Serious question, is it ever okay to mix inks from different brands?

For a long time, I thought the only rule was to stick with the same brand to avoid bad reactions. I mixed a whole bottle of a popular blue from Brand A with a green from Brand B, about a 70/30 split, and it was fine for months. Then last week, I pulled out that pen and found a weird, gritty sludge in the converter. It totally gummed up the feed. I had to take the whole thing apart. That made me wonder if I just got lucky before, or if some brands really do play nice together while others are a hard no. What's your line on this? Do you have a list of safe combos, or is it just too risky to ever cross brands?

Can we talk about people who think any 5.0L V8 is a 'Coyote' engine? My buddy in Dallas just called his 2004 F-150's motor a Coyote and I had to explain they didn't exist until 2011.

Appreciation post: Finally got a clean pull on a tricky shoe after six tries

Working on a draft horse with a really underrun heel, and I just couldn't get the fit right for the life of me. On the sixth attempt, the shoe seated perfectly with no daylight, and the owner said it was the best his horse had walked in months. What's your go-to trick for dealing with a persistent underrun heel?

Cleaning out the truck and found a box of old seam tape from 1998

I was clearing out the back of the van yesterday and found a dusty box of seam tape I must have bought back when I was just starting. It got me thinking about how many yards I've put down since then. I did some rough math in my head, adding up the big jobs over the years, and I think I've laid over 250,000 square yards. That number hit me hard. It's not just a number, it's every sore knee, every house where you meet the family, every tricky cut around a weird fireplace. The tools are better now, the pads are thicker, but the work is still about getting it flat and tight. Anyone else ever stop and add up what they've done over the decades?

Heard a guy at the hardware store talking about his grocery bill

I was picking up some nails yesterday and overheard a man telling the cashier his family's food costs went up by almost eighty dollars a month. He said they started buying a whole chicken every week instead of just breasts. It got me thinking, so I tried it. I roasted one on Sunday, had sandwiches Monday, and made soup from the bones on Tuesday. That one chicken gave us three meals for about seven bucks total. Has anyone else found a cheap cut of meat that stretches that far?