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That is becoming standard practice here. Not yet code though. The good contractors put in a good vapor barrier that is sealed tight around any intrusions. (Radon thing, which I think is overblown.) Insulation works as a vapor barrier. I'm still a fan of doing the extra step and adding a good vapor barrier for livability. Concrete likes water. The vapor barrier opens up long term flooring options. Ben, it sounds like you are looking at frost protected footings. I like the additional comfort and heat loss protection of the vertical insulation on the footing. It may not be required, but it is worth the little bit of extra effort. You would be surprised how much heat and cold moves through that little bit of exposed footing.

Insulate the footing too. You will be glad you did.

Pretty sad to see, but I wouldn't jump on the somali bandwagon. Not too many named Cooper, Morrow, or Robinson. I would jump on the senseless crime needs to stop bandwagon. There is a problem and it does need to stop. It is interesting that many of the suspects were identified from the video. That means that they were already in the system and known to the police.

I often see some kind of owl sitting way up in the trees behind the house. I don't know what kind. Big owls for sure. I am surprised how much the crows seem to hate the owls. Those much smaller crows just keep cawing for support and dive bomb the owls. Sometimes it goes on for hours before the owls leave. Personally, I'd rather see the owls stay and the the crows leave.

Do some research on cornfield forests.

I can see some truth in the assumption. They are becoming better at our game. We used to own manufacturing and innovation. The rules for the game are always changing too. Sometimes a little cheating helps. Population and growth also require innovation. It's not easy to keep taking plain ol resources to keep things going. They will figure out a way to utilize and power their future in the cheapest way possible.

I'm a little surprised and maybe not. I have never been a big fan of borrowing. I rarely go through the process. I know the basic fundamentals of how they approve, but sometimes it doesn't make sense. Here are a couple of scenarios. Me: I had essentially retired early with no visible income. I was doing a project that needed quite a few materials. I think I had $1,500.00 worth of junk at the checkout in one of those big box places. They had a deal going for 25% discount on purchase if you applied for a card. I figured it was worth the discount, so I did the application. I only had one card and no debt for at least 10 years. I didn't really expect them to give me a card. They did, and it was for a lot more than it should have been IMO. GF: She never borrowed money. Paid cash for her home and had a good paying job. We had been telling her for years to get at least one credit card. There are occasions that do not accept cash or debit. Also, debit cards lack the protections. She finally relented and filled out an application. They notified her of the approval and a whopping $250.00 line of credit.😀 We still laugh about that approval. It didn't make sense. She obviously had plenty of money and income. The credit limit was so low, that the card was worthless. I'm guessing the small amount was simply based on her credit history of no borrowing or debt.

Interesting idea. Wonder if the water already leaking into the mines would decrease the efficiency? There are some European projects that pump and store in hydro dams. They use wind and solar at their peaks to run the pumps. They release the hydro power when wind and solar decrease. Seems to be a similar idea. Use water as the storage device instead of batteries. The nice thing is the use of existing holes in the ground. We all know there are plenty of those in the UP.

GI bill? What does that pay for now? Times must have changed. I went to school with a few that used the program quite successfully.

Grandpa and Grandma it's time to go back home. I know things sucked back home, but nobody wants you here. Seems like a lot of us have forgotten where we all came from.

Congrats. Blackstar is correct. I have a long list of "projects". The big difference is the ability to do them on my schedule. That, and doing projects I enjoy. I'm in better shape too. Working on a schedule in a high stress job every day wasn't a big asset to my health. Seemed like I just wanted to veg when I got done for the day. I have some friends that are afraid of retirement. They have plenty of money, they just don't know how to do anything outside of their job. One of the guys makes a seven figure income. He's a good guy and certainly should retire. He is afraid that golf won't take up much time, (No kidding). I told him it is time to learn how to so stuff. It shocks me how many people don't even have basic skills with things like power tools. Pick up a few skills and you will be plenty busy.

Warm temps are bad because they told us they are bad. I know, a little redundancy just like the message, over and over. You think the message is thick now, wait another five years. This stuff is being marketed hard core to the kids. I can't even imagine the next big concept.

Little by little we allow our rights to freedom slide. Facial recognition is going to one of the biggest steps. We get used to the idea a little bit at a time and pretty soon we act like it is normal. The technology is now being sold as a convenience. You can get through lines at the airport faster. Log in to your toys etc. faster. I remember when I first saw incoming non-citizens doing required face scans at the airport. My first thought was big brother will have us all doing that pretty soon. It didn't take long.

That actually is the problem. There is essentially no way for a regular hard working person to enter legally. They want a better life, so they want to come. They are stuck breaking the law by entering. It is a chance to make life better for them and their families, so they take the risk. This of course isn't universal to all immigrants. There are some bad apples in every basket. We just don't have a method for hard working people to enter and become a legal part of society. There isn't a simple answer to the problem. I often wonder if we could come up with a better method to screen the good from the bad. Kinda like the new hire at work. Pull your weight buddy, and you are part of the team.

I wish I had a simple answer. I do know the process for the legal status immigrants we do allow. I also know how difficult it is to enter legally. The current process is aimed at victims of political enemies or people with a lot of money and resources. I get the money thing. They are bringing money and often contributing to better communities. Almost all of us are descendants of immigrants. I'm not sure how many of those relatives came over with a pile of cash? Most of us did eventually become contributing members to our communities. We came with hope and raised families.

That is what makes this whole rhetoric so sad. The discussions always seem to come back to the "bad" elements. Seems like a dangerous thought process to lump everyone into the same category. It isn't too hard to look at history around the world and see how that has gone. I wonder how much of this would even equate to discussion if we were talking about white Europeans? The interesting part about making blanket policy decisions is how it affects everyone.

The system for legal entry doesn't work very well. I don't see many options for people that want a better life. I don't quite understand the rhetoric that continues to follow this topic. It seems like we have forgotten our own history.

Don't believe everything you read on the internet. 🙂

They do a fairly decent show. I have seen them a few times. Their sound mix has really been impressive. One of the better sounding big stage acts I have seen. Had pretty good seats for this show.

There is some strange irony to the association with migrants and the false pretense of the topic. Find a migrant that wants to be in this country. Look at out how they live. You would be amazed at their law abiding lifestyle. There is also a high level of pride and family.

Yep. Housing will be the first to go this time. Shadow mortgage companies will have a lot to suck up when this thing goes. Autos are already headed into slowdown with pricing. Sad thing this time is all the shoddy flip homes. Those things will be in need of serious work after the next slow ride. Repairs will be more than paint and tile. It is crazy how much money has been made in that gig. I honestly wonder what some of these peeps are doing for taxes. Good news will be the ease in finding paint and tile repair help in the near future. I wish it wasn't coming, but I know better.

Sleds are a bit different vs. car racing like nascar. The race sleds are much closer to our production machines. We have seen quite a few innovations from the race programs make it to the consumers fairly quickly. It would be difficult to find many items in the car racing world that would be remotely close to the consumer version. The early days of automobiles were similar to what we currently see with snowmobiles. It is sad to see them exit the racing support. Less competition will lead to less innovation at the consumer level. I also agree that producing boring consumer sleds has little benefit from a race program. That race program money will probably be shifted to marketing. Sell the hell out of a boring product.

Housing will be headed there soon in our region. Already seeing the crazy buyers that are tapped out and yet buying. Nothing good happens when those homeowners can't cover the bills that come with ownership.

Bummer deal with the hives. We lost three out of four during the winter. It was a tough season for the bees in our region. I'd really be pissed if the bears came to play and finished the hives. BTW, it wasn't mites doing the harm this year. Fungicide did the damage. Pretty tough to locate that source. I have to admit that having the bees around is fascinating. (I was against the idea at first because of what I thought I knew. Turns out, I didn't really know much.) Those dang things are so focused on gathering and collecting. The honey bees are on a mission coming and going. They don't spend time hanging around the place unless doing their orientation flights.

The straw debate is interesting with so many variations of a solution. The bio straws are a bit strange at first. Not that big of a deal for me unless I leave the drink sit too long. Went out to some foo foo place this weekend and it looked like a plastic straw in the drink. Turned out to be metal. It seemed like a fairly heavy material. It won't be too long before those lawsuits start rolling. (People getting hurt from metal straws.) I'd be curious to see real facts on his own personal usage. It is hard to argue with the convenience of using bottled water. I still use bubblers, but they are becoming rare.