Flashlight Friday

Where has the time gone?

Since my last post there have been hundreds of walks in the bush with the dogs...

I got hit by another tornado and have been back at clearing downed trees...

I am teaching myself how to can vegetables / meat and am now teaching others...

And yes along the way have collected a few more vintage flashlights too!

This morning I was sitting in "the office" (I call the front porch that looks out on the bush my office) and realized its Friday!

What a perfect time to share this summer yardsale find!

Its a retro three color 2 cell black and chrome flashlight.

Its made in "British Hong Kong" and has a flower with a "B" on its cap with ring hanger.

By sliding the green or red tabs you can adjust the lens to project red, green or white light.

Probably made circa 1970's it is the first multi color style light in my collection.

-Martin

Wild Review

If I would have known that it was on Oprah's best selling book list I probably wouldn't have read it. Im suspect of books with "pre approved  good read stickers" on their covers preferring to judge what I am reading with few preconceptions...
I often enjoy books others found awful and sometimes find books that critics loved horrible...

The copy of 

"Wild...from lost to found on the Pacific Crest Trail"

by Cheryl Strayed

that I found on the shelf of one of my local thrift stores though didn't have any promotional stickers on it, or a dust jacket heralding  the book as a New York Times best seller...

Just a picture of an old worn hiking boot and mention of a hiking trail I was familiar with that runs the western flank of the U.S.A from Mexico to Canada.

The front cover seemed like it might interest me so I brought the book home and gave it a read.

Im happy I did!

Its not what I expected though...

The Pacific Crest Trail is a walking trail not for the uninitiated walker. It and the Appalachian trail on the other coast of the U.S. are considered the two most formidable long distance walking trails in America. Parts of this trail can involve climbing on ice and snow with crampons and ice axes, a lot of the trail is poorly signed and easy to get lost on and the sheer length of the trail makes "thru-hiking" the trail (attempting the entire trail or larger portions of it ) a complex logistical challenge.

Cheryl Strayed  began to walk the  the PCT tail in the summer of 1995.

Her life was a bit of a mess at the time, having experienced the unexpected loss of her mother to cancer and a fairly recent divorce and as well, she seemed to be dealing with some substance abuse problems back then too. Im not talking about alcohol here but Heroin!

Looking for some direction Cheryl decides on a whim to walk a bulk of the PCT on her own.

With very little preparation...hardly any money...poor fitting boots....and a pack that was so big she took to calling it "Monster" Cheryl begins an adventure that would last her months and cover over a thousand miles of walking.

 Both her descriptions of the route and her describing the challenges she personally met along the way made for an enjoyable read. I love to champion an underdog and was happy to see her conclude her journey. 

A finely crafted tale of personal of rediscovery

"wild" 

in my mind is worth the read!

-Martin

Return with the coming of Summer

It's been a while...

What's been going on?

Well for a while there was work...lots of work!  

"What kind of work" you might ask?...."Pay the bills sort of work" I might answer...

Then there has been a lot of unexpected"life events" ...

A turbulent vortex of "stuff" swirling around me causing vehicles , friends and family and one of my dogs all manner of grief...

For the moment things seem to have somewhat settled themselves and now with the coming of summer there is an odd calm to my world. 

"The calm after the storm"

-

Suddenly its summer!

Hot and Humid summer....

The garden has been in for a while and the beet greens, lettuce and tomatoes all seem to be doing well...

Now there are fish to catch, wood in the pile to chop, books on the floor to be read, yard sales to visit and hopefully new old flashlights to be found... 

Here is a picture of a deer that I took the other day as it walked slowly and quietly by the back of the house....

what summer calm!

-Martin

The Sounds of thinking

I haven't really talked about music before but it is an important part of who I am...

The type of music I listen to varies from Jazz to Bluegrass...

Here is one of my favourite Jazz albums...

 The best selling solo jazz album in history, it was recorded live,  lasts over an hour, and  is totally improvised.  The music is very ambient and is great music to listen to when you are just sitting back relaxing or working on a project that requires a lot of attention. 

The story behind the making of this album is as interesting as the music itself too.

Here is a link to the album

Enjoy!

-Martin

Bashing and Muddling!

The new year arrived around here on a cold quiet and snowy night...

A peaceful conclusion to the inevitable, inescapable chaos of the christmas season...

I am thankful for last years page on the calendar to finally turn!

Its time for some new beginnings...

...New adventures are in the making...

Projects in the planning...

And even some interesting changes coming soon to the blog!

The first order at hand though is 

crushing and grinding!

Here is a gift I received over the holidays.

Its a mortar and pestle that I will use for food preparation. 

Tactile, ancient and traditional, its used in the kitchen to pulverize and blend spices and pastes..

My mortar and pestle is made from Granite but others are made from materials like wood and brass or other types of stone...

Its time to bash and muddle into the new year!

click on this link for a demonstration

-Martin

Christmas?

Christmas is coming!

For me this is a time of year for reflection. As the snow builds on the ground my environment becomes more and more insular.  Walks in the woods are serene, almost silent and visitors to the house are fewer and fewer as weather becomes bad for driving.

This is my time to think back about the year that has past and the year yet to come...

I revel in the serenity of the season!

A time for me to hibernate at home and cook game and read book after book.

A time to enjoy the wood I have cut burning in the fire...warming my house and heart.

This year warm weather however has thrown a nix in my seasonal routine!

The snow, try as it may has not yet arrived. This mornings weather is full of fog and rain. 

Making the best of the situation I decided to revisit an old tradition of bringing my daughter to "See Santa" with a modern twist.

A forty minute drive from my house there is a town where Christmas has a different meaning....

An after dark visit to this somewhat bizarre landscape provided for a fun evening!

By day you would never know this environment exists....

All of the inflated hot air fabric sculptures are turned off causing them to collapse flat on the ground and the lights are turned off...but the evening reveals this"magical christmas wonderland"

Complete with a santa who drops his pants!

Ho Ho Ho!

-Martin

As tough as old boots!

This post is about boots...
my boots...

I recently wore out a "newly puchased" pair of boots for the bush in less than a year, and that got me wondering what makes one pair of boots better than another for durability...

Boots are in my mind the quintissential utility footware...
Made to be used under harsh conditions people wear them when their enviroment is severe...
I live in boots in the bush which protect my feet from rocks,  stumps on the forest floor, from mud, water,  the elements and also shield my scent from the animals I hunt...

I depend on my boots!

Indispensable, practical, and sometimes even aesthetic in a form follows function sort of way...
Boots have become part of our modern lexicon
associated with phrases like:

get the boot
die in ones boots
you can bet your boots 
and 
as tough as old boots

Old boots in the past have been seen as strong and resilient items.

People that are "as tough as old boots" are said to be the same...

But really when it comes to actual boots some old boots are tougher than others, and these days some old boots are not tough at all!

Here are some of my old boots...

The pair on the left are close to twenty tears old...their treads are slick from wear and up until recently the boots were waterproof.

A good pair of boots should last you a while...especially a pair of boots made for the bush.

The other pair of boots that I am holding in the photo above on the right side of the picture are only one year old but have holes and leak!

I patched these new boots but at only a year old they have proved themselves not up to the rigours of my life in the woods.

"caveat emptor"

(let the buyer beware)

If you want a good pair of boots do some research before you make a purchase.

All these boots in these photos are a "Baffin style" boot.

This is my favourite style of boot to wear in the woods. 

Sort of like a Wellington boot but has wool inserts and a sinchable cuff on top that can keep the snow out when necessary. They are a hardy choice to wear in the outdoors. I wear them year round from the summer to the winter. 

I had a good look at the two pairs of boots you see in the photos above before going out to buy a replacement pair this time around. What made one pair of boots fit to last decades and the other barely able to last a year?

Taking out my Vernier Callipers I soon found that the thickness of rubber in one boot was almost twice the thickness of the other. 

Both pairs at a quick glance look the same but one is made of much sturdier materials than the other. 

My newest pair of boots are made of rubber twice the thickness of my last pair. 

I'm hoping that they will give me the wear I would expect from a product that you would figure is being made to last!

-Martin