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Good on all of you for helping others when you're able. I do volunteer a small amount of my time to keep our local fishing club running but that's about the limit of time I volunteer. However all the money I make building rods and then some is given to my local food bank and other charitable causes, it's a considerable amount when viewed annually.

I'm 3rd house deep on a private road. Myself and the man 2nd house in have atv's with plows so we do our road all season. Only 1 time have we needed to hire someone and that was on Saturday as I had to work and wasn't able to plow.

There are other reputable brands less expensive than Dakota, I’ve been using Lynac Lithium (2-60Ah and 1-14ah) out of Thunder Bay for the last five seasons and stoked with their performance. I am using a 65lb brushless motor on my kayak and have covered 20klms on a single battery (not trolling).

Watched a number of his video's, well worth it.

I retired in October, and when in town have been doing deliveries for Meals on Wheels twice a week. One of my buddies turned me on to the organization. I get to meet a lot of really interesting people that often are isolated but have a lot of fascinating life experiences to share. It's something that I've really come to enjoy. It says something about our society that so many elderly people are "alone", and just need someone to chat with for a few minutes. Even though a lot of seniors have families, they're often somewhat abandoned by the children they spent their lives raising.

Just wondering who else might be volunteering some of their time at the different help centers? I started volunteering at the Men Mission here in London. Went through the police checks and all the other crap making sure I wouldn't be a threat to the clients there. Been going there now for about 2 months now and totally enjoy it. Doing all kinds of different things. Basic electrical, plumbing, carpentry and a bunch of painting. Staring to get to know the staff members and a number of the clients/guest. Most of the guests are good people that are down on their luck. These guy are very nice and very humble. Stop and introduce yourself to them and it's like they've found a long lost friend. Makes me feel good that I put a smile on that persons face. Only after the short time I've been there I get hello's as I walk down the halls and they've remembered my name. Then there' are the druggies that come in from the cold to find a warm place to get high; they sneak their dope in. You can tell who's on a drug vacation when you see them and I try and stay clear and watch them very closely when we are in the same area. Last week the paramedics, fire department and police were called to the Mission. Some 16 year-old kid overdosed in his room. The paramedics got him stabilized but then the kid refuse to go to the hospital. What a shame he'll likely end up dead somewhere on the streets. Sorry for the last bit; but who else does volunteering. Dan...

Been involved with a conservation group for over 25 years. We started out raising and releasing pheasants for the township hunt, then morphed into fish netting surveys, planting water plants (30,000 of them),planted thousands of trees, fishing derbies, bluebird nest boxes, trail building, benches, shoreline erosion, and dozens more projects. We will be building a swallow nesting structure on a 40 acre property that was reclaimed farmland. This is kind of a signature site for us and 3400 shrubs and almost 4000 trees later we just have to remove some fencing and it will be finished. I am not sure how long we will be keeping it going because of the age of the volunteers involved and most of what needed to be done has been completed. The fish population at the Binbrook conservation area has crashed and we will be pressing the Niagara Conservation Authority to study the issue but they have limited resources and a lot of internal turmoil to deal with..

Yeah...it's crazy, just in the past month or so that I've been looking, the prices have dropped almost week by week. I think I've got it narrowed down to a few brands, but welcome more input. Many thanks to those who have shared their experiences.

the price of these things is collapsing, I somewhat regret going with my 4 AGM's but I couldnt get the price where I wanted it at the time. I wish I could run two 36v lithiums and then have a stand alone 12 for my electronics. We will see how my cranking battery holds up this season, if I start running into issues I may be forced to make the switch anyways.

Hi I was at the point where I needed to replace my boat batteries last spring and wanted to get a new set of Lithium's but the cost was more than double that of Trojans (One of the best wet cell batteries I have ever used and what I was replacing after 5 years of heavy use) but when I took a look at Amazon I found these for about $100 more and decided to give them a go. LifePo4 Battery 12V 100Ah 10000+ Deep Cycles with 100A BMS Grade A Cells for Solar Trolling Motor RV Camping Off-Grid System Household Appliances with Low Temp Protection : Amazon.ca: Sports & Outdoors Used them last season and I am pleased with how well they work. I no longer fish tournaments so I just used the charger that was supplied and had no issues. The batteries were delivered within two days from a warehouse in Montreal. They were well packaged. After hooking up the chargers I noticed that one was not functioning (no LED indicator and no cooling fan operation) I reported the problem and immediately received a replacement charger, so great customer service from Flypower. I plan to add a battery monitoring system this year just because I think it would be interesting to understand how much power I'm actually using. My boat has two Lowrance 12" and one 9" display as well as structure scan, active target and a stereo system all operating from one battery and the Ghost trolling motor operates on two more batteries on 24V. I still have a big wet cell cranking battery for the engine. The batteries have reduced the weight in the back of the boat significantly and I feel like it gets on plane a bit easier. At about $400 a piece I would buy these again and may repower my electric golf cart this summer with them.

I just purchased two 100ah batteries from Aolthium Canada web site . I received them in January so have not used them yet but they look to be very good quality . They also have bluetooth so you can see on your phone the state of charge and current draw $599.00 with free shipping to canada . Make sure you are on the Canadian web site , they have sites for different countrys . They have tear down videos that show the quality of the parts they use . I am happy with my purchase so far , but have only charged them up to store until April . I check the state of charge on my phone just to see how they are holding a charge and they have not lost any power yet .

Remember zoo board and OFC joined OFC in 99 met some good people and met some not so good people I keep in contact with only a couple people from OFC these days and cant remember last report i made

Dakota is banking on you thinking their name means anything and paying the price for it. From the little research I've done there it seems like due to expiring patents more and more companies are jumping on the bandwagon and producing them. Check out Will Prowse on Youtube, he goes through a lot of manufacturers, you'll figure out which batteries are worth it and which one's aren't. I've never pay the premium for Dakota lithiums btw.

Youse are good men...Tells your mother...!

Not quite 3 hour Lew, but I did the same. No cake, she was grateful. He husband is very ill.

I spent 3 hours clearing my driveway this morning then went over and did my neighbors but it was well worth it as she came over a few minutes ago with a carrot cake as a thankyou LOL

The wife and I just spent 2 hours shovelling our neighbours driveway after already shovelling out our own. Does that count? I'll read any comments after my nap😀😀😀

I've been a volunteer with the local Food Bank since 2017. Along with some other retired gentlemen we do the weekly grocery shopping every Tuesday morning. We also get dispatched to pick up donations from all areas of the community and when needed fill in for the actual distribution to our clients on Thursdays. I find it very satisfying being able to give back to the needy of our area and the days I spend working at the Food Bank are the highlights of my week. Bernie

Well first of all kudos to both of you guys for doing what you can to help others, it is a wonderful feeling. I don't "formally" volunteer anywhere but I do always try my best to help out anyone that I can. Up until last year I would shovel elderly neighbours driveways and things like that. At 77 I can't do as much of the physical stuff any more and in fact have to hire help for some things. I still do other things, help out with paper work, rides to medical appointments, fix things for neighbours, check in on the ones that live alone. As far as donations go, now that I am not working anymore I can't donate as much as I use to but I do give what I can to the legion poppy fund every year. If you do it directly to the legion you even get a tax deductible receipt. Being a veteran myself I am very aware of the good work they do. I know there are other very worthy charities but I can only do so much.

I'm retired now so I have the time. It's great you're helping where you can. One of my fears going to the "Mission" was being hit up with a bunch of bible thumpers. It hasn't happened? Yes there is some religion around the place but it's not pushed on anyone. Met the Pastor of the Mission and he cracked jokes with us???? LOL Dan...

I don’t have time unfortunately but I’ve been donating $10/mt to 3 charities for a couple of years now. It’s good for everyone to give back to something they support.

I agree 100% It's called built in obsolescence. I don't think there's any manufacturer (From vehicles, right down to a wristwatch) out there that hasn't calculated what it takes for their unit to last for at least the length of the warrantee. After that they betting that when it does fail you'll come and buy another. If they built things that lasted 20+ years; they be out of business before we'd knock on their door to buy another. Dan...

He held a contest once. I won a custom painted lure. It has caught fish. 😀

The not so good old days. Where's Dilligaf?

Oh my...we all miss her !

Do not know of the Zoo,but heard of it. I joined up when I got my first PC. Got an invite to join on O F N. A great lady invited me. And here I am still,yet she is not. Miss ya Joey. 🙏

Still have the dirty old hat somewhere the wife keeps threatening to throw out, there's a rope tied to her and the hat, lol.

I kinda recall the name but we were O-F-N before O.F.C....I still think of myself as an OFNer because that is what it sez on my cap, T-shirt and yellow jacket,,,LOL