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Excellent summary. As much as I hate the idea, importing beef is one of the few options. I think we're going to get used to the idea that American beef is not going to be competitive. The practical reality is that we can't afford to produce cheap beef. The long turnaround getting animals to butcher weight makes it hard to jump in and out of beef production. It's also common to use borrowed money to carry expenses during that time. We're currently seeing an end result of high input costs over a number of years. High corn prices in '22 started a lot of the trouble we're seeing today. Feed costs went up and a lot of land was switched to higher profit corn acres. Consecutive drought years also hurt pasture production on remaining acres. We lost a lot of beef production from farmers that were not willing to take the risk using leveraged money for three year carcass weights. Ironically, the farmers that stuck it out have been seeing strong pricing on butcher weights as of late. Smaller herd numbers and continued consumption is good for the farmer that has beef to sell. The common consensus is that the market can't last. Processing expenses are trending upward with labor changes. Money expenses and feed inputs continue to rise. Many of the remaining farmers are also ready to jump out when the market turns. (It's common to hear the saying, "I think this is my last herd". The risk is too high with higher costs in leveraged money and feed inputs. Lower cost imported meat will be the signal to jump out for a lot of remaining beef producers. I am not a fan of subsidies to help cover input costs. Granted, those systems are in place around the world in many markets, but they also lead to overproduction. That leads to more need for subsidies. European beef production without subsidies would not be competitive. American farmers already have risk management subsidies. I don't want to see imported beef. Overall, it will be one huge kick in the nuts for American beef production. To answer the question, "What's your solution to lowering the price of beef?" Countries that can produce beef cheaply are simply too hard to overcome. Importing seems to be one of the few solutions to lowering the price of beef.

I used to work with a guy that was a pretty hardcore bike guy. This guy would hop on his bike for a weekend ride and just keep riding. I remember one Monday when he looked a little road weary. He had gone to Seattle and back. It wasn't a big deal to put on those kind of miles. I asked if he ever did the Iron Butt Association. He said it was a bunch of dudes showing off patches. Riding was for riding. Anyhow, he asked me about high mile days on sleds nowadays. He heard they were a lot better than the old days. It had been year since he'd say on a sled but said his brother was pretty hardcore on sleds. He was fairly decent at racing. The coworker says his brother asked if he wanted to ride a long race to keep him company. This was around the early 1970s? My coworker figured it would be interesting and gave it a shot. He said the ride was pretty rough. It was a cold bugger and they were fixing a lot along the way. Taped up skin and sat on their fingers for stretches. I asked if they won anything. He said it was unlikely but he didn't stick around to find out and his brother never said anything. Turns out the race was the Winnipeg St Paul I 500. Coworker's last name was Thorsen. It would be interesting if his brother is Steve. I wasn't aware that he'd ever run that race.

I haul my sled in the bed quite often. The biggest issue that concerned me with the metal roll up style is how big the roll is when retracted. I haven't used one so I can't comment on ice and snow. I've been using ACCESS brand fabric covers on the last couple vehicles. They are OK but tend to flap if driving in crazy side winds. The cover will accumulate snow/ice while parked. I usually just bang on the cover to break the ice and brush it off. I used Bak Flip on previous vehicles. It is a solid cover but the window is blocked when it's folded.

I have a couple homes built in the 80s. One is a high end custom build and the other is an el cheapo slapper. I often wonder if we got a lot of the regulations because of the hack builders? I'm sure that the slapped together build met current regulations when it was done. But, some of the stuff is just plain wrong from a common sense view. The junker has foil faced foam board without any other sheathing. The decks were attached without ledger boards. (Great combination with foam board sheathing?) Foundation waterproofing was just slapping a little color on the upper courses of block. The place surprisingly has floor trusses but they are spaced two foot on center with a single layer of 3/4" OSB subfloor. Real kicker on the two foot spacing is some of the stuff around plumbing stacks. They placed the trusses wherever they could fit between plumbing. I had 2'5" c to c under a bath and kitchen. The partition walls were set on the deck without any blocking. The picture gives an idea of how much sag was happening between the trusses. Those hacks threw carpet and laminate directly on the subfloor in quite a few rooms. Do regulations stop junk practices? Maybe? I'd prefer to see builders simply just do the right thing without requirements. I just don't see that happening here. I deal with roughly a dozen inspections each season. Nothing major but it's still part of life. One of the oddities I've found is the variety of what is acceptable to inspectors. Some of them take what I'd call a practical approach to the rules. I like working with those guys and the process is generally proactive to build a better building. I've dealt with power tripping nut cases that have their own set of rules. Those guys add costs that blow budgets. My list with that crowd is pretty long and in some areas the budget has serious fluff built into the estimated cost just because. Funny thing about those guys, I know when I hit one by their approach to timing the inspections. The power trip guys usually want very specific time frames but are lackadaisical about following their requirement. (Dangit, I get pissed just thinking about a couple of those pricks.) One guy wanted us to tear off 1,600 sq ft of 20 year old vinyl siding to inspect a 90 sq ft repair area. I wonder how much increased expense is created by that crowd vs. plain ol regulations?

Dang. I don't know how much weight they are moving but those angles are pretty crazy. Two operators too. I bet they're not far from making another crane falling over video.

Looks like some beach riding. Good news is that if the wheels hold up, the bearings are pretty standard. I"m definitely curious to see how the wheels hold up. I'm not sure what's up with the PPD wheels? I'm seeing the same type of delam and breaking on upper idlers. It's not just one sled. It was happening on multiple machines. Never used to worry about those wheels mid season.

I think the plastic boards break more often with hits from underneath. We have both aluminum and the stock plastic. The only one we've broke so far was a left side aluminum board that clanked off a rock? I'll admit that I'm nervous about breaking the plastic versions but so far they've held. The nubs get wore down and they're less grippy, but they have not broken. Funny thing, I think there's at least three sets sitting in the corner of the shop. It wouldn't be a big deal to replace one. The aluminum version grips good, feels much more solid, and clears out better. They do allow a lot more snow and slop to come through from below. Feet get wet and cold faster. I'd consider them perfect if there was a little bit of snow/slop deflection from below.

I was under the impression they were started for military members and immune compromised seniors. I thought those were typically conservative voters. I guess it doesn't really matter why. I'd agree that counting late votes doesn't make sense. The only real reason I can see why they were initially accepted is for those in overseas service. That timeline can get pretty tight even with long lead times.

Good job! Hope you didn't have to buy any special tools.

Not many. -Stabilizer bar tabs off the frame. It was either tear down and weld or replace. Factory said to replace service frame. -One of those fancy new clutches decided to blow up the fixed sheave. Not bad, clutch, ring gear, TCL, and starter assembly. Didn't even take out the belly pan. -Fairly new 800 motor decided to start blowing coolant. Haven't pulled the head yet. Maybe get lucky and it's just gaskets. Yeah right. -New long block at 4,300 dings on the mile counter. We have five sleds. If you do the math, that leaves one energizer bunny that keeps running. The bunny sled is a basic '22 800. Each trip, that sled gets unloaded and parked off to the side because it's "only a backup". Seems like every trip the crusty bugger gets the snow dusted off and keeps getting miles. Dang thing passed 1 and four zeros this week. Every bit has been old lady miles. Four primaries and I think seven sets of weights. I bet it's thrown apart 20+ of those crappy idler wheels. We would have been big dollars ahead by simply switching to the Soucy wheels and good bearings from the beginning. Funny thing about that sled. Last time I looked, it had 10,220 miles and 255.7 hours. It has to be getting tired. I wish Cat would buy the thing back and do a deep analysis of all the components. Anything that has held together should be a mandatory component on every single machine made in the future.

Minor repairs

Split ski. I'm not sure how it's configured.

Never give up was his mantra.

I happened to see a report that he is currently the most streamed music act in the global market. Honestly, I had no idea who he even was a couple years ago. It probably makes sense for the NFL to try and pull in viewers with a music act. It all goes back to being about $ $ $. I also see potential for risk. If he goes hardcore on a rant, it could hurt those important $ $ $.

Geez, your ability to default straight into a slam is incredible. I remember years ago when I was logging into some site and they asked for a user name. I picked a user name off a box on the shelf in my shop. Yeah, it's not super creative. I stuck with the name for simplicity. It's funny how some single choices stick around. I'm lucky the first label I saw wasn't something like, 1/2" copper tee or printer paper. As far as music in Spanish during the halftime. Yeah, it would seem odd. I don't know if that is the plan or not. Over the years I've seen shows that I pretty much hated and some that were better than expected. I wouldn't say like or hate is related to language. I'm simply not a fan of some of the stuff out there.