Chongo Loco

Crayon works too.

The Strava track he posted looked more zigzagging than the old section at Warda!

After I lost y’all I rode for a bit but throat started to feel like I swallowed a pine cone so bailed before bmx loop. That dust is killer!

I had an “oh shit….never mind” moment Sunday on ninja. Stopped to switch water bottles and right as I was about to put my foot down a small snake scurried away. Split second later it registered it was a striped garter snake. 🤦🏼‍♂️

Raggedy Fart Squirrel!

A young red shoulder tried to catch a squirrel on the ground in my back yard the other day. Squirrel narrowly escaped by jumping into a holly bush. The hawk walked around the bush for 15-20 min and made a few more grabs but couldn’t get thru the foliage to get his prey. He then flew about 10’ away to the fence and sat there for 30 min waiting on the squirrel to make a break for it before flying off. Had to show the wife when he was trying to grab it out the bush. She usually never sees the animal adventures that happen out back. Adventures of living on a suburban Greenbelt!

Skills with Phil had a video from there recently. Definitely looked like fun! Climb back up didn’t seem too horrible but I can see less effort up on an ebike means more trips down. I loved Duthie in Seattle area because the ride back to the middle was super easy!

The old chimney still there on left branch? Tsali was the first real mountain trail I ever rode in the early 90’s. This with my old mtb club from Baton Rouge from the top of Thompson loop back in 96 aboard my trusty Proflex 856!

In 1984 Orwell predicted tv’s that watched back. The government taps into mics and cameras on smartphones, computer & tablets on a regular basis.

Yeah, lots of that on some rivers in some areas. You have to stay IN the river not unlike tubing the Guadalupe. And remember they filmed Deliverance on the Chatooga just south of there! 😜 That’s actually my favorite river. It’s the only one that’s “wild and scenic” in that area. I.e. no dams and no development along the river. The French broad right there in Brevard is a bit tamer. And there’s tons of spots along the road to access the Nantahala for paddling or fishing. The NOC will shuttle you up and you float back to there. I imagine they do fishing kayaks a lot now. Back in the 90’s we used to ride Tsali and Pisgah every spring and fall then run the Nantahala and sometimes raft the Chatooga if we had time. Fall in the smokies is cool to see.

Gorgeous area to ride. Need to get back there for some riding and paddling too. Some the best areas in the country to see by boat/raft.

Asheville is in a boom the last few years. Brevard, south of Asheville, is a growing college town. Right on the edge of Pisgah Forest and DuPont State Park. Came real close to moving there 20 years ago, but wife missed Texas. It’s grown a ton in the last decade since I was last there friends tell me. North of Asheville you have either Boone, NC (NNE) or Johnson City, TN (NNW). Both small college towns but far enough from AshVegas to not be booming like Brevard but a short hop on the interstate if you want to go bigger city. I have friends in Johnson City and they found the coolest old Victorian house right near ETSU’s campus.

Yep. It’s basis, all money added in. On a home you can’t deduct it as you dispose of old cost so new cost just adds into basis. The only thing you back out is money collected from insurance. I.e. your “basis for gain” is net out of pocket costs on purchasing plus improvements over the life of property. And all those last minute out of pocket things you do to list it, cleaning supplies & equipment, paint, plants, photography, etc. are “closing costs” like real estate commission, title fees, etc. All that counts o reduce gain.

Oh and if you’ve replaced a roof twice you add in cost of BOTH (less ins claim) since you’ve never deducted the first anywhere. Same goes for fences, floors, etc.

I would on opener & thermostat. No different than updating permanently affixed things like light fixtures or switches. Wiring, cable, plumbing in walls definitely. If it’s directly related to making ready for a sale a lot of things like painting that are more maintenance oriented can be considered “cost of sale” expenses vs capital improvement and added to gain calculation.

So the taxable gain part on a personal residence you’ve lived in for more than 2 years kicks in at a PROFIT above $500k. So if your selling price is below $500k your buy and sell closing docs will suffice. If the sales price is more than $500k but sales price is not more than $500k above original purchase again just buy/sell docs suffices. It’s when you need to add in other expenses to knock it down below $500k the details record keeping kicks in. Like AB said pics of checks is great, but just keeping a running spreadsheet of all the stuff you can recall generally works. A lot of it on examination comes down to showing a consistent attempt at record keeping, not that you pulled a number out your ass. A best guess with an approx date for things like roofs can fly if you’re showing you’re tracking it over time. And don’t forget outdoor stuff, landscaping, fencing, dirt, all that stuff adds into your cost basis.

Great riding in that N GA / Chattanooga area. Raccoon Mtn is a blast and they keep adding stuff all the time closer to town. Not too far to Knoxville and there’s DH stuff all around there now. Got friends in Johnson City, TN which is just west of Boone. Nice college town and one of my friends teaches at ETSU there. They recently opened up some trails in town. If you like to paddle there’s tons of great rivers between there and south to Asheville. One of my favorites drives is along the Ocoee and Nantahala rivers between Chattanooga and Asheville. Stunning river gorges to drive thru in leaf peeper season.

There’s a name for people that walk around a grass lawn all afternoon sweating their ass off, landscaper . At least that would be money in not stupid money out!

You’re obviously doing it wrong then. 🤨

I usually drink Cuerno there so haven’t had trail runner.

Not bad for a really light lager. Their kolsch was kinda bland. This one closer to a love street than a lager. They call it their "golfing beer” and the can art has various non-typical golfers. 😜

My all time favorite cover tune!

I’ve still got a bottle of supposedly good rum from Cuba my mom got me pre-drumpf shut down. Didn’t want to make mojito’s with it but needed an occasion to finally crack it open. Kid’s graduating so may crack it open while everyone is in town.

If you’ve ridden a tire for any length of time on trail the bacon strip route is much better than a tube. The PITA of it is there is usually several things stuck in the tire already and if you can’t see them from the spooge residue you’ll end up puncturing the tube in no time and be afoot again!

Still have some circa 1998 747’s as backups. They’re still solid but heavier than my new XT’s with platform!