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Welcome back Marvin, but I must apologize as I honestly don't remember you from back in the day. Lots of differences though since your last visit.

View this morning from the front porch.

You had a lot of great stuff for sale back in the day TJ, hats, decals, mugs, even some really nice jackets. Ole Marv really liked the touques to LOL

Lousy news for sure.

I only ever tasted Scotch once in my life and that was about 45 years ago in the Bahamas. It was the most offensive thing I ever tasted and I think I told my wife I'd rather drink diesel fuel. LOL Must be an acquired taste thing.

Welcome to the board Crimsongulf, you'll like it here. I started fishing & camping at Hay Bay with my family waaaaay back in 1955 and continued for the better part of 50 years and I've got a lifetime of memories to go with it. You've got a great area to spend your summers.

Thanks Roy and Diane says to give you a hug !

Good to have you back Bud, it's been too long !!

Looking good Dan, you'll be the envy of everyone lugging their gear across the lake by hand.

Good luck tomorrow Brian, hope all this snow doesn't mess up the ice too much for you.

I went for a 90 minute hike along the Otonabee River near Trent University this morning and the water is flowing unbelievably fast and much higher than a week ago. I crossed the dam at Nassau Mills Rd. and they have all 7 gates open letting water through. Looked more like the spring runoff in April rather than mid January.

Hey Brian, I've been ice fishing twice.....1st time & last time LOL

I spend a lot of time outside Art and really enjoy the frigid temps as long as I'm dressed well. Pretty well every day starts with a 4 mile walk no matter how cold it is.

I've got the same issue with my hands Art and basically need my hands covered as soon as the temps drop below freezing. I don't need the dexterity of gloves so I use the handwarmers inside good mitts and no matter how cold it gets my hands are warm and these warmers last 7-8 hours. I use the same mitts I wore when I was working, good quality leather with a fleece lining. https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/grabber-hand-warmers-10-pk-0750057p.html#srp I used to do a LOT of winter biking and wore what they call Lobster Gloves. Just a thumb with only 2 fingers so you could keep to one to hold the grips and the other for either brake or shift levers. Never got cold with those either.

My sump usually only comes on in the spring with the big melt but it's running pretty good today. After the downpour finished last evening we got an inch of snow then more rain then it all froze together and now it's like hard packed sugar and very tough to shovel. I've always said once winter starts it'd be better if it stayed below freezing till springtime and do away with all these crazy melt/freeze cycles.

The Safari's were nice vehicles and very comfortable to drive. I bought a new one in '96 and drove it for 5 years then ventured over to the dark side and bought a 2001 Dodge pick-up. Only kept that one for 3 years and went back to GMC and bought a new '05 Safari. Yup, really nice vans and I never had a single issue with either one.

Yet this thread is allowed to go & on & on while so many other threads are locked for far less than what goes on here. Double standards are always a bad thing.

Nobody ever said Pinto's were a good investment LOL

Not really amazing, I've just never really needed alot of sleep and consider myself lucky. I used to do a huge amount of biking for a long time and would often leave my house @ 2:00 AM and ride 30 - 40 miles just because it was something I really enjoyed. Even now I start most days with a 4 mile hike and usually head out before sunrise.

Unless we have company or are doing something 10:00 is usually my limit.

I've always been a very early riser and usually get up between 2 - 3 AM and there's nothing I enjoyed more that getting up in the middle of the night on a camping trip and building a bonfire and just sitting by myself until the rest of the world woke up. Took this picture in front of my tent about 3:00 AM one beautiful summer morning..

Dogs don't understand danger so if there's any issues with ice I'd for sure leave the pooch in the cottage. Good to hear it all ended well for both of you.

Great story Dan, always pays to be a nice guy.

Happy New Year to everyone and in this house it'll be EXTREMELY happy A week ago my wife went for her regular mammogram and got a call the next day that something showed up on the xray that shouldn't be there and they scheduled more tests for yesterday. It's been a very tough week worrying about what it could be. We went yesterday for the tests and everything is fine and the spot that showed up was nothing more than a mark on the original picture. Very Happy New Year for this family for sure.

Every New Years Eve for the 53 years we've been married...'cept the ones I worked...we've ordered in a huge feast of Chinese food and tonight will be no exception and I'm picking it up at 5:00. I should be about 6 pounds heavier this time tomorrow LOL