OhioFisherman

Well I would call that a good trip! Nice work!

You're probably right on the zinc phosphate screws Dave, I bought whatever Home Depot was recommending at the time. Last time I was able to do anything like that they seemed to be pushing stainless steel deck screws. Since my deck was around my pool I cut deck boards and spaced them to use for balusters for a little more privacy.

No idea how your lumber prices compare with ours stateside, but there was an article in the news here about lumber prices being high before Harvey hit because of all the new construction. Years ago I built a deck around my pool, i used 4x4's with 2x8's to attach the deck boards to, with a lot of people and stuff on it at times I didn't want issues. Back the galvanized deck screws were the norm, after 15 years or so taking it down? They all snapped off from corrosion.

Condolences.

I don't think you could squeeze a cord of wood into a pickup truck without some pretty high ad on sides on it.

http://www.cleveland19.com/story/35996824/how-to-avoid-buying-a-flood-damaged-car A lot of them flood damaged cars will turn up on the market?

https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2017/08/31/Large-concentrations-of-antidepressants-found-in-the-brains-of-Great-Lakes-fish/5331504193020/?utm_source=fp&utm_campaign=ts_pi&utm_medium=16

October used to be a good month for me smallie fishing on Lake Erie, getting good enough weather and finding them could be a problem.

Too much risk of running into problems on big water with a canoe for me.

LOL, we always tried to time our September trips to PAB to hit right after the first real cold spell, it seemed to signal the fish to feed, it was almost always mid to late September. This time of year here we are usually still dealing with the dog days of August.

Temps here in tropical Ohio are below 70 for the next few days, well below normal for this time of year here. Just guessing it is cooler up there, will the bite start early?

The last couple of winters here have been very mild, the Amish sawmills in the area are having a glut of slabwood, I got 6 cords delivered a couple of months ago for 425 bucks an early season sale! Never saw it advertised like that before.

That Ash Borer will probably be a problem anywhere there are ash trees, it is sure a problem here in Ohio, you can look at a tree line and spot the Ash trees, they are the ones dead or dying, they have restrictions here on transporting Ash, some counties don't allow it.

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2017/08/29/Houston-mayor-imposes-curfew-to-prevent-looting/6931504054085/?utm_source=fp&utm_campaign=mp&utm_medium=1 Up to 20 years in prison for looters in Texas.

Old, really no idea, but if business and industry stops investing in that area they will have to go somewhere? This is really nothing new? http://www.wxresearch.com/almanac/houflood.html By my count over 100 flooding events in that area since 1954? doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is insanity? Grant the scale is different, but suppose Global Warming is the new reality? Any area of our countries can have a national disaster, but why put millions of people in an area known for them? and it would seem a lot of them don't even have flood insurance? http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/2017/08/28/half-houston-homes-businesses-hit-by-flooding-may-be-uninsured.html

I can understand being attached to an area, family ties, work, etc, but this is their 3rd major flooding event since 2015? When do you say enough already? http://money.cnn.com/2017/08/28/news/economy/hurricane-harvey-economy/index.html

https://mffp.gouv.qc.ca/english/publications/online/wildlife/fishing-regulations/general-regulations/catch-possession-limits.asp Evidently you can catch and keep?

One of our local news channels says Houston got more rain in 72 hours than we have received in 9 months! It's hard to imagine that amount of rainfall for me.

Over the years I had a total of 3 GM Astro - Safari vans with a 4.3 v-6 which had similar torque numbers. They were fine for pulling my boat (roughly 1500 lbs total weight, b/m/t and gear). They could handle, barely, pulling my tandem axle utility trailer loaded with a cord and a quarter of fresh cut slabwood ( roughly 5000 lbs ) 20 miles from the sawmill home. To pull a 5500 lb trailer around Canada? you are going to want at least a mid sized v - 8, a diesel might be better. I have a 2500 series GM van with a small v-8, no doubt that it would pull a 5000lb load better, but if I had planned on pulling a weight like that around regularly I would have gone with a bigger motor. Those little motors have to work hard to pull weight.

A spare prop isn't a bad thing to keep in the boat, even if it's not an expensive one. You can waste a lot of time looking for a replacement on a vacation.

Congrats!

" The abandoned net contained approximately 880 kilograms of several species of fish including walleye, yellow perch, lake sturgeon, white bass and white perch, in various stages of decomposition." Lake Sturgeon are an endangered species here in Ohio and possession prohibited, I wonder what they would fine a recreational angler for having just one?

I never even liked surprising deer in the woods.

Ouch! Ya that explains it, plus much higher standards for a business than a gravel drive, no salt needed here on my drive.

I have no idea what that area is like, but I live in a rural area here. My driveway is about 22x180 with a 40x25 foot parking area, the area gas station convenience store and the local diner were gathering places for the snow plow guys. It was pretty easy to connect with them and get some numbers to have and get my larger than normal drive plowed for 20-30 bucks, might be cheaper than beating up or buying your own?