Spiel

Definitely a heavy infestation of Black Grub. Mmmmmm, yummy!

You make it hard for me to *grin* while responding Garry. You go on and have yourself a safe trip and great time down there whilst we all freeze.

Good morning Lew, nice to have you back.

Good on you GBW. Grandparents are definitely special and I've been deliquent in visiting mine of late. Guess I better get in gear and go put a smile on their faces.

LMAO....Touche!

"Anyone else finding it hard to be a hockey fan?" If'n I ain't playing it I have zero interest in it.

Good God Joey, pay attention! Paul is about half an ass width away from breaking your new rod (that's why he's grinning).

Looks like you had a great weekend Dan. Do you think you could e-mail me this picture (full res) when you get a chance.

Students study 'lake vampires,' invasive sea lamprey October 08, 2009 Kym Reinstadler / www.mlive.com GRAND RAPIDS -- It attaches itself with a suction-cup like mouth that rasps away tissue with rows of sharp teeth and a probing tongue. Its oral secretions prevent its victim's blood from clotting, so most die quickly from blood loss. The rest succumb later, from infection. Sounds like a Halloween tale, but it's true. The real fright is that its happening in the Great Lakes. Representatives of Shedd Aquarium were in Grand Rapids on Wednesday with an aquarium of eel-like sea lamprey pulled out of northern Lake Huron by a fisherman's net. The creature's nickname is "lake vampire." "It was slimy and spongy and ugly," said Natasha Rivera, who was among Coit Creative Arts Academy students who followed the example of fourth-grade teacher Tim Mekkes and let a lamprey attach to their arm during a presentation on invasive species. The lamprey teeth feel like pinpricks and breaking its suction is only slightly uncomfortable, Mekkes assured students. It's only that easy because the lamprey don't prefer people, said James De. Clark, a senior aquarist. Lamprey are parasites that feast on other fish, each devouring about 40 pounds a year. And this is how the lamprey decimated indigenous fish populations of the Great Lakes in the 1930s and 1940s and virtually kills Michigan's commercial fishing industry, Clark said. The lamprey also feeds on certain predator species, allowed another invasive species, the alewife, to explode, threatening native fish populations. Control measures that began in 1958 have brought the lamprey problem about 90 percent under control, said Marc Gaden, communications director of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, a joint U.S.-Canada body that administers control measures. Lamprey aren't ghastly in their native environment, northern coasts of the Atlantic Ocean, Clark said. Able to live in both salt and freshwater, lamprey are believed to have entered the Great Lakes as canals were built linking the ocean with the Great Lakes. Rinsing hulls before launching boats in another body of water, not dumping live bait in water, and never discharging pet fish into lakes and streams are things kids can do to prevent the spread of invasive

Studies of fish sharing male and female characteristics raise concerns about Great Lakes contaminants Oct. 9, 2009 Elisabeth Pernicone / Great Lakes Echo Fish with characteristics of both genders are more prevalent than previously thought in U.S. rivers, according to a recent U.S. Geological Survey study. While this study did not analyze fish in the Great Lakes, it may raise new concerns as to whether previously noted hermaphrodite fish in this region are becoming more prevalent as well. “Until we take current sampling it is hard to know,” said Chris Metcalf, director of the Institute for Watershed Science at Trent University in Ontario. “However, all studies are symptomatic of more estrogens being discharged into streams.” Fish with reproductive characteristics of both sexes are known as intersex, a condition linked to exposure to estrogenic compounds. Such compounds can disrupt the endocrine system that regulates growth, metabolism, and reproductive processes. These compounds are commonly found in pharmaceuticals and personal care products. The study appeared in the journal Aquatic Toxicology. It comes as the International Joint Commission raises concerns about emerging contaminants in the Great Lakes. “Fish are incredibly plastic when it comes to sex, and they are very responsive to environmental estrogens and androgens,” said Cheryl Murphy, assistant professor in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Michigan State University. In this study, fish collected from eight out of nine river basins, from 1994 to 2004, were found to have both sex characteristics. Ninety-seven out of 3,110 were found to have characteristics of both genders. Ninety-six of these were males that exhibited female characteristics. Jo Ellen Hinck, lead author of this study, said a lot of compounds of concern are estrogenic. “These compounds can enter the fish and increase estrogen levels in female fish,” she said “However, when males get an extra boost of estrogen it can have more of an apparent effect.” Studies published in both 2004 and 2008 have confirmed the presence of intersex white perch in the lower Great Lakes, specifically Lake Ontario. Intersex white perch were found in waterways close to discharge pipes from sewage treatment plants. The study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives in 2004, found 83 percent of white perch were intersex at a location in the lower Great Lakes. Metcalfe, who is also a professor and researcher at Trent University, was one of several researchers involved in this study. He said that white perch may have been more susceptible to this condition because when they are younger they are relatively sedentary, which would be problematic if they were close to a sewage discharge. Researchers in the 2004 study concluded that intersex changes most likely occurred from exposures to estrogenic compounds and other pollutants. Fish experiencing both reproductive features were more prevalent in areas with high levels of water contamination, the study reported. While more research must be conducted to determine whether human consumption of intersex fish can produce harmful effects, there is information that suggests that intake of certain chemicals in fish can cause health ramifications, said Dr. George Abela, cardiologist at the Michigan State University Clinical Center. “If the contaminant is persistent then humans that eat the fish can accumulate that contaminant in their body,” Murphy said. “Because the variety of hormones and chemical messengers are remarkably conserved across the animal kingdom, contaminants that cause intersex in fish can also potentially cause some type of endocrine disruption in humans,” she said. Metcalf said that natural estrogens, which can be found in birth control, may not be of great concern. However, chemicals such as bisphenol A, which are used to make plastics, can mimic estrogens and can cause problems in humans. Abela said that consuming fish with contaminants does not have a significant impact on the heart, but can have damaging effects on the human brain and gastrointestinal lining. The health effects that this condition has on fish itself are still unknown. However, Hinck said that some studies have hypothesized that it may affect the integrity of male sperm. In the recent study on U.S. rivers, which included the Mississippi River and Yukon River Basins, the intersex condition was observed in catfish, carp, smallmouth bass and largemouth bass, but was most prevalent in smallmouth bass. Hinck said that her study could not conclude that estrogenic compounds or pollutants were directly linked with intersex occurrences. This could be a likely cause given the results of other research studies. However, further lab tests and sampling must occur. She said that a variety of factors could have led to these occurrences in her study, such as water pH, steroids, pollutants and water temperature. “[This study] will hopefully highlight that we don’t know what this condition means for individual fish and the whole fish community,” Hinck said. Murphy, who studies the effects of endocrine disruptors in fish, said more information needs to be known before deciding what actions need to be implemented as a result of these findings. “To combat the problem, you first have to determine what is inducing intersex and the source of the stressor,” she said. “If pharmaceuticals from sewage are inducing intersex, then the sewage would have to be treated to specifically remove the endocrine active compounds before it is released. If it is PCBs, the sediment containing PCBs would have to be dredged.” PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, were once used for many different purposes ranging from flame retardants to pesticides. Along with mercury and other contaminants, PCBs continue to be of high concern in all of the five Great Lakes.

I like !

Thanks for the info Norm, I'll be sure to get in touch with them.

Lakes see gains, setbacks Toxic mix changing, scientists say October 8th, 2009 Frances Willick / The Windsor Star There are goose droppings on the beaches, mercury in the fish and pharmaceutical chemicals in the water, but the prognosis for the health of the Great Lakes isn’t necessarily bad, some scientists are saying. Experts who gathered in Windsor Wednesday for the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement 2009 Biennial Meeting said the environmental challenges facing the lakes are mitigated by positive policy changes and public awareness of environmental challenges. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Ted Smith said while some flame retardants — dangerous chemicals that had been turning up in fish tissue and human breast milk in recent years — have been phased out of production, other types of chemicals are on the rise. Pharmaceuticals and surfactants, used as foaming or wetting agents in products such as soaps and detergents, are continually discharged into the Great Lakes through sewer systems, Smith said. “Much of what goes down the drain winds up at these wastewater treatment facilities that are not necessarily designed to knock out each and every chemical that’s out there, and that’s a real concern,” he said. David Ullrich, executive director of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, said he believes Windsor’s plan to build a water retention basin will reduce the discharge of sewage waste into the river and improve the quality of the area’s beaches and recreational waters. Ullrich said many beaches along the Great Lakes are contaminated by sewage, runoff from agricultural land, seagull and goose droppings. While municipal wastewater infrastructure projects can reduce these problems, he said citizens can also help improve the quality of water and beaches by using low-flow toilets, directing downspouts into their yards rather than into the storm water system and not littering on the beach. The jury is still out on whether eating Great Lakes fish is a good idea, though. David Carpenter, director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University at Albany, said the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids found in fish may counteract the negative health impacts of some contaminants. “People seem to fall into one of two groups: either they think all fish is horrible and you should never eat it, or they think all fish is going to save you from every disease in the world and that’s all you should eat. The truth is somewhere in between.” Carpenter said fish lovers should avoid eating large specimens, focus on species that don’t eat other fish, and remove the skin before consuming them.

Concern over Great Lakes fish will remain even after current toxins fade October 8th, 2009 Steve Orr / Democrat and Chronicle New York’s advisories on consumption of Lake Ontario fish are based on chemicals that, for the most part, were banned decades ago and are increasingly rare in the environment. If current trends continue, officials say, the advisories based on those legacy pollutants can be moderated in the not-too-distant future. But that doesn’t mean that fish will be deemed entirely safe to eat. Lurking in the background are a variety of other contaminants that can accumulate in Great Lakes fish. “We know of other compounds that are likely out there,” said Larry Skinner, who heads environmental monitoring in the fish and wildlife division of the state Department of Environmental Conservation. At the top of this list, said Skinner and others, are polybrominated diethyl ethers, or PBDEs, which are flame retardants that were added to plastics used in electronics, furniture foam, textiles and other products. The sole U.S. manufacturer ended production of most forms of PBDE in 2004, but they remain ubiquitous in the environment. “We know the concentrations in water from Lake Ontario increased exponentially, which was reflective of usage in industry,” Skinner said. Comparable to polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, in terms of their ability to persist in the environment and accumulate in fatty tissue, PBDEs have been found in Great Lakes salmon, trout and walleye. There is concern they may prove every bit as toxic as PCBs as well. The DEC does not test fish for these compounds. Federal officials do limited monitoring, and the state hopes to pursue a federal grant to begin PBDE monitoring of its own, Skinner said. Officials at the state Department of Health, which issues fishing advisories after reviewing DEC data, said they probably would not issue an advisory based on PBDEs — based on what’s known today about the compound. “That’s the problem — there’s not a lot of data on PBDEs, and not as much toxicity information to help us decide what levels are of concern,” said Edward Horn, director of environmental health assessment for the state Health Department. Horn said there were other chemicals such as polyaromatic hydrocarbons, perfluorinated compounds and the common anti-bacterial agent triclosan — that may build up in fish and bear watching. “There’s no question that a lot of these chemicals are of concern,” he said. One reason that New York has a statewide advisory against eating more than one meal a week of sport fish is the potential impact of these emerging compounds, he said. Only two other bodies of water in the Rochester region have their own advisories — Keuka Lake in Yates and Steuben counties, where consumption of larger lake trout is limited to one meal a month because of DDT levels, and Canadice Lake in Ontario County, where there’s a similar limitation on eating larger lake trout because of PCBs. Both advisories are due to improper disposal of those chemicals discovered decades ago near the lakes, Skinner said. PCBs are the primary driver of the advisories on Lake Ontario. While their manufacture and new use were banned in 1970s, PCBs remained in place in electrical and other equipment and likely are still entering the lake’s ecosystem in small doses, Skinner said. Their level in fish has fallen sharply since the 1970s, and the levels of PCBs, and other legacy pollutants, are now well below guidelines for fish set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. But Horn said the agency uses a cautious approach. “We might not change an advisory … until we’re really sure that this isn’t something that hasn’t just happened this year,” he said.

Salmon are jumping at Port Hope fish ladder October 7th, 2009 / Northumberland Today Each year as fall arrives salmon begin their annual spawning run up the Ganaraska River in Port Hope. This provides an excellent opportunity to view the fish as they migrate upstream past the Ganaraska River Fishway. Various species of salmon, including Coho and Chinook, run up the river from late August to mid-October but the main concentration is in September. The eggs are laid in gravel depressions constructed by the females. These spawning beds are called redds. Anywhere from 2,000 to 17,000 eggs are laid in each redd. Although an average female will lay roughly 8,000 eggs the number of eggs depends on the size and condition of the female. The eggs will hatch in four to seven weeks. Other salmonid species using the fishway in the fall include fall run steelhead (rainbow trout) and anadiomous (brown trout). The Ganaraska River Fishway was constructed in 1973 to help the fish get past Corbett’s Dam to the spawning beds upstream. The Ganaraska River Fishway was made possible due to a joint venture of the Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, the Ganaraska Sportsmen’s Association, the Municipality of Port Hope and a host of volunteers from Port Hope and the surrounding area. Prior to the construction of the fishway, fish were manually lifted over the barrier. The fishway is a 90-foot long concrete channel. Migrating fish jump up a series of nine pools each a foot higher than the previous one. Fishways are also called fish ladders. The fishway is designed to allow only the species that are wanted upstream to pass through its pools. People who intend to fish should be sure to have a fishing licence and a copy of the Fishing Regulations Summary as some special regulations apply. Fishing is not permitted from Highway 401 to Jocelyn St. This sanctuary is in place to protect the large concentration of salmon as they rest and prepare to run up the steps of the fishway. The Ganaraska River Fishway is located 65 miles east of Toronto. To reach it, exit from Highway 401 at County Road 28 in Port Hope and head south. Proceed to Jocelyn Street and turn right. Turn right onto Cavan Street from Jocelyn and follow the road a short distance to the fishway. Although the best view of the running salmon is from the west side, parking is available on either side of the Ganaraska River.

Cobourg Creek vital to bringing back salmon October 7th, 2009 Cecilia Nasmith / Northumberland Today Cobourg council learned this week that Cobourg Creek is vital in the campaign to restore Atlantic salmon to Lake Ontario. Visiting as what he called “a one-person good-will tour on behalf of the steering committee for the Lake Ontario salmon-restoration program,” Terry Quinney described the success of the first four years of the five-year Bring Back The Salmon Lake Ontario program. In Cobourg Creek, just one of their project locations, 28 restocking projects were undertaken, during which time Bring Back The Salmon invested $40,000 in such things as tree plantings along the bank and stream clean-up. Local volunteer involvement includes classroom-hatchery projects at both Cobourg District Collegiate Institutes East and West, where students receive fertilized eggs from brood stations that they grow to various life stages before being released. The program includes three full-time biologists who monitor the salmon eight months of the year. In Cobourg Creek, they are seeing four-year-old fish released at the beginning of the project, which is a sign of success. “This is not just a species-restoration program, as iconic as Atlantic salmon are to this community. We are trying hard to improve even further the quality of water and habitat associated with Cobourg Creek,” Quinney added. “These creatures demand an excellent water quality and habitat conditions, and that’s a tribute to our community that you have rebuilt the environmental quality of Cobourg Creek over a long period of time.”

If you'd like to harvest roe for bait then salmon roe is the way to go, specifically Chinook.

Local anglers tops at four man tourney October 1, 2009 Allyson Snelling / www.bracebridgeexaminer.com For the third year in a row, Bracebridge anglers Chris Marling and Gary Franklin have been among the winners in an Ontario Bassmasters team-style fishing tournament. For the past two years, the tournament has been known for its six-man format, but this year changed to a four-man team format. Held on Georgian Bay on Sunday, Sept. 20, the tournament saw 40 anglers on 10 teams competing for top spot. Franklin and Marling fished from one boat, while teammates Mike Reid of Gravenhurst and Tim Ellis of North Bay fished from another. Each boat weighed in three fish for a total of six entries. After eight and a half hours on the water, the team weighed in a total of 44.1 pounds for a first-place prize of $1,500, which they split evenly among the four anglers. Marling said each duo brought in about 22 pounds. “The fishing was fantastic. Georgian Bay is a great fishery,” said Marling. He and Franklin had not competed on Georgian Bay before, he added. The fishing was so good that Marling said he hooked one fish and it jumped right into the boat. The fish was covered with the net by Franklin. Several local teams participated in the tourney, including the team of Steve Bossence, Phil Curtis, Craig Stuckless and Scott Thomson, who earned a cash prize for their third-place finish. All the anglers belong to the Muskoka Bassmasters club and rivalry between the anglers kept the competition fun. “Phil Curtis said at the beginning of the tournament that all they wanted to do was beat me,” Marling laughed. “Steve replied, ‘you just jinxed us’, and it did jinx them.” The following weekend the duo competed against each other in the final Muskoka Bassmasters club tournament. Held on Lake St. John in Rama, the tourney, which was open to non-members, saw seven teams compete. Franklin topped the pack with Brock Robertson at 12.54 pounds, while Marling came fourth with Glen Boyd with 9.17 pounds.

Angling for justice Two years after a human rights commission exposed 'nipper-tipping' in cottage country, zero tolerance has led to the trial of a 12-year-old boy. Wednesday, Oct. 07, 2009 JOE FRIESEN / www.theglobeandmail.com LINDSAY — The 12-year-old boy shuffled toward the judge with the timid reluctance one would expect of a child called to answer before authority. Barely four feet tall with a bird-like frame, his tiny stature - unusual even for a boy his age - took the Lindsay, Ont., courtroom by surprise. The judge, peering down from the bench, explained that he had been charged with a criminal assault. "Do you understand what that means?" he asked in a tone adults reserve for small children. "Yes," the boy replied. The child stands accused of being the latest and youngest villain in a peculiar crime wave. "Nipper-tipping," as it is known to its perpetrators, emerged into the public eye two years ago during a spate of attacks on Asian-Canadian fishermen. At first, the act of pushing an unsuspecting angler into the water was viewed as a sophomoric, racist prank: The name itself combines an anti-Japanese epithet with the rural hilarity of cow-tipping. After increased scrutiny and public pressure, a zero-tolerance policy seems to have emerged, culminating in the trial of a frightened, pre-adolescent boy. His alleged involvement could be described as a copycat crime. In April, 2007, an Asian man and his 13-year-old son fishing at Jackson's Point on Lake Simcoe in Georgina, Ont., were accosted, the latter pushed in the water. That summer, four similar events took place from July to August. Each time, the victims had only their hobby and their ancestry in common. The breaking point came on Sept. 17 of that year when a similar incident at Jackson's Point led to a car chase in which a racially mixed group was pursued by locals. Their car crashed, leaving 23-year-old Shayne Berwick with a serious brain injury. "Nipper-tipping" became a political flashpoint. Chinese-Canadian leaders demanded that the cases be prosecuted as hate crimes. York Regional Police responded with helicopters to patrol popular fishing holes and Asian police officers went undercover as fishermen (they weren't attacked but reported being subjected to racial slurs). The Ontario Provincial Police responded by assigning hate-crime investigators to any incident involving Asian fishermen. The Ontario Human Rights Commission weighed in with a report, Fishing Without Fear, that graded more than 20 organizations involved in the events. Did tolerance end at the GTA border? Or were white locals applying vigilante tactics to outsiders they accuse of illegally depleting fish stocks? As the multicultural city extends further toward areas relatively untouched by immigration, these flare-ups may be a symptom of deeper unease. Fisheries have long been a source of conflict between whites and Asians. At the turn of the century in B.C. there was a fight over Fraser River salmon that led to violence, and in 1907 there were anti-Asian riots in Vancouver. There was also an anti-Chinese riot in Lindsay, Ont., in 1919. Patricia Roy, a historian who has studied the history of the Chinese and Japanese in Canada, said these kinds of tensions are not uncommon anywhere in the world. Locals are often hostile to outsiders if they believe they're infringing on a scarce resource, and that hostility is more easily focused if the outsiders belong to an identifiable racial group. "I wouldn't say it's what Canada is, I would say it's what people are," Prof. Roy said. "I think it's more human nature than Canadian." In the Lindsay courtroom last week, the 12-year-old's parents stood with him in court, laying their hands on his shoulders as though trying to keep his fidgety torso pointed in the right direction. They told the judge they planned to hire a lawyer to defend their son, but declined to speak with reporters for fear of jeopardizing his case. The decision to prosecute a child is the strongest signal yet that police and justice officials are serious about cracking down on a practice that remains an open wound for many Asian-Canadians. The victim is a 46-year-old Chinese-Canadian from Markham who was on a day trip this August to the Kawarthas with his family. Fishing at the side of Canal Lake, he was approached by two boys. When he turned his attention to his fishing rod, one of the boys allegedly ran up and knocked him into the water, which was two metres below. The victim's wife, who along with his son and daughter watched the attack unfold, chased and caught the boy and then called the OPP. Still, a criminal-assault charge in this case is somewhat surprising. Officers typically have a great deal of discretion to either arrest or caution young suspects. But with the scrutiny of the Toronto media and the Human Rights Commission, as well as governments pledging these attacks will be taken seriously, the police may feel they have no choice but to lay charges. While the authorities have been cracking down, prosecutors have been criticized for easing up. Last week another high-profile assault prosecution came to a sudden and - in the eyes of the Chinese community - unsatisfactory end. Scott MacEachern, a 21-year-old business student from Georgina, had been charged with three separate attacks on Asian fishermen in York region during the summer of 2007. In each case, he had allegedly shoved someone into the water. Mr. MacEachern pled guilty to only one of the charges, the others were dropped, and he walked free with a sentence of 12 months probation. "I'm shocked that he was let go," said Mike Ma, co-ordinator of the Peterborough Community and Race-Relations Committee. The news of the sentence was splashed on the front pages of Chinese-Canadian newspapers, and call-in shows lit up with angry responses. York police said they did their best, but witnesses in some cases couldn't identify the accused. Mr. Ma, who has lived in Canada nearly all his life, said he worries about his own safety now when he fishes in the area outside Peterborough. "My sister and brother-in-law and their family came to visit me a few weeks ago and we went fishing," he said. "The whole time in the back of my mind I'm thinking, 'Am I safe?' because of the way I look." Very few locals are willing to speak on the record for fear of being branded as racists. But they say their complaints are legitimate: Many Asian day-trippers are fishing without a licence, trespassing on private property and ignoring catch limits. Some of the fishing is happening at night, which can only mean they're up to no good and the catch is being sold in Toronto's Chinatown the following morning. In their view, a centuries-old local fishery is being depleted by outsiders, and the Ministry of Natural Resources is doing nothing to stop it. Confronting the fishermen, pushing them in the water, spraying graffiti - such as the message on a Hastings, Ont., bridge that read "damn You Nips!!, fish thieves" - are all misguided but understandable attempts to redress injustice, they argue. Mr. Ma said he's still shocked by the number of people who characterize these incidents as youthful pranks or a legitimate conflict while down-playing the racial overtones. "Why is it that these attacks are uniformly on Asian-Canadians?" he asks. "It's been quite uniform." The attacks have been concentrated primarily in the Township of Georgina, near Lake Simcoe, and more recently to the east in the Kawartha Lakes area. While Toronto has a visible minority population of 45 per cent, it's just 3.9 per cent in Georgina, and 1.6 per cent in Kawartha Lakes. The number of incidents reported to police involving Asian fishermen has declined, from 10 in 2007 to five in 2009 - but the threat hasn't abated. This week a Toronto woman born in the Philippines was fishing at a Pigeon Lake resort when she was approached by three men who demanded to know what she was catching and whether she had a licence - typical harassment many Asian fishers describe. The police said the woman fled the area and called for help. The OPP said the incident "may have involved physical contact," but they didn't have sufficient grounds to lay an assault charge. They later issued a press release asking people who fish not to resort to vigilante enforcement. Concerns should be taken up with natural resources officers, they said. Ontario's Natural Resources Minister Donna Cansfield said one of the most important steps taken by her ministry was to meet with the Asian anglers association and have the province's fishing regulations translated into Cantonese to prevent misunderstandings. "Obviously there has been some level of discomfort in the communities - both communities - it's not one or the other," Ms. Cansfield said. "We live in a very cosmopolitan world, especially in Ontario, and we have to find ways and means of how we live together." Thanks to Kickingfrog for the link

Too funny....

I too am glad I was able to get out there Joey.

Read the exceptions/extended seasons for fall trout fishing in your region.

I got to admit I was tempted to jump on this offer Harrison, but alas the timing is not right. Though I've never met Sinker I feel confident that Wyatt has indeed found a good home. I hope you (Shayne) and your family have a great many years of enjoyment with your new friend.

Your life SUCKS ! I thought you'd be used to it by now.

And here I was thinking of banning hockey threads!