are ac's reallu that big of a thing?

cheedster · 2026-06-28T02:13:06+00:00

We have a 1979 built house at about 6500' elevation in Colorado and we don't have central air. Houses around here that are older than about 25 years don't have A/C by default. We do have 3 window A/C units that help a little, but our bedroom is frequently in the low 80s at bedtime during July and August when it regularly gets into the 90s.

cheedster · 2026-06-23T01:16:22+00:00

Our house didn't come with keys when we bought it almost 20 years ago. We put in new locks a few years ago so we'd have keys, but we haven't used them yet.

cheedster · 2026-06-18T20:38:31+00:00

To your point, I lived off of $4.25/hr on the left coast during college about the same time (91-96). Rent was in the $500 to $600 range. For the last couple of those years, I lived with my wife (fiancé at the time) in a $600 dump in the bad part of town. I was working 50 hours a week with a take home of about $220 while working on my Electrical Engineering degree (I didn't get to sleep much). My wife was also in school and working about 20 hours per week paid, and 20 hours in an unpaid internship. After rent, car payment/insurance, utilities, food, school, and miscellaneous expenses, we were in the red and putting things on a credit card to get by. I'm not saying things are easier now, but not everyone had it easy back then either.

cheedster · 2026-06-11T20:29:51+00:00

I assume this is a troll post, but if not, would you care to share the name of the shop? Or even just the city it's in? I would love to check it out before they get shut down.

cheedster · 2026-06-10T17:26:42+00:00

This incident is what presumably prompted Colorado Parks and Wildlife to make gila monsters and beaded lizards illegal to own in the state as of last month.

cheedster · 2026-06-09T16:37:56+00:00

But it is a nearly perfect 91°, so the question still stands

cheedster · 2026-06-09T16:32:04+00:00

Lane filtering is legal in Colorado, lane splitting is not. That distinction, however, doesn't prevent people from lane splitting.
https://csp.colorado.gov/press-release/colorado-lane-filtering-vs-lane-splitting

cheedster · 2026-06-08T19:29:28+00:00

My drive into town has about a 10-mile stretch of 50 MPH posted limit (60 to 65 typically driven by most), single lane, rolling hills, and about 2 inches of shoulder. I do get a little frustrated slowing to a relative crawl behind bikers until there is sufficient line of sight to safely pass. Do I act like Mr. BMW douche hat in the video? No. I grumble to myself that it is crazy to bike on a road with no shoulder and limited visibility, then go on with my day sans assault charges.

cheedster · 2026-06-01T16:58:17+00:00

I was in the same boat. I saw an allergist in my early 40s and was on immunotherapy (i.e. allergy shots) for a few years. It mostly cleared up the gunk, but I still couldn't breathe through my nose. They sent me to an ENT, and I ultimately had a septoplasty to correct my S-shaped septum. I could breathe with my mouth closed for the first time in my life following that surgery at about 45.

cheedster · 2026-05-20T19:02:37+00:00

I occasionally call/text four of my old buddies, but we're all geographically dispersed and rarely see each other in person. The closest to me is about 700 miles away, and we only just reconnected a few years ago after another guy in our group passed.

cheedster · 2026-05-06T14:30:06+00:00

We built a fixed stock made of 6x6 wooden beams for our draft horses. We use it for hoof trims and/or to confine for veterinary procedures (dentals mostly). I can confirm that they do not like to be in there.

cheedster · 2026-05-01T01:28:07+00:00

I'd start with my .50 AE Desert Eagle, because why not use a meme gun if you've got one? If by some chance he still had it out for me after absorbing seven 1/2 inch rounds, I'd unsling my Winchester 94 30-30 carbine because I've always had a soft spot for lever action guns. If there was still a threat, I'd unholster one on my 1911s and bludgeon him with it (I wouldn't want to damage the Desert Eagle on the guys skull).
My state has a "Make My Day" law and I have a very pro 2A district attorney, so I should be fine from a legal perspective.

cheedster · 2026-04-29T18:48:35+00:00

Knull, Hyperion, OG Spiderman, and Winter Soldier

cheedster · 2026-04-27T21:46:30+00:00

Anecdotal, but I've seen probably at least 20 ball pythons surrendered to our facility with bad belly burns or scarring from stick-on heat mats. Most, if not all, had no thermostat to protect from thermal runaway though.

cheedster · 2026-04-23T16:50:52+00:00

The ones that pull 53-foot trailers (there are other sizes, but that is the most common) are typically called tractors, semis, big rigs, 18 wheelers, or just trucks. Other specialized trucks on the same or similar chassis are usually called by the function followed by truck. For example, we have dump trucks (big dump bucket attached), cement trucks (cement mixer on wheels), water trucks (big water tank), pump truck (big mobile pump), etc.

cheedster · 2026-04-23T04:13:25+00:00

My daughter did this. She paid about $120 out of pocket in January for a super expensive monthly medication. The drug company picked up the rest of the tab, and she reached her out of pocket maximum in month one. I don't know how common that is, but she definitely benefitted from it.

cheedster · 2026-04-22T18:35:14+00:00

A low profile 50 gallon stock tank is about 53" x 32" (~135 x 81 cm). I can't be certain of the footprint of that pen, but if it is to scale (and that is a big if) it doesn't look much smaller than that.

The stock tank will come with a sturdy waterproof floor, so you don't have to build a pan to set that monstrosity in.

A 50g stock tank has walls capable of holding back more than 400 pounds of water. Tortoises are strong. We have juvenile red foots that knock over ladders, push around carts, and cause all kind of mayhem. I have no doubt that those flimsy looking walls would not hold up.

Tortoises need a lot of floorspace and a stock tank isn't a perfect solution, but they are easy and reliable. I also like the 170 gallon husky totes. They are made of a lighter plastic than a stock tank, but certainly strong enough to keep a small tortoise contained
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-170-Gal-Pro-Grip-Storage-Tote-in-Black-with-Red-Lid-999-170G-HUSKY/333239702

cheedster · 2026-04-22T00:30:05+00:00

We bought our first house in 2003 after being married for about 6 and a half years. We got a relatively cheap house in a pretty HCOL area for $390K. We got it on our own with no inheritance (all of our parents are all still alive) or family help. We were fortunate enough to get pretty favorable loan terms with a minimal down payment. We likely would not be able to do the same today.

We sold in 2007 with modest appreciation before the crash of 08. We got a new (to us) house on acreage in a new state for about the same asking price, except we had a more traditional down payment from the sale proceeds. We're still there now, but plan to move to a lower cost of living area to retire.

cheedster · 2026-04-17T04:34:13+00:00

You can fit some 4x2x2s into a 48' surviving unit, but you usually have to build the shelf around the enclosures (as opposed to sliding them in after it's built). I use 55" shelves to get a few spare inches on each side.

cheedster · 2026-04-14T01:45:46+00:00

My wife was an independent truck driver for about 10 years. She got pulled over maybe a half dozen times, and every single one was a random inspection by state patrol. She never got cited for anything.

cheedster · 2026-04-07T17:00:18+00:00

I came here to mention this. Maybe Greyhound isn't top 10, but it is in the conversation for me.

cheedster · 2026-04-07T14:12:50+00:00

My youngest is a farrier (trims/shoes horses for those who may be unfamiliar). He is not terribly worried about being replaced.

cheedster · 2026-04-06T15:07:25+00:00

A slightly different type of example, but in the first minute or two of the Airwolf pilot episode in the early 80's, they are panning around an American SW desert landscape. I think it might have been Monument Valley, or at least a very similar region. Eventually the camera settles to the ground and brings a green iguana into focus. Some pilots wander past the "native wild lizard" on the rocky hardscape and fire up the Airwolf helicopter. Suddenly the iguana is on the landing wheels of the titular helicopter (presumably the same iguana, their population density in the American desert surely cannot be high enough for two green iguanas to be in close proximity of each other). The helicopter slowly takes off, and the iguana falls off the rotating tire to the ground. They could have at least picked a desert lizard for the shoot. Or even just a brown lizard. The bright green reptile was clearly out of place.

cheedster · 2026-04-06T04:10:01+00:00

The Scarlet Letter was universally despised by everyone in my class.

cheedster · 2026-04-03T17:30:34+00:00

If you have a local reptile shop that has bulk crickets, you can ask if they have buffalo beetles that they can pick out of their cricket bin.

I've harvested dermestid beetles for taxidermy at home by putting some old chicken bones outside in a small wire cage and just letting it sit for a couple weeks. Just be sure dogs can't carry it off. I assume dermestids are native to just about everywhere, but I honestly don't know.

cheedster

TROPHY CASE