nick76

That Starship photo was Sweet!!

Thanks for the comment. Here is another.

Another from the feeder.

Here is one from the deck.

I am with you Bassn, my brother in law does all the wood cutting thing and I keep telling him that it is easier to work a little more. At 5 hours a day for lets say 15 days....that is 75 hours of wood cutting. I know I make a heck of a lot more than $10 an hour so at a minimum that is 2 months of heating at that rate. I live in Michigan and the heat doesn't come on until November and is off in March. That is 4-5 months depending on the year. If you got more time than money then it is definitely worth it. For me......much easier to pay for the propane and spend the time with he kids and wife. Enjoy.

What size are you taking these down to for posting purposes. Would not mind sharing.

Glad to see that you got your gun back. Probably for the best that he did not work on your gun. From his poor business etiquette to his rude behavior I doubt he would have fixed it right for you. You would have been in for not only the loss of your money, but also he gun if he didn't fix it right. That is if you didn't get hurt trying to shoot something he messed up. All for the best.

X2 !!!!!!!!!!!!!! X3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know 12.95 seems a bit steep to some, but when you figure that this person is probably paying 800-1200 in rent (just a guess) is really is not that much. Most credit card companies get around 2-5% off the top plus the cost of the equipment they charge you for every month. They still may not be recouping all the money.

This $12.95 "convenience" fee is for them. They are making it easier for you to pay the fee using a credit/ debit card and thus not having to worry about going to the post office or going to the bank. They charge this fee because there is a cost for processing the cards. This fee more than likely is close to the amount that they will deduct from them so they in charge are getting all their money when you use the card. This is a crappy practice and it irks me when I see this. I own a business and we allow our customers to use their cards. We do not charge a "convenience" fee to these people because we believe it is a cost of doing business. If you get people to pay at the time of service there is less chance of not getting paid, so the little bit it costs to collect using a card is minimal. It either should be a universal thing that everyone can charge a "convenience" fee by law or nobody can. There is no difference between a gas station/ restaurant/ doctor's office/ apartment complex when it comes to taking cards. If any of the first three tried to charge you a fee there would be mutiny, but let the last one do it and we are "ok" with it. This is a terrible practice that should be illegal. If you cannot run a business good enough to absorb the cost of doing business then you should close the doors. What is next? A trash fee for them having to throw away your payment coupon you had to mail back in with your payment or a fee to protect your personal information because the gov't is mandating they do so? It is just nonsense.

I am not attached to a physical keyboard as long as the touch screen actually works like it should. The EnvTouch is all over the place even after several calibration attempts and even getting into the service menu to fix it. I think the technology has improved over the last year or two as well so the newer phones have improved on this front. I new the difference in GSM/CDMA was kind of the sticking point. I am also a little leary about Verizon's control issues. I can't see them opening the App store for Apple like AT&T did. They are always looking for a way to make the cash. Do you think the Droid 2 will be better than the Droid X? That is the big question.

Wow, nice pics from the camera. I just can't bring myself to go out and buy one yet. My renew date is coming up here in a couple of months though. I keep holding out for that elusive iPhone on Verizon........I am just afraid I will get another crappy unstable phone like the envtouch I have currently.

My condolences. A good friend is with us forever. Glad you got to visit him one last time. My prayers are with both you and his family. RIP.

Other.......it sounds like you got some good advice and some even better bad advice on this post. Sounds like you really like this girl and so now it is between her father and you. He made some decisions for you and you need to abide by his rules. If you cannot handle those rules then you have more choices to make. Remember though, the best worst case scenario you can hope for if you cannot obey his rules is an old fashioned butt whippin'. The other outcomes may forever be with you as a record. So keep your nose in check, obey his rules and you will be fine. If not....then move on. Many have commented here that the girl is at fault too. I would agree with them completely. I have a 16 yo daughter and even though she has not had sex with anyone yet she is tease. We have raised her to be mature and good thinking, but some days the hormones take over and prying her head out of her arse is impossible. I pitty the poor boy who thinks he is going to get the better end of that deal.

The whole 15-17 age thing is really common in high school. You figure that most schools mix kids from the 14-19 age ranges all the time when they reach high school, so to think that these kids will not date or do "inappropriate" things with one another is just nonsense. I have a 16 yo daughter who will be a senior this year and I would not have a problem with her dating a 14 or 18 year old boy as long as he is respectful and intelligent about his decisions with her. It sounds like this boy may have an urge that puts him at risk for not being trusted with another mans daughter. I would highly recommend you cool your jets, realize that this girl is just 15 and there is plenty of time to chase tail after you decide she is not the one. At 15 we all thought we had the cat by the tail, by 30 most of us realized we were WRONG. This kid is just being a "kid", hopefully he understands his actions before being a "kid" gets him hurt or killed in an adult world. Now stay out of trouble.

How about last thursday...........took me an hour to make a 25 minute commute. Finally got into town and decided I better get some grub, pulled into McDonalds for a breakfast sandwich and there were 25 cars in line. Pulled out and headed to the other one in town.....same thing. Waited in line, finally got my order and when she hands me my drink the lid falls off and I am soaked with Iced Tea. Go to grab my hashbrown and burn the heck out of my mouth. Get to the office and I hear something running. During the night the toilet float broke and was pumping water all night (mind you water is like gold here). Had to replace that. Get ready to leave for the day and my mother calls to inform me that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Make it over to my cousins house where I am doing some remodeling for her and all of my help is sick and not coming, but I have a sheet rock delivery going to be there at 8am Friday. Talk about a long night and a crappy day.

The hard part about this issue is that the waters seemed to have been muddied by the father's own interest in this situation. It appears as though he may have driven himself to financial ruin during this whole training process and had signed a reality TV deal to pay the bills after this was completed. So with that said....was he doing it for her dreams or was he trying to take a careless risk to pay off his debt? At 16 I was living on my own, paying my own bills, had my own car, my own job and was for the most part a functioning adult. I would have been willing to take that risk with the right training. Do I think that all kids are capable of making that decision.....NO. Is my 16 y.o. capable.....NO.

I have a 16 year old daughter and the answer for her would be NO. I can say that in the right context, with the right child, and with proper "training" I would consider it. The 16 year old that I have now......not a chance. She won't even go to her room in a fully finished basement without someone going down the stairs with her so the boogie man doesn't get her.

Beautiful pics. Got a nice camera, but a shame I have not a clue how to use the darn thing. My wife and daughter are good with it.....but I lack the skills to make it seem wonderful.

I understand the financial aspect of things when getting married, but you really need to do this. Not only for her sake, but the sake of those kids. They need the commitment as much as she does. We did our wedding on a very small budget. The smaller you go the better. Everyone has a relative who is artsy.....go to the hobby lobby or similar store and get everything for flowers on sale or with a coupon, get all the other decorations as well. Find a small place to throw something quaint.....only invite those who are essential to keep the cost down, and ask your family to pitch in with the food. I bet you could do this for cheap and it will mean as much to her as any large extravagant wedding that you keep hoping for. The vows are for you and her......the reception is for the people you invite. The night at the hotel afterwards is to make it official. Quit wasting time.

Not good eating....kind oily with bits of silicone.

I am not sure if they have a website or not. I will check this evening if I get home at a decent hour. I have the paperwork at my house. Since it is a berkshire policy I bet they have them listed as an "agent". I know berkshire has a website theberkshire.com Social Security is good as long as you qualify. I have seen many people dragged out to the very end only to be denied for either a short term or long term disability. My aunt who just passed two night ago went through 2 years of court drama when her doctors told her she could not work anymore and was disabled. My brother-in-law is going through it right not after he was disabled through the military for a stroke at 39 y.o. Yet I also know people who can work who were cleared on the first go around. So if I had to hedge my bets on getting that money to survive on, I would rather pay for additional insurance.

I bought my own through a company called 4disability and it is a Berkshire plan. I have also checkout of state farm, farm bureau and AFLAC. Since I have increased my rider for increasing income I am now paying about $215 a month. It covers me for almost $9500 a month and it gives me the annual COLA rider. I begin collecting at 90 days from disability and it will cover me until age 65 at 100% that benefit. Again, it specifically states that if I cannot practice in my office more than 16 hours a week. I am able to work anywhere else and still collect 100% of my benefit still. Yeah $215 a month is a bit of cash, but I am the only income provider in my family and I have 4 kids and a crap load of debt since I started my own business and built a house all within the last 6 years. I needed something to cover it all if something was to happen. Just my 2 cents....watch AFLAC. I used to offer it in my office as a benefit and there are a lot of limitations and exclusions on their policies. They are also not cheap when compared to other companies.

Disability insurance varies from state to state so check with your state regulations. There are also other factors and questions that need to be asked when checking into such. You need to ask whether the insurance is job specific or if it just general. I am a dentist and when I was looking into my insurance there was a large difference between carriers. A lot of them said as long as I could work anywhere I was not disabled. The one I ended up with states that if I am not able to practice in my own office more than 16 hours a week then I am considered disabled. That also allows me to practice in a teaching environment even if I am "disabled" and draw from my disability insurance. Most of the ones I checked into said that as long as I could sit at Wal-Mart and hand out smiley stickers I would not get paid. The other thing to mention is how you get paid. You can get insurance that will cover you from day one or farther out on your disability. The farther out you go the less premiums you will have o pay. On average the 90 day mark is where you begin to see significant breaks in premiums. So you will have to wait the waiting period before you can draw income. The other issue is simple, if you pay for your insurance with you own after tax money then your benefits are tax free. If you pay for them before taxes or your company pays for them then the benefits will be taxed. This is something to keep in mind when applying for an amount. If you are going to get taxed them try to claim a higher amount when signing up. If you are concerned about the Cost of Living then definitely sign up for the COLA option that most companies offer. This allows for your benefits to increase as the cost of living does. Most of the time it is at a set rate. There are also options that allow you to purchase other "riders" so that if you see a large increase in pay you can increase your insurance as well. I know when I got my insurance right out of school I was not making the same pay I make now. They only offered me a benefit based on the income I was currently making. I opted for the increase rider knowing that my income would more than likely increase as I established myself and my practice. Hope this helps.

I have never changed my bearings before and would like to do it this season. MY trailer might get 150 miles a year on it and is single axle. Is there a place that shows how to do this. I am pretty good at figuring things out, just thought if there was a diagram or something I could get a visual head start before the snow lifts this spring.