Universal wisdom?

Knowledge can come in all shapes and forms.

And sometimes it can come from the oddest of places too!

Here is some yard sale wisdom for your consideration...

"Live long and prosper"

and try to have a laugh along the way!

-Martin

Flashlight Friday

Its Flashlight Friday again!

Here is an Art Deco Rayovac two cell that is new to my collection...

(It was a yard sale find )

This beguiling light has a black and gold wood pattern printed onto it with copper accents.

The light was made circa 1935, with a slide and flash button and a cloud logo. 

-Martin

New arrows...

The date on the tube he mailed them to me in is marked November 2010...

Ten bare arrow shafts my good friend Cap couldn't use himself,

(I forget why...)

so he mailed them to me...

New arrows  to build for my new bow!

......

Fast forward to the present, over two years from when I got them and Im long due to make up these new arrows!

These bare shafts however are just part of the puzzle that needs to be assembled.

  Arrows need feathers, nocks and other hardware too... 

Before I can proceed some calculations have to be made...

Any arrow cant be shot from any bow...

The stiffness of the arrow shafts (spine)  needs to relate to the draw weight of the bow, the draw length that the arrow will be drawn to and the weight of the arrow head that the shaft will deliver to the target 

Because these shafts are not exactly suited to the bow I will shoot them with, adjustments have to be made...

The shafts have to have weight added to both ends and a nock adaptor needs to be added to each shaft to change my nocks to a size larger than would normally be used so they can accommodate my traditional Flemish twist string...

Emails to friends for advice on some finer points of arrow construction fly across the internet...

Supplies are gathered and ...

Ready to begin...

First nock adaptors and nocks are applied and weight tube inserts are hot glued with a bunsen burner...

Next feathers are attached...

My fletching jig will  hold feathers to arrow shaft with a magnetic clamp while glue dries...

A clamped feather with glue sets up on the arrow shaft...

Three feathers are applied to each shaft in sequence...

And when dry...

A completed arrow!

(note the helical curve the clamp has formed on each feather vane

This will help feathers spin during flight for increased stability and improved accuracy)

Arrows in quiver attached to bow...

A full quiver waiting for the hunt!

9 weeks and counting to the moose hunt!

-Martin

Just a reminder

Here is a reminder...

Actually,  potentially here are 48 reminders set 5 minutes apart in a 12 hour time span...

This is my 

James 

"Remind-O-Timer"
that I recently discovered at a yard sale.

Designed by a cab driver in San Francisco to remind him when to pick up a number of regular fares.

 This clock mechanism has been a long time hotel favourite, used for "reminding" front desk staff about  customer wake up calls...

Train stations used them to warn riders of departures and industry used them to let workers know when to go to lunch and when to get back to work...

Slide any of the 48 pins ,that surround the clock face, into position and the clock will buzz when that time is reached. Its an elaborate alarm clock capable of multiple reminders throughout the day or night. You can also plug a much louder bell into the back of the clock which will ring on time as well.

I don't know if hotels still use these clocks...

My guess is no...I would figure that they have long since switched to digital technologies like most of the planet...

I am an analog holdout, captivated by machines with moving mechanisms..

Maybe these devices are a comfort to me because I grew up with them, or maybe its my fascination with  their "retro feel"  and their simpler "non disposable" technologies that could be fixed when broken, but

when it comes to time, I like to see it move ...

"around the clock"

(click here to see another Remind-O-Timer posted on youtube in action)

-Martin

Film Review

Its been hot around here...real hot!

Me and the dogs have been having problems sleeping  because its been getting hot in the day and not cooling down at night...

To make this heat wave a bit more bearable I thought I would take a morning off and watch...

A series about the IDITAROD sled dog race in Alaska that was put together for Discovery Channel...

A morning free and a few hours entertainment about a sport taking place in the "cold" of winter..

I drew the blinds in the room and put my two fans on high and then pressed

play...

From the beginning to end this DVD was a surprise...

To begin with its full of barking dogs...

I didn't even consider my own two dogs when I took this DVD out at the library...

Once the story began, I guess it took about an hour for my dogs to finally settle down and stop  trying to pick fights with howling sled dogs on the tv... a bit comical but very distracting too.

Both dogs eventually realized that a nap in the basement might be a better way to spend the morning and it was at this point that I started to really enjoy this documentary...

-

I knew the IDITAROD was a gruelling sled dog race held in the north but didn't know much more about it before viewing the series...

Taking place in Alaska this race is over a thousand miles long and takes days  of almost constant travel to complete. 

Contestants have taken from nine days to over  twenty to complete it and the weather can vary from above freezing down to below minus sixty degrees fahrenheit!

The series featured some really interesting, sometimes colourfully eccentric characters competing:

A father and son,  a breast cancer survivor, a throat cancer survivor, a diabetic just to mention a few.

Some "mushers" are experienced, having run the Iditarod before while others are  first timers...

The year that this film was made 95 mushers ran the race...many drop out along the way... 

Run day and night the mushers work their sled dogs to their limits and challenge themselves to survive what the dvd box claims is 

the 

"toughest race in the world"

For the most experienced mushers the race is to be the "first to finish" while for many of the rest the race becomes a personal journey to succeed by completing the course and meeting numerous challenges that they encounter along the way ...

Its sometimes hard to watch contestants that have to drop out...and the finale has a very interesting twist which Im not going to give away.

I know whats its like to survive in the bush...

I was fascinated to watch contestants competing in this race and how they problem solve their circumstances for their own survival...

Much of the footage in the documentary is from cameras attached to sleds that record actual race footage that is very "real"...

Not only is the story of the competitors told but that of the organizers and volunteer participants too.

I thought the series was great and have to admit to watching the entire 4 hours and 16 minutes from end to end!

A very "cool" documentary that will leave you inspired...I think its well worth the watch!

-Martin

Flashlight Friday

The other day Caren of tea & chickadees came over for a visit and brought me this wonderful gift that she found at an estate sale!

Its a Rayovac Sportsman two cell complete with D ring...

What a vintage beauty!

Thanks Caren...

-Martin

Morning Reflection

I had a moment the other night, after a hard days work in the woods, to do some surfing on the net...

Usually I start by checking out some of my favourite sites...

A while ago I found a wonderful blog called Paleotool that focuses on topics about  "Primitive Technology, Archaeology, and Simple Living"

I enjoy reading about the trailer he has built, his journeys with it and his primitive arrow making, I think we share a similar aesthetic...

Looking through paleotools recent posts I came across a post that he made about another post he saw at a blog called  New Escapologist....

This is the first I have heard of this blog but was piqued to have a look at their site after reading this...

It was a list of things of value...

The following is an excerpt from a list of :
"Things of value" 
 (originally posted on 

New Escapologist ) 

"- optimum health;
- as much free time as possible;
- a few dependable friendships;

- an appreciation of your existing surroundings (which can be enhanced through the basic study of astronomy, botany, architecture, culture, aesthetics, psychology, etc);

- sensual pleasure;

- the confidence to speak your mind in public (and a culture that won’t cause you problems when you do);

- purposeful and purposeless intellectual stimulation;

- a satisfying creative output, in which you have personal pride;

- a clean and dignified living space;

- a modicum of peer recognition;

- some good habits to be proud of;

- few dependencies;

- few secrets.

Not many of these things are commercially available."

What a brilliant list!

How wonderful to discover this new favourite and fascinating blog through another  great favourite of mine!

What would you add to this list?

-Martin

A new hat for the bush

A good hat for the bush is a simple thing of beauty!

It will shade your head from the sun...

Shield your head from the bugs...

Stay on in a wind...

Keep your head warm in the cold...

and if you get hot...

You should be able to dip it in the river and then wear it wet for comfort...

(the effect caused by the evaporation of  water will cool you down while it dries off)

I like a hat with some provenance and am not adverse to finding one used...

Just such a hat came to me  last week and has now become one of my favourites...

Its an Akubra "Snowy River"

Stockman's hat that is well worn and bush ready...

Made of rabbit fur felt in Australia its already slightly discoloured from the sun...

A hat you don't have to worry about keeping immaculate because its already worn...

Perfect!

Yesterday I stuck a couple of feathers on the band that I recently found while out walking the dogs...

Until I need it next I will hang it on a chair post like this other well worn hat of mine...

Do you have a favourite old hat of your own?

-Martin

Tree Bee

    As mentioned in yesterdays post...

The chainsaws  have come out to make some sense of my storm damaged forest.
The micro-burst that tore through my woods last year, knocking down trees like dominos, leaving some dangerous trees standing needs to be attended to now...

This morning my friend Andrew showed up with his saw and gear and gave me a hand felling some trees...

 Some trees leaned precariously, their roots systems partially torn from the soil... some were damaged and cracked, dying slowly,  while others  were entangled  with other trees under tension, risky and unpredictable. ...
A dangerous morning of cutting ...

followed by a demanding afternoon of skidding logs to the wood pile ready for blocking and splitting...

The trees were sizeable...

Working conditions were hot and footing was sometimes difficult...

Slash was piled...

And so was wood for the winter...

One of the dogs seems to approve!

A good start on a very necessary project that will take a while to complete

I am appreciative for the help...

-Martin

A quiet sunday...the calm before "timber"

Sometimes things that need to get done take some time to get around to when you do them yourself!

Case in point the trees knocked down by a micro-burst that roared across my land a year ago now...

Trees were torn out of the ground everywhere...

The day it happened... out came the chainsaw and I attended to what needed to be taken care of right away...

It took a few hours to cut a path out to the highway and free my vehicle. 

There were trees that needed to be moved later and brush to be piled, but many trees...still needing to be felled could wait...until after the bills were paid and there was a lull in my work...

-

Fast forward to the present... 

It's time to revisit my storm damage...

The bug season for the most part has burned itself off with the warm weather and work has petered to a halt...

Time for a "wood bee"

It is my hope to turn a lot of wood that has fallen or still needs to be downed into firewood.  It's not great firewood because most is poplar a "soft hardwood" that does not burn as efficiently as maple or oak, but it will provide some heat and can be made use of. What can't be  used needs to be moved to brush piles away from the house. What can be left needs to be stabilized so it is safe. Some brush may wait for a winter brush burn too...

Today is tool prep day...

Out come the saws and fuel...chains, wedges, and  ATV...

Tomorrow my friend Andrew will come over to lend a hand...

A "wood arch"  for dragging trees that another friend built will be used for the first time...

Trees will fall, wood will pile and fun will be had!

-Martin