bigugli

I'm more than a little jealous at the moment.

I'm with bigugli on this one. A great year all around for me.

 

I love it!!!! :good:

Haha! Never once for me, as gramps would remind me a good 10ft from the door lol

I used to knock the hat off my son's head as we walked in the door, followed by a little talking to.

I recall , it was probably in the mid 90's, at my parents place near Fonthill, Christmas eve there were frogs croaking in the pond in their yard, think it hit high 60's during the day. Saw a fellow picked 5 dozen nightcrawlers near here last night.

That was the year I had planted carrots and beets on the first of March. Nothing froze that year.

As others have mentioned, membership across the board with community organizations has been in decline for a good 15 years and then some. The average age of the local Lion's club is 67. Service clubs cannot atteract young members. Different times, different values, different economics. We live in a world of "what's in it for me?"

My best memories of the year are totally nf. They are the births of the grandaughters Savannah and Erika. No great fishing memory can surpass that. And I am only too happy to sacrifice a lot of fishing time for their sakes.

That said, there have been some great fishing moments, despite not having a lot of fishing time. In June my son and I travelled down to Windsor and the Detroit R. In the midst of a torrential wind and rain storm fishing for silver bass. Crazy weather with an insane bite. Tween the two of us we were landing over 100 fish per hour.

Was nice to land a PB walter this fall

hard thing to have to do, but the best thing in the end to not let your pal suffer. Been through it enough times over the years and it never gets easier. You never forget them.

Your open letter to Justin would have popped up on any google search using his name. Every party has PR geeks watching public commentary through all social media

It really opens up your eyes when you read comments such as Lew's. Good luck Lew & also to your wife. My fav neice is also going through chemo at this time. Doctors say she'll eventually lose both breasts. Very sad. Such a wonderful young lady at only age 40.

My wish for Christmas is to be with our grandchildren Christmas morning as they laugh & have fun opening Christmas presents. Also for all of my family & friends to be healthy.

I do hope all goes well for your daughter.

That there is cute

It's been 13 months since my wife had surgery to get rid of a cancer and then that was followed by 3 months of chemo.

 

She now goes every 3 months for cat-scans & x-rays and then a meeting with her surgeon. We did that today and once again the doc says she's all clear and healthy as a horse.

 

That's all the Christmas present I want.

That's the kind of Christmas present I'd be wanting. That and our latest grandaughter. All I need to be happy and content.

Sure looks fine.

Looks fantastic Bruce, I'm going to have to try your marinade on my next batch. I have been cold smoking ( < 20°C) my bacon for the last little while now and really like the results.

I'll have to try cold smoking a batch next time around. This time around I had too many different things cooking in the smoker so I had my temps up around 130F

The hell with the bacon, Bruce,ship me those crunch,ns sheets.

 

Bacon looks good to though.

I can suck and chew on those pieces of salted rind for hours. With pork shoulder I'd carve off the rind fat, cover with salt overnight and then bake til hard and brittle. What a treat when I was growing up.

Finally had time to run my smoker for the day. Did a couple of roasts and smoked sausage for a pulled pork dinner tonight with out of town relatives coming into see the grandaughter.

Got in a big batch (200 odd) of Swedish meatballs.

Biggest thriil was my first attempt at smoking my own bacon. Let the pork belly marinate for 36 hours in a brine of brown sugar, sea salt, and apple juice. Followed up by 6 hours in the smoker on very low heat curing with cherry wood. The result.

We had a sampling along with our dinner, and everyone fell in love with the bacon fresh from the smoker. Can't wait to fry some in the pan.

I think it's pretty naive to think that over-fishing isn't part of the problem, I think over-fishing is a problem everywhere in Southern and Central Ontario.

 

As much as we like the Internet, it can be a terrible thing as well when it comes to fishing. People post their successes online, it spreads like wild fire on the Net. Head Lake west of Norland is a perfect example of this. What used to be a fairly quiet lake is a very busy one at times now and if even only 25% of the people are having success, how many more fish are being taken out of the lake compared to 15-20 years ago? Double, triple? Possession limits have changed in that time frame, slot limitations have been implemented, but have they kept pace with the increased traffic on the water. Not sure, but it wouldn't surprise me if the answer is a resounding no. And what about the people who don't obey the rules? They really tilt the scales the wrong way.

 

The answer is not a simple one that's for sure.

You've forgotten the impact that comes from a human population doubling, and the urban sprawl, in 30 years, in Southern Ontario. That is an impact you cannot fix.

Loved the Mitchell 300. SIts in a place of pride in the house. The bail spring finally went after 35 years of heavy use. My son has an even older original reel that is even more dear to me. My grandfather's Luxor reel. We actually had it out fishing a couple years back. May just have to take it out again this year.

Walleye populations have been struggling for some time. No surprise that they are now resorting to drastic measures until they figure out what to do.

Looking back , I amazed we even caught any fish in the 50's and 60's without the GPS, depth finders, electric trolling motors . direct drive, thumb buster casting reels, Mitchell 300's and other antiquated gear.

Must have been pure blind luck,eh??

Thanks for all the best wishes ,gang. Just hope I can be 1/2 as good at being a grandparent as my own grandparents were.

Congrats Bruce. 11 grandkidlets here. Only one great grand daughter. Don't think we'll be having anymore grand kids. The youngest grandchild is 20. Great grand daughter will be 3 in March....I hope she remembers us after we're gone. It's not too often that people can say that they remember playing with their great grandparents.

I hope to be as lucky as you, someday, to see and play with great grandchildren.

Just got home from the hospital. Erika weighed in at 8lb 6oz late last night. that makes grandaughter #4.

Today we start the Christmas preparations in the kitchen. Started the day with sweet turnip and squash casseroles with a graham cracker crust

That took care of 1/2 the day.

Next came the elderberry brandy. Firtst step was done last week with de-stemming the berries. 6 quarts.

followed by 2 hours of simmering the berries.

the result is 2 qts of juice.

After 4 hours of filtering, we add the sugar and alcool, and once it starts boiling, bottle.

This is the final result.

We'll open the first jar Christmas eve.

Wet snow for most of the day at St Jakobs, yesterday. Nothing sticking to the ground. Just wet.

Bruce, just had some "plain nasty"salsa with time Nachos and it gets 3 thumbs up.

We do try to please. Glad you liked it.