I am in the exact same position, hoping to pull the trigger in a couple weeks. I have looked at the volvo, subaru, 4 runner, pilot, pathfinder, and kia. I was almost ready to put a deposit on the pilot but then I learned about the tellurides and started reading reviews. I was dealing with the same “no kia” vibe from the wife. I like the telluride specs better on paper and once I drove one and messed with it I was sold. The car is marginally smaller on the outside but has more interior space, and the little features are waaaaay beyond the pilot for the price. I personally don’t care, but for the wife every beeping/camera/lane assist thing is invaluable and the interior is just amazing. I am also leery of any first production year, which the 23 pilot is (I would not have bought the older style pilot for seat size/folding reasons). We are also people who keep cars forever and the kia warranty is insane. She gets back from Chile in a week and we will go drive the telluride – I expect that will be the end of it.

Tried to clarify my original statement – I plan to always have a half ton also, mostly wondering if I could also tow with an suv in the summer since having 8 seats can be helpful getting to, or at the destination.

For example, I’m often in a situation where we are doing something with another family and 2 of us have to work an extra day and will ride up separate, so I want to move my trailer, myself and 2 kids and neighbor and their 3 kids. Or even 3 adults and 4 kids. Or we want to cram 8 in for a trip to the restaurant.

Youbetcha wrote:

I would factor it in. Would hate to buy something you cant tow your rig comfortably with. No clue if you would consider a mid sized truck but it might be worth checking into.

I have a half ton too – just might be a gap without one if it finally dies too soon, and wondering if I could choose between the two during the summer. Don’t wanna buy 2 cars back to back.

If you ever figure out that those stoppers can fit into wine bottles and you name it Carl and make a barfing sound when pouring $2 chuck at Thanksgiving it might become a family tradition.

Not that I would know.

I have run an anazon xantrex 1000w with one costco deep cycle in my house for years. Works to run a 32″ TV, charge things, and run 12v fans and lights for long weekends just fine.

If you want to run fancy electronics you might need a “pure sine” inverter. It is the same as generators – the super cheap ones might not run what you want.

I’m gonna win a billion dollars on mega mil tonight so Friday the 13th is cool with me.

I predict that this will go the same way augers did. People will resist and swear that gas is far superior, then some will catch on, then eventually we will be arguing between different brands of electric blowers. Sign me up for the day that people can’t give away their gas blowers like the auger in my rafters.

Once they dial in both the grass and snow market you solve the problem of batteries sitting unused. Getting a new battery will suck, but it is way easier and faster for Joe “I don’t take care of stuff” than dragging your machine in for a carb clean. Plus, I know I don’t at all track the price of that fancy non-oxy gas I’m buying all the time and might be surprised how much a spend on gas/oil as opposed to a battery every few years.

My truck doesn’t have auto and I only use H if it’s really bad and I’m slipping. I feel like my 06 (and previous vehicles) wasn’t made to drive all the time in 4wd because of how the differential seems clunky on tight turns. I drove the in-laws new rental 4runner over xmas and they had it in H and it felt the same way turning around in parking lots.

I am interested in learning if using 4wd alot is bad (vs AWD) as we are approaching the need for new cars.

I believe he gave her a quarter to have a rat chew it off, not moles or mice.

Is it even summer if dad isn’t swearing at the Coleman brass regulator sleeve that won’t bite the threads?

I will be talking to a tax person or lawyer – I am mostly just trying to gather some preliminary insight as to if forming one it is worth it.

My professional liability insurance is the main risk safeguard. My understanding is that the LLC is useful because the clinic pays the LLC, and then the LLC can distribute money (my salary, expenses, etc.) in ways that are tax advantageous.

One of the guys I talked to said that he is able to deduct enough expenses already and that its not worth his time to go the LLC route.

Again, I’m just fishing for some info as I enter something new to me. I’m located in the cities.

We only had about 4-5″ but my lil single stage was huffing and puffing. Glad I cleared once already because it is not stopping and is hot n’ heavy!

“You can’t split the case with the augers installed on the shafts.”

See, that is why the people who do it know, and it makes perfect sense now that I think about it.

One of the videos I watched showed nearly everything that could go wrong with this process which is why I was hoping to avoid messing with the pulley/etc because I don’t have the tools to help him if the bad stuff happens.

I do need to take a much closer look at the machine again because I just listened to what he said happened and went to his garage, spun the auger, looked at the pins and stuff but did not fire it up.

It is a crafstman 24″ blower that looks to be newer and rust free, but he bought it secondhand.

Luckily I picked up a toro single stage for $20 while buying something else from a guy and got it running with a gas swap and jet clean so my neighbor can have a blower while we sort it out. Maybe we just need more beer.

Yea it is not binding – it spins freely about halfway around suggesting to me that the gear is missing half its teeth.

I just don’t see why I can’t just remove the one main auger without messing with the impeller, but usually the people who know why know why.

I am about 235lb and agree that float is the most important thing. There are lots and lots of shoes available everywhere these days that are for people wanting to walk around on groomed trails or 6″ of snow.

I have some cheaper 36″ Tubbs, there is nothing particularly fancy or light about them, and the bindings are not great, but they have decent float in deep snow. I don’t do any real “work” stuff with them, just take a hike now and then. 250lbs seems to be the top end, or even too much for most of the typical consumer brands – if I wanted to hunt or cover real distance I would get something lighter and larger with a nice secure binding.

That doesn’t seem very old. I run extra gas I have through my truck whenever I go to fill my various nonoxy cans. I even run leftover mixed gas in my truck when I swap my boat tank from outboards to being a generator extended run system.

I am pretty sure that for every sport I have enrolled my kids in over the past 5 years we have gotten a “we need coaches or we have to cancel some teams” email. It is unfortunate. I finally agreed to “help” coach t-ball and was paired with a guy who traveled for work more than half the time. At that age it worked out ok because I have experience teaching kids and I’m organized, but I know/care next to nothing about baseball, which certainly doesn’t seem ideal.

My biggest lesson learned from being involved in various things is to clearly set your expectations for parents right away. T-ball practice was pretty easy to run alone, but the parent just sat like lumps during games while their kids played in the dirt, chased each other with sticks, or generally misbehaved. Fourteen 4 and 5 year olds needed crowd control if the coaches were to actually run a game.

I also “coached” Lego league which made a big deal of scheduled parental involvement. It was a ton of work prepping the parents to help, and with few exceptions it made that part of the time awkward and unenjoyable. I learned after the fact that some of the seasoned leaders just axed the parent involvement.

We have brought kids to bars since they were infants – most breweries around the cities cater to families, and the bars usually have a some sort of game. Usually it is food related, but not always. I have to think the places would miss out on a lot of revenue with a hard ban. If we stay a little long for bingo or visiting with friends a tablet with headphones works wonders.

Only thing we’ve had close to a bad experience was when we were running around all day and stopped at the local dive bar for a late dinner of Heggies and Santa had to scramble to put his beard back on.

Yea, I haven’t used a flashlight since halogen mag lights were the rage over 20 years ago (unless you count my cell phone “flashlight”). Headlamps are the only way to go. I have petzel, black diamond, Duracell, etc. Honestly I brought the amazon USB rechargeable cheapos on my last multiday river trip because they are all just about the same these days, and I can run off my solar or battery pack if they die, which they never do in a week.

Thanks guys. I will look up some of those specific flies – seems like I have a few that at least look similar. For this trip I’m stuck with the #5. Due to some river chaos we have to fly in this year so we should have shorter paddle days and if we stop around noon some days we can often beat those strong afternoon canyon upward winds.

I spent some time this weekend at the inlaws lake cabin trying to cast – it is definitely a complicated art. This trip will be a crapshoot fishing wise, but it’s a start. I’ve spent so many years chasing whitewater on these amazing rivers and dialing all those skills and gear in – I’m feeling it is time to add fishing to the mix.

I think you can google how far your sitting area is to the TV and they calculate the “ideal” size. Too small and it looks small, too big and you have to shift your field of vision to see the whole screen.

From my experience don’t overthink it and over pay. Get a Costco TV the size you need and maybe get the extended warranty.

What is the build type/condition of the shack? If the other option is a tent, couldn’t you just gut the whole thing, plug the holes and treat it as a wooden tent until you can remodel it?

Pinesol floor cleaner takes sap off very effectively and might be better than some of the harsher chemicals.

I’ve used most of the high end soft sides and I would argue that Engle is the best – but it comes at the expense of being a little harder to get stuff in and out with the single top zipper. I have kept food iced in an Engle HD20 for 8 days on a fairly warm trip where it was getting shaken around most of the day. Only reason we use soft sometimes is when the space/weight of a hard cooler is too much.

But IMO all the arguments about the cooling function any of these soft or hard coolers are kinda pointless for people who are just spending a day drinking beers out of them. Buy the one that has features you want, looks nice, or conveys the social status you want.

Well I learned a lot about insurance in the last 2 days. Turns out I have liability coverage for watercraft under 75hp through my homeowners insurance, which could then extend to my umbrella policy if I find a way to do over $300k of damage with my boat. According to Justin and other insurance brokers the permissive use stuff in MN covers whoever is driving.

So I could have left it at liability and not gotten a specific pontoon plan, but I got a comp/collision plan through progressive with a $500 “vanishing” deductible for $100. Seems like a no brainer for a $7000 boat.

“Yes. I am required to declare operator(s) of the watercraft when I renew my boat insurance.”

So do you have to gather all their info and does the company run all their driving records?

Thanks – I’ll try some more with it. Here is the serial:

Attachments:

1. 

   20220704_102121-scaled.jpg
   

I love you guys. This is why I come here.

So I see a rusted off clip – does this mean I can simply attach it again up high and call it a day?

If so, yay!

“Not trying to be all “ah back in my day blah blah blah” because I never want to be that guy, maybe times are just changing and instead of actively participating and being decent at 3 sports, kids are narrowing it and just focusing on one or two.”

My kid just turned 6 and was enjoying wrestling and basketball and was already told that he would have to pick one because they are “conflicting” sports. We’re still navigating how sports will fit in, but at this point we’re pretty sure that we won’t give up our family pursuits of camping, whitewater rafting/kayaking, and other outdoor stuff, and we aren’t going to spend our kid’s childhoods functionally divorced because of sports. I don’t think there is one right answer – just attend to what your family as a whole and as individuals value and make your best decisions.