Adventures in Mexico

My last Blog was about the Robert Madden Dove hunt; what I didn;t mention is that I had a little accident during the hunt, actually, before the hunt...

We arrived in Spoffard to do a little hunting before the RM Dove hunt. i had shot a dove and walked to collect it; while walking back I was watching the sky and not paying attention to where I was stepping. I stepped off into a pretty big hole, fell and whacked my teeth on the action of my shotgun; I broke the two middle teeth off! So there I was in the middle of South Texas with two broken front teeth and a big hunt to attend, what to do, what to do...I went on the hunt, of course. That was two weeks ago, fast forward to last Thursday and I am getting ready to head to Acuna for some dental work.

For two weeks I have been planning to go to Acuna to get my teeth fixed; when people hear this I get everything from mild amazement to outright disbelief! It makes me sad really that so many of us have lost that sense of adventure, anyway, I digress. First, I don't have insurance, I think it is a big-time rip-off, I have major medical if something big ever happens, but for the day-to-day stuff, like colds, flu and, well, broken teeth I think it is a waste of money. So I plan on going to Acuna to get my teeth fixed; I find a good dentist that is highly recommended, call them to set the date and now, on Thursday I find myself ready to leave...

30 minutes into the trip I have a blow out on my truck, the spare doesn't fit (don't ask!) and eventually Mom ends up bringing me a spare, but the tire is the wrong size. So Roz limps my truck home while I continue on in her Expedition. It is now 9:30 PM, I arrive in Del Rio around 2:00 AM and, after being stopped by a local Deputy Sheriff, found my campsite, slung my hammock and drifted to sleep on the shore of Lake Amistad.

8:30 AM the nest morning finds me in Acuna walking around taking shots of various things and people waiting for the Dentist to open. She arrives at 9:00 and I am in the chair by 9:30. They drilled, hammered, poked and prodded until 3:30 PM. I was ready to leave, I was beat. I had to return on Saturday for the permanent implants, so i cruised over to Campwood and visited my Grandma, pitched my hammock in her front yard and was back in Acuna by 9:30 on Saturday. Saturday was pretty easy, they glued the new teeth in and made some final fitting adjustments and then I was ready to leave. I left Del Rio at 12:00 Noon on the dot.

They had to replace one existing crown that was broken, do a root canal and install a stud on the other tooth and grind the eye tooth down for crown as well. So I had work done to three teeth and three new porcelain crowns made and installed, all for the low price of $885; all in all I spent around $1200 including fuel food and border crossings.

My dentist is Dr. Kerent,  she is very good and professional. She works at the Dr. Miguel A. Torres Portales Dental Clinic. You can set an appointment by calling Lety Torres King at 1-830-313-0925 their website is Lety Torres King site prices are on the website. I highly recommend them.

It has been awhile since I've been to Acuna, and it hasn't changed much at all. I wasn't kidnapped, I didn't see any drug cartel people running around with machine guns and there were no terror alerts. Don't be worried, Acuna is still safe, well, as safe as it ever was.

Yea, not my best side...

Dove Hunting

Hunting in Texas is akin to Religion; its more than a pastime or a sport, its a way of life. Many times hunting requires us to be solitary people, hunting alone is the best way to achieve success for many of the game and exotic animals we hunt; but not so with Dove hunting. Few outings that involve hunting can compare to the fellowship we have while dove hunting. What other pursuit offers us the ability to take as many friends as we want, laugh, talk, eat and drink all while hunting and still be successful? The answer is, not many! But Dove hunting allows us to do this, and this may be why many of the first hunts we take our children on are Dove hunts.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend the Robert Madden Dove Hunt in Uvalde, Texas that was guided and outfitted by Cowboy Cool Outfitters (Cowboy Cool Outfitters Website); Jake, CJ and the crue are beyond great at what they do and executed the hunt perfectly so that we all had a great time, were well fed and even had plenty to drink. They even went out of their way to find my favorite non-alcoholic drink and have plenty on hand for me. Not a detail was missed, the food was great, the entertainment was great, and even though the birds were a little slow, we all had a great time.

So a big thanks goes out to Denise Corbin of Robert Madden for coordinating the hunt as well as Byan Sublet and all the others for their help and, of course, Mr. Robert Madden for footing the bill!

As usual I became the default photographer for the event, just because I had a camera and would be taking photos anyway. So here is a small sampling of the images I shot while on the Robert Madden Dove Hunt 2010, enjoy!

After arriving we are getting signed in and accounted for. This was the outside bar before the rain pushed us inside for the remainder of the weekend.

What is hunting without a good game of washers? Well, not as fun for sure!

Jimmy Buffet  would be proud of this bunch; you just can't beat live entertainment on a hunt!

Hector and Bryan, I think this is the only shot of Bryan with his index finger pointed instead of his middle finger!

Cruising around the ranch in the Polaris

At the range playing knock out

Yes, that's the new Benelli Vinci

Shooter Terry on the line!

Cooking steaks over anopen fire is the ONLY way to live! Good lookin' bunch too...

Denise Corbin the master planner

Undoubtedly lies are being told!

UT over tech 24-14, sorry Denise, maybe next year! 

With another great hunt in the books and on the hard drive I only have this to say. If you are looking for a great outfitter call Jake at Cowboy Cool Outfitters, get out that old shotgun and go see if you can knock down some birds, take a kid when you have the chance; and above all else make memories that will never fade.

rl

What would you rather have...?

In my position I am asked by many OEM and aftermarket manufacturers for input on new stuff: from tools to equipment. Recently I have been approached by two manufacturers about potential new products for the homeowner.

We all know, or should know, that programmable thermostats save us energy, and money, by  effectively turning the temperature up or down while we are out of the house; thus not running the A/C while we are at work when no one is home. The problem with programmable stats is that very few people understand them and even fewer know how to program them so they can see the energy savings. A few companies, Honeywell and Emerson most notably, have made programmable thermostats that are much easier to program; as one representative told me,"So easy my wife can do it!" And he was correct, it is very easy to program, no disrespect to the wives out there!

My problem is that these manufacturers are usually a step behind the times when it comes to technology. Everything we have now is wireless, smartphones, iPad, iPod, laptops, netbooks, internet and on and on...Why are we slaved to the wall when it comes to our thermostats, it's stupid.

I want to be able to see my settings from the office, or the couch (where I am watching Firefly over my wireless internet) or from my home office without needing to get up and walk over to the wall. Additionally, with programmable stats, they have pre-programmed set back times. IOW if you usually come home @ 5:00 it will have the house comfortable for you when you get home. But what if you need to work late, say 'till 7:00? Well, the stat will STILL come on at 5:00 and cool the house for a full two hours needlessly, wasting money, and energy.

Currently there is only one stat that has the ability to go from the box, to the wall and be fully controllable from a web browser, the EcoBee. And it is a good stat, if not a little buggy, but well on its way to being a very good platform. No other parts are needed, no internet cable, no modems, no special programming, just plug and play. Not bad really.

So my question to y'all is this. If you had a thermostat that was web browser accessible would you use it?  IOW you go to a website like mythermostat.com, enter a username and password, then you can see your programming schedule, set points and current temperatures. Assuming all this would be user friendly and you would not need to know some secret code language to do it.

AND, if you would use it, what features would you like to have? Basic stuff like scheduling, set points and current conditions ONLY or advanced features like air temperatures, run times, a full history, approximate energy usage, outdoor temperature and humidity: you know, pretty much every thing! Really I am asking if you just want a basic amount of information or ALL the information?

Based on my non-scientific questions I have asked so far to friends it will likely go something like this:
Men will want ALL the information, Women will want just the basic information with EASY to use features.

Based on this information I can make a recommendation to these manufacturers as to what I think people want, and will buy. And y'all can be part of the development of a new product!

Please leave your answers in the comment section either here, or on the Facebook wall, and thanks for participating.

HVAC to Hammocks, and everything inbetween!

I get Bloging. I read Blogs, I watch Blogs and I have a Blog, so I can honestly say I get it - sometimes. For the most part I read Blogs that are professionally related, but I also participate in some that are recreational as well. I hafta admit tho that I DO NOT get the Blogs that are blow-by-blow sentences of a persons life; some do, I don't, different strokes I guess.

Rest easy if you like reading Blogs the way I do, because I generally write the way I read. You will not have a second-by-second account of my life; but more of a long rambling something-or-other that strikes my fancy.

HVAC to Hammocks, and everything inbetween, pretty much encompasses my life. HVAC is what I do for a living (Service Manager for an Austin, based HVAC Contractor), Hammocking is how I live (Hammock Camping really, but it's so much more than that!).

Along the way I hope to entertain, educate, offend, piss-off, bore or excite y'all!

So welcome to the official start of my Facebook Blog. I hate long introductions so I will stop it there, until tomorrow...

Just getting the Blog set -up - Nothing to see here...

Like I said, nothing to see here...