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Campfire Oracle
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Campfire Oracle
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Anyone swapped them yet? I'm tempted.
If you take the time it takes, it takes less time.
--Pat Parelli
American by birth; Alaskan by choice.
--ironbender
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Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
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Didn't use them this year and did fine.
Mark Begich, Joaquin Jackson, and Heller resistance... Three huge reasons to worry about the NRA.
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Campfire Oracle
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Campfire Oracle
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More snow/ less ice than the previous two winters. Mostly thinking about tires on my Taco. It's a one wheel wonder.
If you take the time it takes, it takes less time.
--Pat Parelli
American by birth; Alaskan by choice.
--ironbender
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Campfire Outfitter
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Love them cant get into a fender bender for less than 1K.
Studded tires are less than that.
kk alaska
Alaska 7 months of winter then 5 months of tourists
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Jun 2001
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Swapping out after the 24th. Came in handy last weekend in Turnagain Pass.  Up here, it looks like I'm going to have to move that snowban covering the 4-wheeler. Finally getting some melt on some asphault and gravel road sections, tho it hasn't broken 32 yet. Bravo no like for going to work. Countryside is good yet.
The only true cost of having a dog is its death.
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Campfire Oracle
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Campfire Oracle
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Took the plunge and changed them.
If you take the time it takes, it takes less time.
--Pat Parelli
American by birth; Alaskan by choice.
--ironbender
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Haven't ran em in 13 years.
"243/85TSX It's as if the HAMMER OF THOR were wielded by CHUCK NORRIS himself, and a roundhouse kick thrown in for good measure."
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Campfire Oracle
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Campfire Oracle
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I never saw a need for them while living in Fbx. We get enough ice, intersections mostly and Cooper Landing black ice, that it's worth it to me.
If you take the time it takes, it takes less time.
--Pat Parelli
American by birth; Alaskan by choice.
--ironbender
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Campfire Ranger
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Can't use them after April 15 here, our conditions are a lot different though.
Parents who say they have good kids..Usually don't!
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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We run studless winter tires on all but one of our cars. Studs may have an advantage over the blizzak, nokkian etc when brand new, but it seems after about a 1/2 season of mostly highway driving the studs get worn down and bent over and aren't any better than the studless winter tires. Need to get the what few studs are left removed from my son's truck's tires.
We're still going to have some spots of black ice on our hill while the snow melts, flows across the road and freezes up in the morning so I'm in no rush to remove the winter tires. We had a stream running through our driveway with all the snow up the hill melting yesterday.
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We run studless winter tires on all but one of our cars. Studs may have an advantage over the blizzak, nokkian etc when brand new, but it seems after about a 1/2 season of mostly highway driving the studs get worn down and bent over and aren't any better than the studless winter tires. Need to get the what few studs are left removed from my son's truck's tires.
We're still going to have some spots of black ice on our hill while the snow melts, flows across the road and freezes up in the morning so I'm in no rush to remove the winter tires. We had a stream running through our driveway with all the snow up the hill melting yesterday. My wife's Rav4 wears Blizzak tires, and so a FWD car I drive to work. My truck keeps the same all-season tires year long. I will be replacing the winter tires any time now. Earlier this week we got a couple of inches of sort of wet and heavy snow that turned to ice on the road. It was early in the morning, and I was glad I had Blizzaks on my car, because there were cars sliding off the road all over the place. I saw three off the road on the Richardson near the Army post, and four on the Parks near the airport. I made it to work ok
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Campfire Oracle
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Campfire Oracle
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Stud life is less than tire life. After a few seasons I pull the studs and run those tires in the summer.
If you take the time it takes, it takes less time.
--Pat Parelli
American by birth; Alaskan by choice.
--ironbender
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Campfire Oracle
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Campfire Oracle
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How many miles do you get on a set of Blizzak tires?
If you take the time it takes, it takes less time.
--Pat Parelli
American by birth; Alaskan by choice.
--ironbender
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Campfire Oracle
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Campfire Oracle
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Can't use them after April 15 here, our conditions are a lot different though. Unless it's a slow spring or late large snowfall, south of 60* deadline is April 15. North of that is April 30.
If you take the time it takes, it takes less time.
--Pat Parelli
American by birth; Alaskan by choice.
--ironbender
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Would really think your date would have been later then that. Few people here use them anymore, weather is not as bad and plows do a better job then the past. Wife had a 92 Tbird, without studs I was leery of that car, with them it was fine.
Parents who say they have good kids..Usually don't!
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How many miles do you get on a set of Blizzak tires? The grit material embedded in the rubber last around 12,000, I believe, then the tires are just winter tires without the metallic or whatever particles are used for traction. So far the ones on my wife's car have gone through four seasons, and the ones on my car five. But I leave them for a week or two after the snow and ice on the roads melt, then replace them with the summer tires. The 8 tires (4 for each vehicle) are mounted on their own wheels with TPM sensors. I take the cars to Alyaska Tires in Fairbanks, and they reset the TPM sensors free of charge. I would think that the grip on the Blizzak tires lasts around 6 seasons in Fairbanks if you don't have to drive long distances on bare pavement, and as long as you replace them with the summer tires once winter has ended. As you mentioned before, metallic studs don't last but a season or two (maybe three) before they wear out. The rubber lasts a long time, but not the carbide or steel tips on the studs.
Last edited by Ray; 04/09/17.
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Wife had a 92 Tbird, without studs I was leery of that car, with them it was fine. Seems like much depends on the vehicle in question. When I was a youth, my dad ran station wagons and they handled well without winter tires (compared to with), so he didn't bother. And I was running a 4000 pound vehicle without last year. But, while Fbx road crews keep the roads in generally good driving condition, sometimes the turn lanes get a bit greasy. After a couple of scary close-calls with zero control this winter with a featherweight Corolla, I figured I'd rather invest in 'ice tires' than to pay for higher insurance rates after a rear-ender or worse. It was worth it.
Sometimes, the air you 'let in'matters less than the air you 'let out'.
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
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New studded tires are great but after 1 season not as great, but best option on ice.
If you get tires re studded they generally get studs to tall and then they are like skates.
kk alaska
Alaska 7 months of winter then 5 months of tourists
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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We drive on packed snow and ice from about late-Nov throught mid-Feb. Did studs one season and now just run 4-wheel drive and good radials. If I ever have to chain up, it will be to go home.
1Minute
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Campfire Ranger
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How many miles do you get on a set of Blizzak tires? The grit material embedded in the rubber last around 12,000, I believe, then the tires are just winter tires without the metallic or whatever particles are used for traction. So far the ones on my wife's car have gone through four seasons, and the ones on my car five. But I leave them for a week or two after the snow and ice on the roads melt, then replace them with the summer tires. The 8 tires (4 for each vehicle) are mounted on their own wheels with TPM sensors. I take the cars to Alyaska Tires in Fairbanks, and they reset the TPM sensors free of charge. I would think that the grip on the Blizzak tires lasts around 6 seasons in Fairbanks if you don't have to drive long distances on bare pavement, and as long as you replace them with the summer tires once winter has ended. As you mentioned before, metallic studs don't last but a season or two (maybe three) before they wear out. The rubber lasts a long time, but not the carbide or steel tips on the studs. I know you shouldn't run the studless tires year round but we've done it for nearly 2 decades it here's what I've found. The tires have good winter grip for two winters, or ~25k. By the third winter you can tell the same grip isn't there. I figure we could either have two sets of rims, summer winter tires and get roughly six seasons out of both, or run the blizzaks year round and replace them every three years.
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Campfire Outfitter
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Never have run studs in my 40+ years of AK driving.
You guys who run 'em, better hope HB-50 (studded tire tax) doesn't pass.
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Campfire Regular
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How many miles do you get on a set of Blizzak tires? The grit material embedded in the rubber last around 12,000, I believe, then the tires are just winter tires without the metallic or whatever particles are used for traction. So far the ones on my wife's car have gone through four seasons, and the ones on my car five. But I leave them for a week or two after the snow and ice on the roads melt, then replace them with the summer tires. The 8 tires (4 for each vehicle) are mounted on their own wheels with TPM sensors. I take the cars to Alyaska Tires in Fairbanks, and they reset the TPM sensors free of charge. I would think that the grip on the Blizzak tires lasts around 6 seasons in Fairbanks if you don't have to drive long distances on bare pavement, and as long as you replace them with the summer tires once winter has ended. As you mentioned before, metallic studs don't last but a season or two (maybe three) before they wear out. The rubber lasts a long time, but not the carbide or steel tips on the studs. I know you shouldn't run the studless tires year round but we've done it for nearly 2 decades it here's what I've found. The tires have good winter grip for two winters, or ~25k. By the third winter you can tell the same grip isn't there. I figure we could either have two sets of rims, summer winter tires and get roughly six seasons out of both, or run the blizzaks year round and replace them every three years. One of my coworkers leaves the Blizzak tires on his F-150 year long for three seasons, too. Like you, he doesn't want to deal with two sets of 4-wheels each. I will be replacing the ones on my wife's Rav4 this weekend, and mine on the following weekend. I have also noticed that the Blizzak tires do not cause a lot of road noise.
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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Always changed whatever vehicle mom was driving to studded tires, until she bought the '07 Taco then went blizzaks.
I'd run them on everything but am too damn lazy and don't have enough room to store all those tires and wheels
Her '15 taco has the blizzaks still on it, and she just drove it to Tok this weekend on all that dry pavement (cringe)
Those tires and wheels cost me $1200 and I got a bit of a deal
Yep makes me cringe to think of that soft rubber on dry pavement at hiway speeds
But not as much as I'd cringe if she were in an accident
It's been costin me $$ for 30 years to cover her azz
Don't see that changing
I'll pay the freight
Will say changing tires twice a year and rotating them certainly prolongs tire life
Again if I wasn't so lazy I'd rotate tires on all vehicles
But six vehicles? Nah. I just take care of moms stuff
I'm pretty certain when we sing our anthem and mention the land of the free, the original intent didn't mean cell phones, food stamps and birth control.
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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We went through a couple sets of blizzaks on the rav 4, I think three sets on the benz wagon and on the third set on the sedan. If an adult is driving, you can get 40k out of the tires, but as mentioned the soft gritty rubber lasts maybe 20k so if you're driving say 15k a year figure put on a new set every third winter. Since our summer roads don't get that hot, the tires don't wear down super fast.
Now if you have a teen aged son driving the car, the tires won't last nearly as long and when you take them in to the tire shop they'll say your car looks like it has an alignment problem. I assured the manage, no problem with the alignment, the problem is with the driver.
Even with a 3-1/2 ton floor jack, 1/2" impact wrench, torque sticks and a torque wrench it's a PITA to swap tires on vehicles if you have multiple vehicles.
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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Lol true words Paul.
Think the 23 year old that bought moms '07 for a song is gonna get the hard lesson on how long blizzaks last when you're a leadfoot
I'm pretty certain when we sing our anthem and mention the land of the free, the original intent didn't mean cell phones, food stamps and birth control.
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Campfire Oracle
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Campfire Oracle
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But they're so grippy in July!
If you take the time it takes, it takes less time.
--Pat Parelli
American by birth; Alaskan by choice.
--ironbender
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Never have run one year without studs, just too good, don't want to be in a wreck.
Taking them off this week, could have done last week, but service station packed.
You can piddle with the puppies, or run with the wolves...
Better living through chemistry!
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Jun 2001
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I do it the easy way. I'll put the summer tires in the Expedition in Soldotna this weekend, park it at Agens in Anchorage Monday afternoon on my way back to Kotz.. When I come out on the 13th, they'll be changed over.
They are all on rims, so iI could do it myself, if I wanted to. I don't. That's what they make lifts and air-wrenches for, neither of which I have.
The only true cost of having a dog is its death.
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Campfire Oracle
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Campfire Oracle
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I don't have that either.
My neighbor has that* plus a concrete apron in front of his shop.
*Well not a lift, but a floor jack. They are a biotch on gravel.
If you take the time it takes, it takes less time.
--Pat Parelli
American by birth; Alaskan by choice.
--ironbender
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Campfire Outfitter
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No one has mentioned tire chains/cables. What are the pros/cons besides increased traction/reduced speed?
l told my pap and mam I was going to be a mountain man; acted like they was gut-shot. Make your life go here. Here's where the peoples is. Mother Gue, I says, the Rocky Mountains is the marrow of the world, and by God, I was right.
- Del Gue
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Campfire Oracle
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Campfire Oracle
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Not going to run chains every day for 6 months.
If you take the time it takes, it takes less time.
--Pat Parelli
American by birth; Alaskan by choice.
--ironbender
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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I keep chains on my dedicated plow truck that doesn't leave the yard
And have chains for most every other vehicle
But ironbenender is the only one I know ba enough to run chains to town
Nobody on the penn. wants to f with that cowboy 🤠
He got gored by a bull a few years ago, no one has seen that bull since and rumor has it ironbender been eating lots of hamburgers last few years and grinning while eating them too 🤔
I'm pretty certain when we sing our anthem and mention the land of the free, the original intent didn't mean cell phones, food stamps and birth control.
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Campfire Oracle
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Campfire Oracle
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If you take the time it takes, it takes less time.
--Pat Parelli
American by birth; Alaskan by choice.
--ironbender
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Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 8,793
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
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Not going to run chains every day for 6 months. I can imagine that could be pretty rough on a tire.
l told my pap and mam I was going to be a mountain man; acted like they was gut-shot. Make your life go here. Here's where the peoples is. Mother Gue, I says, the Rocky Mountains is the marrow of the world, and by God, I was right.
- Del Gue
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ironbenender is the only one I know ba enough to run chains to town. Nobody on the penn. wants to f with that cowboy. He got gored by a bull a few years ago, no one has seen that bull since and rumor has it ironbender been eating lots of hamburgers last few years and grinning while eating them too 🤔 Duly noted! & you should know that while I was on my way to AK back in the early '90s, I was attacked by a rather viscous marmot. Luckily, I escaped unscathed, but there was a tense face-off, before he charged me.
Last edited by High_Noon; 05/14/17.
l told my pap and mam I was going to be a mountain man; acted like they was gut-shot. Make your life go here. Here's where the peoples is. Mother Gue, I says, the Rocky Mountains is the marrow of the world, and by God, I was right.
- Del Gue
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Thus the handle high noon seems appropriate now that we know the rest of the story
Had to go all grandpa ninja on a Rooster here recently
I swear to god i fought him to a draw, but he was runnin around crowing like he kicked my azz
I think the hens bought his story
But my grandaughter knows i pretty much chuck norrised that gd chicken 🍗
I'm pretty certain when we sing our anthem and mention the land of the free, the original intent didn't mean cell phones, food stamps and birth control.
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Campfire Oracle
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Campfire Oracle
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If you take the time it takes, it takes less time.
--Pat Parelli
American by birth; Alaskan by choice.
--ironbender
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Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 8,793
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
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l told my pap and mam I was going to be a mountain man; acted like they was gut-shot. Make your life go here. Here's where the peoples is. Mother Gue, I says, the Rocky Mountains is the marrow of the world, and by God, I was right.
- Del Gue
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Posts: 20,683
Campfire Ranger
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[quote=ironbender]Didja hafta choke it?[/quote
A-l-llllll-mmmmm-ooo-st. There
I'm pretty certain when we sing our anthem and mention the land of the free, the original intent didn't mean cell phones, food stamps and birth control.
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Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
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Posts: 50,620 |
[quote=ironbender]Didja hafta choke it?[/quote
A-l-llllll-mmmmm-ooo-st. There Add chicken-choker to your resume'...
Mark Begich, Joaquin Jackson, and Heller resistance... Three huge reasons to worry about the NRA.
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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I swear to god i fought him to a draw, but he was runnin around crowing like he kicked my azz
🐓 Damned roosters act just like a bunch of feral Democrats. Run around crowing like they're all that, and jumping and screwing (raping usually) anything they can mount.
Sometimes, the air you 'let in'matters less than the air you 'let out'.
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