JPS

It's not a rain barrel, but I have a 275 gal water storage tank on my patio..  It sits next to the dryer exhaust vent, so I added a flex pipe to the vent and routed it under the tank.  It seems to be just enough heat, often enough to keep it from freezing.

Bravo!

Am I the only one who remembers a three-month wait?

I thought about it too long and missed out on the good deal - it's up to $199 now..

I saw an article, but the pics they had didn't show the curve...  Hmmmm.......  I'd like to see how it feels.

Me too, book lover since early childhood.. I find though that I now prefer reading on my kindle mostly due to the dictionary/web search feature. Instead of just reading over words I'm not familiar with I now get a definition. I get info on places I'm not familiar with, and I can check historical accuracy of facts, all things I can't do in a print book. I get a lot more involved in my reading. Dont get me wrong - still love printed books. Kids books, illustrated books, collectible books, field guides, etc all still have space on my bookshelf. Another quick note for anyone thinking that e-books are not good for the book business: E-books enable authors who previously wouldn't have been able to get their books past gatekeepers at publishing companies to get their books into the hands of readers. Authors, publishers, editors, salespeople, and now even distribution companies all receive their cut for an e-book. The only people losing out are the printing companies, most of which are off-shore facilities.

I was in the book business for many years, and have owned or tried virtually every e-reader and tablet ever available. (I still have my Rocket Book, the first dedicated e-reader made.. It's a nice paperweight now.)   When considering a reader, its important to pay attention to more than just the hardware - the nicest reader in the world is useless if what you want to read can't be found or is not available in the right format.. Some sites (like Barnes and Noble/Books-a-Million) have plenty of titles available for their readers (e.g. Nook), but the shopping experience leaves a lot to be desired, and it's hard to find titles unless they're on a best-seller list of some type.   I own/use the Kindle Paperwhite, and absolutely love it. Amazon carries virtually everything available for e-books, the Kindle store is well-organized and easy to shop, and their prices are typically at or below those of the competition. Amazon also does a great job making recommendations based on what I've purchased or looked at on-line, and I really like that.. If you don't, spend a little extra and buy the model 'without special offers'.   The reader itself is for me just the right size, shape, and weight. It's popular enough that there are covers, chargers etc. available for very little on places like e-bay. (Never buy accessories from the reader manufacturer - you can always find better options.) The screen is easy to read in daylight, and it has a backlight that enables you to read in low-light or in the dark. (No backlight is a deal breaker for me.) I read 1-2 hours most nights, and usually charge my battery overnight every couple of weeks or so. I don't recall ever running it completely down.   I like a dedicated e-reader. If you MUST view internet forums or web pages, or want to read things like magazines, stick to a Fire or tablet, but I think you loose the immersive effects of reading a good book with those, and I keep a tablet around for that.   I'm betting you'll love using a reader!  I've been a voracious reader all my life, and I rarely pick up a printed book any more.

Good luck with your program - it's important to do what works best for yourself with this kind of thing.   My wife and I tried juicing, but found it to be a hassle and too expensive..    We switched to a Nutri-Bullet, which lets you keep the fiber instead of throwing it away - now we can get by with a piece or two of fruit and some spinach leaves instead of a long list of ingredients and get all the nutrients along with the fiber that fills you up.  Drinking the 'sludge' takes some getting used to, but only because of the consistency, it tastes great to me.   We stopped trying to do it all day/every day, and now just 'whip' up our breakfast on work days, and both of us are feeling good and losing weight slowly. When we're not working we'll make a healthier-than-we-used-to-eat breakfast (some eggs, cereal, little or no bread, etc.) and enjoy it, but if I don't get my nutri-blast I can feel the drop in my energy levels for the day. Our juicer is sitting unused in the garage, and we've worn out our first Nutri Bullet and had to get a new one.

  I removed the paneling that covered the front of our kitchen counter/bar and found a good-sized (appx 3.5' x 3.5 x 4' high) area of 'dead space between the kitchen cabinets and the dishwasher..  It has become our 'secret' stash for supplies, with 5 gal buckets stacked and canned goods filling the space around them.  I thought about putting a door on it, but instead just used a couple of short, lg head nails to hold the paneling in, and no one knows its there. I also store TP, soap, etc. and some basic medical supplies in the platform support of our mattress/bed.  If you look for hidden unused space you'll probably be able to find plenty of extra room for storage.

Welcome to TGO!  We moved to TN from Oregon about 15 years ago, and we'll probably move back when retirement time rolls around.

    I'm going to print this out and hang it in my 17 year old's room.

Just excellent.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOwy9OWfnAM&feature=youtu.be

I carry a Glock 26 condition 1 in a Bianchi Carrylok holster. The gun does not come out of the holster unless I’m cleaning it.   My two and a half year old impressed me a while back - when my 16 year old asked him what that was on my belt, he replied sternly "That’s a gun.  It is not a toy.  Don't touch it."  It’s obviously never too early to teach kids about guns.

I have a LOT of fishing equipment I've gathered though the years, but when I go fising now I throw a couple of cheap combo poles, some hooks, sinkers, and a few bobbers into a 5 gal bucket and head to the lake with some worms or frozen chicken livers.  For me, everything else is just more to carry and not use. (Chicken livers are great for catfish - just wrap them in one of those sock-things you get at the shoe store if you don't have socks.)

I live in La Vergne and have a reliable 15 year old who mows, etc for 5-6 regular customers through the summer months - I can send you his number by PM if you're interested.

I was at the WalMart in Antioch (Murf Rd) Sunday and they had 10-15 boxes of the CCI in the ammo case..  I picked up a couple boxes, mostly just to celebrate actually finding it at the store. Ammo case was jammed full, not all at the best prices, but had a lot of different calibers and some items were even on sale - nice to see that for a change.

I tried a box of the $9.97 ammo the last time I went to the range - worked fine in my Glock 26.

My brother lives in Vegas and he keeps posting pics of the food from this place on FB - looks great!   http://www.hashhouseagogo.com/vegas/

Fake?  Sure, but it still gave me a chill...  I see plane crashes in my nightmares, and that kinda freaked me out.

I have a 7.5 barrel on mine, and it is a BLAST to shoot!  It's surprisingly (to me) accurate out to a reasonable distance, and long range shooting is not really why I built it.

  Thats why I replaced my boring, dirty oscars with just one teeny little piranha - it grew to about 9 inches on a diet of 1-2 goldfish per week, and was always a big hit when company came.  Only other fish in the tank was a plecostomus that grew to about 10 inches tip-to-tail and kept the tank spotless.

If be happy to loan you this set to try before you buy some - can't see where you're located on my mobile, but I'm in South Nashville ( La Vergne). My son got a couple pretty good groupings with them, but neither of us really liked them.

The offset sights are ok, but probably won't stay on the pistol. We both had a tough time tipping the pistol enough use them comfortably, and the sight radius is just too short. I'm going to try a reg set of buis, and have a green laser with an offset mount to try next.

My son and I finally made it to the range to shoot the AR pistol we built using the TGO lower - most fun I think we've ever had shooting! It worked flawlessly, and was surprisingly accurate for only a 7.5 inch barrel. It was REALLY LOUD! Now I have to buy more ammo. We added a Sig Brace after taking this pic - made it much more comfortable to shoot.

When I was a kid I was fascinated with a story about a boy who's father built him a secret room in their house, and I promised myself I would do that for my kids when I grew up.    When our house was being built I added a small space/room to our floor plan for a very minimal amount of money.  Now that room is our go-to shelter if our house is stormed.  Odds of finding it are slim, and we could probably remain out of sight and hidden even if almost the entire house was ransacked. The room's location would also allow for some serious 'shooting back' through strategically hidden view/gun ports if needed.   Goes to show that you can make some plans for this kind of thing without necessarily spending a huge amount of money.  (I may look at lining the walls with some ceramic tile 'plates' now though..!)