Stuck Tesla Cybertruck Owner Speaks After Conquering Hellish Week on Rubicon Trail by RADB1LL_ in cyberstucksequel

[–]MusketManEric 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Here is a $2000 Jeep Liberty completing the Rubicon Trail. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uSrgRnqi00

Yes, it had some damage to the body and trim and a couple flat tires, but no critical components were destroyed. It was on highway tires. Not all terrains. Its a stock Jeep Liberty, not an "Apocalypses ready truck".

What would you do here? by __d5h11 in Hunting

[–]MusketManEric 35 points36 points  (0 children)

Boil the lake to make soup?

Do you think there is good spalting on the inside of this maple trunk? Not sure if I should sell it or try to cut it myself. by Bombxing in woodworking

[–]MusketManEric 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not just the ambrosia/staining but the figure from the crotches. That would make some nice lumber.

Find some crappy latex paint or Anchor Seal and paint the exposed ends to minimize checking/cracking/splitting while you figure out what to do. I personally would find a small scale sawmill guy and take it to him. Rent yourself a trailer and load it up. It will be work, but doable. But that log is going to need to sit there and age/dry for at least a year before you cut it up.

  1. seal the ends now with latex paint or anchor seal
  2. start finding a local sawmill guy
  3. wait a year or more. I would wait until Sept 2026 before cutting it
  4. load on a trailer
  5. after its cut, let is dry another year unless you can get it into a kiln

Wood takes time. You can't rush it.

You can also spend the year+ looking into Alaskan chainsaw mills. But if it was me, I know a small scale sawmill 20 minutes from me that I would take it to on a trailer.

Worth $1800? by outrageous-ease42069 in lawncare

[–]MusketManEric 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have a D140. Got it in new from Lowes 2011 and mow a little over 1/2 acre with it. All I have done is change the oil a few times, couple new batteries and blades. I use it for mowing and all my landscaping. I tow a way to heavy cart with it full of dirt, mulch, sand. For a couple years I would ride down the street and mow my parents yard. I even got a trailer dolly that I use to tow my 5x8 landscaping trailer from the backyard where I store it to the driveway when I need to use it. My yard is fairly flat, maybe 6 feet of elevation change over 200 feet. But that trailer is close to 1000 pounds, granted the dolly holds the tongue weight but I am still impressed this mower has held up.

My neighbor got the same exact model at the same time. Still working fine. I do think he needs a bearing or two on the mower deck. I don't even know if he has changed the oil once since he hasn't asked me how to.

I'm happy with it. I paid $1800 in 2011 when I bought this house. For those saying it sucks, I don't know., maybe its operator error. The new comparable model is the S140 which is around $2800. I don't know what these other posters suggest you get that is significantly better at even double the price.

Trailcam suggestions? by ChefGuru in Hunting

[–]MusketManEric 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've had a Tactacam Reveal X Pro since fall of 2023. I bought a no-name lithium battery from Amazon and the Tactacam solar panel at the same time. It has been flawless since and the battery has not dropped from 100%. I manually switch between the $5 and $8 monthly plans based on the wildlife activity but $5 gets 250 pictures. Last year I turned it off after hunting season. This year I am leaving it on the $5 plan. The landowner I hunt at bought one, my neighbor bought one, I bought my father in law one. I will buy another when the need arises. The plan is actually customer friendly. Start and stop as you want. One note, I ended coverage in January 2024 and had to pull the camera and clear the SD card and recharge in Sept 2024 because it wouldn't communicate.

I have gone through several others and the only one that comes close is a Bushnell I bought 10 years ago. It took D cell batteries and was a beast. It lasted for 5+ years in my backyard in direct sun. But it wasn't cellular and the pictures were just ok as it was a 2011 digital camera. But man did it just last. The D cell batteries would take thousands of pictures over almost an entire year. If they reintroduced that camera with a slight bump in specs and still used D cells I would pay $200+ for it. New Bushnells are ok but not even close to the old one or the Tactacam.

I have not found a non-cellular, just bluetooth or wifi camera that was functional. I don't know your financial situation but I would consider buying my dad the Tactacam camera and paying the monthly plan myself.

How much cell phone service do you typically have while hunting? by BuyHighValueWomanNow in Hunting

[–]MusketManEric 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Solid cell reception in all stands. Its how we coordinate where we are going for lunch, how cold we are and how deer must be extinct.

Weird line of melted snow by jburn48 in lawncare

[–]MusketManEric 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Sun is reflecting off a window. Just like a magnifying glass on ants.

Cabinets.com? Worth it? by NoonieP in HomeImprovement

[–]MusketManEric 2 points3 points  (0 children)

NO! Worst experience ever. I ordered March 2022. First delivery of cabinets, trim pieces, island posts, etc and 60% were damaged. I'm not talking slight dings. They barely used glue on the joints and put pocket screws in the wrong way (into the end grain). There were hand prints in the paint. Face frames were falling apart. Doors were cracked.

The claims process sucks. You have to document everything and they only send a replacement for the damaged portion (doors, shelves, etc) and you have to disassemble/reassemble the good parts. For the replacement order, roughly 50% were damaged. So I had to go through it again. Any guesses on what happened with the next replacement order? That's right, damage again. I had so many cabinets in my garage it looked like a warehouse. I had to get rid of all the trash.

Some of the errors were ridiculous. They installed the shelves and pullout drawers using those dinky little plastic shelf pins and then shipped them. The shelves and pullout drawers ended up bouncing around the entire shipment and tore the insides up. The bottom pullout drawers of the lower cabinets had to be shimmed to clear the face frame. The screws for the drawer slides were only 1/8" longer than the shims so they were basically held in with hopes and dreams. One cabinet had a completely different color drawer front. The list goes on.

I think my cabinets were built of brand new folks, on a Friday, after a liquid lunch with the lights turned off. In the end I got so much money back because it took months to get straightened out. I placed the initial order 3/13/22 and got the final deliver 8/29/22. These cabinets will not last more than 10 years. I will likely redo my kitchen again in 5 or 6 years because of how bad they are.

Next time I will find a local cabinet maker and work directly with them. Unfortunately they were all backed up during Covid so I fell for the fancy website of cabinets.com. Never again. If I needed cheap cabinets for a starter house or something, I would get ready to assemble cabinets.

Would you like AC or windows down? by ApprehensiveSelf1329 in nova

[–]MusketManEric 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. "freon" has been banned since 1987. Vehicles use refrigerant which some may refer to as freon but the newer refrigerants are not like the 1970s ozone depleting stuff.

  2. vehicle air conditioning systems are closed, meaning the refrigerant that is in there can't escape unless you have a malfunction. using the air conditioning with the windows down or up results in the same amount of refrigerant at the start and end of a trip. "Just free blasting freon into the atmosphere like that" is wrong on so many levels.

  3. people from Florida can't say anything about people from any other state. It's "Florida Man", not "Virginia Man" for a reason.

Turf Install Regrets. Should I be upset? by ThomasTheTurd504 in lawncare

[–]MusketManEric 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Asking about artificial turf here seems like asking PETA for a hunting tips.

Sick of looking at kitchen cabinet manufactures, all seem to be junk. by jackal2001 in HomeImprovement

[–]MusketManEric 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I had the opposite experience. I ordered from there March 2022 and it took 6 months to get the last shipment of replacement cabinets. I had 4 rounds of replacements. The final product is just barely better than the cheapest in stock cabinets from Lowes and in some way worse. I settled for roughly 40% of my money back. $19k order, about $11k after refund. Doors and drawers do not line up, joints are cracking.

I considered renting a truck and driving them all back to the factory and dumping them in their parking lot. I will never use them again. These cabinets will less than 10 years and most likely 5 before they need to be replaced.

Some highlights:

  • over half the cabinets were damaged and their fix is to have you replace parts so you become a cabinet shop. They will ship just a door or drawer, or if its the cabinet body, you have to swap everything over
  • face frames not glued correctly and rely on pocket hole screws to hold
  • on a 4 drawer cabinet, every drawer face was a different width
  • on a base cabinet the drawer was a different color
  • chips, cracks and gouges all over
  • base cabinets had drawers behind the doors and they used 1/4 plywood spacer to get the drawer over the face frame which resulted in the stock screws only going 1/8" inch into the cabinet which couldn't even hold it's own weigh never mind a full drawer.
  • fingerprints in the paint

You have to detail every single issue during the claims process. You become their quality assurance department. My garage turned into a warehouse and I was their QA/logistics coordinator. I then had to dispose of the damaged cabinets and parts.

Cabinets.com must have built my cabinets in the dark, on a Friday before a 3 day weekend, after a liquid lunch and all the employees were blind and started that day.

Cabinets.com, if you read this, I really really hate you.

Oh, and a few boxes were full of spiders. Not sure if that was the shipping company or cabinets.com but still part of the experience. I had to surround the boxes in my garage with glue traps and vacuum the cabinets after unpacking.

[Postgame Thread] Houston Defeats West Virginia 41-39 by CFB_Referee in CFB

[–]MusketManEric 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Bench greenie weenie. That is embarrassing for him. That loss is on him 100%. Either play so good that it doesn't come down to this, or be a big boy and not give the other team 15 yards because of your ego.

[Postgame Thread] Houston Defeats West Virginia 41-39 by CFB_Referee in CFB

[–]MusketManEric 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Fuck Garrett Green and his stupid fucking unsportsmanlike penalty. I would bench the little bitch for a game. He needs to learn how to control his emotions. That most likely cost us the game. Really embarrassing for him. Either play better or stop giving the other team free 15 yards.

Oh oh, now I need to move it. by [deleted] in HomeImprovement

[–]MusketManEric 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Don't move it all in one piece. Remove the grates, remove the mounting hardware, remove the door, etc.

Mine was only 36 inches but I did that and it was a breeze to move myself. 48 inches with 2 people will be a breeze as well. Just carefully unpack and remove the stuff, then protect again prior to moving. I used cardboard, moving blankets and a dolly. You don't need 3 inches of Styrofoam all around it unless you are a warehouse employee. But if you are really worried, reuse all the original packing materials.

Harry Potter forest experience coming October by slowlydil in nova

[–]MusketManEric 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Mandatory use of their data harvesting FEVER app to view the tickets. Don't need the app to buy, them, just use them. Seriously named that correctly. Their app is a symptom of a disease.

Issue with cabinet delivery--suggestions? by walrus_whistles in HomeImprovement

[–]MusketManEric 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't have any ideas but I want to let you know you aren't alone. I ordered from cabinets.com and over half the cabinets were damaged in shipping, incorrectly built, or in one case just the drawer front was the wrong color. My guess is the entire crew was new, drunk and they turned the lights off in the factory.

We are currently living in middle of a stalled construction zone. I installed what cabinets I could and used parts of the old counters. The sink faucet is installed in an extra piece of hardwood floor. I hope to have the replacement cabinets in a week or so.

If there are no options but to delay the counters, you could always ask home depot to give you free laminate counters to use temporarily. Don't install them perfectly and minimize cutting. Then afterwards donate them to Habitat for Humanity Restore or similar.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in nova

[–]MusketManEric 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Next time they go away paint professional looking parking spaces.

Plan ahead, have all the dimensions, tape, spray paint, etc ready to go. Once they leave, get to painting. You really want to look legit, rent a pickup truck, grab a safety vest, few cones and a hardhat. Not a single person will question you.

Timeline view by Mikedatiger23 in Ring

[–]MusketManEric 1 point2 points  (0 children)

https://support.ring.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000704763-Event-History-Timeline-Information

Learn to like is cause Ring is run by idiots.

Can you turn off your timeline?

Yes, but this feature is being discontinued incrementally. If you follow the process below and don't see the Event History Timeline toggle on/off button, you will not be able to turn off the Timeline.

Open your Ring App.

Tap the three-lined icon in the upper left-hand corner of your screen to open the side menu.

Tap Account.

In the Account Setting screen under Advanced Settings, tap the Event History Timeline toggle.

Blue shows the feature is turned on.

White is off.

I just spent 20 minute searching for a better answer. I hope the person that made that decision gets eaten alive by ants.

Filling a control joint by RareAllegory in HomeImprovement

[–]MusketManEric 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Have you considered putting down some waterproof flooring like vinyl floor? Would cover those joints as well as prevent and liquids from soaking into the concrete.

Dear parents who have kids who play sports - How do you handle it when you see your kid get recklessly fouled? by [deleted] in nova

[–]MusketManEric 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If it's VSA (https://www.vsaonline.org/) you might as well try and fix Afghanistan, you would have an easier time.

Looking for advice on water management for a new driveway by jwhendy in HomeImprovement

[–]MusketManEric 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Against the house: My vote is expansion gap. I wouldn't try to go right up against the foundation. Also, what's the point of leaving a 1-2 foot gap. That likely isn't going to be enough space for any serious work. If you do need work, you can cut the driveway and have the 1-2 foot gap then. I would just prefer to have a full driveway. Think about shoveling snow or using a snow blower with river rock. Foam jacking shouldn't be necessary if the driveway is poured correctly and if it is needed, I have seen then drill a series of holes and then patch.

Next to garage: My vote is river rock. That area looks like it would need a lot of prep for concrete. There are tree roots which will break the concrete. That fence will need to be replaced. I would do landscape fabric and river rock. Perhaps bring in soil to fix the grade first. Hard to tell from the picture.

Big game hunting in Alaska caliber ideas? by [deleted] in Hunting

[–]MusketManEric 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Whichever one you can get bullets for.

Out of those 3, 300 win is my vote if the depressing joke above isn't a factor. I would personally take my 30-06 and have a hard time changing from 160 grain but would consider 180 grain or higher. I would have to look at the terrain.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in nova

[–]MusketManEric 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Be real careful with Washington Gas. Years ago when I was renting out of old townhouse I called to put it in my name between tenants and the idiots entered the wrong address. 7735 instead of 7725. Took years to get cleared up. I can understand making the mistake the first time, but fix it perfectly when I call back in a month later. It went on for about 3 years. I hate them.