JohnF

So long as we don't end up with sunken Rainbow Warriors cluttering up our waterways. JF

I'll start to worry when Green Peace starts harassing our bassboats. JF

People don't always understand that certain plants and critters are introduced to an area where they don't have natural predators to keep their numbers down, so man has to step up and do the deed. And there are some bleeding hearts who don't really care what happens as long as the little critters are preserved from harm. As someone suggested, perhaps they need to live on a small island with a flock of the durned things for a while. I wonder if folks like that mind having mice in their cupboards. JF

You got 'em in yer house???? I'm looking at what needs to change on my agenda so I can do that. Thanks for the invitation. JF

54# !!!!!! I'll have to wear a diaper. Actually, you may be sorry. We're supposed to be going sailing on the Chesapeake this summer. That's kinda in the neighbourhood, I think. JF

Based on his reputation for fouling the atmosphere, I'd say he was chased off. His boat buddies have to be more careful in keeping him from eating the catfish bait. JF

You mean Garry? He was probably just chasing Buck. JF

Well jeez, if I have to. Please tell me yer boat at least has twin in boards. They don't have to be huge. JF

Hey! Go with it. Sounds kinky. JF

Yowzer!!!!! She sounds hot. Okay report, if only you could catch some serious fish and be more articulate. JF

I dropped in at Fishmaster's marina yesterday whilst on a tour putting miles on the new car. Very nice setup. Just as I arrived I saw a rather well set up boat aiming for his dock and figgered it had to be his, and sho' nuff - I wuz right. He has a really nice rig, and the river there is huge. I'm ready to go try for some of those big cats myself having seen the venue. I'm seriously wishing I'd bought into that package when it was on the block. Anyone wanna sell their share????? In any event, those of you who did are lucky, or smart. Fishmaster did mention that he and the two guys on the boat got into quite a few big cats on Saturday. He said it like it happened every day. NICE! Oh, and Jen dresses really nicely to dip minnows for the customers. I know realtors who don't dress that well to sell houses. JF

I have a hunch they didn't start out to be jerks but some of the fishermen (and I use the word loosely) they meet just bring out the worst in them. I hear folks say the same thing about cops. I figure that most cops aren't bad guys, they just become conditioned to having to deal with buttholes. The moral of the story is - Don't be a butthole when you meet a Law Enforcment Ossifer. JF

Shakespeare has a spincaster combo that I bought for fun down in Ohio at Dick's Sports. It was $19.95. It's a trigger release enclosed spool style reel on a 4 1/2' rod. It's actually a lot of fun for panfish. I've caught 2# smallmouths on it and they're a hoot. The nice thing it just won't snarl on a bad cast. My buddy got me to pick him up one for a kayak rod. He loves UL stuff anyway and this is definitely UL. I think it would be a perfect rod for kids. JF

Or just make sure you travel in a van or big suv. My one effort at male bonding with one of my boys at that age could have been a disaster. When we arrived at the campground I discovered that I'd forgotten the tent fly for our pup tent. The sky looked fine so we just went with what we had. Of course around midnight the thunder started followed shortly thereafter by torrential rains (Well, they felt torrential as the raindrops filtered thru the canvas and splattered on us). Once the rain water soaked thru our sleeping bags and Steve started whimpering (or mebbe it was me whimpering) I made an executive decision and moved us to the van. We spent the rest of the night warm and dry (with the engine and heater on, of course) and in the morning we hung everytning in the sun to dry so we could go back to communing with nature the next night, with no rain. Nature is a great place for parents and kids to bond ... almost as good as a warm dry van. I highly recommend it. JF

I was going to stay out of this one but .. well, ya know how it is. I'm convinced that talking about losing our son was a catharsis for me. If I felt that the people I was talking to were uncomfortable I'd back off, but if they were okay with it (and many were) then I'd talk. I didn't get all mopey and emotional when I talked, just treated it matter of factly. I don't expect to ever get over it but I find that I can now talk about him reasonably comfortably. There are lots of sad moments but I keep those to myself. Your friends know you're hurting and they expect it, but they generally have no idea how to deal with us losing control in their presence so I expect it would just alienate them. When we first lost our son I noticed that people were deliberately avoiding mel I suppose to escape the need to find the right things to say or to have to witness my grieving. Quickly I learned to open conversations by saying straight out something like "Don't worry. I've come to terms with this. I'm not going to have a meltdown here in front of you." Perhaps that sounds odd or callous but it actually seemed to put them at ease and even seemed to encourage them to ask questions. As I said I think it was and probably still is cathartic for me to actually talk about Steve. But that's just what worked for me. Each of us has to handle our grief in whatever way works for us. All the best JF

Duct tape both ends - of the dog, I mean. JF

No problem. It was good of you to offer. I lend out a lot of my books and I know the return rate isn't as good as the lend rate. JF

Thanks. I can usually get it at the local library. I just wanted to get a copy of my own to add to my fishing collection. It's just something I do with my various hobbies. JF

Ian's a very entertaining guy. I met him one night while wading the Thames and didn't figure out who he was until later. Went away from the experience thinking the guy should write about fishing. Then when I went to his webpage I discovered he does. His book is excellent. It's out of print as far as I know (I tried to buy a copy after borrowing it from the Stratford library). I wish I'd known about this event earlier. JF

One other thing. Before you start with a builder google TARION and then look up the builder by name and see what his warranty record is. Every new house is bound to have some problems. What you want is a builder who deals with them expeditiously and doesn't have to be forced by Tarion to back his product. JF

Ryan, I sell real estate for a living. Been doing that for over 30 years. For a long time the bulk of my business was with builders and new home buyers so I'd have to say, all modesty aside, that I know what I'm talking about. I have lots of advice to offer but it would all take too long here. Besides, I have a staff meeting about to start and I'm the guy running it. Rather than try to address your questions here, why not PM me and I'll do my best to answer the stuff you don't get decent answers for from the others. There's lots of knowledge here, as you know. Some of us know the construction part, some the finance, some the design and some the legal part. Put us all together and you have a great resource. One word of warning before you start. Budget more than you think you'll need. Seldom have I seen a new house project come in at budget. As the building progresses you'll be seeing things you want to change or add, and most of that stuff adds costs. making changes along the way isn't necessarily a bad thing as you'd hate to have regrets down the road. As for whether or not to build, I say go for it if the price is in your ballpark. New homes are great for lots of reasons including cost control, maintenance, convenience & comfort. JF

Pay attention! We're talking business here. JF

Hey, you got 'em now, so why not try 'em out? Those boots look exactly the same as the ones on the nylon waders I bought at CTC. HTHM has 'em at the moment so he'd have to confirm that. Test them by going fishing. If you get wet, get out of the water. If they do leak try patching them with aquaseal or somesuch. If the boots are too uncomfortable (try nylon sox and even talc) then give up on the waders. It's probably not worthwhile removing and replacing the boots. If you want to try it yourself go to a dive shop (if there's no fishing store that can help you) and get some neoprene booties. They use 'em on scuba drysuits. They glue on just like the boots. Then you wear whatever works best over them for comfort and traction. Get a pair of cheap hicuts and glue felt soles on for traction. Play around with those waders. What have you got to lose? It's not like they're life support equipment. They're just about comfort. Some folks will tell you that neoprene is the only way to go for the cold but I really dislike neoprene. It's bulky and often too hot. I've dived in 34 degree (F) water a number of times quite comfortably in a shell (waterproof synthetic canvas type stuff). I think the longest dive was something like 45 minutes at 40-50'. It's all about layering correctly. JF

Actually that rounds to 1.57 because of the 5 in the decimal. But luckily the HST will save you from some of that overcharging in the future when they'll only have one shot at rounding up. It's interesting to calculate what it means if Bell has, for instance, three million subscribers all chipping in the penny for improper rounding. JF

Suicide by gas inhalation, or do ya smoke? JF