Skagitgal

Enjoyed the letter, thanks for doing the job!!

Mt. R... I agree w/Necie. Canning is best. Freezing next & then smoking. It actually depends on how 'ripe' the fish are. If they are already crimson color, they will be soft. Canning is the only decent way to work with them. The hens have to be a certain degree of 'spawning readyness' before they harvest the eggs, and milt from the bucks. So you are not getting the prime fish. Still very useable, however. The amount of 'hook' in the jaw will also tell you how ripe they are. Smoke those that still have a majority of silver color..enjoy.

Deb2of9; IMHO if you buy Sears Craftman tools, you will get good quality, AND most Craftman brand tools come with a replacement guarentee... .If you break in normal use. Now Sears sells several other brands as well, so you will have to determine for yourself if the higher cost of C. vs. the lower cost of another brand, is your desire. What ever tool/toolbox you get; the one trick to make your tools last AND last, is to wipe them off with a dry rag before you put them away. Oh yeah, get an electric pencil and etch your name on your tools. Good tools stay home that way And I do this also. I got a pint of an obnoxious color paint[yellow] and put a streak of it on my tools. Way easy, to see if hubby, brother, neighbor has borrowed yours. No problems establishing ownership. I just gush...'oh, I've been looking for my widget..I wondered where that was...". All taken care of neat & tidy. With the paint streak, you know it's yours immediatly..and more importantly..so do they. Your plan to buy good tools, is sound.

OH!...... this is so good. I nearly wet my pants laughing so hard. Especially the Y2K and better preps in storage than you use everyday. Now the fabric, we dont talk out loud about the fabric crammed in totes. That is a whisper only conversation. You know, nervously looking over shoulder,checking from side to side. Skagit checks to see where DH is, before she dares type this. The man just doesn't understand! And this is the man that has 6 pairs of electrical pliers. And the number of 9/16th. wrenches for brake adjusting; well lets say...when we cleaned out the longhaul truck there were 12. Snicker. Boy have I got a lot of mileage from that particular incident!!

Nana, I am really looking forward to your lists. big thank you for this long, complicated hard work.

Leah,.........you just keep getting better and better!!!

Well,.............we are on the cutting edge!

Oh !!!! yes! Yes! Yes! Boy I needed a humor boost today. This did the trick!!!!!