SpeckledScrap

re: Angola Prison Rodeo experiences

Posted by SpeckledScrap on 9/29/26 at 10:59 am to kingbob

Its been a few years but traffic was always a pain both arriving and leaving. Especially if you stay till the end of the rodeo portion. Its one road in and out but they do a decent job of trying to keep traffic moving.

Food was always great IMO but I like anything on a stick and fried. Its all food trucks and festival style but plenty of options.

Bring cash. Its a maximum security prison so be mindful of what you have in your vehicle and person when going in.

Its a cool experience even driving in. Most people don't realize the size of the Angola property. Its massive and completely isolated between the River and Tunica Hills. Almost like they planned it that way.

O-T Lounge

re: After market power tool batteries

Posted by SpeckledScrap on 8/24/26 at 8:58 am to dblwall

I was in this same boat about a year ago. Figured it was worth just seeing if off brand batteries were worth it and bought a set of four 8ah 20v batteries from Amazon for like $80 total. A single Dewalt 8ah battery goes for $100+.

I've been happy with them and no issues so far with performance, charging, or compatibility.

re: Unmanned boat adrift in gulf.

Posted by SpeckledScrap on 8/17/26 at 12:59 pm to highcotton2

Am I misreading the Sunday update or was the owner separated from his boat at sea?

re: Skip Bertman, 88 legendary years.

Posted by SpeckledScrap on 8/14/26 at 8:09 am to danman6336

Growing up in the 90s, Skip's teams were the reason I fell in love with LSU baseball. RIP to the best.

Tiger Rant

EV Home Charger to Generator Plug Conversion

Posted by SpeckledScrap on 8/14/26 at 6:57 am

The previous owners of our house had installed an EV charger in the garage. They took the actual Tesla charger when they sold the house, but the outlet/receptacle in the garage that is on a dedicated 50amp circuit breaker on our main electrical panel is currently unused. The receptacle is located inside the garage but on an exterior wall. Not sure what size/gauge the wire from the outlet to circuit breaker is, but both the circuit breaker and receptacle are 50amps.

Is it worth exploring the idea of building/converting this to a generator plug? This would require relocating the garage outlet to an exterior location and converting the receptacle to the required generator inlet plug and an interlock on the main panel is probably needed too. But those improvements seem pretty straight forward.... what am I not considering?

re: Best era for home building?

Posted by SpeckledScrap on 7/15/26 at 8:54 am to DownshiftAndFloorIt

100% second. First home I owned was built in the 50s. Washing machine drain line started backing up which lead to the discovery of 40-ft of cast iron drain pipe that essentially disintegrated.....under slab....under the kitchen and hallway.... never thought i would get to see a 3' x 3' tunnel dug underneath my house. Not fun.

Current house also built in the 50s. Just something about the character of older homes those new ones don't have. If you can deal with the plumbing, single pane windows, electrical, and energy inefficiency, the architectural and structural design of those older homes are hard to beat.

Older homes and neighborhoods also tend to be in the best locations (access, proximity, high ground, etc.) depending on which city you are in.

re: Gov. Landry Strikes again!

Posted by SpeckledScrap on 6/26/26 at 8:58 am to Novastar

Landry=??

Monarch Caterpillars Missing This Year?

Posted by SpeckledScrap on 6/24/26 at 7:34 am

For the last few years, our family has really enjoyed watching the monarch life cycle at the house. By this point in the season, our milkweed plants are usually wiped out two or three times by batches of caterpillars. Our two little girls get a kick out of counting the caterpillars then seeing where they set up their chrysalis around our porch.

This year has been a completely different story. We’ve seen a few monarch butterflies here and there, but haven’t found a single caterpillar. Located n the South Baton Rouge area, and our milkweed plants are as thick and healthy as ever.

Has anyone else noticed a similar drop-off this year?

re: Fogging vs spraying pesticides

Posted by SpeckledScrap on 6/10/26 at 7:40 am to AtticusOSullivan

We had a pretty bad mosquito problem at our house. Tried the butane powered fogger with a variety of different chemicals. Then bought a 4-gallon backpack sprayer to mist another series of chemical, herbs, and other snake oils. The fogger seemed to work the best but the effects only seemed to last a day or two at best.

Finally caved in and now have a mosquito control company come to our house every 3-weeks to treat. Something about the life/egg cycle is why they recommend treating every 21-days. After about 3 months of them coming out, the improvement is drastically better. They use the gas powered backpack foggers.

If you do it yourself, go ahead and get your neighbors yards as well.

re: House generator

Posted by SpeckledScrap on 6/4/26 at 6:26 am to Chrome

The distance between your natural gas meter and where your power comes in is a cost driver as well. And where you want the generator installed relative to those.

Also consider the service options and warranty each contractor/provider offers. Saving a little on the install cost goes out the door when there is an outage and your generator doesn't start but the provider tells you it will be a week before they can repair it.

re: small nighttime bird in tree question

Posted by SpeckledScrap on 6/3/26 at 1:55 pm to TTU97NI

Robins are moving through this time of the year and tend to be vocal in the wee hours of the morning. But those aren't exactly "little birds".

Try shining some light on the tree with either some landscape lights or a flood light.