Frozen North Swap (Rainbow)

[Gary Madore 0]

Great to see the flies are done and will be ready soon. Do not mail mine I will catch you soon in the near future.

Are you going to CCFF on NEXT Monday night?

If we do not meet up by then we could get them then.

 

Nope, I missed all the previous meetings and, to be honest, I am rather put off by the bickering that I keep hearing about. I'm the kind of guy who prefers to just go fishing with friends and stay away from the politics.

 

I'll call you when I have yours ready for you. I'll have to test 'em out first, though.

 

Cheers!

 

Gary

 

[Fry Flier 0]

If you are going to test my flies for me first them you better call so I know where to start searching with the chainsaw :hyst: :hyst: :hyst: Oh did I tell you :hyst: :hyst: :hyst: :hyst: :hyst: :hyst: :hyst: :hyst: :hyst: :hyst: :hyst:

[RossP 0]

I can hardly wait, fishing going stong here right now and I want to try some of those patterns. Hooked into and lander a nice 25 inch bull last week, now if I can figure out how to post I would put up a pic of it with the fly I tied hanging out of its mouth.

[Gary Madore 0]

OK gang, I got bad news and I got good news:

 

Bad news: I had to go on a trip before I got the flies sorted and mailed.

 

Good news: I am back from the trip, the flies are all sorted and packaged, and we're ready to wrap this swap up!

 

So... All the flies are ready for pick-up. You all have my address and can come by any time to pick up your flies. Please be civil and try to arrive between 9am and 9pm. If you're traveling from far away and need to arrive outside those times, you may make an appointment and I will try to accommodate you....

 

:hyst:

 

OK, for real: The flies are sorted, packaged, addressed and will be going in the mail tomorrow morning.

 

Gary K: You can take possession of yours at a Timmy H's of your choice

 

Paul C: I have yours in the ExpressPost envelope you sent but will be happy to hand-deliver them if you have a day off any time soon and would rather fish than do yard work or something. If I don't hear from you by tomorrow morning I'll drop 'em in the mail with everyone else's.

 

A heartfelt "THANKS!" to everyone who participated. All-in-all it was a great experience. Only one person was a no-show, only a couple of people forgot toe-tags, only a couple of people forgot return postage, only a couple of people forgot return envelopes, and only a couple of people forgot both return postage AND return envelopes! LOL

 

A super-duper "THANKS!" to everyone who included an extra tie or two or three despite my request to the contrary. It's MUCH appreciated and I am going to have a heck of a hard time deciding whether to display these flies or fish 'em.

 

Alrighty then: I am waiting for one return address and for Paul's prefered mode of delivery. Except for those 2 things, this one is a DONE DEAL! :yahoo:

 

Thanks again,

 

Cheers!

 

Gary

[Fry Flier 0]

We will get together soon maybe we will be able to swap flies for rod if the mail is good to us.

Thanks for hosting buddy!

[Gary Madore 0]

We will get together soon maybe we will be able to swap flies for rod if the mail is good to us.

Thanks for hosting buddy!

 

No hurry at all on the rod blank, etc: I have to scrape up the cash to pay you for it anyway

 

Cheers!

 

Gary

 

(Geez, I expected more giggles over my "come and pick them up, gang" joke... I thought it was rather witty! )

[atroutbum2 0]

OK gang, I got bad news and I got good news:

 

 

 

So... All the flies are ready for pick-up. You all have my address and can come by any time to pick up your flies. Please be civil and try to arrive between 9am and 9pm. If you're traveling from far away and need to arrive outside those times, you may make an appointment and I will try to accommodate you....

 

:hyst:

 

 

Thanks again,

 

Cheers!

 

Gary

 

 

All i can say is that the beer better be cold by the time we get there

[Joe Hard 0]

That was funny Gary, I was just too pooped out to reply. Unfourtanetly I am unable to attend, so please send cold beer in mail with flies.

 

I am kinda taped out right now but will send you some flies as soon as I can. These are flies that I use for trout

[Gary Madore 0]

Adventures With Canada Post

 

So, I went to the post office this morning. Took the dog and decided to walk to the post office in Brighton, which is a leisurely 5 mile stroll through the back roads...

 

Stepped up to the Canada Post counter and sent off all the ones to the USA. They were all around $4 or $5: No problem. OK, it's time for the domestic ones...

 

Next, I plopped all the "ExpressPost" (postal courier, 2-day delivery) envelopes that people had included and off they went. No problem.

 

Next, I sent off the package going to Whitby (near Toronto) and it had enough stamps and was accepted. No problem.

 

That left 2 parcels: One to Nova Scotia and one to Quebec. The lady at the postal counter plops the Nova-Scotia one on the scale and announces that it'll be just over $9 (NINE!) dollars plus tax. "There must be some mitake" I say, "this same package (different envelope) arrived safely at my door with about $1 worth of stamps on it." She says "I doubt that happened, sir, the postage is $9 plus tax." I asked her to give me the postage rate for the other package (going to Quebec), secure in the knowledge that, on the second try, she'd figure out her mistake and give me a reasonable rate. "Hmmm... about $8, plus tax" she says....

 

"WHAT?" I said "You gotta be kidding me!" $9 to send a teeny-tiny envelope in Canada? She nodded and replied with a bored "Uh-huh. So, you gonna send them?" I still couldn't believe my ears "Not likely" I said, "not for $9!!!" Then I had an idea. A great idea that would show her the error of her ways. "Tell me" I asked, "how much is an ExpressPost envelope? You know, one of those ones I can stuff anything I can fit inside for one rate?" She turned behind her, grabbed one of the ExpressPost envelopes off the rack and, looking rather pissed at me now, scanned it: "Around $9, with tax."

 

Feeling triumphant I said "OK, so, you're telling me that it costs the EXACT SAME amount of money to send a small packet via ExpressPost courier as it does to send it the slowest way possible, presumably strapped to the back of a snail?" Glaring at me now, she replied "looks that way."

 

I gathered up the 2 parcels and stormed out of the post-office. I had a plan: I would head down to the drug store (it has a Canada Post outlet) and mail 'em there. Surely the nice (and rather attractive) lady who works there will have a clue....

 

Arriving some minutes later I plunked the 2 envelopes down, said hello (smiled my prettiest smile too) and asked how much it would cost to send these 2 LITTLE envelopes. "Sure" she said (with her own pretty smile) and dropped them on the scale....

 

"About $7 for this one and $9 for this one" she said. OK, now I'm about to freaking LOSE it! "Surely there's a mistake" I pleaded, "these 2 packages both arrived at my door with about $1 postage on 'em" She looked at me like I had 3 heads and expressed her doubts about that: "I can't even imagine that could have happened" she said. OK, I'll try convincing her with reason: "How much for ExpressPost envelopes?" I asked. (Here we go again!)

 

"Well," she said "this one to Quebec can go for around $6 plus tax and the one to Nova Scotia will be around $9 plus tax."

 

Exasperated now I asked if she thought it was a little bit funny that you could ship a package with Expresspost Courier CHEAPER than snail-mail. "Yeah, isn't it weird?" she replied "So, whatcha wanna do?"

 

I'm serious, gang: It was going to cost me over $7 to send a small envelope to Quebec via the slowest method possible, but it only cost just over $6 to send it via 2-day ExpressPost.

 

What the $#%$ is Canada Post thinking??????????

 

Anyway, long story short: All the packages on on their way. I sent the packages to Nova Scotia and Quebec via ExpressPost so you guys should have 'em by the end of the week.

 

So, In the end, this swap cost me a fair bit of money (there's a lesson here for any other Canucks who may be thinking of hosting....)

 

I look forward to hearing what ya'll think when the flies start to arrive.

 

Cheers!

 

Gary

[fish 0]

As you know Gary, when I tried to send the flies to you I had the same conversation. Express post was about $8 and snailmail was $10. At least they have a consistent story between our two towns. Really, I think the post office should be privatized because it cannot get any worse or any more expensive. Canadapost is an embarrassment when compared to the US, British or Swedish post services (the others I have experience with).

[RossP 0]

Yup Canada Post sure knows how to get your money. I am swap out of the US. Checked the US postal site to learn a little more about International return Coupons, they are about $1.60 USD but here in Canada they are $3.50 each. They are good for one Stamp, if you recieve one of these in a swap it is good for one 51 cent stamp. Talk about a rip off. From now on I will just take the time to pop across the border and send my packages when ever I am involved in a swap with our friends to the south. I have a PO box in the US for buisness and now it is for Swaps also. I think I just might do all my swap buisness out of the US since they have a cheaper rate that Canada. Sorry it cost you so much Gary, you would think it would be cheap to mail within Canada, but then again I think our goverment treats Quebec as a different country along with the other provinces east of Ottawa.

[Carver 0]

Got my flies today! Nice job gang, the flies look great! :yahoo:

[David M 0]

One way to scam the post office and win one for the

little guy is to reverse the postal lables

and only put on a 50 cent stamp.Mail it and it will be returned to sender.

[fish 0]

I just picked up my flies at the post office - beauties. Thanks everyone and especially Gary for hosting the swap.

[David M 0]

Got them ,they are all awsome.

Thanks Gary and all who took

part.