Feel ya man, cheap mud is such a headache to work with.

Real thing is, people learn way too much stuff the hard way these days.

Calibration stickers from 2019... seems like nobody bothers with the little things until something breaks. Same thing happens with my kitchen scale at home, the battery dies mid-recipe and then I'm scrambling for a backup. It's like the universe has this way of reminding you that maintenance is a thing, but only after you've already screwed something up.

Old timers called it "keeping the mud shady," and @william_garcia is spot on about evaporation control.

Agree with @joel_clark37 on Purdy. It's the same pattern with so many things now. You pay a little more upfront or you pay way more in time and frustration later.