For a team that’s too often traded back for ‘value’ or ‘quantity’ of picks, I’m really excited to see the Vikings just go after two potential difference makers. The trade up for Turner was brilliant in my mind, he looks like he’s going to be a stud at one of the most expensive and in-demand positions.

Of course it depends if JJMc works out, but consider all the cap space we have available in the next couple of years. We already added quite a bit of talent to the defense through Free Agency, and you have a couple of the most expensive positions starting fresh with rookie deals(QB,Edge).

Apart from some interior O-line help, our offense looks great on paper, a lot of that cap space can go towards getting some help in our secondary and interior D-line and we could have a pretty complete team(again, on paper).

One theory I heard about the Penix pick that could make sense is that they are expecting to get punished for the Cousins tampering stuff with next year’s draft. IF that’s true, they may be worried about whether they’ll even have a 1st round pick next year, which would be the year they head into the end of Cousins contract more or less. So maybe it’s a hedge against that given there was deep QB talent in this year’s draft and Cousins isn’t a long term solution for them.

JEREMY wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Justin Donson wrote:</div>
I mean, I know you’re just waiting for the day that socialism knocks down your door, steals your money, seduces your wife, gives your job to an immigrant, and “turns your kids gay”

So what your saying is socialism found your parents house when you were a kid?

lol wow, you guys are touchier than ever.

Sorry to interrupt your little out of touch conservative square dance!

LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU, SOCIALISM IS BACK AND HE’S GOING TO ABORT YOUR BABY!

Dutchboy wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>supercat wrote:</div>
If it’s so profitable and saves lives why doesn’t the city create there own taxi service. With all the extra money they make they could reduce taxes.

They already lose money with public transit, the trains & busses. There is NOTHING government does better than the private sector when it comes to business.

USPS is a national treasure, and way better than private mail/delivery services. I can mail a letter to my family 5 states away for like $.68 through USPS, or I can pay like $11 to FedEx it. How is a private company going to do better than that? Unless by ‘better’ you mean ‘more expensive so they can be more profitable’.

It should be okay for a service to exist for society who’s goal isn’t to continuously grow their profits and influence, but instead to provide a necessary service to it’s citizens.

Thinks like mail, public transport, healthcare, etc are GREAT examples of something that could exist in a way that they make enough money to cover their expenses. Because guess what, you are paying WAY MORE for those services privately than you would if it was ‘socialized’.

I know you guys love the idea of watching billionaires gain even more wealth and power at your own expense, but maybe you should get over that?

I mean, I know you’re just waiting for the day that socialism knocks down your door, steals your money, seduces your wife, gives your job to an immigrant, and turns your kids gay. Stay vigilant though, socialism knows where you live and it sees where you sleep! You’re going to need at least 75 guns and a lifetime membership to the NRA to stop them**

**Please send your membership dues and donations directly to your NRA representative if you’d like the latest info on where socialism was last seen and tips for how to protect yourself, vote red. Also, here’s a link to pay off Trumps $200M+ bail for him. If we all band together and pool our money together to help him(not socialism), HE will save us from socialism)!

Ok, if you absolutely NEED a goalie on your mount Rushmore then I think it looks like this:

Wayne Gretzky
Mario Lemieux
Bobby Orr
Jean Sebastian Giguere’s pads

How close is this to the old Water Gremlin factory? Didn’t they get shut down because they were leaching lead into the watershed or something in that area?

fishthumper wrote:

Spent the weekend up in the otter tail lake area. Fished 2 different lakes. One still has about 13” of ice. The other has around 12”. Both were still locked solid to the shore. I think that area probably has another 2 weeks of possible <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>ice fishing remaining. I was a bit surprised to find this much ice still remaining and the ice still locked tight to shore.

This is good to know, thank you for posting this! I’m supposed to head up there to fish Friday and Saturday and was pretty nervous there wouldn’t be ice. Looks like Tuesday/Wednesday will be cold enough to firm things up a bit and then it should last through the weekend.

Did you have good luck up there? We’re going to likely just walk out on some smaller lakes in the area.

Not summer, but at the rate of this winter it might be, ice fishing trip in northern Ontario for monster pike.

We might do a family trip to Rocky Mountain National park over the summer.

It’s my 10th wedding anniversary this year as well, so my wife and I are spending 2 weeks in Switzerland to see the alps. A couple days in Zermatt to see the Matterhorn, about a week in the Jungfrau region to see Grindelwald, Lauterbrunnen, etc. One night in Zurich to see Taylor Swift lol, and then a couple days in Gruyere on the way back. Couldn’t be more excited for this trip!

And then there’s a chance I’ll head back up to Canada in the fall!

Yawn, MAGA lost, get over it.

Water wet, grass green, MAGA crowd here think democrats are extreme leftists when they are center to center-right by just about any accurate political compass.

Then they elect absolute bat**** crazy people like Boebert and MTG lol.

GOP is done, it will be a smoldering train wreck for the next 4-12 years until someone finally puts it out of its misery.

On the other side, elected democrats are mostly terrible, but at least don’t push for abortion bans.

That said, “Woooo guns and ‘make 11 year olds who were raped by their fathers carry a baby full term’ “ gets you 40% of the vote in this country.

Good luck when all the boomers die and this younger generation can all vote. They are pissed off and care much more about things that actually matter.

MAGA could be offered a utopian dream where no one has to work and everyone is healthy with perfect everything and they’d say no if it meant that people who look different than them also get it, or if they allowed abortions.

RVRDUX wrote:

Just reviving this old thread. How do these other pellet grills standup to rusting out. I have a Traeger that we have had approximately 5 years. It is completely rusted out with holes through it and now the brackets that hold the drip tray is falling off. Frankly I am very disappointed with the longevity. We probably use it 3 to 4 times a week throughout the year. Also very disappointed in the winter cook. So my question is what can be done to prevent this? Its sits outside under the covered porch with a cover on. So I am in the market for a new.

Thanks,
RVRDUX

Can’t speak to Traeger, but I’ve had my Recteq RT-680 for like… 8 years? The only part that had rust was the powder coated side shelf. I got a stainless steel replacement for free and it looks new.

The cooking chamber looks like it will last another 20 years or so, I don’t see any rust starting on the corners or the lid or anything.

My cover is pretty worn out as well, and lets some moisture/water in, I should get a new one.

Mine sits outside in the element 365 days a year as well, it’s dirty, but sturdy.

No weak points on the hardware either, really heavy duty stainless, looks like they sized everything up 2 sizes from what was actually needed, just to be sure. Drip tray, firebox, grates, shelf, hardware, everything is heavy gauge stainless and I don’t see it wearing out anytime soon.

It’s like my first time doing fantasy football with some people at work.

I think I have a decent team, made better by all the RB injuries this year since I went WR heavy early in the draft.

I’m like 4th in total points forced, and I’m 1-3 lol. My points against are BY FAR the most in the league, so just ran into some bad luck early, hope it turns around!

After 4 weeks I have 160 more points against than the ‘best’ team. That’s fantasy sports though!

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Russia is run by the Mob and Oligarchs (who own the teams).

Well half that is true in the US lol

We are nowhere near a complete enough team to sniff a super bowl any time soon.

We have legitimate talent at exactly one position group, WR. End of list.

Our O-line is bottom tier.
Our D-line is bottom tier.
Our RB room is bottom-mid tier.
Our TE room is mid-upper tier.
Our LB room is bottom-mid tier.
Our secondary is bottom tier.
Our WR room is top tier.
Our QB is middle-upper tier.

This is not a super bowl roster, it would take Patrick Mahomes to make this a contender.

Totally perplexing calls in the last 4 minutes or so of that game. Can’t believe the Chargers went for it on 4th down in that position…

Then we run an RPO and almost fumble the handoff, hated that run with no timeouts.

Terrible clock management after the last first down, which is a hallmark of the Vikings for years.

And then our goal-to-go playcalling/design is just atrocious. If I have to watch our RB run straight up the middle and lose 1/2-3 yards another time…We burn a play with an inside run on every set of downs near the goal line and It. Never. Works. Try to get outside the tackles or run something deceptive or something. But as it stands, we really only have 2 downs to work with as we just waste a play running it up the middle when they’ve obviously stacked the box on defense. You think Bradbury/Ingram/Cleveland are going to win that battle against ANY D-line in the league? C’mon, know the personnel you’re working with.

On that note, how come our pass play design seems to be either a slow developing 20+ yard throw to JJ that sees Kirk get absolutely brutalized, or a dump off to Mattison/Hockenson?

Do you see what the Chargers did when we blitzed(like every play), they had short and intermediate routes to guys like Allen and just ate up the clock and yards. Are you telling me JJ/Hock/Addison/Osborn couldn’t run similar plays? Sick of seeing Cousins just get absolutely wrecked every game.

Can you imagine how many receiving yards JJ would have if we had a competent O-line?

I was surprised the Vikings kept this game close, I expected a route. We need to invest more in the trenches though, that’s obvious, we lose that battle every game against serious teams. It seems like every team we play against has some nasty Nose tackle or OLB that we just can’t handle. Like every single team, but we don’t have any of those guys.

Biggest hobby for me the last couple of years has been climbing, specifically bouldering.

I mainly climb at a gym but have gone outdoors a few times as well.

Bouldering is done usually with just a crash pad and shoes+chalk, no harnesses or ropes to deal with. I’m a wuss so I don’t climb anything very high, and the gym walls top out at about 17 feet(with ample padding on the floor).

It’s an absolute blast. One part physical and one part mental/problem solving. Unbelievable full body workout that’s so just much more engaging than any other type of exercise I’ve done.

Highly recommend it for anyone looking to get in better shape! The gym I go to caters to all skill levels, if you can climb a ladder, then there’s problems there for you to climb!

Hockenson at $11 is an absolute steal if Kelce went for $70, my guess is your JJ + Hockenson for $90 is probably better than his Kelce + WR1 for however much he spent. Hockenson got SO many targets once he moved to the Vikings, I really think he’s going to have a huge year. Kelce is amazing, but also getting up there in age. At some point he’s going to have injury problems or slow down, I’d rather spend top dollar on someone younger, but that’s just me.

Auction drafts are always super interesting, you really need to be able to adjust on the fly to how the drafts are going. Sometimes you get in a draft where people will pay any amount of money for the top 1-2 guys at a position, sitting back can be good here. Other times you get more budget minded people, that’s when you swoop in and get as much elite talent as you can.

Played a lot of golf in my life, still don’t have a hole in one :(. Been very close a number of times, holed out for eagle from the fairway ~6 times, but not hole in one. Hit the pin and barely missed out on that albatross on number 11 at Stoneridge during a match play tournament, that would have been legendary. Also missed a hole in one by inches on the 240 yard par 3 during a club championship there, also would have been cool.

Used to play so much more, but like Mahto said, kids make that tough! Only so many hobbies you can maintain as an adult with young kids! Trying to get my youngest into golf a bit, but don’t want to force it and he’s got minimal interest at this point. That, and these days when I get some free time I’m usually at the bouldering gym, a lot cheaper than golf and it keeps me in better shape!

I also live in Mahtomedi, and will second the recommendation for Logger’s Trail, really like that course. It’s also worth checking out St. Croix National if you haven’t played their in awhile. They have that course in fantastic shape, new owners did a ton of renovation on the course and built a BEAUTIFUL clubhouse with a full restaraunt / bar now. There’s also a sweet looking putt putt course there. The course remains kind of wonky, a lot of elevation change, lots of uphill shots into the green, but it’s a fun challenge!

Browndog wrote:

Justin – I agree with everything you have stated. It does suck, wish I would have went the tandem route to begin with, but wasn’t sure this storage was ever going to happen. I went with the known and am pissed about it now.

Don’t beat yourself up over it too much, you likely made the right decision for the information you had available at the time.

At the end of the day, this is very much a ‘1st world problems’ situation for you, hope you can figure something out.

Agree with the other folks too, maybe some ways to cut weight in the boat that are also net positives elsewhere. I’m also surprised that the factory trailer would be so close to max weight off the lot, I wouldn’t think adding a kicker would screw you up so bad.

I mean, like extreme situation, but if you’re traveling a really long distance, what else can you remove from the boat and move into your tow vehicle? Sounds super insane, but like how much work is it to take your batteries out(or maybe a couple of them?).

I can get mine out in probably 20 minutes, would absolutely not do that often, but if it’s the difference between busting springs on a trip to Canada in the middle of nowhere, I’d consider doing it…Obviously kicker and gas aren’t so easy to detach from the boat, and depending on how your boat is setup, batteries could be a really stupid thing to have to mess with more than once a year.

I was in a kind of similar situation a few years back, looking for a new trailer as my Ranger Trail trailer was really rusting out. It was bad enough that stuff was starting to break, the welds holding the brackets that the bunks are connected to had completely failed, parts of the trailer were feeling squishy and soft, etc.

It really is like the worst position to be in, as it’s very rare for someone to sell a used trailer that fits your boat, especially one that’s in good shape. Most trailers just live with the boat unless the boat is totaled on the water.

I wish I had good advice for you. I’d try to find someone else who’s added an axle to an existing trailer. I’m sure it’s possible, but I’ve just never ever heard of anyone doing that before. I’d be worried about paying $4k to do that and then still have problems or have something not work right. Then what do you do, go back to the fabricators? And if they can’t help you, you’ll be totally screwed on trying to sell that boat in the future. As you have some Frankenstein trailer that nobody will want to touch.

Also, will modifying the trailer cause any problems registering/transferring ownership of the trailer/title in the future?

I only say this because I was in the same spot. I’d consider:

1.) Watching facebook marketplace like an absolute hawk for used boat trailers. They come up every now and then, but DO NOT last long. I lucked out completely and found someone selling my exact same trailer for $1400. His boat was totaled by a tornado, but his trailer was safe in his garage. I went there immediately and bought it on the spot. Later sold mine for like $700 and couldn’t believe my luck. It is possible, but you’ll have to be patient and ready to act.

2.) I’d seriously think about the trade-up possibility. It’s totally sucky, but if you’re like me and need to trailer your boat to the lake every time you use it, then the trailer is equally important as the boat that sits on it. You will not be happy long term with a trailer that continues to cause problems. So, pay somewhere between 4-9k for a new or modified trailer, or use that extra 4-9k to find a boat with everything you want in it. If there was better loan rates right now, and depending on your space situation, you could probably come out ahead by buying a boat now and selling yours in the spring, but that requires a bit more of a bank roll and higher risk. Plenty of people who would be interested in that boat who may only put 100 miles a year on the trailer, at which point the single axel thing may not matter at all for them.

Either way, I recognize that’s a really tough spot to be in with nearly a brand new boat. I HIGHLY doubt that your resale value will match what you spend on a new trailer, or a modified trailer. I don’t think you’ll get much added value for a new trailer as a buyer’s expectation for a 2020 boat is going to be a nearly flawless trailer. And a modified trailer may have the opposite impact, it might scare people away.

This is super helpful, thank you everyone!

I know pouring concrete in a reliable fashion isn’t cheap, just wasn’t quite ready for the price tag!

I have a few PMs I’m gonna respond to, but the examples help give me a ballpark. I also know re-doing the front stoup adds a bit to the cost as I think that sits on / ties into the foundation of the house.

Oh, I should mention that cost included a couple drain systems for two gutters we have. They were going to have those gutters cut down underground and empty out further out in the yard somehow. Which is definitely something we’d love, as right now one of the gutters literally empties out on top of our driveway and leaves a super thick sheet of ice every winter.

I don’t know enough about PP strategy to really contribute a lot here, other than that I remember watching the Blues PP in the playoffs last year and it was just so consistently dangerous. It seemed like they played with just one guy on the blue line more centrally, is that more common in the NHL now? Is it a personnel thing though? Like you need a specific type of player to be able to run that single blue-line look?

Our 2nd line PP absolutely sucks though. Obviously there’s always a big drop off from PP1 to PP2, but look at these PPG numbers from the Wild forwards.

PP1:
KK: 17
Ek: 12
Zucc: 9
Boldy: 8

PP2:
Freddy: 3
Hartman: 1
Johansson: 1
Sundqvist: 1

Is that normal for PP2 units? Maybe that’s fine if your first unit is top tier?

bzzsaw wrote:

I’ve done pretty well in IT since graduating with a Computer Science degree 37 years ago. If I did it over again, I would have chosen HVAC tech. My cabin buddy just sold his HVAC company over a year ago. He built one of the biggest HVAC companies in the Twin Cities. He had over 500 employees when he sold. He is a year younger than me (58). To say he hit it out of the park is an understatement. All the HVAC guys I know make very good money working their day jobs. They can take as many side jobs as they want. They can make bank on the side jobs (not uncommon to make a couple grand on a weekend). I worked masonry growing up and HVAC work is a cake walk compared to masonry.

Wondering if we know the same guy! I don’t know him well, but does his name start with a K and does he have a cabin up on LOTW? If so, he’s great!

gimruis wrote:

Being single and making that should put you in a decent house, depending on where you live. I bought my first house for about $200k when I was single making less than that about 10 years ago.

It’s amazing what 10 years will do. Median sale price in the twin cities was like $240k back in 2013, I think that’s up to like $340k in 2023. Wages have not kept up with that increase in most fields, unless you’re in like cyber security or data science or something.

Not to mention mortgage interest rates are around 8% now, double what they were 10 years ago.

$200k house in 2012 would have had a ~$950 / month mortgage.
$200k house in 2012 would be ~$1,500 / month mortgage.

And that’s before PMI or anything else(which you’d probably have as a first time borrower making $60k).

That’s if you can even find a house for $200k around here. That mortgage discrepancy jumps to $1,000 different per month on a $340k house.

I feel for you Bluegill. My wife and I were ‘able’ to buy a house about 9 years ago, but it’d be a lot harder now. We got a house for ~$280k with <4% interest, and could probably sell our house for $430k today, it’s silly, doesn’t seem like it should be worth that much if you ask me.

It’s not because we worked harder or were smarter or anything, we just had two incomes and were fortunate to have enough money saved up now vs. then.

Brisket is so much less forgiving than pork or other bbq cuts. I went through quite a few average cooks before feeling like I got the hang of the brisket. A few things that have really helped me though:

Wrap in butcher paper partway through the cook. This won’t impede crust formation too much, but does help it cook a bit faster and seems to keep some moisture in. This will help push through the stall a bit too, which is nice.

The most important tip though, is NOT to rely on a temperature to take the brisket off the smoker. There is no magic number for brisket temperature wise. ‘The fork test’ is absolutely the best way to check whether a brisket is finished or not. Or use the temperature probe itself, that works too. Basically, insert it into the meat and it should go in smoothly, with little to no resistance. It should be like going through hot butter basically. If it’s tough, then let that thing cook for another 20-30 minutes and check it again. You may have to do this quite a few times before it’s done. I’ve taken brisket off at anything between like 196 and 210.

When doing the fork test, make sure you are checking both the flat AND the point, a lot of times one will be done before the other.

After that, resting is super important as others said. A couple wraps of foil, then wrap in a towel, and then throw in a cooler and that thing will stay piping hot for hours. I’d do your best to rest at least an hour if you can manage it.

gimruis wrote:

I’m sure Justin would agree with me that the key to putting up a decent score is to hone your short game. You can save a lot of strokes by getting up and down, avoiding 3 putts, and making a few birdies. In HS it was always trying to show off with long drives, but our coach really tried in ingrain into our teenage heads that the short game is what won matches. If you think about it, almost half your strokes on the card are putts.

I agree completely. It’s very common sense, but if you want consistent solid scores:

1. Keep the ball in play off the tee
2. Have a good short game

In college I was too poor to play a lot of rounds, so I’d spend hours on the practice green just messing around, mainly chipping. Even with poor ball striking and inconsistent play off the tee, I’d put pretty low rounds together.

That even continued as I got older, I’d have poor ball striking days at Stoneridge, hit like 3 greens in regulation in 18 holes and shoot a 78. And if you’re playing friends competitively, there is NOTHING more frustrating than playing someone who has a good short game. They see you hack it up off the tee box and approaching the green, then you get up and down from some ridiculous spot and it just deflates them. Meanwhile they hit the fairway, hit a good shot into the green, and two putt for par and you walk away even.

The only thing more frustrating than someone constantly chipping it close after hitting a bad approach is someone who keeps draining long putts on you lol.

Most people just don’t want to practice though, which I get.

And just don’t go on tilt after a bad shot or two. You really only need 1 good shot on a hole to make par!

I love golf!

I used to play a lot more before I got married and had kids, now I only get out a handful of times a year. Hoping that I can get my youngest son into it though, I have so many fond memories of playing with my Dad.

I was a member at Stoneridge over in Woodbury like 8-10 years ago, almost won the club championship out there one year, which was basically the peak of my golf existence. I don’t think I ever got to truly scratch, but I think I was down to a 1.4 handicap.

Stoneridge is a GREAT course, maybe just a tiny step down from Troy Burne. It’s challenging, while still being somewhat forgiving off the tee. Some big numbers out there though if you’re not good around the greens or bunkers/waste areas. It’s links style with elevated/crowned greens. I haven’t played there in a few years though, so I can’t speak to the conditions. Not a ton of OB on the course and very little water, but all the OB is on the right lol. They have great food at the on-course restaurant as well, so if you want to parlay your round into a nice steak dinner or something this is a good bet!

As for other courses, the Jewel down in Lake City is a great course that’s not far from Wisconsin, but that is further south.

The Royal golf club in Lake Elmo is another nice course to look at, although again I think it’s a step below Troy Burne. It was formerly owned by 3M and called Tartan Park. It was bought out and then redesigned as an 18 hole track, Annika Sorenstam designed the front 9 and Arnold Palmer designed the back. It may have been the last course Arnie worked on before passing away, but don’t quote me on that!

If it wasn’t for a few really weird/wonky holes, I’d suggest White Eagle as well. If you’re group isn’t super snooty about course design it’s a fun track, lots of elevation change, but a few holes are just too much ‘target golf’ for me.

ThunderLund78 wrote:

There’s at least one launch company on Mille Lacs that operates big pontoons (on the west side right by Garrison) and I imagine conditions get similar. But I assume they know when to call it.

Mille Lacs would still freak me out in a pontoon, but it’s a different animal I think. There’s at least a couple points / islands on the south and east end of the lake you could pull around in an emergency, but mainly there’s just so many more launches/harbors you could retreat to.

Or, you can base your day around the wind and just drive over to whatever side of the lake you want before you launch. I think so much of it is fishing locations as well, so many long runs on LOTW depending where you want to fish.

Once you get out on LOTW, depending where you are there is just like nowhere to run and it could be so much lake to cross before you get to safety. Can definitely get scary and nasty on Mille Lacs too, but you likely have a run of just a couple miles back to safety somewhere, maybe a bit more. Heavy east or NE wind whips up on LOTW and you’re on 16 mile or Stoney point and woof, that’s a nasty ride in.

Okay wtf, seriously, a pontoon on LOTW? You couldn’t pay me to take a pontoon out on that lake, wind can whip up quickly and MAN does it get nasty up there.

Relatively shallow water + heavy wind + long fetch = DISASTER. I’ve been on that lake enough to have a lot of respect for what it can do to even a well-suited boat.

The only inspector person I ever was annoyed with was up north one year fishing a small lake with a really shallow landing. I was loading the boat on the trailer and could barely get it onto to the bunks cause it was so shallow, so I got it started on there there and gave it just a little juice to get it to ‘set’ on there, talking like 1/2 a second. Got out and winched it like the remaining 6+ feet or so and pulled out. I’ve never had to winch my boat so far in my life.

He came out and then lectured me about powerloading the boat and how I’m the reason landings get all messed up. I was like, “yeah I don’t think I like really powerloaded it, I gave it one little burst of gas to get it onto the bunks and literally had to winch it super far.” I could totally be in the wrong there though, I don’t know, I always thought powerloading was when you like laid on the gas all the way up to the winch post.

Then he asked if I had any water stored in the livewell and I said no. Then he asked ‘what about the ballast?’ I was like, “Uhhh I don’t think I have one of those?” And then he like kept pressing me on it. “Are you sure?”

I have a Ranger Reata, so I’m not sure if he just meant like…was I transporting water in other storage compartments of my boat? In the bilge? I was really confused and he just kept pressing me on it. All the while just was just getting ravaged my mosquitoes.

Was just a really strange experience lol, all the other folks have been very friendly.