JohnF

Interesting point. I've never heard anything about those tolerances being so critical before but then most of my engine work was pre-1975. I know engine build tolerances and gaps were getting much smaller even then so it doesn't surprise me that plug torque and the crush effect have come into play. Like others have said I don't think I ever used a torque wrench for plugs, new or otherwise. I was forever pulling the plugs in my two strokes checking the fuel mixture settings. JF

I'll find out in the morning, but without water it sure feels light. JF

Fort William/Port Arthur? Dayum - too late JF

Yup, although a few fish would be nice. JF

Yeah, whatever happened to age before beauty? JF

Well, you can show me what it's all for when I come to visit. JF

I sure hope so. Gonna try it out tomorrow. JF

Hey! Easy there. JF

Well, I went fishing today with a new fishing buddy, actually a new neighbour in our condo, and whilst standing in the river suffering from heavy rod anxiety decided the Cumara had to happen. So after we got home I scurried over to the Fishing Store and picked up the Cumara .... oh, and it seemed a shame to put any of those heavy reels I have on such a nice light rod, sooooooo ... That's a little bitty Stradic (the darned kid wouldn't sell his) with 14# braid on a 7'2" Medium weight Extra Fast action Cumara. And here's my new fishing buddy Lloyd. For you old farts who remember the Mercy Brothers, a country kinda group, that's the drummer brother. So all in all that's a pretty good day. New friend, new rod and new reel. No fish though. JF

There will be a lot of entrepreneurial types jumping on the price bandwagon right now. They're all figuring the increase will be blamed on the guvmint. JF

Yeah. maybe you're right. It sounds like the kind of thing Cliff would do. JF

You ever heard what they say about assumptions? Apparently not. Well listen up and I'll give you the quick lesson in HST. The HST is going to hurt my business as much or more than any business in Ontario. I am not pleased that it's been done but smarter people than me (and obviously you) have determined that in the big picture it actually is good for most businesses. That's not to say it's going to be great for the consumer. I've taken the trouble to research it and now I get it. You on the other hand are apparently happy to follow the braying crowd and spout second hand opinions you haven't bothered to research or understand. I'm saying we should all suck it up because we're stuck with it. It's a done deal and we've got to live with it. The alternative is to sound like a bumbling idiot who has no idea of what he's really talking about but since a lot of other people including politicians are saying it let's jump on the bandwagon and look cool. You're living proof that partisan obfuscation works. Call me out when you've taken the time to understand the problem. And I'm not angry, just disappointed that there are people like you who just can't get it. JF

So ya think I should lend it to Cliff? JF

The Optimist Club dumps a bunch of 'Bows into the river each spring for a kid's derby. Lots of them to be found in the river below the dam. We think some have made it all the way down to the Thames now. JF

Thanks for the tip. I'll probably get at least the same deal from Byron in the Stratford store. He works pretty closely with Jos but I want to support the local store as much as possible anyway. I like being able to get pretty much anything I need right in town and be able to ask advice at the same time. JF

I don't buy small items for the warranty. I'll take my chances when and if I have a claim. If they screw me they screw themselves. I spend a fair amount of money on small things and when a company screws me I get even. There's a popular big box store that lost about $2,000 per year in business. I use a lot of computers and computer related stuff. That company finally made good, sort of, but the damage was already done. I'll never spend a penny there again. I know they say "Never say never" but I feel confident I meant never. JF

I didn't explain myself very well. What I'm really asking is whether or not y'all think I'll be disappointed with the extra fast action for worms 'n tubes. I was already sold on the Cumara after the last time I asked about it. JF

This year I've started using 7' spinning rods after nothing but 5'6" rods till now. But after a couple of days of carrying the long rod whilst wading for 3 or 4 hours I'm really starting to appreciate the weight factor. With that in mind I made another visit to the Fishing Store and picked up a Cumara again. It feels really nice. I also liked the action, at least in the store. It's a Medium extra fast 7'2". I like the ability to flip baits sidearm with short backswing when under trees and up against banks. It feels sweet for that. So here's the questions. I am already convinced the rod is worth the couple hundred bucks but is there anything else I should be considering before it? I want to make sure I've done my due dilgence before laying out that much for a rod. It's too much money to chuck in the corner the way I do with cheaper rejects. I'll be tossing wacky worms, tubes, light shallow and topwater lures for bass and small pike. What's the vote? Is it a wise choice? Garry, speak up. Yer gonna have long days in the boat listening to me witch if I don't like it. Thanks for the feedback. JF

Water's pretty decent everywhere around here. Not as clear as normal thanks to the rain I suspect but still good viz. Loads of suckers below St.Marys. Some kayakers came thru yesterday and asked us what the big fish were they were seeing everywhere - suckers. I was standing still at one point yesterday and looked down to see a school of at least 20-30 large suckers swirling around my feet. Lotsa carp too. Where you heading? I might try to get out again. I made an executive decision to leave the office closed to day and make it a 4 day weekend so I'm free as a bird till Monday. JF

Yup. No defending government sneakiness there. They are levying special taxes on gas at the rate of 14.7 cents but not calling it pst. Therefore the new pst component of the HST is a tax on a tax like the GST has been all along. As for who you voted for - does it really matter? Is there any reason to think the politicians with the red flag or the orange one or whatever will treat us any more fairly. Remember this new tax has come about through the complicity of a red party at one level and a blue party at another. It's all about politicial party obfuscation. Is there any logic to saying we should all vote Liberal federally and PC provincially? Can the two levels of party really be seen as different entities with diametrically opposed ideologies. The Ontario Libs will wear the horns for this HST when in fact it was the PC's that imposed it through what amounted to financial blackmail to the tune of billions in transfer payments. I'm not pro-Liberal here but I'm not sure it's fair to lay all the blame on them. They may just be making the best of a bad situation. By that I mean looking for ways to get more money out of us while pointing the finger at the Canadian PC's for making it happen. As far as I'm concerned there's no party deserving my vote but logically I'll vote the way I figure will do us the least harm. That's getting tougher to read though. JF

I know the whole thing is hard to stomach. Perhaps I've just become innured after so many years of putting up with all the different levels and parties in government sticking it to me. Politics seems to bring out the worst in everybody - the politicians and the electorate. I sometimes think it would be great to go back to a simpler kinder time but in reality when was that exactly? Isn't suffering under taxation and lying politicians just part of the price we pay for the life we enjoy? I'm not sure it was ever any different. Just different politicians and different lies countered by offended voters flipflopping from one party to the other as they fell for the new round of lies. Many of you will be ranting that we need to switch votes to the party that didn't commit the last abuse on us. It gets to sound not unlike the Maple leafs and Habs fans and their blind faith. As far as I'm concerned we'd be better off without any kind of partisan politics and have nothing but independents sitting, but smarter folks than me tell me that would be impossible, our system of government is modeled on the party system and can't be changed. But at the end of the day and for all the lying politicians we suffer Canada is still a pretty good place to live, isn't it? In case you've forgotten go to Lew's Happy Canada Day thread here. JF

This one was very gentle and obliging. But it sure was slimy and stinky. JF

I tried to answer in the "at the pumps" thread but for whatever reason it wouldn't post. Here's what I wrote. Well, it seems to me the best thing for us all to do right now is suck it up and move on. If you feel really strongly about it express yourself in the next election. But pay close attention to the promises the other parties are making about rescinding this tax. I have a pretty good hunch they won't be doing anything like that. Yeah, it sucks that I have to collect an extra 8% or $800 on a $200,000 sale assuming a commission rate of 5%. Keep in mind though that there is no set commission rate in Ontario so I suspect a lot of smarter realtors aren't going to blow a listing for a few hundred bucks. Commissions have always been negotiable before and now we just have one more factor to throw into the negotiating equation. And as for new homes, at least under $400,000 there's a pretty substantial rebate in place. Eventually if the builders play fair most of the extra should actually disappear. Naturally some of them will take advantage of the circumstances to pad the profit margin and let the govt take the heat for it. The long and short of it is that all the pissing and moaning in the world won't make the new tax go away. The provincial govt is stuck with it and so are we. As much as it pains me to admit it the new tax is probably the right way to go. It's about time the governments started paring away some of the bureaucratic lard. Now, once we get used to it, we'll just have one tax collection infrastructure instead of two and for many of us with deductible expenses it'll one day be to our advantage. Talk to some of the business people you know. Odds are pretty good they'll tell you they like the tax for a whole bunch of reasons. Don't let the politicians wind you up against the other party over something they themselves wouldn't change and almost certainly would have had to do themselves if they'd been in power. In reality the extra tax is really only on a limited number of things that weren't already subject to the two taxes. If you want to put some heat on somebody over this start asking some of the product suppliers if they're reducing prices to reflect the provincial tax change. How many products will you be paying the new tax on when the price you're paying still includes the 8% from the old tax collection system? Sorry if I've let any of you down with my lack of angst but I'm just grinning and bearing it. It's not great right now but it's nowhere near as horrible as some of the opposition politicians and special interest groups would have you believe. JF

I was braver today. Got a bad shot of the snotrocket and a few nice shots of the river. My wife after the dunking Fishing buddy Rob. Who but an artist would wear a hat like that? JF

Well, the skunk almost came back, and in the very spot where I lost him on Sunday. Three of us splashed a variety of lures for almost 90 minutes all over that spot this morning. Nada. WE pretty much wore out the worms and crankbaits that worked on Sunday, but to no avail. When we finally decided to surrender and move to another spot I figgered I had nothing to lose, so for the long walk back down the river to the car I put on an old stained white tube already stuck on a hook with a weight inside. Took 3 casts to haul in a nice little 20" snotrocket and then a few more to get a 12" dink. Go figger. My wife found a nice way to cool off. Trip over a rock in 3' of water. She wasn't impressed. I probably shouldn't have laughed. So I learned two important lessons today. 1. Tubes are my friend 2. Do not laff when my wife gets a full body soaker JF