Big Cliff

I have a GSP, Andy Katiebo's Andy CKC JFD, CKC FD, AKC, NAVHDA NA, NAVHDA UT, Canadian Show Champion, and a wall full of ribbons and plaques. He is 13 now, I got him when he was 6 weeks old so I guess I know a bit about them. To answer some of your questions: No, they don't need to be hunted at all but they do love to hunt, hunting to them is pleasing you and they will do anything they can for you, all they ask is a little love and attention. Cold weather, no problem, If YOU can hunt in it, they will! As far as training is concerned, they can be trained to do anything they are physically able to do. GSPs are a very affecionate dog, they tend to be very friendly, wonderful around kids and other dogs or cats but they do need love and attention, if you are going to keep it tied up outside when you are not hunting or training, don't get one! They love to hunt and fish (as anyone who has ever fished at my place can tell you) You should see the look Andy gives you if you throw a fish back, in fact he has even dove in and tried to retrive a few when he thought they were trying to get away. Now some questions/suggestions for you: Do not buy a GSP that is not registered and whom you haven't seen the pedigree of both parents! Do you have anyone near you that has experience training a versital hunting dog? Are you willing to spend an hour every day playing, exercising, and training? Do you have a breeder in mind? Have you ever heard of the NAVHDA Green Book?

Simple fact: The best team will win! Which ever way it goes it should be a good game.

I bought the HDS5 last summer and really like it. It has taken me a bit to get use to using all the different split screans but by the end of the summer I was getting very comfortable with it.

Sounds like the making of an OFC G2G I'll even wear my little hat with the propeller on it if I can come too!

Ok, so now we have a standard to meet for next winter's Sturgeon Lake's Ice hut. So who wants in?

Well Bruce, I guess I'm just going to have to make another trip down your way once you get moved into your new digs. I can see a couple there I'd like to add to my collection and I've got a new design for you that I stumbled on by accident one day when I had to scramble because I lost my last store bought one. I did what any good fisherman/woman would do, I improvised and put 11 walleye in the boat while the other two guys only landed 3 between them. They have never invited me to fish with them again but they still talk about that day LOL.

For or against I really don't care what someone else thinks of it. I wouldn't shoot a wolf or coyote just for the fun of it but that is just my opinion. However, in the last few years there have been so many coyotes around here that they have started to become a real problem. They are getting bolder coming right into farm yards and killing live stock even in broad day light. It use to be very rare that you'd even catch a glimps of one, we often see them out here on the lake now. A local farmer shot 23 of them here last winter, most of them right from his back porch. Four years ago there were lots of turkeys and deer around here then a pack of coyotes moved into the area. It didn't take very long before we started to see less and less deer and turkey. When their populations dropped the coyotes started going for livestock. I am very privlidged to be able to hunt several farms around here but I can tell you right now that if I was hunting one of those farms and didn't shoot a coyote if I had the chance, the farmer wouldn't be very happy about it. For those of you that think it is wrong to kill something you aren't going to eat; what do you do when you are fishing and catch a goby? Deep fried or just lightly battered?

I never even thought of using my HDS5 for ice fishing but what a wicked unit that would be. You can bet that I'll be looking into it for next winter. Think about it; all my summer and winter GPS points all on one unit. Man, that would make life a lot easier!

Man there sure are some beautiful creations on here! I wish I had the tallent to even come close to some of the ones I've seen. One guy that hasn't posted is bigugli. I know he makes a lot of jigs and I'd realy like to see some of them posted. How about it Bruce, care to post a few? I'm going to need some new jigs for this summer and if anyone makes something similar to a reef runner I'd be very interested. Fire tiger pattern deep diver. Really glad you started this thread Art, I have some beautiful buck tails, harnises, and jigs that were made for me by friends from this board. I cherish each and every one of them but I must confess that most of them have not caught fish for me. (I guess if I ever put them in the water they might have a chance but I am too afraid I might loose one of them). Oh and Art, if you are accepting applications for a new brother; that $100.00 bill I've stapeled to mine wasn't meant as a bribe or anything

A fellow down the road from us claims to have shot an Eastern Timber wolf not far from here, I saw pictures of it and it was a lot bigger than the coyoties I have seen around here but it sure wasn't that big. From now on when I go hunting I am going to take a buddy with me and I'll make sure he can't run as fast as I can. Hey Beans old buddy how you doing these days? Would you like to do some hunting with me this year

I am up in Godrich but was hoping to see some reports, where are they?

Because I send and receive a lot of big files on my computer, even 5 GB would be way too small for me, that might do me for a week so I really really appreciate the unlimited deal that I have. let me know how the phone thing works out for you though, If I was to combine my phone with my internet I'd be paying about $125.00 a month and my TV, even with a basic package adds about another $45.00 a month to that. Good luck with it Lew and don't be a stranger, you know you always have a place to park, and make pit stops when you are over this way.

Lew, I don't know if this is the same technology or not but we went with a VOIP system last year (not with Rogers) for our phones and regretted it from day one. In fact, we ended up having to change our phone number just so we could go back to a land line. We use Xplornet for our high speed internet, the package we have gives us unlimited up loads/down loads and a speed of 3.5 MBPS and costs us $59.00 a month. I have been very pleased with their service and support.

Art! Want to go on a helicopter ride? Ok, Ok, perhaps that is just pushing it a little LOL Thank you everyone for your well wishes and support! Cliff

Beans my friend, for you the sign is up 24/7 as long as God grants me the life and health to do what I can it will always be up for you! I am very blessed to have many friends but you will always be special. HH, it was the many members of this board (including you) that got me through those tough times a few years ago. When I was down, they picked me up, when I had no idea which way to go next I had people offering me opportunities. How can anyone go wrong when you have that kind of support behind you? So many OFNr's helped me on my journey and I sometimes feel embarrased that I can't always remember all their names. People went out of their way to give me items to work on. Some could be fixed (well they could have all been fixed but sometimes the parts would have cost more than a new unit) but the fact is that people I had never even met before did whatever they could do to help me in my journey. They are the ones that deserve the credit! Joey; from the day I met you, you have been an insparation to me! Every time I get to see that beautiful smile of yours and that glint in your eyes, my whole world lights up! Paul all I can say is "good thing I'm not 40 years younger" LOL. (just kidding Paul. I know she wouldn't settle for anything but the best!") Anyway, my post wasn't ment as a brag (well perhaps a little) It was meant as a thank you to all of the OFNr's that worked so hard to help me on my quest and to let them know that their hard work and kindness had resulted in something positive. That is the power of OFC!

A couple of years ago my career suddenly and unexpectedly came to a crashing halt. Circumstances were such that my options were somewhat limited and a change in careers was the best route for me to take. Now starting a new career at 61 is not the sort of thing that might appeal to most people but I love to learn and enjoy a challenge so decided to go for it. Starting at the bottom wasn’t easy, getting the “Joe jobs” having to prove that I could keep up with guys 1/3 of my age, at times working outside in the heat of summer and the cold of winter. I have to admit there were times when I wondered if I had bitten off more than I could chew but I stuck with it. It has been three hard years of working, going to school trying to make do with a reduced income but two weeks ago I went and wrote my final exam. I got my marks yesterday and I passed my Provincial exam with flying colours, I am now a licensed Small Engine Technician so as my son put it "well dad, now I guess you can say you are a jack of all trades and a master of one". LOL I guess this does prove that you can teach an old dog new tricks after all. Hey it only took me 64 years! Now the only problem I have is deciding what my next challenge should be. I always wanted to fly a helicopter...... perhaps I should give that one some more thought LOL.

I didn't realize how many smelts were in that bucket , I cleaned smelts until almost 11:00 last night but I now have our years supply. Steve, as always it was wonderful to get to spend some time with you and solve the problems of the world, it sure made the drive go by a lot faster! BTW Sue will be in touch with Deb very shortly. Bruce, you are the host extrodinair! Fantastic food, fantastic company, more fish than I could count. All I can say is "Man what a wonderful day"! I would love to get that bread recipe from you if you wouldn't mind, I have made a lot of different breads but that had a wonderful unique flavour and texture. Thank you again for the jars of goddies, I haven't tried them yet but will in the very near future. I have a couple of cases of jars and lids that I will set aside with your name on and that bucket of lead will be here for you whenever you want it. I didn't do the "sink pic thing" my batteries were dead in the camera and I knew if I was going to get any sleep at all last night I had to get cleaning right away. Lets just say "it's a big sink and there were a lot of smelts"! What more could a man ask for than spending a beautiful day with two very good friends and catching fish to boot? I am very blessed!

Just because you want to be a carpenter or cabnet maker don't tie yourself down. A few years ago I found myself out of work with no warning. Jobs in my field were very few and far between in this area so I went and took an aptitude test and got a big surprise, turned out I was well suited to a couple of things I never would have thought of. Getting an apprenticeship wasn't going to be easy, I was 60 years old so I went to work finding myself a job, found out what incentive programs were available for a perspective employer. Got all the necessary forms filled out for him so all he had to do was sign them and bingo, I had a job and an apprenticeship. I worked my but off, went to school, studied whenever I got the chance and learned, learned, learned. I ended up with a 92.5% GPA in school. Earned the trust and respect of my employer and fellow workers some of whom had 20+ years experience on me in the trade. I made sure I was always early for work, did things for the betterment of the company that were outside of my job description. Next thing I knew I got a $1000.00 performance bonus and had keys to the shop. Being a small engine mechanic in a rural community the work is very seasional and this winter there just isn't any work so I got laid off. Instead of sitting around feeling sorry for myself I started talking to everyone I know, two days later I had a new job, not in my trade but somewhat related with transferable skills and at a lot more money. To top it all off I have two job offers starting in March @ 25% more than I was making before I got laid off. Don't look at the lay off as a negitive thing, look at it as an opportunity and make something positive out of it. When life hands you a bowl full of lemons, make lemonade.

The key is going to be to determin what caused the rod to fail in the first place, Over reving, could be a problem with the governer, a ring could have been stuck and broke causing the piston to jam. If that is the case, there could be damage to the piston, cylinder, even the crank. Could have been a valve retainer or spring that broke allowing the valve to drop into the cylinder and jam the piston, could be a lot of damage and until you take it apart there is no way of telling what is needed or what it will cost to fix it. Labor rates in shops usually range anywhere from 65 to over 100$/hour. To strip an engine down, assess all the damage, look up the parts required, order them, install them, then test the unit and make final adjustments can easily take 3-4 hours. Well, there is $260.00 before parts, and can make for an expensive repair. Often a shop that gets a unit like that will give it to one of the apprentices to do when things are quiet so he can get the experience of doing the job and they sell the unit (usually without a warranty) for enough to recover their costs and make a little on the parts, hence a job that might get quoted to a customer for $650 or $700.00 gets sold for $500.00 to someone else. Any shop worth their salt would give you some warranty if they were to rebuild an engine like that at full shop rate. There are some really good deals on replacement engines that will bolt right on to your frame and that might be one option but I'd have to see what is wrong with the unit before I would advise you to go that route.

I would be sending them a registered letter giving them 7 days to rectify the problem to your satisfaction or you will have a new furnace installed by some other supplier and take them to court to recover your costs. They have an obligation to supply you with the necessary parts and service in a timely manner and removing a persons primary sourse of heat in the middle of the winter and for 10 days is not resolving the issue in a timly manner.

Now I hope they do Scugog, Sturgeon, Balsam, Pigeon and Rice Lakes next.

I haven't fished back in there myself this winter but a friend that has a hut moved it back into that area about two weeks ago, he pulled it back out Friday night, they had caught only a hand full of perch in several days fishing. Where is your friends place located? Sturgeon Lake covers a lot of area. As for "is anyone catching?" Well, I have drilled easily 100 holes looking for the perch and crappie with very few perch and no crappie caught to date and I have covered a lot of different areas. I know they are in here but I don't know of anyone that has found them yet in any numbers. Actually I don't personally know of anyone that has caught a crappie here this winter. If you do go back into that area, stay away from the river, they were letting a lot of water through the dam and I am not sure how safe the ice would be where there is any current.

I also have the HDS5 and really like it.

You know, maybe I’m just getting old (my goal in life is to live to be as old as Beans is) but we won’t limit it to that. Hey, he is still going strong! When I first joined this board (a long time ago) back when it was just getting started things seemed different. A “secret” fishing spot was just a place that you could share with someone else that they hadn’t found yet. It was fun to share because it meant you might have company the next time out and meet a new friend. I have made so many wonderful friends by sharing what I can. Heaven forbid you should post a location or a picture without the CN Tower in the background today. You’d get fried by someone! A bait or technique must be kept secret, if anyone else found out about it they might catch an extra fish or two and that would offend someone that also managed to find out how/what to use. Doesn’t matter if they learned it from someone that was willing to share. Once they know it, it’s their’s and if you share it with anyone else, you have just shared their secret. A post that offered a service or a product was accepted as someone having something special that they wanted to share. You didn’t want to buy it, no problem, you didn’t have to. Today a post that even hints that there might be a link to someone that could make a dollar and they are attacked. There seems to be a zero tolerance, better to err on the side of caution than take the chance. We see emails and articles all the time about how Canadian life is changing and our values and beliefs are being stripped away in the name of “political correctness” . Heaven forbid we should say or do something that “might” offend someone else’s beliefs. Sadly it seems to me that this is the way this board is going lately. Maybe I’m wrong, perhaps I’m just cranky but I sure miss the way it use to be on this board!

About how many pounds of fish? Do you leave the skin on? I am anxious to try this but a bit more specific information would be helpful.