Old Ironmaker

Thanks Dave, I know you mentioned you were going to wet the boat ASAP. Are all the usual suspects here this evening? It's the silly season for us, no ice fishing and early for the open water. The lake here has been like a sheet of glass for a few weeks now. I know there are Perch out here but where? All the usual spots we used to fish for them after ice out have been barren for years. Locals tell me they used to fill a bucket of Jumbos before they went to work or after work at the ends of the creeks. Getting Emerald Shinners is a must for them, in my books anyway. Guys tell me they only use rubber for perch here. I don't know about that. Finding shinners is tough. I'll ask Richard M. if he's been out in the bait boat yet.

Is it a bit too early? Has anyone gone out for them yet? I am getting very antsy. It's been 2 years since I had my boat in the water and need to get out on the water ASAP. I was thinking the 1st hunt would be out of Jordan Harbour. Fish Farmer you out there? Fish Farmer come in please. Johnny D/Selkirk ON.

I didn't watch the video, is there going to be a test?

Cold or room temp? Sorry to bug you Doug.

Do you mean "are you high?" I just read on CBC Hamilton website that the 2 reservations we have here near Caledonia are barricading the roads into the rez's. to help battle the invisible enemy, Only residents allowed in. So much for 50 cent gas. All the vehicles and gas containers I have are all full of super. They don't sell super where we get our rez gas anyway. When I pumped gas as a child we asked "Regular or Super Sir?" I remember 39.9, a GALLON. The old timer at our station must have been drunk again and made a mistake on the sign that was supposed to say 69.9. There was a line up all day until we ran out.

I got a recipe from the link Cliff posted. Same as the NYT recipe. I know good water is needed for bread, Just tap water or should it be distilled Doug?

I opened the link and they want me to sign up. Naw. I'm sure I can find a different recipe on the interweb. Let us know how yours turned out. We have one of those heavy iron pots. It's a workout just to get it out from the bottom cabinet. It's heavy.

Talk about getting confused. I listen to the talking heads on the news and the Doc's in the know, then I listen to many of the politicians, say the opposite. Some provinces are giving big fines as well as jail time to those that think they are immune and wander around in stores window shopping. I'm not sure exactly which province where the 1st offence is a 5 grand fine and possible jail time and it goes up after that. We need that in Ontario in my opinion. Some duffuses just don't get it and I am all for throwing them in jail for 14 days. CBC Hamilton reports that the 2 Rez's we have out here in Haldimand County are being barricaded in order to stop any non residents from going into their reservations. No more cheap smokes and 65 cent gas for a while.

Oh I get it now, please don't confuse me more than I am. Easily confused more and more.

That is exactly what I used to buy Big Cliff. Thank you for the generous offer. I can wait until this World of ours gets back to some type of normal. Thanks again. Made pizza dough today, enough for 3 large pizzas. I made a bit of a mess but cleaned it up. Other than pizza's I am the worse baker I know. I am going to try and make bread tomorrow. I wish we didn't give our bread maker away years ago. We were eating an entire loaf every day. I may have given myself Diabetes, that was around the time I was diagnosed.

We didn't buy a single veggie or fruit that isn't already bagged like apples and oranges. Same for bread in paper bags. I miss my Italian and French fresh baked bread. I'm not supposed to eat it anyway. It's nearly impossible to keep hands sterile unless you don't leave your home. Other than take the garbage out I haven't left our place since Monday. But we have to try our best. We have our place on the market. Talked to our agent last evening and the changes for viewings is logical. We had to fill out a form stating many things including we haven't come in contact with anyone that has the virus that we are aware of, we don't feel ill, haven't been out of the country in the past month and must wipe down all handles, light switches. No more than 3 in the place at a time and they also have to meet the same criteria as the sellers and not touch anything. We are OK not letting anyone come in our place for the near future. A buyer may be one of the idiots out there.

We had one of those machines that use the puck, not a Keurig I have forgotten the name. It made a good cappuccino. I was drinking far too much because it was easy. Had a good cappuccino machine that made only 2 cups at a time, I found myself in the kitchen making them for guests for what seemed like hours. I gave 2 of them away. Now I make homemade cappuccino by brewing espresso and heating milk in a sauce pan. When the milk is warm not hot I use an immersion blender to froth the milk. That milk will stay stiff forever. Better than Starbucks for about a nickel a cup. A splash of Caroline's and your good to go.

SirCranks, read my mantra at the bottom of my page.

I stand corrected.

That sucks Dave. 20 years ago you would have jumped out of the water, changed clothes and went back fishing. I need a dolly now to move a 20 lt gas can 20 feet. I can do everything I did 20 years ago but now I might be in bed for 2 days because I can't walk .I crushed no less than 4 vertebrae in my lower back and neck in the last 3 years and constantly getting calcium chips in my large joints when I over do it. Be safe and smart. Don't push it or you might not be able to go ice fishing in the future, or any fishing. I have been out exactly once fishing in the last 2 years. This getting old sucks.

Tomorrow I am going to make bread and Pizza dough. I do not bake and measure nothing. I will have to measure tomorrow. I made pizza dough years ago and my wife begged me to buy it, not because it was bad because there was flour everywhere after I was done. We have white cabinets and counter top now in the kitchen so I'm good to go. Any tips all?

What did you do? I have a few sets of crutches and 5 different canes you can choose from. One is made of wood, circa 1950's. The walker I still need. About 18 years ago they posted that pier "NO FISHING" with a warning of a big fine. Most piers are owned by the Feds not the province or county. I got everyone so worked up sending emails to every politician plus an actual protest that brought out a few dozen fisherfolks they took the signs down. Now is a great time for perch there. I once caught a baby perch with a piece of line and a dried up worm on it attached to a twig. Behind the Coast Guard station is a great spot too, if they haven't put a fence up and I think they did fence it off. That's where we caught emerald shinners too, right next to the fuel pumps. I got my personal best Perch still fishing from the boat in the channel to the marina close to the Coast Guard station, 13" in the dead of summer. There used to be an elderly lady , late 70's or in her 80's that went each and every day. She had a small shopping cart full of her weapons of mass perch destruction WMPD's. Rain or shine every day. I made the mistake one day and asked her how she was making out. I can't exactly recall her exact words but it was clear I was bothering her and not G rated.

Today was the 1st time I got antsy about being shuttered in. I was a Bear. Just the thought of not being able to go to lunch and pop into the store to pick up a few things irked me. And I don't go anywhere in the winter anyway. But today it p&^^ed me off for some reason. I can't imagine being locked up with kids for 3 weeks, or more. There won't be a problem for you Crimsontide. According to your President everything will be back to normal by Easter.

I just read where Trudeau is holding a press conference in the morning announcing his resignation and split from Sophie. He and Ivanka Trump are going to shack up together. I read Canada eh! daily. Since the closest Hortons from us is a 25 minute drive I stop maybe twice a month, maybe. I couldn't go in for my shift without getting my Tim's fix when I had a job. I know folks that need 2 large a day, 7 days a week. 364 X $ 4.00, $1456.00/year wowza!! The best advice I can give for drip coffee is not to overload whatever the machine or the coffee can says and to clean the machine once a month. We use our machine twice a day every day. A 30 buck machine on sale at Walmart or CTC is as good as a $100.00 stainless steel unit that will remote start your car. The 1st thing to go is the heating element the pot sits on. We go through 2 machines a year. I often use my 6 cup espresso percolator for regular drip coffee. They sell drip and perc ground. I love to hear the sound and the smell that takes me back to my childhood. We buy whatever is on sale and at least 6 of them, usually Maxwell House and am happy with that brand. Not that you can run out and buy it today but I noticed a while back they had Maxwell House on sale for 8 bucks and Tim Hortons brand was on for $19.99, there's a sucker born everyday. Hortons sources their coffee from hundreds of different suppliers, the coffee they have in Hamilton may not be the same as in Stoney Creek.

Thanks for the reminder. Tonight we had home made Lasagna, hot Italian sausages, battered and fried Zucchini and a Ceasar's salata. No scarpetta, little shoe in Italian, as I am rationing Portuguese buns. I like instant grits, no stirring in a copper pot for hours on end. When I went across the ditch I always brought back dozens of packages of grits. If anyone knows where to get instant grits around the Niagara region I would be appreciative. I'll go after I get out of lock up. We don't even get time off for good behavior. For any non Hamiltonians "The ditch" is the Niagara River.

Thanks Crimsontide. The recipe is going into my saved file. I can't find grits close to us. When this virus thing is defeated I should find some in the big city. Thx again.

I've been spraying everything with Spray 9 cleaner of which I have a few gallons. Anything that will take paint off a wall should be good enough. I also have about 12 spray bottles of Lysol Toilet Bowl cleaner. I use it to clean the gung off the hull of the boat. I'm sure it is better than just soap and water. So I use it AND soap and water. We were out yesterday. I was conscientious when I went in and out of CTc while my wife went into the grocery store, no need for us both going in anywhere. It's not easy to keep hands from touching things one shouldn't. I wore gardening gloves, how do I take the contaminated gloves off without touching them with bare hands? Use other gloves to take off gloves I guess. That's a lot of gloves. I was told by a Doc on CBC that washing non disposable gloves in the washing machine with hot water is fine. It was by coincidence that I bought a dozen pairs of gardening gloves with rubber dimples on the palms last month for a buck each. My wife is constantly loosing her gardening gloves and I like them fishing in colder weather. Who knew?

I had to pick up the boat yesterday. I stopped into the CTC store who's website said they had zero gas containers in stock. Yea right, I bought the 4@20 liter jugs they had that weren't supposed to be there. Filled the boat and 6@20 lt. jugs I had with hi octane at 92 cents I was diligent as far as using gloves and using my hand sanitizer. It is near impossible not to be exposed but almost is better than nothing. My wife is still working in her essential position as a cosmetic dept. manager. Make up is essential? Yea right. At least they are suppling gloves and she won't except cash, debit or Visa only. The most problems she is getting are with Sr. citizen customers, some just don't get it. Also the Mom's that bring in 3 kids and those kids touch everything in sight and Mom couldn't care less. Then there's the lady that is going through all the magazines without gloves on. The lady got upset when she asked her to read the sign. The customer demanded to see the store manager, "I am the store manager mame." You can't fix stupid and especially stupid and ignorant.

No words to express and we can't imagine what this poor family is going through. The grand father of Alex our Hero wrote a letter to the editor of our weekly paper out here, The Sachem, thanking all the search teams and all those that helped during this tragic time. We both got chocked up reading it. From the local Tim Hortons that donated jugs of coffee and boxes of treats to our local Food Land that donated all sorts of food for the searchers. The community came out in droves to search from shore as well as people that live nowhere near Peacock Point. Alex is a real life Hero, not those that score goals and touchdowns or play a hero on TV and in the movies.

My 2 local CTC stores said they had zero gas cans in stock. I always preach to go to the horses mouth. Stopped in the Dunnville CTC on the way to pick up the boat. Their website said zero. Low and behold there are 4@20 liter red plastic containers staring at me. Bought all 4. Filled the boat, the 20 lt. kicker tank and 5@20 lt. red containers. Filled them all with hi octane at 92 cents a liter. I've filled with hi octane for $1.40 a lt. before. Saved about $100.00.