RC K9

Update: MRI was Monday. I called today to get an itemization. Grand Total was like $7k and some change. They knocked it down to like $3200 due to it being self pay and not going through Ins. Then if I paid it all at once, (which I did today), they took it down to $1643. Now, this doesn't include the Physician invoice which will be separate; but on the Hospital/MRI side, we went from $7k down to $1643. Can someone explain to me what I am paying $12k/yr in insurance for? This is just bonkers. If I didn't have kids, I would almost tell the government to fly a kite. Not buy insurance at all. Take those premium savings and max out an HSA, and just do self pays on everything.

Didn't seem complete without someone yelling "allahu akbar."

"Hey guiz...we are going to kill each other and destroy each other's infrastructures...but here are some rules we need to follow if we are going to do this." How about they just make wars illegal in the geneva convention that way there won't be any more? lulz Also, what is so much worse about taking people out like that as opposed to using an AR-15? Death is death and this looks like a pretty quick one.

Why "pre-Obama?" It's war. You do what you have to in order to win; even if that means hitting a person with an anti-tank missile. I'd rather go out like that than a bullet.

On a side note, if I could shoot any weapon I wanted just once, it would be a TOW missile. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=91d_1449505200

Those talons are literally like needles. Not even an exaggeration. Dispatching prey with them is usually not an issue as they usually just slide right in and hit the vitals. I was with them this weekend when this bird nailed a rabbit. I didn't get it on video though as the bird got it right over a small hill so I didn't see the moment it captured it. Had both talons right on the bunny's head. When these hawks are actually trying...it's incredible what they are capable of in regards to capturing prey.

Yeah, I was a little less enthusiastic about have those talons on my head; even with the assurance that it wouldn't hurt because they don't clamp down when they do that.

Went out with the falconer a couple weekends ago to work his new bird, and it decided it was going to try to land on my head.

In for answer too. I was under the impression that the reaper was the hottest and ghost was 2nd.

Ohhh, I completely understand. I am definitely not complaining. IMHO $1600 is a good deal for a head from someone like Curt. Yeah, he is having the seals cut and the surface decked at a shop he trusts, but he is doing the port work, assembly, etc and I have seen how long it takes to do a good port job, not to mention the skillset to get it right, and I definitely feel the price is fair. The issue with soobs is they have 2 heads, so the price doubles, which sucks.

I like NPR. That is all.

$1500 per head seems about on par. a Good DSM head will run $1500-$2000+. I Think Curt Brown is in the $1600 area and I would LOVE to have him do one for me. When you look at the cost of good springs, valves, lifters, seals, machine work, hand porting, etc, you really wouldn't save much trying to do it yourself, let alone the work isn't going to be as good as if it were done by someone who's work has been proven.

For what I am doing, way too much electricity. I am actually building some DIY COB lights to reduce energy usage. Each one of those hydrogrow LED lights draws 500w. So thats 2000W just for those lights. At 18 on/6 off, that's about $100/mo. And they create a lot of heat in the summer, so they will overrun the a/c. That's one of the hard lessons learned. So like I said, those LED's are way overkill. Highest bill was like $160. I have two over the NFT system where I have my herbs, and am using 1000W to do what I think I can do in the 300w area. Don't get me wrong...the results are GREAT! But when I am growing legal herbs and veggies that go for $1-$3/lb, and not pot that would net $2000-$3000/lb, its hard to justify that energy usage. If I can cut the nft system down to 350w instead of 1000w, that would take the monthly cost from $50/mo just for those two lights down to $17/mo. With what I have learned and what I am going to revise, this winter I should be around $100/mo. Summer a little more down here because I have to run an A/C. The good thing about the lights is they act as a heater as well, so I get two benefits from them. (This room is in a steel frame barn, not a house). That being said, someone may say, wow, $100/mo is still way too high. Well, that depends who you are and what you eat. I can't remember the last time we bought leafy greens, basil, cucumbers, etc. And I have several tomato plants that are starting to produce fruit now, and several more on their way. We can eat one of those big $5/container organic salads 5 times a week. That alone is $100/mo. Organic cukes are $1.00-$3.00 each depending on season and where you get them. Lets run with $1.50ea. I have pulled 26 off one plant so far and am hoping to get at least 30 off just one plant. That's about $45 worth of cukes from one plant. I have 3 new young cukes growing at one time right now on a new trellis I built. I just went out and got $4 worth of basil last night, and probable have about $40 worth of basil total just chillin' out there. That's not to mention my stuff is being consumed when it is at it's peak in regards to health benefits, which is within an hour after harvesting. Most people don't understand that stuff like broccoli, kale, etc lose 80% of their cancer fighting properties 24hrs after being harvested. How do you put a price on that? The pumps/nutrients/water costs are negligible. $60ish worth of nutrients lasts me about 5-6mo. That 5 shelf lettuce system would probably be one of the easiest and cheapest things to do in regards to energy usage. It's just a 60"x24"x72" shelving system that I built some boxes for and lined with 6mil polyethylene and as a cover use some 8th styrofoam insulation. Fill the boxes with nutrient water, put the seedlings in, turn the lights on, and go. I am using 3 phillips lights per level at about 40w each. That's 15 total for a total of 600w. I can do up to 120 heads of lettuce at once in that system. The lights are the only energy it uses. At $.10/kwh which is about what we pay, it's about $30/mo. I eat that in a week. No pumps, no water lines, so it's a very low maintenance system. I am going to see how herbs do in that system as well. Now, those lights retail for like $150/ea, but I am cool with a the guys here that run one location for an international distributor. I think they are based in Sweden. Anyway, I got the lights for $50each as they are used from a dismantled European greenhouse. If I had to pay the new retail prices, I would just build my own for half that. Good quality LED's will last a very long time. The Cree and Bridgelux COB's I am using have something like 50,000-100,000hrs of life under ideal conditions. If someone just wanted to got like a tomato plant, you could build a good quality COB light for about $150 in parts, get a 5gal bucket and lid for $5, some net cups and expanded clay pellets for a few cents, and grow a tomato plant indoors that would produce pretty much any time of year indoors. Electricity would cost you $6-$7/mo and would be a cool project with your kids. It wouldn't cost anyone anywhere near what I spend to do something smaller scale in their home. You could grow lettuces on a much smaller shelving system, like 36", build you own LED grow lights on the cheap with quality items, and product some of you own food small scale. You don't have to do what I am doing and go balls to the wall and try to grow as much as you can in 90sqft. I mean, I am talking about growing 185 different plants at one time in a 9.5'x9.5' room which is totally not necessary for most people. One other think I do in there that most people could do stupid cheap is clone plants so they are read to go for outdoor gardening in the spring and they aren't waiting on seedlings. I cut clones from a tomato plants, stick it them my $40 cloner, and in two weeks I have 5 new tomato plants with roots ready to start producing fruit. Whew...that was a lot of typing.

Man...that thing looks BA.

Appalachian would be hillbilly...not redneck. Just sayin'.

http://i1038.photobucket.com/albums/a461/RyanCorlew/Indoor%20Gardening/IMAG2507_zpsjwl5gypb.jpg http://i1038.photobucket.com/albums/a461/RyanCorlew/Indoor%20Gardening/IMAG2510_zps88sinnph.jpg http://i1038.photobucket.com/albums/a461/RyanCorlew/Indoor%20Gardening/IMAG2512_zpswgvelwtt.jpg http://i1038.photobucket.com/albums/a461/RyanCorlew/Indoor%20Gardening/IMAG2513_zpsixlpsa9m.jpg http://i1038.photobucket.com/albums/a461/RyanCorlew/Indoor%20Gardening/IMAG2514_zpspokzv9ed.jpg http://i1038.photobucket.com/albums/a461/RyanCorlew/Indoor%20Gardening/IMAG2518_zps3fjd9ney.jpg http://i1038.photobucket.com/albums/a461/RyanCorlew/Indoor%20Gardening/IMAG2519_zps2hw1sseb.jpg http://i1038.photobucket.com/albums/a461/RyanCorlew/Indoor%20Gardening/IMAG2523_zpstvsb1uli.jpg http://i1038.photobucket.com/albums/a461/RyanCorlew/Indoor%20Gardening/IMAG2524_zpsvoirbvgn.jpg http://i1038.photobucket.com/albums/a461/RyanCorlew/Indoor%20Gardening/IMAG2530_zps6xnwzbin.jpg

This.

He was just trying to help out with some late term abortions.

Dude...hop on liveleak Nd look up tow middle vids. The Syrians do some amazing things with them. Saw one dude hit a tank that backed up behind a wall. As to how he got that thing to drop at the right time, I have no idea. My brother said it was a one in a :ilkion shot. If I could fire any weapon I wanted just once...tow missile would be it.

So because you and I don't see it, that means it's not being done? And you really think Geneva convention countries aren't slaughtering civilians? Of course they are. Wars are won through civilian casualties. When did we drop nukes on Japan? 1945? How many people died? 90k-160k in Hiro and 39k-80k in Nag just on the first day? What percentage of those were civilian? When were the Geneva agreements made? 1949. Then the US was all like, "OK, we got our good lick in, so lets hurry up and make an agreement where no one can do that again. Glad we got ours in beforehand though." Wars are won through civilian casualties. Period. POW's...let them live to fight and kill you another day.

Being that you work for a healthcare broker, are you able/willing to name said App, or would you be compromising yourself if you did that?

The other thing with this whole situation too is I am VERY limited in where I can take her since she is 10mo old. There are two hospitals in the area that will do sedated pediatric mri's. Most of the other places I have called do not offer the service.

I have always found the Geneva convention a similar concepts to be somewhat of a joke in that, it WAR. Hey guys, we hate each other enough to kill each other, but here are some rules. F that. If something comes to war, you are in it to win it. Otherwise, there would be no need for nukes. Why not just write in the Geneva convention "Ohh yeah, and nobody can use nukes either." There it's in the Geneva convention so you can't do it. When it comes to war, you do whatever it takes to win.

It looks like the Vitals thing is not offered here in Texas. Does anyone know of a similar service that is offered to TX residents?

W.T.F. So what's the US do now? If Russia retaliates, do we have more than 2 choices? Turkey being an ally, do we aid turkey? I doubt we would win a war with Russia. Do we watch Russia blow Turkey off the face of the earth, and Russia continue to take over the world? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/turkey-plane-syria_56541c75e4b0258edb32ce67