bigugli

This says it all

Just like it,s doing for those that have not planned for the future Todd. Will I be ok,time will tell.

Guess what. You can plan all you want and still have nothing. I have 2 pension plans that became worthless when the employers went bankrupt Seems government put a few loopholes in place to allow employers to borrow against their pension funds. The third one I pulled and put into a "secure" pension plan. The insurance company has locked down the fund and made no payouts in 2 years as the recession almost wiped it out. So I planned and saved and still don't have squat. Or you can put all your savings in the bank and get no return either.

Found gas for $1.08 today. One small victory in a cheaper run to Simcoe.

Government isn't going to run to our rescue. Gotta learn to fend for ourselves like in the old days.

The way I see it, Cliff. Government no longer works for our benefit, so why should we work for their benefit? Special interests and bureaucrats live good on our backs because we let them.

Same old same old. Prices jack with every middle east crisis. Has been since the 70's

As for the disparity tween US and Canada prices. Answer is really simple. Canadians have become spineless toads. They make noise and then go into hiding.

My FIL has seen a few of those caught in the Saguenay River, St Rose du Nord, QC over the years. One was pulled up from 600 feet and dragged onto the ice by a tow truck. There's a few articles on google.

A couple of years back a lady caught one through the ice and was threatened to be fined by the Feds for not having a shark license.

Update

Venue move to Rennie Park in Pt Dalhousie, Sat Feb 26th.

Same problem each year end. In February they are busy tabulating the results for Avid Angler awards, and getting reports ready for the AGM. The regular flow of entries get processed at a crawl for a few weeks.

For any who frequent the old canal in Welland. They started raising the water. First 20' of ice is submerged and soft. Making it unsafe the next few days. There was supposed to be a Heart & Stroke derby on Saturday, but I believe they will either have to change venue or scratch. It will take a few nights for that ice to firm up.

What's happening now is that we are entering a 'New Age of Austerity'. We have had it too good for too long. Our parents had to scrimp and save and really, we haven't, not even close. There were times when it may have been a bit tight but it didn't last too long. There has been too much money available and now the majority of people are overextending themselves. I'm not just talking about the average working stiff either. In my house, we eat steak, roasts, ribs, chicken, fish and the like very regularly, how you may ask?? I don't make $200k/yr. Every Saturday morning I have my ritual, while the fishing shows are on, I go through the ads for the week. Over the course of the week during my travels, I will stop at the various stores to pick up the specials along with some of the basic staples, bread, milk eggs and the like. I have a freezer that is very well stocked in the basement as well as a well stocked pantry of dry goods. Why buy a can of tomatoes for $1.49 when you can get them for .88 each on special. Buy a dozen or two. Why pay $7.99 or higher per pound for a Prime rib roast when you can get it for $3.99/lb? You just have to be a smart shopper. That's what our folks did. The only time they went into debt was to buy a house. Now we have car payments, mortgage payments, credit card payments, daycare, etc....etc...etc....

My Gram taught me about stretching the food dollar when I was young. It pays off. This week's grab; bacon at $1.79. Grabbed 10 lbs. Canned sockeye a $1 a can, grabbed the last 8 off the shelf. I still buy large hunks of meat to break down into roasts, steaks, chops, stewing portions. 20lbs for $20 goes a long way.

There is only a little left of my credit to pay off, and I'll sleep a lot easier.

Truth is, if there is an excuse for putting up the price of anything, it will be used. Always has been and always will be. Only a fool believes that a politician will change that time honored formula. Politicians are either well off of their own accord, or they have been bought and paid for by the corporate world. How else do they pay for lavish election campaigns and high priced advisors and analysts. Not by selling membership cards.

I just find that in today's economic climate, I am applying a lot more of my grandparent's wisdom and advice. They got through the depression and WWII, so I guess I can manage too. Rule number 1: Trust no government or corporation, because none have your best interest at heart.

The ugli bunch will be there.

Thanks, fishnsled... There's a LOT of good information here. I'd recommend that anybody who hasn't read it do so now.

 

Seems to me if they're doing that much testing of Chinese and Vietnamese fish products, you'd want to make sure to stay away from them.

 

There's also a section there about how the Chinese destroyed the Cdn garlic industry. GRRRRR!

Don't worry about the garlic. China has had a catastrophic garlic crop failure. They had buyers in Ontario paying upwards of $500 a bushel for seed stock. A lot of folks remember how they got screwed last time, and won't sell to them. Besides, Chinese garlic tends to lack the hardiness and shelf life.

A lot of us love making our own stuff. Twice the satisfaction when something you crafted catches fish.

How is Erie fish for contaminants nowadays? I thought you still had to be careful how much you consume.

 

Veggies... you sure have a point there. Lots of produce in supermarkets comes from China now. Snow peas, garlic, a number of types of fruit, etc. Sometimes there's no alternative - i.e. it's very hard to find Can/Am garlic.

 

(I know Leechman will say "Grow yer own!")

Lots of good produce at the farmers markets as long as you seek out the farmers and avoid the jobbers. Just need to learn the old skills of canning, preserving and stockpiling. I don't buy produce in winter because I like to know where my produce came from, and who grew it. I do know what is in the produce coming across the border, how it is processed , packed and stored.

Ya, must of been me...Ive had a spastic mouse the past week until I gave it a good cleaning yesterday

Now I have this image of some big burly fella in a nurse's outfit giving a poor wee field mouse an enema

Dont go there Bruce,this stuff pisses me off.

It's pissed off many a friend who've lost their livelihoods and way of life. Highliner is mostly a sham. Canadian in name only. They buy up offshore fleets to do the catching.

A lot of the seafood that is caught in international waters off the coast of Canada/ USA are processed on board and then sold to Canada/ USA as a foreign product depending on the country of Documentation of the vessel. Some of the ships that are in Canada/ USA may have an office in China just for the tax breaks and lack of stiff rules so they can Document the vessel for the benefits. So an all Canadian crew/boat can be selling the made in China products to Canada. So hows that for thickening the plot here.

 

 

Art

Sorry, but the offshore vessels have offshore crews. Flags of convenience do exist, 90% of American owned bottoms use such flags as Panama, Liberia, etc... They also rely on cheap offshore crews and Lascars.

However, factory ships do all the processing from start to finish. The do not need land based facilities. Canadian fisheries have been destroyed by bureaucratic regulation and incompetence. The boys down east aren't working on Chinese or Portuguese vessels. They cost far more than the $2 a day crews used on foreign vessels.

Many nations have fleets of floating factories that fish outside territorial waters then bring the catch home for distribution. Such fleets fly the flags of China, Japan, Norway, Portugal, to name a few. There is nothing new in any of this. The only thing new is in being forced to actually I.D. the nation packing the fish.

Hey Bruce It was good to see you there.

I forgot all about chatting with you at the show

Alzheimers. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Congartulations old son. May you have many years of mischief and fishing trips together.

Time to dust off that rocking chair and have the Mrs warm up some milk and cookies for you

There vintage section isn't very old. I've got some of the old floating balsa minnows, still in the pale blue boxes they used to pack them in.

Glad to see a safe final outcome for you fellas. Weird weather and nasty things happening everywhere today.

There wasn't much to be impressed with. Almost everyone selling the same 5-6 lines of plastics. The usual discount racks and bins. A couple of newer outfitters. Got a chuckle watching 2 wee fellas fight trout in the pond.

Couple of seminars that were worthwhile. The one chef had a potato and leek walleye dish that was heavenly.

Met up with HTHM, and spent some time chatting with Maureen at Off The Dock. I love the caricatures you do. Well worth the money.

I would consider it good fortune if I only had "one of them days" once a year.

All the same it sucks to have such luck.