lew

UNBELIEVABLE

Yup, you've got that right Bill, for the firemen anyways, don't know about the coppers schedule. Long hours squeezed into a shorter work week, but still works out to the same hours as everyone else at the end of the month.

I can't open the file for some reason, so I'm not sure what your referring to, but just to clarify it for you. Every firetruck has a captain & crew with the captain being in charge. They stay together and work as a team under the direction of the senior officer in charge of everything. Not sure how London works as I was here in Toronto, but you've probably got 4 shifts, so for every truck, you'll have 4 captains plus the crew. So to answer your question, no, everybody isn't a captain.

Back in the day it was very common to have a beer or 2 while you were out fishing and nobody really ever gave it a second thought, but I spose things have changed alot over the years. Myself & 2 buds were heading out from the trailer park one afternoon about 25 years ago for a few hours of fishing and threw 6 beers in the icebox just like we always did. As we were motoring down the lake...I was driving....we got stopped by the police boat. He gave the boat the usual check for safety gear, then asked me what was in the icebox. I said we've got 6 beers for the fishing trip and he said "thank you sir, have a great day and good luck fishing" Everybody was sober, polite & friendly and the coppers weren't the least bit concerned. About 10 years ago 2 friends of mine were out fishing the same lake and got stopped by the police. The friend driving the boat was drinking a bottle of water but his brother had a beer in the cooler that he hadn't opened yet. He had to dump the beer in the lake and was given a $150 fine. Just similar incidents with different outcomes.

You and I are of the same era John and are fortunate enuff to remember when Christmas wasn't all commercialized and politically correct as it is now. It's still a nice time of year but seems to be losing it's meaning with so many folks afraid of offending everyone of a different faith. Most Christmas cards nowadays no longer use Merry Christmas as a greeting, but rather Happy Holidays, the same as most signs in stores. Here in Toronto a couple years back they actually re-named the tree at City Hall the Holiday Tree so as not to be offensive to anyone......so sad really As kids, we would always pray for snow cause we'd shovel all the driveways in the neighborhood to raise money to buy gifts. A group of us kids would also go door to door singing Christmas caroles, and would make a surprising amount of money for more gifts. Thinking back on it now though, we prolly sang so terribly the neighboors were paying us just to go away To me, Christmas is all about little kids with HUGE smiles and everything associated with it. The elves working all year at the North Pole building toys, then Santa and the reindeer magically flying across the sky and landing on the roof, then sliding down the chimney with his sack of toys and placing them under the tree. I remember as kids Mom taking us downtown to Eatons to visit the REAL Santa.....all the others were just his helpers.....and I can still recall the feeling of actually talking the big guy himself and wispering to him all the goodies I hoped for. Those were wonderful magical times, as they should be, and even though these days I often forget what I had for breakfast, I still vividly remember waaaay back then Eddy and I coming down the stairs Christmas morning with so much anticipation, and we were seldom disappointed. When Diane and I had kids of our own, we did everything we could to make their Christmas as memorable & magical as ours were, and I think we did a pretty good job of it too. It was fun for them too and we always went far overboard to get them what they wanted. When I was a kid, the folks always put out a COKE and plate of cookies for Santa along with a bag of carrots for the reindeer, and the feeling on Christmas morning seeing the empty bottle and plate of cookie crumbs, along with a few carrot pieces, and knowing that Santa had actually sat at our kitchen table for a snack was absolutely amazing The snacks for Santa was a tradition we passed onto our own kids and they got as much of a kick out of it as I did. With the death of my Mom this year, my only brother 3 years ago, my only son 5 years ago and my dad before that and no grandchildren, Christmas doesn't have alot of meaning to me anymore but we still go overboard with gifts and have a nice time. Christmas is for kids and their only kids for a very short time, so I think parents should do EVERYTHING possible to build those wonderful memories that they'll carry with them for the rest of their lives. Thanks for bringing back some really wonderful memories John and I wish you & yours a very Merry Christmas & all the best in the new year.

My brother & I were kids in the 50's so the Christmas Story always brings back lotsa fun memories and is an absolute favorite of mine, but I haven't seen it around for a few years now. Christmas Vacation is hilarious too, but my problem is, I haven't got the patience to sit thru a 2 hour movie but I've seen about a dozen 15 minute clips so far this season so I think I've just about got the whole show covered this year Last time I was in a movie theater was 1977 when Close Encounters came out

Yeah your probably right Terry, I've been up there 3 times this week and there's lots of snow. We just get spoiled down here in the banana belt

I'm not into ice fishing at all Simon, but always enjoy reading your reports from the far north. Hard to believe were living in the same province though as we have absolutely NO snow down here at all and even the ponds only froze over in the last week or so

Really surprised to hear of the attitude at Crestliner John. I bought a new Crestliner back in '99 and in the fall of '02 I noticed a soft spot developing in the floor at the rear of the boat. I contacted their head office and they told me to take it to a nearby dealership.....which was only 10 miles away.....at the end of the season when I was done with the boat for the year. They arranged for the dealership to de-rig my boat, winterize the motor and store it inside for the winter....... All at NO cost to me. The boat was then loaded on a truck and shipped to their factory in the States.....Wisconsin I believe.....where the entire floor was removed & replaced along with all the carpet. The boat was then shipped back up here to the Crestliner dealership in April, re-rigged and was already for me when the fishing season opened again in May. Again, absolutely no charge to me for anything at all. Probably the best service I've ever received from any company, anytime !! Hope it all works out OK for those of you dealing with them now with this recall issue.

WTG girl

Sounds delicious Cliff !!

Thanks David, it'll definetely be LCD.

Always enjoy your humour Ron Good to get plenty of opinions, and most certainly appreciated, but as I say we're probably gonna furnish the entire house from Leons as we've always had fantastic service from them over many years, and buying the TV from then too will just make everything easier in a couple months when it's all delivered north. Seems most folks agree that the big screens are great for hockey, but I actually don't watch ANY sports, infact I may be the only Canadian alive that never saw Gretzky play hockey, or Tiger whack a golf ball. Actually, now that I think about it, I don't even own a DVD player now as I don't watch many movies so prolly won't need the Blu-Ray either. Jeeeez, why am I even buying another TV ??

Were actually re-furnishing the entire new house completely and have always bought all of our stuff from Leons for many years and have always been very satisfied with everything about the store, so that's the reason we'll be buying the TV from them too. It'll make everything much simpler on delivery day. I'll definetely be checking for any added incentives on the TV. Brian, the TV will be close to 20' from the couch so I'd think that'll be a good distance for the bigger screen. And Paul, your right about LG, they also make great stuff and we currently have an LG TV in the living room and the washing machine is also LG. Both been working well for quite some time now.

Yup, that's the thread I was referring to Wayne and where I based my shopping on, I was just looking for opinions on this exact model. Thanks guys, seems like it's a good set to go with then.

I'm gonna be purchasing my 1st ever flat screen TV shortly and was wondering what those of you in the know think of this particular model. I followed a recent thread on flat screens and know Samsung is a respected model and from what I understand from the past thread, LCD would suit my needs. It'll be hooked up to satellite, probably BELL, and will be sitting in a large room with plenty of windows & sunlight. The price is reduced from $1700 down to $1300 so it seems like a good deal. Any thoughts ?? http://www.leons.ca/shared/product/product...dItemId=1420713

G'day Sir & a good day to you too. I'm also heading to the big box later on today, but rather than earning a few coins like yerself, I have to spend them

The new place is only a couple miles from the trailer Brian and like you, I'm ready to pack it in now too, but the misses wants to keep it for one more season, and we all know the wives win these type of discussions I may pop over a few times next season but won't be spending much time there. We've been there since '74 and will definetely miss the place though. As for the mower & blower, I'll have to start doing some thinking on those soon too. Thanks again everyone and Steve, if you can make it over to my place from the Big O, the 6 pak will be on ME

Thanks once again folks for all the well wishes, I most certainly appreciate your thoughts. As for the riding mower, this'll be the 1st time I've ever had enuff property to require anything more than a push model, but it's definetely on the shopping list and will be parked in the garden shed by the time the 1st blade of grass shows itself next spring. And GCD, your suggestion about not buying from the big boxes will certainly be taken. I don't take possession till the end of February but there'll still be plenty of snow around, so a snow blower is also in the works.

Thanks for all the great feedback folks, it's much appreciated. LOTSA room in that back yard, maybe once the snow melts we'll have an OFC g2g to christen the new digs Now I gotta go shopping for a snowblower.....

I've been retired from the Fire Dept. for 9 years but my wife loved her job & wanted to continue working, but we always wanted to get out of Toronto...(who doesn't ??) and move to the country once she packed it in and now the time finally arrived. We've had a house trailer at Lakefield on Lake Katchawanooka for 36 years now with alot of our best friends in the area and wanted to stay close by, and we finally found exactly what we've been searching for just 3 miles north of Yonges Point.....(10 minutes south of Burleigh Falls)..... and take possession in February. I thought long and hard about water front, but decided not to bother as I'm constantly towing my boat to different lakes all the time anyways, infact I towed my boat more than 2500 miles this year alone. Were right beside Clear Lake with only a dirt road between me & the lake, infact the water is only 150' from me If I want to lauch the boat there, it's only about 2 miles up the road to Kawartha Park Marina and that'll give me access to Stoney also. The house is only 8 years old and is in beautiful condition and is wired for a generator and has central air and also central vac. The property is 100' x 237' and at the end of the yard there's nothing but woods all the way back to hwy 28 a mile away. Gonna be a great place for me & the pooch to hike every day Anyways, here's a few pics of the new digs. I only took a couple and the rest are from the real estate website. I said I wanted country & I meant it........the road into my place A pic I took today....the house is actually beige but for some reason looks pink There's a circular drive in front and then the long drive up to the garage. I'm gonna have to buy both a riding lawnmower & snow blower The back with the full width deck Back yard......check out the garage Beautiful living room with wood fireplace Huge den Beautiful kitchen Master with ensuite, including a huge shower with built in lights, skylight and corner jacuzzi and walkout to the rear deck There's a couple more bathrooms, 3 more bedrooms, laundry, mudroom and a fully finished 8' high basement with a BIG family room downstairs. I think what really sold me though was the HUGE garage. It's 20' wide with remote door and a full 52' deep with a workshop at the far end. It's also fully insulated and has a propane furnace. I was in there yesterday and it was 70 degrees. Be a great place to build stuff and work on the boat all winter. There's more than enough room inside for my 19' boat, van & car. View inside And upstairs above the garage is a 20 x 20 finished loft that even has hardwood floors. Diane says that'll be my spot whenever I get outta hand Anyways folks, that's gonna be our new home very shortly and hopefully I haven't bored anyone, but I've waited a long time for this place and just thought I'd share it with you. If anyone wants me after February, you'll know where to find me

I've been using that 265W for a year now John and it's an excellent unit. The directions given are usually very accurate and the voice prompts are extremely clear. It's great when hooked up in conjuction with your cell phone and receiving calls is as simple as touching the screen, and to make outgoing calls is also only a couple finger touches in the units phone book. Sound quality is very good for both listening to incoming calls and also for talking to someone else. Amazing how the price comes down so dramatically on electronics as that same unit was $365 this time last year at Best Buy and Santa got it for me on sale for $300 BTW, The Source was selling it for $500 a year ago

Absolutely BEAUTIFUL Cliff, really really nice !!

I was across the Chemong causeway yesterday and the lake appeared to be mostly ice covered , although there's still a fair bit of open water in spots.

Thanks Beans & Jer, I appreciate the updates.