Happy early birthday to me

[Trav]

Some new additions to the family, I won't bore you with the details but I got about 50% of their value in them.

9315
9316
9317

[airbud7]

Cool Stuff Trav.....I like the long barrel one in the first picture...What is it Bro?

[Thumper]

Cool Stuff Trav.....I like the long barrel one in the first picture...What is it Bro?

I believe that would be a Ruger Mark III A-Bud.

Awww, come on Trav ... bore us with the details!

[Trav]

Thumper is correct Ruger MK III .22LR Hunter with a fluted bull barrel, the brown one is a S&W Shield 9mm and the 2 tone one is a Kimber Pro Carry 2 in .45ACP.

I have to say, I have wanted one of those Rugers for a while and they are blast to shoot.

[HideHunter]

very nice..

[Big Skyz]

Dang son, that is a seriously nice haul.

[Bwana]

Color me jealous.

[LJ3]

How in the heck do you run in to these deals? Is your BFF a fence or something? Are you strong arming widows who don't know what they have? Are you picking thru dead peoples stuff like Jimmy? Or are you like JB and just have a semi full of luck behind you at all times? :)

Nice guns, BTW!

[Bwana]

I'm with Len on this. I have NEVER been offered a deal on guns though I routinely here of others who fall into deals all the time. Must be my dishonest looks.

[Trav]

You know this morning I was thinking and I have decided I am pretty much done buying guns. I have think I have about everything I want or could need.

[HideHunter]

lol... Trav - I think I made that exact statement less than a year ago.. Then Iowa decided to let us shoot deers with a "straight-wall" cartridge rifles.. New Marlin .44 laying on the back porch as we speak.

[Big Skyz]

"You know this morning I was thinking and I have decided I am pretty much done buying guns. I have think I have about everything I want or could need."

Yeah, now that is funny! Good luck with that.

[Trav]

I know it's a bold statement maybe I should phrase it like this, I think I am done actively trying to acquire them. If the occasional too good of a deal to pass up comes around I may not be able to help myself.

[airbud7]

Lol Trav^.....Kinda like saying....I'll never look at big titties again until you get the chance!


just one more won't hurt nuthing...then you see there's 2....Grrrrr...:D

[Trav]

I don't know if this is going to make sense but I have been pretty much putting anywhere from 15-20% into my 401k since I was 25 so I kind of have that taken care of but this morning it just kind of hit me I should start taking any $ I spend on acquiring stuff and spend it on making memories and traveling.

I save money and I am not saying I am going to blow it all just a reprioritization of how I spend my disposable income if that makes sense

[Arty]

15-20%. Damn.
Go buy more guns then. Travel when you retire. You gonna be a multi zillionaire.

[Thumper]

I don't know if this is going to make sense but I have been pretty much putting anywhere from 15-20% into my 401k since I was 25 so I kind of have that taken care of but this morning it just kind of hit me I should start taking any $$$ I spend on acquiring stuff and spend it on making memories and traveling.

I save money and I am not saying I am going to blow it all just a reprioritization of how I spend my disposable income if that makes sense

Trav, I've pretty much lived my whole life like that. My grandfather planned to retire at 65 years old. He bought a second home in the mountains of Western N. Carolina, right on the river. He worked hard all his life and could pretty much have been referred to as a workaholic. But, he was really looking forward to retirement, fishing the river, exploring the mountains, etc. He died of a massive heart attack 3 months before his 65th birthday. I was 12 years old at the time and that was the point in my life that I told myself I was going to do everything physically and financially possible BEFORE I retire ... then do whatever I was still able to do AFTER I retire (IF I lived that long). I also planned, from the beginning, to retire at the earliest time possible ... as soon as Social Security became available (62). I pretty much lived that way most of my adult life. Then at 57 years old, things went to shit ... FAST! My heart stopped 7 times and I spent 2-weeks in a coma, but somehow pulled through all of it. To this day, I still try to do everything I possibly can (my passion is travel ... always has been). I will say, I've contributed to Lynn's IRA every year (first priority financially) and she has a 401K from work. I have no retirement savings to speak of. I would bank any extra cash I had, and as soon as I had enough to take off to who knows where, I'd hop on a plane and disappear for as long as my savings held out. I'd then return and start all over again. I'm not a rich man, but I can sit around here and fiddle-fart with eBay to make enough for that next trip! If you can do it now ... DO IT! There's no way to know if tomorrow will ever arrive.

[Big Skyz]

Well as usual the thread has taken a spin off in a totally different direction, but I really like this and it hits close to home. Thumper and I share a kindred spirit for travel and creating memories. I'll never be rich, and the retirement I will receive here in a few years is so pitiful that it's hard to call it retirement. I will likely get out of teaching because I just do not enjoy as much as I used to, so I feel it's time for some one else to take over in about 3 years. Then again, my attitude may change with a different administration or different teaching job somewhere else, but it's hard to say whether that will happen or not. What I do know is that I've had a great life and been able to do a lot of things most people on a teacher's income have never been able to do. Seriously how many teacher's do you know have hunted both Africa and Alaska before their 40th birthday? Darn few I'd wager. While I may retire in a few years I won't quit working. I just will look for a change of scenery and occupation. With that said I plan to continue to travel and experience as much as I can before I die. The men in my family lineage don't have a particularly good track record for longevity with life. So I figure I better enjoy what I can, while I can, before I'm stuck in a coffin. I often think about the story about the grasshopper and the ant. I've tried my best to be an ant, but I'm hard wired to be a grasshopper. I work just enough to support my family, pay my bills, and obligations, but the rest goes to living life.

[Hombre]

I'm kinda with Trav on this one, always put 15+% back into my 401k. The largest influence for me was going through the dot-com bubble. Living through times with job layoffs every few months and having a lot of uncertainty always made me want a backup plan. So, I never really considered my 401k a retirement plan, although I do more now, but more of an emergency plan. Its funny how life experiences affect people. I remember my grandpa lived in the same house nearly all his life, it wasn't fancy just enough. He never took a loan out on a car, never traveled, if something broke he didn't by new he fixed it. He saved every penny. To this day I think the family losing everything in the depression molded his behaviors.