lew

Best of luck to your daughter Wayne.

We book motels a couple times a year and they nearly always ask for a card #, infact I'm booked into a motel in Chatham this weekend and just gave my # this morning. That's why I was surprised when the guy at Merlands said he didn't require my # and I even told my wife about it. Oh well, it'll be the last time I ever offer to give my $$$$ to those folks, I'm sure some other resort would appreciate it more.

We'll do the g2g next year Phil, cept we'll booked into a more reliable place. HH, the guy that messed up my reservation is probably the same guy that told you the day before he had no rooms available, then told Joey the same day he had 3

If you have a cabin booked at Merland Park this season you better call them ASAP to make sure. Read my post in the sticky section for the QUINTE G2G

Myself and Harrison had cabin 7 booked at Merland Park for the November G2G but somethings come up and we have to cancel, unfortunately. Probably a good thing though cause I just called Merland Park to cancel our reservation for cabin 7 only to be told that I must be mistaken because it's already booked to ANOTHER party and they have no record of me ever calling.........UN-BELIEVABLE !!!! I told her the reservation was made back in September and when I offered the guy my credit card number over the phone he told me they don't take card numbers but not to worry cause he marked me in the reservation book himself and I was all set. If your booked at Merlands, ya better check. They received some really bad OFC reviews a couple years ago for this very same crap but it would appear as if nothing has improved there at all.

Well, now I know what I'm gonna be eating on the loooong drive home Sunday evening Thanks Mike, hope to see you down there.

Thanks for all the suggestions boyz !! Travelling would be much easier if they'd stop tearing down all the service centers

Thanks jj, I appreciate that.

Whenever I'm heading down to LSC I always stop at the ESSO station on the westbound 401 near London to gas up the truck and get something to eat. Coming home I stop at the ESSO on the eastbound for the same thing. Does anyone know if their both still open for business or have they closed down like so many other 400 series stations.

The 1st time I ever met Jack in person was up at Lakair a couple years back. He came over and introduced himself and handed me a bag of lures. Said they were too big for what he needed and I could probably use them for muskies. Another time before that, I posted here that I needed some plexiglass for a project and was surprised at how expensive the stuff was. Within a few minutes I had a PM from Jack saying that he had enough for what I need and to come on up and get it...no charge. That's just the kinda guy Jack is.

Ya better grab a few more bags of M&M's CPH, cause when the family room is done, there's 6 more rooms to go....and that's just downstairs

You'll have to gimme 2 days to finish painting the family room CPH, then I'll be right over

In Toronto we always got around 200 kids for Halloween but now were out in the country and there's only 2 kids on the road, sisters actually around 7 & 8. They showed up last night with their pooch who was in costume too. Problem is though, we knew there wouldn't be any more kids coming so the wife didn't stock up and now I'm candyless with no leftover bags of goodies to munch on

I agree with you 100 % Brian but sadly, I don't make the rules and your right, it does seem odd that you have to pay $$$$ in order to help others. I know lotsa fellers use them that aren't certified but I figured I'd rather pay the fee and just be done with it then there's nuthin to be worried about whenever I'm stopped by the coppers. Funny thing is, I used radio's everyday for 30 odd years when I was working and never needed a license for them. Basically the same thing cept your talking about different stuff

Don't apologize skeeter, I blame alot of stuff on MY glasses too

I never said it was a waste of money, infact I was quite happy to pay for it. Jeeeeez, I've got musky baits worth more than $85 Nothing is expensive if it keeps ya safer

Yes Roy, the DSC is included. Mike, I also had to wait awhile for the course. There was one in July but I was up on Nippissing at the time. Even this one only had 8 guys taking it.

I went into Peterboro yesterday morning and took the one day course put on by the Peterboro Power Squadron and then wrote the exam for my certificate to operate my VHF marine radio on the boat. I installed the radio and antenna back in the spring but this was my 1st opportunity to take the course. It's somewhat expensive at $85 and you have to give up a whole Saturday but at least now I can legally use my radio without looking over my shoulder to see whose watching me. I fish some big waters and it'll be nice to know I can now call for help if needed when the cell doesn't work, or help out another boater who needs it.

Great picture of the pooch, looks like he can't wait to start running thru the fields !!

That's a couple more great pictures guys, thanks for adding them to the post. I never realised how big the Arrow actually was.

It was such a gorgeous day yesterday my wife and I went for a 250 mile drive up towards the Ottawa Valley. On the way thru Barrys Bay I saw this little park dedicated to Janusz Zurakowski who was the test pilot for the Avro Arrow back in the 50's This plaque is hard to read but it tells how he was from Poland and was a fighter pilot for the Polish airforce during WW11 until they were defeated by the Germans and then he made his way to England where he fought in the Battle of Britain and shot down a few Germans planes. After the war he emigrated to Canada to work as a test pilot for Avro and was the chief pilot on the Arrow until the program was scrapped. He set a couple speed records and sounds like he had a pretty illustrious carrer as a jet pilot. He moved to Barrys Bay and opened and ran a tourist resort until his death and is now buried there in the town cemetary. A few guys got together and made this 15' replica of the Arrow and I hafta tell ya, this thing is VERY impressive. I don't know if any of you guys are interested in this stuff but I thought it was a really nice tribute to a man who added alot to the history of Canadian aviation.

WTG Mike, that's a beaut for sure !!

When we began our search for a new home in the country last winter we had a wish list of what we wanted and it included a big house, lotsa rooms and plenty of property, but something at the top of MY personal list was a large garage for a shop and room for my boat and also the truck and fortunately we got everything on the list. The garage is over 1000 sq. ft. at 21' X 52' and is fully insulated and has a propane furnace and then upstairs at the rear is a fully finished 400 sq. ft. loft. All the room any guy could ask for inside. A great shop for putzing around or building things and there's even a sign on the back wall that my daughter got me for Fathers Day that says "Dad's Man Cave" Infact, I just finished building a nice walk in closet for one of the rooms and it was great having all the space in the shop to fabricate everything.. My boat is 19' long and it's great to just back all the way in and still have plenty of space in front to park my truck with still over 1/2 the garage not being used. My wife asks me why we bothered buying such a gorgeous home when I spend all my time in the garage Gonna be a fantastic place to hang out thru the winter months !!

Paul, my brother was a volunteer fireman and if I recall correctly they were payed $3000 per year and recieved it in one lump sum payment once every year. He left the job about 17 years ago so I don't know what type of salary they recieve now. I have a friend who's a volunteer in this area but I have no idea what their payed but I'll ask him next time I see him.

You won't have time to hold onto me Phil, yer gonna be too busy netting all my fish