lew

I caught something about this on the radio yesterday and that's what they were talking about. Nothing wrong with the fast driving but they were doing donuts not too far away from people and apparantly close enough to perhaps put them in danger. No speed limits on open water either, but if your doing crazy stuff in your boat and putting others in danger I'm sure you can be dinged for that too...and rightfully so.

Well, you sent it too far George cause were getting clobbered way over here too Just finished 2 hours with the snowblower and it looks like it's time to start all over again.

^^^ What Bill said.

And when you move to the country Dan, you no longer have to worry about all the cars, buses and tractor trailers going down your street anymore. You just need to watch out that you don't get run over by all the critters walking down the center of the road And the scenery is pretty nice too

Your a good man Dan !!

I had a permanent, stand-by generator installed last year incase of extended power outages. It automatically cuts in 10 seconds after the power goes out and runs until it's restored then shuts itself off. It's nice to know the well pump, sump, furnace and all other important things will continue working when needed. I originally had a 6500/7200 watt portable that plugged into the house and it worked well 2 years ago when the power was out for 50 hours, but it's good to know now everything will be OK if we're not home to start it up. The new one runs off a 1500 litre propane tank so I also don't need to worry about gasoline not being available incase the gas stations don't have power either. I think it's a very good investment for anyone who depends on wells and sumps.

She'll probably be very happy with it Greg, IF you can talk her into it.

Beautiful work guys, very nicely done !!

Thanks much Gerritt, I may just take you up on that if I don't find anything around here. I'm only 30 minutes from Havlock. I'm looking for something 6x6 and about 75" long, old and preferably one that's been outside and exposed to the weather for a long time.

Atta boy Pete, sounds like your doing great.

I like that board Art, it really does gve it an aged appearance. Gerritt, sounds like you've got some very serious work ahead of you, hopefully you'll get most of it done by the time the nice weather arrives and good luck with it. Thanks once again everyone for the nice comments.

I'd suggest unplugging it before working on it too Joe , just incase.

wormdunker, I've seen those burnt beams before and they also look good, thanks for the suggestion. I used to store my last boat in a barn just down the road from here . The place was built back in 1850 and is loaded with square beams up to probably 12 X 12 and some maybe 25-30 feet long. The beams are still as straight as the day they were cut and everything is held together with wooden pegs. I wonder if the farmer knows he's sitting on a small fortune I also wonder if barns being built today by modern standards will still be standing strong and straight 150 odd years from now ??

Never heard of the technique before Art, but it sounds interesting.

Thanks mr. blizzard, I like to support the local craftsmen sometimes.

Thanks Art, that's another option. Never heard of the sandblasting but I have considered building someting nice with dimentional lumber. We don't use the fireplace for heat, but more for appearance when we have friends over, but it'll be nice now not having to carry wood into the living room.

I removed my oil furnace back in April and had a new propane furnace installed and couldn't be happier with it. It's 1/2 the size of the oil and runs so quiet I can hardly hear it running even from inside the furnace room. It does an excellent job of heating the house and the temperature remains constant all the time with very little fluctuation. I've also got a wood burning air-tight downstairs and use it alot because when it's burning, the gas furnace never comes on, even on the coldest days except thru the night when the fire dies down. Right now, the entire house is around 75F and the furnace has been off since 6:00 AM. My house is around 3100 sq. ft. of living space and very well insulated so it takes very little to keep it warm. Hard to give an estimate of cost to heat though as the stove & hot water heater are also propane and the wood stove does 2/3 of the job. I'd definetely recommend propane over oil though.

Short but good Mike, I'm already planning next Septembers trip.

Lookin good TJ and you appear to be off to a great start. Best of luck to ya bud !!

I'll always remember the episode where Charlie was trolling for muskies on LSC. He hooked a fish and before he landed it a minute later he'd advertised 6 different products. Started off immediately by saying if it hadn't been for his extra quiet Honda he'd never have been able to sneak up on the fish and they were OK on the big lake because of his super safe Crestliner. He knew the fish was hooked solid because of his extra sharp Mustads and he'd have no problem cranking it in with his Okuma reel and his Okuma rod could handle the strain and when it got to the boat he'd land it easily with his fantastic Frabil net...whew !!!! Pure spam fest, but sadly that's the way alot of the shows are now and the main reason I seldom watch any fishing shows anymore.

That beam looks fantastic TC and is very similar to what I'm talking about. I already have an existing cement mantle and am thinking of hollowing out a beam, cutting it to fit from every angle to fit over & hide the mantle, and fastening it onto the cement to give the impression of a solid beam. Once I get it formed, the actual wood parts will only be about 1" thick and the beam will be very light compared to a full thickness beam, but will still appear to be a full size....hopefully. I know what I'm trying to say, but it's hard to put into words but I'm sure you understand There's a couple old barns around here that are basically falling down and I'm planning on going to talk to the owners and see if we can work something out.

My neighbor has a steel roof and doesn't have the tabs. The snow builds up and then everything lets go at once and hits the ground like a freight train. If anybody was standing below it they wouldn't be found till springtime

Actually Norm, my next plan is to build a wooden mantle similar to what you have in your living room, but I'm thinking of an old weathered beam from a barn if I can find one. Your 100 % correct Roy, I wanted all white marble but as usual the wife always wins any decorating discussion and we went with the Legerstone. Course I'll never give in and admit to her that she was right. The walls were just painted a year ago Steve, but I'm sure the Mrs. will find me something else to do as soon as she sees me sitting down for more than 2 minutes. Thanks again everyone.

My whole house runs on propane and I've got a 1500 litre tank in the backyard so I should be good for awhile