Big Cliff

Yes, please do keep us posted, we are all keeping the prayers going!

My thoughts and prayers are with you all!

It's not just the ice fishermen, you should see the load of crap that washes up on our shore every summer. Only makes you wonder what didn't wash up?

There isn't a day goes by that I wouldn't give up everything I own to fish one day with my dad, he passed when I was only 10 and we were supposed to be going on our first ever father son real fishing trip that summer. He passed away in the spring. I don't get to fish with my son nearly as often as I would like but the times we do are so very precious! Family isn't great, family is EVERYTHING!

OMG, what a wonderful post! Those photos are spectacular! All the best to all of you but I kind of think that you already have the best!

I know we are talking the other coast here but a few years ago I went out of Clear Water fishing amber jack. He was a commercial fisherman but would take up to 4 people out with him. cost $150.00/person for the day. You got to keep your first 100 lbs of fish. We caught so many fish that by 2:00 pm my arms were so tired, I didn't want to fish any more. Probably one of the most productive days fishing ever and boy I can tell you that amber jack done on the BBQ is fantastic!

I just finished an 8 week course with 18 other mechanics, some were pro Ford, some GMC, some Chev. They all had their stories, issues, complaints. I felt so out of place because all I owned was a Nissan and couldn't participate in their gripe sessions. Truth be told most of my life I was a Ford or Chev guy until one day Chev told me that at 80,000 km I should expect some little things to go wrong. That was right after I explained to them that in 80 K it had been in 9 times for major repairs. 2 transmissions, new 2 AC compressors, 3 times for head gaskets, 2 times replace the motor. When I explained that in 80 k they hadn't been able to get the darn thing to run right she hung up on me. (Ok, maybe I was yelling a bit at that point). In the 8 years I have been driving a Nissan I have only ever had one frustrating problem and they bent over backwards to make it right and me happy. They gave me a far superior vehicle to drive while mine was tied up, gave me all my lease payments back on top of that, and didn't charge me a cent for maintainance of the loaner or count the milage toward my lease. My wife drives a Mazda 626, it is 11 years old and it hasn't even had a tune up yet. So far all it has cost us in "non maintainance repairs" is $414.00 for an intake manifold gasket. Start it and stand beside it, you can't even hear it running, windows all work and don't rattle, car is still solid what 11 year old big 3 can stand up to that? When the Big 3 start treating customers like people, when they realize that Quality really is #1 then I will be looking at their products but after reading some of the reports on here I think I'll be sticking with the "so called" imports for a long time to come!

Me, I just crawled into my nice warm bed and slept through it all. I feel great this morning, no hang over, no having to go looking for my car or keys, and no wondering who that is in bed beside me. Good way to start the New Year off as far as I am concerned! Happy 2009 to each and every one of you!

I know that many fly their flag at half mast in honor of the fallen. My flag flys tall and proud, the way they stood for our country and in support of all those still serving!

The fun is just beginning! Now you can try multigrain, rye, (one of my many favorites) sour dough, now you know why they call me Big Cliff LOL. I just found the perfict recipe for Southern Style biscuits I have been trying for years to get them PERFECT (guess they'll soon be calling me "Really Big Cliff" )! Keep up the good work and if you run out of recipes to try, let me know, I've got books of them!

Glad to hear it all worked out OK for you, good thing you had the 12V back up sump pump. Any idea how big a generator you want? I MIGHT be able to hook you up with something through the place I am working.

You need to get one that has a sending and receiving unit that when the beam gets broken it sends a signal wind and motion in the area won't set it off and depending on how high you set it above the ground small animals won't set it off.

Made by a true craftsman given to a true sportsman from a true sweetheart, it just doesn't get any better than that!

So sorry to hear of your loss Tom. May her spirit will live on in your heart forever!

Well, you'll just have to come for a visit I've got a package here with your name on it LOL!

Well, if you intend to "stock up", Mennonites do make the best stuff. A trip up to Elmira or such would probably be worth while. I get all of mine made from venison, my cost including the pork is about $5.00 a lb but they are fantastic.

Well, true to their word as of about 3:00 pm today the lights came back on. I was getting a little worried about the freezers but a quick check and everything is still solid so we are good to go. Thanks for all the kind offers from everyone, much appreciated! Big Cliff

Thanks Peter, that is VERY kind of you! I just saw two hydro trucks go down our road and I talked to Beans, they saw the hydro trucks about an hour ago and their hydro just came back on. I am hoping we'll get the same results. I also had a really nice PM from Bill (bk2ptbo) who offered to come over and help with anything I needed. What a family!

Moe, if I get mine back on and they still don't have power (apparently there will be some places without for a couple of days) I will run my generator over to them. I will try to give them a call and see what the situation is. Let me know if you hear anything more. Cliff

If anyone has a home/cottage/trailer in the Lindsay/Fenelon Falls/Bobcayegon area and needs me to check them out for them, email me the address and phone # where I can reach you and I will make the circuit this afternoon and do a 'walk around" and get back to you by tonight. [email protected]

I use the bread making machine but just put it on the dough setting. It mixes and kneeds the bread for me, takes 2 hours. Then I remove it from the machine and kneed it again adding just enough flour to make it workable. I then shape it into rolls or loafs or whatever I want and place it on a baking sheet and pop it in the oven with the light on for about an hour to let it rise again. last step, bake at about 375 for (about 12 minutes for rolls, 22-25 minutes for loafs). You can use the "pan of water" if you want crusty or do as I do, I just use a spray bottle and mist it a couple of times while it is baking, that way I can do soft and crusty both at the same time. Turn it out onto a wire rack to cool and you are done.

I would love to put in one of those nice big "Whole House" generators but they are a lot of $. Last quote I had on one installed with the auto start/stop pannel and everything included was going to cost me nearly $10,000.00. This little unit I have only cost me $450.00 including taxes (love those 50% off sales) LOL. It may not do everything but I'll bet there are a lot of people out there that wish they even had this! Apparently there are 230,000 people without power as of last night.

Boy, that wind storm yesterday sure made a mess of things, I haven't made a tour of the area to see how much damage there is but I did see some large pieces of a neighbour's boat house roof go blowing by. We are making out OK, I had a nice little 1000W generator that I picked up on special this summer. I had just taken it out of the box and serviced it on Saturday and started it. Filled it up with fresh gas and set it asside "just in case" I might need it. It is currently sitting on my back deck and purring quietly away! It isn't big enough to run things like the water pump so we have no running water but by switching things around I can run the fan on our gas fire place, it is keeping the house comfortable. If it gets too cool, our kitchen stove is gas so I can turn it on in the past I have been able to keep the house comfortable with the two of them going even when the outside temp is -20. (don't worry, I have a CO monitor hooked up and operational) Our computer or TV and a couple of the energy efficient lights as well as charge our cell phones and some power packs. Being a country boy (and forewarned by several posts on the board) I had filled the bath tub yesterday morning when I started reading posts on here about the high winds and power failures (it is one of those big corner tubs and holds about 95 gal) so I have plenty of water to flush toilets and stuff. I always have two cans of gas in the shop and the generator only uses 3/4 of a gal./7 hrs (approx) so no fear of running out of gas. Don't think I'll be going into work today though, oh well, could be worse! Hope everyone else is doing OK seems there are still a lot of people in the area that still don't have power and won't for some time yet. Latest update, Hydro said we should have power back on by 4:00 pm. Would be nice if they are right.

Sorry, can't help you with "anything lying around that I am not using" but: Having a call, and knowing how to use it are two totally different things, I have often seen people scare game away because they either didn't know how, or when to work with a call. Even the nice electronic ones that you can buy aren't fool proof. And not legal for hunting anyway (might be ok if you are just taking pictures).

I have eaten venison heart and liver for at least 40 years now and I'm..... (Ok probably not a good example) but I love it and it can't be any worse for you than commercially raised live stock organs that have been pumped full of hormones and stuff.