bigugli

Lol!

He's been getting serious with a young lady for some time, and she has 2 little ones, and now, apparently, one more of Jr's doing on the way. Instant big family.

For a while I was beginning to think that grandchildren might not be in the cards. Truth be known, considering my daughter's spinal history, I was OK with that. Well the daughter will be due in three month and I was still a little hesitant in how I felt. Today, the son drops a real bomb. Apparently I might be looking at 4 grandchildren before Christmas.!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was kinda in shock for a few hours. Boy is life going to get expensive. There won't be no shortage of fishing buddies for me in the future.

My most recent monthly pick-up of lean ground was $5/kg for 5 kg bags

Last time I saw the lights down here in Niagara was about 8 years back. Quite a vivid show for this far south, and it lasted for 3 nights.

We've used salt forever now. What has kept changing is technology. The chemical composition of the actual wire may not have changed, but the coatings sure have. Some salts have add-in compounds. Then there is that beet/grape extract they've been spraying. Surprise!!! They only just started to figure out that it can be corrosive to certain plastic or rubber compounds.

Sometimes its that need for self fulfillment. The sense of personal accomplishment and being able to say "I did that". Mike Borger would understand that completely. Why else does one go out solo in a canoe for a month at a time in the remote north? I've gone on a few trips for the sake of "doing it". Then I got family and responsibilities and those adventures stopped. I'm afraid my body is too far gone for any of those challenges any longer.

Heavy shade would be a bigger problem. 90% of your foodstuffs need full sun

As long as your not planting or digging on the septic bed, and as long as you get the proper breakdown of matter, you are fine. When younger, one of our gardens was downhill from the septic bed. Was the richest piece of ground, had the best yields of tomato, huge pears, and almost never needed watering

Yep.. I watch Montreal

Well, out to the Niagara Outdoor Show in Ft Erie. Hoping to see some OFCer's there. If you can, please consider bringing some non-perishable items for the food drive. Thanking you in advance.

Robins in the yard and pussy willow buds.

Funny I was trying to tell people that last year with the shortage of animals running through the auctions that prices were going to keep going up. Lot of herds in Ontario were downsized over the past 2 years, and more of what was available was going south. The few herdsmen I still know are not planning on raising their head numbers any time soon.

I've been known to sit down to a big pan of wine saute'd mushrooms and garlic all by my lonesome. Wife won't touch the things. Won't go near a plate of liver bacon and onion either.

Baking soda and boiling water for 2 minutes is also the quick fix for leaching out the blood and tenderizing liver.

I love whole onions done with a roast, whether beef, pork, or game. The flavours are just so good together. Gotta put in at least a pound.

That's exactly what I said on page 1 Brian. It was a government granted monopoly given to the then "big 3" of Molsons, Labatts, Carling. It allowed them to self regulate and control the market. Control now rests in the hands of their foreign parent companies.

Brewer's Retail is a dinosaur from an age when there were 3 family breweries in Ontario controlling 99% of the beer flow. All Canadian, Molson's, Labatt's and Carling were the owners and operators. Only member breweries and their subsidiaries were allowed to sell through Brewers Retail. The big change came with the introduction of Miller Light, and since then the restrictions have slowly devolved. Stubbies were removed. Specialty and micro brews, foreign labels and foreign ownership have all made the original reasons for the Brewer's Retail obsolete

I don't think anybody's ticker could survive testing every one of these recipes. LOL.

A growers tip for tomatoes. If you want sturdy healthy plants you have to plant them deep. Buy a taller plant. Does not matter if it is a little spindly. When you dig your hole, depth of pot is too shallow. Bury the plant right up to the first branch. That entire section of stem will sprout root, making for a sturdier, healthier, heat tolerant plant.

But not if the plants you have are shallow rooted. You risk popping the plant if the weed is close beside and its root ball underneath.

Asparagus, is a perennial root best worked on in the fall. On the existing bed, a generous manuring is good, but the bed will grow old, less productive. Start another new bed. Dig up some of the root, and start in anther well fertilized trench. It takes about 3 years before you see any real result, but the old bed will have also been given a little natural kick in the meantime as it grows to recover from what you disturbed.

Hot peppers, once the plants are established, can handle cooler night temperatures than sweet bells. Bells thrive on heat for fast fruit growth. No pepper like cool soil temps below 60F when planted out in spring.

As will beets

Oh yes the two tier system. The white country club hospital vs "county" for the rest. If you think the statement is racist, yes it is. Every year at the nursing job fairs, big private hospitals in the states come to Canada to hire lots of Canadian nurses. White nurses. Spent enough years in health/nursing admin to know a lot on the subject. Many an Ontario nurse goes down with a contract job with bonuses and all the hours they can handle, sometimes more. 2-3 years down there and they came come home with a fat bank acct. If you have money you go to private hospitals and wait for nothing. If not, the waiting lists in Ontario are nothing compared to a county hospital in many a US city.