lew

And a Merry Christmas to you & yours also.

I'm at Burleigh Falls and here their calling for -22 Saturday night, still the coldest we've had for awhile.

I was always old school and never got into the high end electronics, just a basic GPS for marking spots and caught fish and and tracking my drifts and 2 very basic sonars, one on the bow and another on the console to show depth and weeds. I always found it more fun trying to figure out where the fish should be and then go and get them. To each their own and nothing against anyone using electronics to find fish but to me that's taking most of the enjoyment out of catching them. I kept things basic and usually did very well on the water.

Thanks Guys, Sheri & Jim were as close as any brother & sister could be.

For those that don't know, my son was an iron worker for many years, he was one of the guys who worked hundreds of feet in the air bolting steel girders together. 20 years ago today something happened and he fell to his death. My daughter posted a nice story about Jim on social media and I thought I'd share it here. Love your kids today because you don't know what might happen tomorrow. +++++++++++ Every December 13th I wake up with a knot in my stomach. How is it that it feels like it was just yesterday but in actuality it’s been 20 years…….7,300 days since you left Mom, Dad & I and altered our lives in the worst way. As each year, each month, each day, each hour, each minute, each second passes and December 13 arrives we are reminded. To say that was the worse day of my life would be an understatement to say the least. I’ll be honest, the seconds, the minutes, the hours, the days that immediately followed are somewhat a blur. His funeral was beautiful. I have never been to a funeral that had that many people. There were so many that people poured out of the chapel, into the lobby of the funeral home, out the front door and down the sidewalk to the left and right. One of the most touching moments of the funeral were the fire trucks parked outside and the firefighters from my Dads station inside as well as an army of Iron Workers, ALL of them standing at the back of the chapel, dirty from top to bottom, steel toed boots and hard hats tucked under their arm. WOW, Jimmy was loved and very well known which, as I said earlier we came to know. Years later while I sat in the waiting room at the doctors office another patient walked in and sat beside me. It was obvious he was an Iron Worker, dirty clothes, steel toed boots and a hard hat covered in Iron Worker stickers. I struck up a conversation with him and told him my brother WAS an Iron Worker. He said “was?” How come he’s not anymore? I proceeded to tell him how Jimmy was killed. He looked at me and said “wait, was your brother Jimmy Knighton?”, which obviously I responded “yes, you knew him?” What he said next made me cry instantly and then proudly I smiled. He said “I didn’t know him personally but everyone in the industry knew who Jimmy Knighton was”. He said “Jimmy was one of THEE best Iron Workers there is”. He said “your brother was an AMAZING Iron Worker, he was fearless, he was tough and he was amazing”. I was in awe when he told me that. What an amazing legacy. Jimmy loved Christmas as much as I did. He was the “garbage man”. First my mom would toss a big black garbage bag to him and the ripping would begin. As we each opened our gifts one after the other, we would smoosh the wrapping paper into a ball and send it hurling at Jimmy so he could put it in the garbage bag. This would continue for 2-3 hours because our parents were lunatics when it came to Xmas shopping. Our livingroom became a minefield because there were so many presents, because we have the best parents. We still do have the best parents and they do STILL spoil me and I’m incredibly grateful for them every single day. However, I do have to admit that I dread Xmas now. I do try to get into the spirit……I decorate at work and my parents and I decorate their house but I have a hard time pushing myself to do any of that and it makes me even more sad that I have to put my parents through that because they know how much I struggle at Christmas. I’ve had a couple of friends say to me over the years…..”C’mon Sheri, it’s been years and years, you need to snap out of it”. That really hurts me when they say that. Do they think I wake up in December and say “ok, well, it’s time to pull out and dust off my miserable and sad personality, attitude and mood?? If only it were that easy. If only I could flip that switch and turn it off as soon as it turns on. It may be easy for some, but for me, not so easy and all I can say to anyone that criticizes me for my lack of jolliness and ho ho ho’s is this…… If you’ve never experienced great loss then you won’t understand the aching feeling of a broken heart it’s a real thing, and until that day arrives and you lose someone you love so much I would appreciate it if you can just keep your opinions to yourself. 20 years ago today, our lives were forever changed, and our broken hearts will forever ache. However, the one thing that did not change and never will is how much we love you Jimmy. We miss you terribly and we will love you ALWAYS +11 All reactions: 33

It might be just me but I found this a good demonstration and maybe useful to someone.

Nice pics Barry !!

Howdy stranger, good to see your still around Cliff.

Absolutely Kelvin, there's no comparison when driving in snow between summer tires & good winter tires and people that disagree with that are the ones I like to stay away from on the roads in winter. I remember a time many years ago we were driving up a steep hill on a country road covered in deep snow. I had a front wheel drive Buick Riviera with winter tires on all 4 corners and that car was amazing in snow. There were about 6 cars all over the road that couldn't get up the hill. I just wound my way thru them and climbed the hill like it was a warm summer day LOL

Fish'n Canada comes on Saturday morning and I sometimes watch it. Been on the tube a long time and it's still a good show without all the crap associated with some of the others.

My folks were the same once they retired. They lived in the city and could pretty well walk anywhere they needed to go or else I'd drive them. The car stayed home most of the winter and they save a pile of $$$$

I've got a large garage with enough room to store 2 sets of tires and like you Chris, I look after my daughters tires as well as my own. I put her winters on a few weeks ago and mine last week. I don't trust the dealership guys to do it as I don't think any of them even know what a torque wrench is.

I get a rebate for having winter tires, I think it's something like 10%

I've been driving for longer that pretty well everyone on this board and have always used winter tires and in my opinion they make a huge difference in both moving and stopping. We've all been stuck behind someone who is trying to get thru a snowstorm with summer tires and it's really maddening. You can also lose control of a vehicle on snow covered roads when using summer tires and slam into some other car. Quebec has a rule that all cars must have winter tires but I don't know the dates. Winter tires are very expensive and many folks can't afford them and personally I don't know if they should be mandatory or not. My neighbors were both in their 90's and money was short and they couldn't afford winter tires but 1/2 the time he had trouble getting out of his snow covered driveway. I'm just curious what others think, should they be mandatory or not and if you think yes, what about the folks that need their car but don't have an extra bag of $$ laying around to buy them.

https://youtu.be/pvt9HCYiN8s