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Nice to see a few more fellow country men posting on the thread here...I am not so feeling so isolated eh...igloo fever, eh... So gonna, crust off the ice and throw out the welcome mat and have a few musings of the Canadian kinds...hope I don't offend anyone, but here I go...on a roll in the snows, making snow angels perhaps...perhaps not so much...EH!
And jest so you know the cartoon above REALLY is a joke...here's a cold hard fact...to make you laugh...laugh please, you can't make these facts up...
So I guess that just leads into this one...
Now the only thing I do NOT agree with, besides my name is not JOE...I do happen to own a DOG SLED, eh...
And dogs to pull it too...hee hee, snicker snort...Mushy mush...my barn sour pack...
Purdy kewl view, eh...that's an Alberta bitta scenery on the major portion of that poster...propaganda eh...
We Canucks have a culture and style, all our own...be afraid...very...
WE might swing by and vandalize where you reside...we jest mighten, eh??
Be ever so fearful...
But we are always polite...to a fault even...
POLITE...so much so...even our game of Monopoly (nfi) is a bit skewed up here in the Great White North...
Course it could all be explained by this one image...
Frozen our heads one too many times, eh? <<note, no shoes EVEN! & waz with the spelling, eh???>>
Quote:
Originally Posted by lularat
I know nothing about ice fishing...what kind of fish do they catch? Just looks too cold for me. I like the hut with the satellite dish and solar panel...looks comfy.
You are gonna laugh at the answer as you catch pretty much whatever kinda fish happens to be in the lake, ice covered or open watered. I guess the fishes are more lethargic (the cold and reduced oxygen in the water) and not as ramped up to take bait, lures, etc. But they still can be caught (obviously still have an appetite and fishy tendencies). I see photos of pike, walleye, landlocked salmon, whitefish I think is common in Alberta lakes for ice fishing. Over in Finland they have a huge following too.
http://dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/ce/eek/nature/icefish.htm
See I don't ice fish, we kinda quit fishing when we left the WEsT Coast, eh. Too busy with other things but enjoy fishing, always will have that soft spot (in the head?) for it. Did it as a kid...and adored it...took my dog (Rex) and myself off to the boonies. I liked it because you were up early, you were out in the Real World, by dog loved it, I loved it...fishing was fun. I even took Rick there once to my fav fishing hole and he laughed...there were butterflies dancing around me, his dog Niki was crashing about chasing scents, beautiful scenery and such and he just grimaced and said, "This has got nothing to do with fishing!" Hee hee...well maybe I was not casting for pisces (Latin word for fishes) but I WAS fishing...yeh...heh heh heh...launched me a big old net and well, I did land me a big one too...LMBO!
There are hardly any places too cold if you wear the right outfits. Once you ARE toasty warm...being out and about is amazingly fun. The right gear and you are good to go. Now getting unbundled to use the facilities has always been my No. 1 complaint but we would not want to live in a perfect world and not have at least one thing to whine about...can't measure good if we have no bads to measure it by. Heh heh heh...
Kewl...you need to get us a photo if you are able...hee hee hee...nothing says Great White North like the red and white. Hey, didyah know...February 15th was the fifty year anniversary of our flag. Made me think, "Well golly...I am older than our flag...!!" Hee hee...now that's ancient, eh....
Course now you got me thinking about being Canadian all over again...hee hee...
Even got me thinking about our musical ride. Not seen that often enough but here are a set of photos to WOW our Sunday morning with...EH!
The Zee neighbours might find this next set of pics a bit too much...but us Zedders will probably enjoy the basking in the celebrations of our scarlet prancers.
You'll like these two ones...a photo and then a painting, not sure which ART I like best...eh...
I think both are quite good.
Love the women in our force...yeh, WE always get our MAN eh...
Here is just a snippet for all you horsey persons on the maneuvers they do during the musical ride... shove over Lipizzaner Stallions...hee hee...
Maze-labyrinth
star-etoile
Dome
Circles
I believe this one is the "Wheel" but don't know for sure.
Lookit the formation...if you are a person in the musical ride...holy Hannah do you EVER do alot of work to get this kind of precision, eh!
Of course, my absolute FAV is the CHARGE!!!!
Lookit the expressions...on the people and the horses...what is not to marvel at!
Thank you Sweetness...seems this morn is a morn of pleasures for the eyes eh...
Did I mention JSET how much I LOVE this captured image...I said LOVE!
Called the flesh and blood and it was tainted with a head cold...sickness of having to deal with the Public (a sin I am well aware of having the yellow Petri dish on wheels, eh!). So we made other plans...love my Boy and how respectful and kind he is to his parents...does not want his Mom or Dad ill ... so we re-scheduled a visit for maybe next weekend. Gives me the whole week to think happy expectant thoughts of going there...hee hee...Like a late Christmas or early Easter...anticipation of the fun to be had. We did however still drive to the city and picked up a few food items...just to say we did get out and had a bit of a battle against Cabin (igloo) Fever. About 4 o'clock Rick and I, we both realized in our funness that we had forgotten to eat...coffee even with cream and sugar is not that sustaining! LOL
So because we had no coupons, I thought, let's try one of those artery cloggers like the Mickey D (nfi) ... I don't really like Big Macs but I know Rick does...
So it comes in one mother of a big box and basically, price wise you get the mystery mock chicken meat nuggets for free. Had two fruit smoothies which turns out Rick did not like but no matter, he had bottled water & a Double Double. So when we were done trying to pre-maturely kill ourselves with fast food feast...I stepped out of the truck to put the waste in the receptacle...course Rick is full and funny...so he shouts at me, as I struggle to make the box (wow, lot's of landfill in those fast food wastes, eh!) small enough to go inside the ridiculously round and small opening.
And Rick is waving me back...says to me, "There is a larger opening on the back of the can...!" So I shoot him a dirty look because he is just messing with me...as always. I have visions of me wrestling with the less than clean garbage receiver and him in the background egging me on and laughing as he "spins the old lady" up. Looking like some grizzly bear in Banff attacking a dumpster because I have been habituated to human refuse! He can be such a Goon, eh.
So I finally manage to crush all the leftovers small enough to fit and return to the truck. Make fun of me eh, so I grab his camera and take two shots, one of the front of the can and one of this mythological BACK side promise of easier use...proof he is no less than just a moron on his first day off after a stint of 72 hours in a week of working. So we can afford to buy take out and then fun with me.
Oh yeh, and DO note the padlock on the rim thar...maybe not moma bear proof or even MOOSE proof but proof enough there is NO bigger opening on the back side of the garbage can.
Yeh, Rick won...he made me L00K but not without clicking some pics of what dementia mood he is in, his first day off, eh.
We made it back in time for me to go round and do a second sprinkling of the oat straw bedding...suppose to be -20C and it was last night, but for one night only...yah. I laughed at the bantam ducks, all acting like they were bathing in the deep litter...silly creatures. Not sure what that is exactly about but probably just them acting out on happiness overload our circuits...silly things!
I knew it was gonna be chillier outside than we been enjoying...lookit the feed-fest by Rick's chair window!
When the wilds are busy chubbing up...yeh...make note, she is gonna be a mercury dipper that evening and night!
So thought about it whilst doing my morning chores so we could run wild away...I probably have not mentioned this handy dandy tip for us snow sluggers.I use calf sleds, plastic ones, got two. I don't prefer the orange colour of the one, my previous one this size was an nice subtle blue but I guess I can't complain I lost me sled in a snow drift eh...oh my eyes!
Often what happens when we get Coast Snow (the wetter kind, not the dry sandy kind that Alberta usually has, dry and blows and does NOT make snowballs or snowmen that well..don't pack too well), is I will find either of my two EMPTY sleds don't travel light and easy in the snow. Snow is sticking to the bottom, forming ice and making it less than easy to tug and pull along...so I know to go to the house and grab the can of Pam (nfi)...liquid cooking spray. I never use it for cooking, currently using grape seed oil...like that, always have...but use the Pam for the sled bottoms.
I had already measured out the 3/4 full five gallon pails with water in the sled and it was when I was taking them to the geese (note the goose goodies to make the SHRIEK with love; some baby bok choy and broccoli slice up from the Chinese food trimmings) that I realized the snow falling was wetter than the norm. Time to grab the Pam...so I did and tossed it in the sled so when I got to the goose area, I could tout the pails and turn the sled up, rake off the residue and give it a spray.
One of the calf sleds ready to be coated with Pam
I keep the can inside as I am not so sure the oilish product would spray out too well if cold.
I gave the goose building entrances a good snow removal (yeh Bob and Doug are right...a job never completely over till spring, eh!)...
Been noting that while this winter has been SO much lighter in snow amounts and time falling, it is still accumulating up nicely for a good soaking moisture amount come when REAL spring arrives.
I did another dusting of oat straw for the birds...took the pair of Rick's Ruddies (laugh, she is so mean...bills my coat sleeve...I swear if I let her go, she'd hang on to that sleeve just to spite me...Grrr...such a dangerous goosey/ducky intermediate monster bird!) and put them side the Duece Coop for their sleeping that evening. I am sure they could take a mere minus twenty but with such bad attitudes, I have a soft spot for the pair. Need them to conserver all that excess energy for billing me coat sleeve (incentive to dress for the weather...like body armour against love bitten bruises!), over trying to keep warm if the merc drops a bit for a night or two. Angry birds--no idea of the concept compared to them two. Buggers I adore!
So the dougal dogs got to play dog dog time whilst the sunset and the crescent moon shone up in the skies.
Leaping dogs...can you feel the joy about being lively and living!
So to keep the Chinese food leftovers keener food...I took out a package of shwimps (my fav food as a kid, shwimps and booberries and in that pronunciation too!) last evening, divided out the defrosted ones from the still encased in ice ones. Will make Rick his fav (and I am fond of them too...only thing I miss about the Coast...eating shrimps...but now we can do that here just as well and sometimes if'n you were not the catching the pails and pails of shrimp yerselves...you did have to question how FRESH the fresh shrimp was...rather buy it frozen off a boat than risk them leaving the shrimp baking in the sun sitting on deck side...blah! Frozen at least they kept it in good shape, eh)--Deep Fried Shrimps.
Easy recipe...can be used for both Shrimp AND Chicken. Probably already posted the recipe on this thread but in case I have NOT or it is pages and pages ago...here it is.
Thanks to one of my SILs that took a Chinese cooking course and gave Rick the copies of the recipes...nice!
Batter mix for Chicken and Shrimps
1 cup flour
1/2cup tapioca starch (I use corn)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
few drops yellow food colouring (optional but makes it look purdy)
1 to 1 1/4 cups cold water.
Mix to a smooth consistency like thin pancake batter.
I drop a pound of pure lard in a deep but wide stock pot, get her smokin'. Peel yer shrimps to have all but a tail to hold them by, dredge in the batter, dump in the hot oil. I turn them over to do other side (not a proper deep fryer), scoop out and allow to drain in a 350 F or so oven on a rack over a pan to catch up the oil. Serve with sweet and sour sauce (save up the ones from fast food chicken nuggets---I cheat or buy a sweet and sour in a jar...again, I cheat!) or make up a cocktail sauce like bit of ketchup, horse radish (not too much or its too hot fer oldsters like us) and some chili sauce, never measure, just a few tablespoons of each and mix...taste and adjust to your preferences.
For the other half of the package of frozen shrimp, I may just leave them unpeeled and just get a pot of water boiling, add a bit of salt and dunk shrimp in, boiling water, when the shrimp rise to the top, they are done like dinner. Some dunk the shrimp to stop them continuing to cook, but Rick and I like to burn our fingers trying to skin off the first few, so no pain, no gain. Cocktail sauce as above or crush and peel a clove of garlic or three and 1/4 cup butter melted in a pyrex measuring cup in the microwave. Bring on the hardening of the arteries... So who wins?... those who die the happiest with a plate full of stuff NOT DONE, not quite done all I wanted to have done, eh!
Fixins, she's sleeping at my feets on one of her MANY dog bed crash and burn sites...
Doggone & Chicken UP!
Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada
