so waht ya doin today?

[L Ross]

Ian...........Fiona was the previous one that was a dud.

Was there a G and an H? I stopped watching and listening to the "news" after it was all Covid all the time, and of course all the political bullshit, in 2020. I may have extended my years by doing so, and certainly the enamel on my grinder teeth. So I am blissfully out of the loop. Ignorance may not be an excuse but it can be a blessing.

 

[Winelover]

Was there a G and an H? I stopped watching and listening to the "news" after it was all Covid all the time, and of course all the political bullshit, in 2020. I may have extended my years by doing so, and certainly the enamel on my grinder teeth. So I am blissfully out of the loop. Ignorance may not be an excuse but it can be a blessing.

Could have been storms that missed the USA coast.

 

[Winelover]

Been quite a while since I fished for Muskies in Lake St Clair............late 70's. Part of the Detroit River tributary. We use to fish the Belle River area, on the Canadian side. Friend had a old wooden 26 ft. Chris Craft Sea Skiff. Looked like an overly large speed boat............big open back end, perfect occupant maneuverability for fishing. Had it docked at a marina on the Michigan side. Needed both a Canadian & Michigan license. Canada only allowed one rod per boat occupant. Strictly enforced by game wardens, disguised as local fisherman. In violation, your boat and rods were confiscated. Most fisherman practiced catch and release to insure the Muskie fishery. My favorite lure was the largest jointed Creek Chub Pikie (perch finish) Heddon made. Took an average of ten hours trolling to catch your first Muskie. First time out I caught a 10# and lost a huge one. Had it on for a while. Line broke, so I thought. Reeled it in, only to find out, the largest sized Sampo ball bearing swivel was straightened out. Took the Creek Chub Pikie with him.

 

[L Ross]

One of my proudest accomplishments as President of one of the Muskie Clubs was our fund raising work to fly eggs and milt from Lake St. Clair Muskies back to Wisconsin so the DNR could hatch and raise genuine Great Lakes genetic strain Muskies to reintroduce into the Bay of Green Bay. It was and expensive undertaking. Each hatchling was raised to an 11" minimum before release into the Bay. The DNR caught, spawned, hatched and raised appropriate minnows to feed the ravenous little bastards. They kept Muskie brood stock for future egg and milt harvest so they did not have to return to Detroit. Now there are potential world record Muskies in Green Bay, and I have never fished them there.

 

[Winelover]

I would have thought the opposite...........Wisconsin and Minnesota being world renowned for their Muskie fishery.

 

[Tom]

Well . . . Ian is anything but a dud.

Are you saying Ian is a blow hard?

 

[Rick H]

Every once in a while we will tie into a Musky while jigging for Walleye in the lower Detroit River/Western basin of Lake Erie. Talk about a rush on a 6 1/2" jigging set up. We always throw them back. It is crazy what we catch jigging. My buddy took a 34" Brown Trout on a 3/8oz. jig. He kept that for the wall.

 

[L Ross]

I would have thought the opposite...........Wisconsin and Minnesota being world renowned for their Muskie fishery.

Yes indeed, but different genetic strains for Muskies that evolved inland water river systems and those Great Lakes Spotted Muskies. Commercial fishermen of yore tell of giant Muskies caught in their commercial nets, along with enormous sturgeon. These large fish once entangled, panicked and trashed the valuable nets. You can imagine what the fishermen did with these larger non marketable fish. Then the Bay got so polluted that sport fishing declined to almost nothing.

The major river entering the Bay is the Fox River, and when I moved to Green Bay to attend College in 1973, there was zero dissolved oxygen in the River and carp were breathing air from the surface with their orange lips dimpling the surface. Today, there is a thriving fishery in the Bay. Muskie, Whitefish, the Yellow Perch are rebounding, huge Walleyes, Smallmouth Bass. The Clean Water Act is an example of government and regulations actually working.

 

[Rick]

The major river entering the Bay is the Fox River, and when I moved to Green Bay to attend College in 1973, there was zero dissolved oxygen in the River and carp were breathing air from the surface with their orange lips dimpling the surface.

Grew up near the Fox River in Illinois. You are right, back in the 60's, 70's that was the nastiest river I had ever seen. Haven't been back but I've heard they cleaned it up.

 

[JonB]

Looked at the two cords of wood sitting in front of my garage door, then looked at the cord that is left over from last year. Really need to rotate the older dryer stuff out an put the new stuff in the back. Cleaned out the old little freezer, a new larger one was delivered this afternoon. Now to decide what I/feel like doing next, look at the ice chests filled with frozen food and meat, or look at a pile of firewood. Back is sore where I bulged a disk a year ago, think I over did it over last few weeks, left thigh cramped up at night, sharp pain though the knee, feels just like last year when I buggered it, nerve root getting impinged.

I store the seasoned firewood that's in the 'cue' (ready to burn) in a carport (open front and open back.) Every Spring, I have to move the remainder from the back to the front, so I can stack the newer firewood in the back. Sounds like extra work, but in reality, it's not as bad as if sounds and works much better than my old technique.

 

[JonB]

watched the guys prep my driveway with a steam roller.
funny they still call them that, since no steam is involved.
they rolled and shook the stamper inside till the kids got up to see if we were having an earthquake. [7:30 am]
anyhow after looking at what they were doing and the slope i still have i decided i didn't want to deal with a gravel ramp all winter.
so I hunted up the General contractor and we had a confab.
he gives me a cash price and i was like come on man why didn't you just come quote me that number to begin with?
probably should have had him quote me to do the section right in front of the Garage too at least i'd have known if i could scrounge up that cash too.
meh i'll go out and take a couple of the junk chunks out and cement them in myself, it's just a few cracks, and i have just enough bags of cement i need to use up anyway.

Paving day here too.
At 6:30am, a parade of slow moving paving equipment just passed my house. I guess they deliver the equipment to one end of Glencoe's winding HWY 22 (parking trucks and trailers practically in my back yard.) Then drive all the equipment to the other end of Glencoe's HWY 22, to start paving. Then finishing up back here?

They're finishing a complete redo of HWY 22 (snakes through town) in the City of Glencoe (sidewalks, curbs, drainage in one area, and new pavement)...I figured they wouldn't finish this year, but by the looks of it, they will be done soon. All the other recent one year road projects in Glencoe took two years

 

[JonB]

Yesterday, I finally got started on the cellar food shelf rebuilt project (that was prompted by the Electrical panel upgrade project a few months ago). It will be a several day project with some side projects. Today, I hope to run a couple new circuits through the floor, up to the kitchen. So I'll have part of the counter/food prep area dismantled. If that stays dismantled for more than a day, I will be unhappy. Honestly two circuits should only take a couple hours...but you know, stuff happens. I hope to get more of the wood "cut to fit" today as well, but if not, there is always tomorrow.

Side Note:
I am using a bunch of vintage lumber, most is the typical 3/4" pine/fir. BUT...Two pieces are some heavy, fine grained stuff, that's finely finished to an almost furniture grade. They are about 2x3 and are stamped "Vermin Proof", and have a white wash type of paint/coating. I'm guessing these are at least 60 years old. They look like they could have been Bed frame rails, but I'm wondering if they were something used for feed storage in a barn or something? Anyone have any idea what it's treated with? If there is a typical insecticide/fungicide used back then? Should I avoid using them? (generating dust by cutting or pre-drilling holes) Is it toxic to humans?

 

[Winelover]

AR Dot's been paving six miles of two lane highway, from my place to town, for the last two and a half years. PITA, never know when they're going to be working. We have no alternate route. My acreage has about 1/4 mile of that highway frontage. They were adding a few passing/left turn lanes. Put black top down then tore it out, multiple times.

 

[Rick]

Construction around here takes forever. Two lane road into town, about a mile and a half . . . 5 years. But hey, they did add curbs.

 

[Winelover]

Yet, we have milder weather for longer periods.

 

[RBHarter]

Once long ago .......
There was a bridge repair to be done on a main highway US 95 across the Walker river , about 80' including abutments and 12' above the bed of so . They put in bypass lane with 3 , 4ft culverts. Then didn't touch it for about 2 months . Then there was a fluke cold storm in now early June that dumped on top of the remaining wet pack snow followed about 5 days later by an unusually wet intense snow pack killer . Which it did do and in about 72 hours blew the artificial and natural reservoirs right through flood stage . Now normal spring and summer those 4' culverts never would have seen 40" probably not 36" for more than hours if that .

The rush head bought a lot of dead fall with it at about a 7' nominal rush for 20 hr with a 10' crest . Yanked those culverts and 6" of asphalt right out along with the bridge .

6 weeks there was a finished bridge open in 8 weeks .

 

[Rick]

AR Dot's been paving six miles of two lane highway, from my place to town, for the last two and a half years. PITA, never know when they're going to be working. We have no alternate route. My acreage has about 1/4 mile of that highway frontage. They were adding a few passing/left turn lanes. Put black top down then tore it out, multiple times.

Could be worse. What CA is famous for is that no street will get new water or sewer pipes until that street is repaved. Within two weeks of the paving being completed it will be torn up for new underground pipes.

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

Construction around here takes forever. Two lane road into town, about a mile and a half . . . 5 years. But hey, they did add curbs.

Haha. You havent lived...

This is the CONSTRUCTION STATE.. YEARS ALMOST A DECADE to complete a freeway intersection. Its been decades working our rt8. Its been YEARS they closing and opening exits from 84/8 MAJOR intersection in center of the state.

CW

 

[Winelover]

The current road construction is contracted out to a firm out of St Louis. AR Dot is overseeing it. Don't know how it works here, but in Michigan. Large bonuses are given if work is completed before the time allotted. Of course, in Michigan, they are fighting against the weather clock.............not so much here.

 

[popper]

paving being completed it will be torn up for new underground pipes.

Got ya beat. DFW they just cut square patches out of the road, dump some dirt and concrete on it, use a drunken frog to smooth it and done. Funniest one was a section of road going to downtown Dallas (Stemmons freeway - like 3 lanes each way). Perfectly good road but got slick when wet. So they proceeded to chip away the top surface and left the aggregate exposed. Still slick so replaced entire road. Want to see some fun? Get on TXDOT camera site and (during winter) watch the semi's skating down a 5 story cloverleaf!
She took dog in for grooming, I began looking for the broken underground sprinkler where the landscaper put in plants and tree. Found one they buried, it's OK. Now to find the pipe and the other head. She painted a bunch, then I took over. Both quit when arms and gut started cramping. Started getting dizzy, yup, done for the day. Doc and I decided to postpone throat work, he'll scope it again in Dec and decide.