bigugli

A couple of times a year, I start off making a pot of soup. By the time I go through the cupboard and the freezers, cleaning out remnants, I wind up with this massive pot of stew. Never turns out the same, but it always tastes darn good and never lasts long.

Kinda like making "stone soup"

In the last snow storm, I sat comfortably at home. Listening to the radio news as they were talking to a supervisor at an accident reporting centre. He was asked if snow tires were having an impact on accident rates. His response was that "there were almost equal numbers of vehicles with, and without snow tires", showing up at the reporting centre. The officer also stated that many people have a "false sense of security" when driving on snow tires or operating 4WD/AWD vehicles.

Just reinforces the idea that the driver is the problem.

100% agree, the Wal-marts of the world are making it tougher and tougher for small shops like us to hang around since we can't touch their pricing, we just have to make up for it with superior product and customer service.

Out in the KW area, a number of quality meat and poultry shops had to be a little innovative. Not only do they have their home shops. Some have taken to expanding their businesses through St Jakobs and Kitchener markets. I also prefer the local free range eggs I pick up at market.

Mind you some of the best meat around comes from the local Mennonites, and that is strictly word of mouth.

I spend a lot of time at the market, both selling our produce, and doing most of my shopping. I really believe in knowing where and who your food comes from. Of course, we are pesticide free growers, as are the friends we barter with.

You guys need to realise that in this economy all the farmers have sell to a conglomerate that sets the prices based on marketing profiles.

In other words the days of mom and pop farms gong to market is over !

And it is not a fair market for farmers as a matter of fact its pathetic .!

The only people making enough money to retire on are the conglomerate executives.

 

Not all farmers participate in the factory system. There are still a lot of independent family farms turning a good business. They are doing OK because they do not participate in the "conglomerate" as you call it. Being independent of that system also means having to work harder, and being more creative.

Almost forgot the Mrs' peanut brittle. She wasn't well enough last year to make any, but the smell in the house, right now, is heavenly.

Oh My! Some one has dared to eat the sacred cow/muskie/pig/trout/whatever.

Same argument, only a different season and species.

Livestock theft happens more often than you realize. One fellow, a few years back, was brazen enough to steal straight from the auction yard. They finally caught him, but who knows how often he had done it before.

They're great steaked... I'm told...

 

We have bass fishermen that think we shouldn't be able to keep those either. Be careful what you ask for...

Can't beat a breakfast of eggs taters and bass cooked in bacon grease. My arteries are cracklin just thinking about it.

My uncle had to travel from dunnville to kitchener to find some stockers to get some beef it's crazy right now.

And the prices at the St Jakob auction have been a little crazy some days because the numbers of animals are not there.

Two favourites of which I don't get anymore cuz the people who made them have passed.

 

#2 - Grandma's Shortbread cookies and a glass of milk.

 

#1- Cold Dog's Nose ,A tradition German treat with a lot of rum in it. And if anyone knows a bakery where you can buy it please let me know

Check with some of the bakers at St Jakobs for your #1 pick.

I know some of the bakers make a wicked German poppyseed cake

last year, there was a long winter, and a feed shortage. That forced a lot of livestock farms to seriously cull down their numbers. Pork was quite cheap last year.

Roll into 2014, and the price of beef and pork goes up considerably because there just aren't the numbers of animals available for the slaughter house. Some of the prices at the auction got kinda crazy.

I buy meat in bulk every fall. Last year I bought bulk lean ground beef at $1.29lb, this year$1.99lb. Whole pork leg went from $.99lb to $1.49lb

Looks like you're doing just fine out there.

Mine can't wait to get me out of the house. I drive her nuts when I gets restless.

Seeing as Simon started the Xmas music thread... It's only 2 weeks til Christmas. In my family, that means getting very busy in the kitchen, preparing a feast of Christmas goodies. Like most Finns and Swedes, there is no shortage of comfort foods in the household. Last night we started by making 5lbs of Swedish meatballs.

I still have to crank out 4 or 5 batches of cookies, 1 or 2 batches of pulla (Christmas bread), pumpkin pie, turnip and squash casseroles, devilled eggs, etc...

From the store I need a supply of fresh nuts, ambrosia, and 3 or 4 types of sil.

This list does not include all the favourites that mother has started to prepare. She already started a week earlier.

Got about 6" so far. perfect day for painting and tying bucktail jigs.

Fairy Tale in New York is another of my favourites. I really loved the Poges and got to see them a couple times in Toronto. Once at the Palais Royale, I think it was like 86 or 87 and then again a dozen or so years later at RPM.

That was a long, long time ago.

I have a habit of finding the rotten board on the dock.

My son has his own special curse while icefishing. If there is any open water nearby he will find it.

Having been a bandsman, I like most brass arrangements of traditional carols.

Of particular note would be Vaughan Williams variations on Greensleeves

Wow. I must be the young buck on this forum cause most of you guys mentioned wrestlers I never heard of before. Way, way, way before my time. lol

If you are referring to Maple Leaf Wrestling, we are going back to the 60's and 70's. the WWF did not exist back then. Some of the greatest legends, like Gorgeous George, go back to the 50's.

Bruce, are you sure you werent Ole Salior? LOL

I hadn't got my beard by then, yet.

Surprised you guys haven't mentioned Sweet Daddy Sikh, The Beast or Angelo Mosca

 

I remember Sweet Daddy Siki. The Sisilian beast was all hair from head to toe.

This has been a really good thread with some real eye opening strategies from a very diverse selection of backgrounds. The one thing that has come out of it (for me at least) is that many seem to be planning or at least trying to plan so that they have unlimited financial resources for ever.[/size]

 

 

 

I am at the age now where some friends are taking that last long walk into the sunset. Some worked hard, invested wisely, scrimped and saved their whole life and in the end left a nice little pile of money to their kids and families. Sadly, while their intention was good, the results too often are that the families end up squabbling over who is going to get what and how much and it ends up getting pissed up against the wall anyway. [/size]

 

 

 

Others tended to enjoy themselves, spent what they made, made what they needed, lived for the day and left not much more than wonderful memories. The funny part is that they seemed to have the families that fared better with their passing and were sincerely missed. For some reason they were also the ones that seemed much happier with their lives. Strange world we live in![/size]

 

 

 

I guess I am one of those people that will probably work until the day comes that I can’t put on my boots anymore. I don’t HAVE to work, we have enough equity in our home and investments that we can be comfortable with just our pensions. It might mean that we wouldn’t be able to do some of the things we enjoy like going out for dinner to a five star restaurant once in a while and we might have to budget a little more. I do enjoy the extras that I get by working and I really enjoy my job. [/size]

 

 

 

That might sound strange to some of you but we are all different, some enjoy sleeping in every day, some enjoy their afternoon naps or like watching fishing shows or soaps. Me; I like interacting with people, doing things and at the end of the day I like to feel that I accomplished something. My best days are the ones where I have been able to do something to help someone else in some way.[/size]

 

 

 

I have been very fortunate to have been blessed with two wonderful kids, a dream of a wife, many wonderful friends and good health. God saw fit to give me the ability and opportunity to experience many of the wonders of this world. I wake up every morning wondering what today will bring not how much money will I make or lose today. It doesn’t mean I don’t have some bad days but it’s never about money![/size]

 

Now there is a man that has it figured out.

It took a mass coronary at age 40, to come to much of that realization myself. Yes ,I lost a pension, and my RRSP is worth squat. Thems the breaks. I still have a roof over my head. I am kept very busy, and have more than enough to live by as long as I stay within budget.

I know the camp has long since been closed and the dining hall burnt down. Every once in a while I wonder what ever happened to some of the kids as they certainly left a lasting impression.

I was a Mohawk in 1970.

9 years later I would be a Programme Director

Now yer talking!!!!

I loved the Shiek. Always pulling out some illegal object and drawing blood from his opponent.

I remember every one of those wrestlers you mentioned.

 

Loved all the midget wrestlers back in the day too.

Don't know if you remember, or rode in, the "Timmy Run" organized by Whipper Billy Watson. A lot of the wrestlers would show up for the cause at various locations

Boy, now I feel real old. I watched back in the days of Maple Leaf wrestling.

The guys everybody hated most: Bulldog Brouwer, The Sheik, Gorgeous George.

Guys that we all loved: haystack Calhoun, Tiger Jit Singh, Whipper Billy Watson, the Sicilian Beast.