Use an online calculator to figure out how many calories a day you burn, subtract 500 from it, and go from there to figure out if you should bump up or down your intake.

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Last year I went to Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri for a couple days of guided Crappie fishing in early March. Fishing was great and a lot of fun both days. Weather though… it was 60s and 70s there leading up to the trip, 30s and absolute downpour rain the 2 days of fishing, 70 the day we left. Conversely, it got into the 50s here in Minnesota for the 2 days we left. So we left for a mid winter fishing trip, to fish out of a boat in our ice fishing suits, while it was warmer 10 hours north.

Thanks for the advice all.

When is generally the best time to buy one used? I’m guessing after the ice season when nobody wants to store one the rest of the year?

Lots of thinking to do it on still, and I’m not in a rush.
New/nice/big right away?
Or maybe a smaller used one for a couple years that I can use close to home and have short outings with, then if we like it, upgrade, or know that I can pretty much sell it for what I bought it for.

I like a lot of the parenting tips for getting out with kids, especially the one on one time. I always try taking all 3 to give my wife a break so she can get something done. I do notice when I have 1-1 time with any of the children, it’s very enjoyable, they talk and laugh non-stop, are more open to doing new things, etc.

When it was just one kid I still got out quite a bit, looking back. Did a lot of like 5-10am or 6-midnight fishing trips on local lakes. Two kids got a little less trips. Three kids, and nearly no local trips. It’s tough and I feel guilty if I’m gone in the evening forcing my wife to put all 3 to bed, and if I go after that I’m usually too worn down now days. Or you never know when one might not sleep well, so I want a good nights sleep…

I’ve kind of transitioned from a few hours a few days a week to about 2-3 trips a year (combined ice and open water) that are a few days long, sometimes pay a guide, and hit it hard. If I take a local trip now, I usually just take a day off work – that way I’m still there to help in the morning and evening and kids are at daycare/school during the day.

dhpricco wrote:

One thing I have heard over the years about kids is make the trips short and leave when they say they are done. You want to make it fun and not burn them out.

This is one thing I always do and am a big proponent of, even if it means you just got the holes drilled and it’s already time to leave. We’ve had trips that have had involved fishing. Some that have involved no fishing and playing on the ice or snow.

dhpricco wrote:

The older kids took shifts and my wife dropped one off and took the other back home half way through.

I should do this some… we’ve got a number of lakes within 20 minutes and could easily do this. This would also allow me to maybe find some fish and have a portable set up and ready for them too – increasing their time on the ice.

Alagnak1 wrote:

When my kids were little like that we ice fished. Once they hit about 8 and are in multiple sports even in the same season that became the full time every weekend job and <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>ice fishing became all but impossible. The nice hydraulic shack just sat in the driveway. I’m lucky to get one single weekend without a tournament in a winter to get them out at this point. Summer is almost as bad with sports and activities. Getting them on a week fishing trip in the summer I’m still pulling them out of stuff I’m paying for.

Part of me says that I should not get one because I have not ice fished much lately. The other part of me says that getting one will get us back to fishing more, like I always did. Then part of me says, save the money and rent an ice house one or two weekends a year.

Everything you read says not to wear N-95 masks out in public. Well, I have a few in the toolbox that I’ve bought at Menards over the years when needed for various projects. Not my fault I bought them years ago, and now I’m not supposed to wear the best simply because I will be shamed by others for “hoarding them” from healthcare workers.

Co-Workers wife is a Doctor, so it’s been interesting to here her perspective through him. She says the homemade cloth masks, “might not help, but they also won’t hurt anything. You should probably wear one when out in public. They definitely will not stop you from getting the virus, but they may stop you from spreading it to someone else if you are unknowingly contagious and not showing symptoms.”

2 quotes I live by that are related to time in the line:

My time isn’t more important than yours, yours isn’t more important than mine.

If you’re not 10 minutes early you’re late.

Strikemaster LiteFlite. Anybody want a reliable Jiffy 2500? Make an offer…

Last summer I would have thought I’d reply to this post by saying Polaris Ranger, but didn’t get out and use it much.

K-12 Schools in Ohio are cancelled for at least the next 3 weeks. I would assume a democratic state like MN and their governor will be following suit eventually. It will now start to hit home for some people – are parents going to be taking those 3 weeks off work too if they don’t have childcare?

Nope. Leaving for Devils Lake tomorrow morning. Hoping things don’t get so crazy in the few days that I am gone that I can still cross the border to come home (half way joking).

I personally am not worried about my health. I am slightly worried about the effects of everybody else doing dumb things – robbing and looting stores for supplies, even homes? Who knows… there are crazies out there. This is getting out of hand, and I’m not talking about the virus, I’m talking about the reactions. I picture this being like a few scenes from the movie, “I am Legend.”

I’m leaving for Devil’s Lake tomorrow and escaping civilization for a few days. I will probably be screened(joking?) at the boarder when I return and showing up to work with an email saying we are now working from home.

onestout wrote:

Let’s assume the worst and we are all going to contract it, then what. How long does it last, how bad is it? Are talking 105 fever for 3-4 weeks or is it a fever for a couple days and then you move on with life. Question is how will this affect the majority of healthy people out there?

From what I understand (from co-workers spouse who is a doctor), unless you are in bad health, infant, or elderly, you most likely won’t know you even have it. For the average individual, no different than the normal seasonal flu or cold.

Also stated the death numbers will be severely exaggerated because most people who have it won’t come in to get tested or ever know they have it.

Ice Cap wrote:

That’s one place or Facebook market place. There’s at least one listed in the classifieds here. I think a lot of nice used ones are sold privately between family members or friends but there are plenty out there to be found.

I see lots on facebook market place. I have also been selling a lot of unused items/junk the last month or two, listing everything on both craiglist and market place. I would say 85% of what has been sold has been on facebook. I probably like the facebook one better too, you can look at their profile and get an idea of who you are dealing with.

I don’t bring my lab too often with me. I do when I am going to be fishing by myself, away from others, and am going to be traveling by ATV across the ice. It’s nice exercise for him to run next to me all day and get in some off season conditioning.

Kris Berg wrote:

Where will Pheasant Fest be in 2021?

Sioux Falls, Feb 19-21, 2021
https://www.pheasantsforever.org/Pheasant-Fest.aspx

My guess is with a few precautions you will still be good in Southern MN on Saturday or Sunday. Main lake ice should be good. Some of the problems could come in accessing the ice if the only access point is on the north side of the lake receiving a lot of direct sunlight and is one that was heavily used by vehicle travel all winter. If you can find a lightly used walk in access on the south side of a lake or an area that’s been shaded, then you should be perfect, I would think even for ATV use. Keep in mind things like melting water running into the drilled holes can open up a hole fast, especially if there’s a bit of wind to swirl it around. Checking with a spud bar as you go is always a good option. Better to be safe than sorry and use your own judgement.

I’m a big meal prep person (on Sunday I usually make 5 lunches for the week), and my wife “won’t eat” pheasant, which means I eat about 1 a week/every other week. I’ve noticed that I can get 5 meals for myself off of a whole bird. I try to end the year with my MN Limit of 9 birds plus my SD Limit of 15 birds in the freezer. Gives me 24 weeks worth of pheasant. Through cooking all of those (and I’m not a pro cook), I have figured out a few things and there’s about a million different ways to cook it.

I usually cook them in a crockpot for 5 hours on low, pull them out right before they are about to fall apart (right before any little bones and tendons start to fall off and make their way to the bottom), shred them, add back into crockpot to finish cooking for an hour or 2 and add them to any variety of dishes.

This week I made pheasant chili – just put in any of your normal special chili ingredients plus the whole pheasant. Pull the bird at 5 hrs, shred the meat, add back in.

Last week was Beer Can Pheasant on the grill – Similar to “beer butt chicken.”
https://honest-food.net/barbecued-pheasant-on-the-grill/

Week before was Pheasant Tacos – Whole bird, jar of salsa, cut up onion in crockpot, shred meat, add to tacos.

Dutch ovens work great. In the summer when the garden was plentiful with cabbage and cherry/grape tomatoes, I simmered a pheasant with either of those in the dutch oven on low for an hour or two. I also made a lot of pheasant salads in the summer when the garden was full of produce and lettuce, just put the bird in the crockpot with some sort of liquid (I like Italian Dressing).

In the fall when apples are plentiful, I’ll fill the crockpot with apples and pheasant. Mix into things like a stir fry.

I would recommend searching this website for a variety of recipes, Hank Shaw is a great cook when it comes to Wild Game. He also has a few books.
https://honest-food.net/

tangler wrote:

I think you got this backwards rabbit.

Well… meant that you’ll run into anybody and everybody. Ones that can load quick and will intimidate you. Ones that aren’t prepared and spend 30 minutes at the launch taking everything out of their vehicle into the boat. Nice boats. Old boats.

I don’t fish the river often and knew nothing about the Mississippi River, it’s pools, rules, or where to start when I moved to Minnesota 7 years ago. It can be intimidating when trying to figure out a starting point.

I would recommend to go to Evert’s Resort in Hager City, WI (your MN License will work for the WI side). There are enough people around to help you out for your first time, do not be afraid to ask questions to anybody – the person launching next to you, the bait shop, anyone. On a nice spring weekend you will see a lot of people and potentially wait to launch. You will run into the person in the $100,000 boat that can launch by themselves in 5 seconds, you will see the person in a $10 tin can boat that will take 30 minutes to launch with a group of people.

It is a river, so think safety. Lifejackets. GPS lake chip that marks wing dams if you have one. Talk with the bait shop to have them also show you on a map where some dangers could be in the water. Know the buoys and what they mean for marking the channel. There will be enough people fishing this time of the year, for your first time out – honestly just follow the crowd until you kind of figure out your own pattern, and then branch off. 90% of the people fish on about 5% of the river. While there are still fish on all the remaining 95% of the river.

That said, I’ve had days where I have caught walleye after walleye. Returned the next day to the same spot, same tactics, and couldn’t find a fish. 3 out of every 4 trips are pretty fun! 1 out of every 4 I seem to get skunked. I also haven’t been there the last 2 years either….

Coletrain27 wrote:

This is the replacement one they sent me with the black plastic bushing on it.

I am 90% certain my new one they sent me did not have that on it.