Mach1

2002 Honda Accord ~175K: This is my wife's car she bought new when she was in college. It's her commuter car that she drives 80 miles round trip 3 days a week. It gets about 30-32 mpg, it's paid for, and we've never had any problems with it. We're going to drive it til the wheels fall off. 2004 F150 Super Crew 4x4 ~108K: This is my truck we bought used in Oct. '06 a month after we got married. I pushed it as a family vehicle to my wife. It's the truck I'd wanted for a long time. I currently only drive about 22 miles round trip 5 days a week. Again, no major issues with the truck so far and it's paid for. I plan on getting at least 200K miles out of it before I upgrade. 2011 Honda Pilot ~17K: This was our big purchase last year just before kid #2 arrived. The Accord wasn't going to cut it with for 2 car seats and all the gear for traveling. Bought it used so we didn't take the sticker hit driving it off the lot. It's not completely paid for and we plan on driving it for a long time. We really like it for our growing family.

It's been a rough season for me so far. I've only seen a couple bucks that I'd shoot, both out of bow range. The two firearms seasons were rough too. Muzzleloader season started today and I'm heading to our hunting area tomorrow to hunt tomorrow afternoon and then on Sunday. Hopefully I'll get a crack at something.

High winds are hurting us today on our firearm opener here in IL.

Congrats on the deer. Still no luck for me, but my dad bagged a mainframe 10 with 3 sticker points on Thursday evening. My brother rough green scored it around 153". It's a buck we got some velvet and hard horn photos of about 30 yards from where it was shot. Bucks were on the move this weekend. Saturday morning I saw two shooters just out of range within minutes of each other. Then this morning, I had the buck my brother missed on Friday around me for an hour before he finally walked off. He had a doe in the area and I couldn't do anything to get him away from her. He was interested in the estrous scent I had out and the doe bleating and grunting I was doing, but I couldn't pull him away from the real thing. This buck is a gnarly old 7 point that we've got a bunch of pictures of. Our first gun season starts Friday, so I'll have my Remington 870 and/or Traditions muzzleloader ready to go.

Congrats on the buck. I've been out the past couple weekends, but haven't had any luck. Our trail cameras are showing that most activity has still been at night, but hopefully that will change soon. All I've been seeing are small bucks and does.

Got out this past weekend, but had no luck. Didn't get out Saturday morning because I didn't get back from Game 7 of the World Series until 3:30 am (Wooo Cardinals!) and slept in until 11. Only saw some small bucks and does Sat, Sun, and Mon morning (took Mon. off work.) Will be back out this weekend. Rubbing and scraping starting to pick up in our area. Even saw a 1.5 yr old buck chase a doe on Sat. evening.

Not able to get out this weekend. Went to the Cardinals/Brewers game last night, watching the two munchkins today, and am flying out to Pittsburgh tomorrow morning for work training for a few days. Starting next weekend, I should be out every weekend until Christmas. Even scheduled some vacation days to give myself a few three-day weekends.

I'm good with that name. I was able to sneak away and hunt yesterday. Unseasonably warm temps in the 80s kept movement to a minimum. I only saw a small spike in the morning and 4 does in the evening. It'll be 2 weeks before I'm able to get back out to hunt.

Opening day is here, but I'm playing Mr. Mom as my wife is working tonight. Won't get a chance to get until MAYBE next Saturday, as my hunting area is 2 hours away. If I don't get out then, it won't be until the weekend of the 22nd/23rd because on the 16th I'm flying out east for work training in East Liverpool, OH.

I'm pretty much game for anything for a name.

Ditto to the above. Oct. 1st here.

Mach1 30 Oct. 1-Jan. 15 Illinois

Love my BFG All Terrains. I'm rolling on roughly 55K on them and I've probably got another 25-30K left in them I'd guess. I've had them rotated regularly and the tire wear has been really good. They've been good in the snow and in the mud I've driven in here in Illinois. I'll definitely put them on again when it's time for new tires.

I just picked up a Motorola Droid X2 through Verizon about a week ago. It is my first smart phone and I've been able to pick up on it pretty quickly. It's not 4G capable, but that wasn't something I was too worried about because where I currently live doesn't have 4G and where my parents live just got 3G within the last year or so, so 4G is still probably a year or two down the line. It has a dual core processor and plays Youtube videos faster than our laptop on our home internet. I charge mine every day and have noticed that if I charge it when the phone is off, it seems to hold it's charge longer than if I charge it while it's on. It's a sweet little phone and I've been happy with my choice so far. I've been amazed at how fast it works and all the things it can do and I know I'm just scratching the surface. A coworker recently picked up a 16GB iPhone through Verizon and she's been pretty happy with it as well. One thing I don't like about the iPhone is that it doesn't have the removable memory like the Android phones.

First post from my new Droid X2.

Longtime Firefox user. It's so much better than Internet Exploder. Even my mother-in-law's brother who works for Microsoft doesn't use IE. Google Chrome is another good browser from what I've heard.

We got 80 acres of timber for $10/acre.

$4.15 many places on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River outside St. Louis. Cross over into Missouri, and it's $3.99 in most places around St. Louis.

My wife's cousin and I were just discussing this a couple days ago while filling up a mower. I think we only spilled about a pint or so. :bang: I'm tempted to drill a small hole in the top next time the can is empty.

Thanks. My 30th has been good so far. It's all down hill from here.

I thought I read somewhere that Japan has 52 nuke plants. I thought that seemed like a high number for a country with relatively small land area ~146,000 square miles. (Montana is ~147,000 sq. miles, 4th largest in US) Then again Japan has a population of ~127 million people, which is just more than 3x the population of California (largest in US). It's just been a devastating event for Japan.

No, don't have a smartphone.

Our son is 2 (almost 3). He likes to watch the videos and shows on TV. This past fall I shot a doe with my bow. My wife had him nearby and brought him to help track. It was a family affair with me, my wife, son, and my dad who was also close by, but not hunting at the time. We gave him a flashlight and had him walk with someone while we were tracking the deer. When we found it, we let him "find" it too. He was excited. Now when they deer were hanging in the shed, he wouldn't get close to them. He's got a little nerf gun that he shoots the animals on TV with when we watch shows. He's pretty good about recognizing the sounds turkeys and geese make too. I've not taken him to the woods yet, except for the deer tracking, but I'm sure I'll get him out there more soon. He loves being outside, so I'm sure it won't be hard. Here is is tracking this past fall...

Went with the Torza Top. Ordered it online late Thursday night and received it yesterday morning via FedEx. Installed it this afternoon very easily. Looks nice and I'm pleased with the purchase. Also installed the K&N air filter I ordered. Hopefully I'll get a slight increase in mpg with this combination and these gas prices.

Jumped to $3.69 here locally today.