on the trail

he stood stooped down, eyeing the deer seventy yards away when the buffalo raised his massive head and snorted a warning of danger. but the deer did not speak buffalo nor did the buffalo speak the deers tongue, and the hunter nocked his arrow and brought down the buffalo with a single shot.
the hunter stood over his quarry and proceeded to skin the massive animal, and stopped to build
a fire to smoke the hide and cook a small bit of meat, enough to satisfy his hunger for a few hours.

he draped the massive hide over the fire to dry it and after a few hours he took it down and scraped the browned fat from it little by little until he splayed the hide over the stretcher cut from willow, stretching it tightly to continue to dry from the smoke. he worked on the massive skull and chipped a large enough hole to cut the brain from it and he took water to mix with the brain for tanning the hide later. the man rested then, eating some more of the meat and packing all he could carry in his packs and he brought his horse up and folded the smoked skin and tied it with a strand of leather to the back of his horse and rode off leaving the bones for the vultures and coyotes to fight over, that being the way of nature.

the man rode for many hours, stopping twice to ice down his meat to keep it cold in the leather packs . when he reached his home in the trees , he tied his horse and handed the skull to his woman and pointed to the hide of buffalo. he tended to the meat, salting it and curing it and
lit small fire to smoke the remainder of the good meat he'd brought to his home and cooked some for his woman and children on the open pit. they would not starve this winter because he had made the right choice in taking the buffalo. his woman worked the hide for weeks to come
and make him a warm coat. he gave her his old coat and took the new coat and wore it with pride at her workmanship , how well it fit him and how warm it was. she smiled at his praise
and wore his old coat. such was the way of man to give to his woman and to his children.
his child recieved her old coat and so on down the line things were given. they ate the good
meat, drank clear water from the well and lived in their home in the trees for many years to come

im completely wrong on all accounts. dont listen to what ive said, don't read what i have written and for gods sake don't take my advise . im a moron and i have no right to express my opinion
or expect anyone to care about me or even love me. iv'e lost all hope and i have nothing more to
give. i am insignificant and nothing anymore

wellwe had seven inches of snow and two inches of ice on top of the snow over the weekend. ive stayed inside for most of the time. i only ventured out to water the dogs a bit ago. vitamin d and sunshine ...go figure
its been cold. 11 degrees last night and only 34 today. tomorrow night more freezing rain and
sleet. ice storm... great. me. im staying warm. i have the woodstove in case the lights go out. theyve flickered a few times already. but so far so good.
may i say its been a cold winter here. 23 days above the freezing mark and barely that..stay warm..

Survival series

again it has happened. six people die in midwest snow storm from exposure

it doesnt need to happen. never ever. energy share could have prevented this from happening

okay sometimes i say the wrong thing and piss people off, but this is the 21st century and people should not freeze to death in their own homes...in my home i have a supplimental form of heat. i have a nice wood stove in my garage that does nicely to keep us warm during bad weather. power
outages aside, you can stay warm .. layering and clothes help. a friend of ours showed us a neat trick for her gas log system that allowed her to cook and heat her living room and it cost her less to do it than you might imagine. a simple steel box she had made fits over the burners of her gas ports, and it gets hot fast. she cooked meals on it, boiled water in less than 5 minutes with it and it heated the room up and vented the noxious fumes right up the chimney and all during a five day period where there was no power. she said it got so hot in the room she had to turn it off for 8 hours to get the room to cool down to 78 degrees and during the worst ice storm and blizzard weve had in over 100 years here. ..good one robin...

so staying warm is a factor. ive been cold , i know what cold is, believe me. in the service they sprayed us down with cold water as we stood outside in 40 degree temps. i ve swam in the north atlantic for hours in frigid temps and have been in water so cold that specific dangling bits
try to crawl back up inside the body to get warm .. this summer past, i was packed in ice to bring
my temperature back down..rockie mountain spotted fever is a bitch... so i know what cold is. ive also had frost bite a time or two but thawed out okay, now i have to watch it

my things

my things...

i have a few things, nothing major

a truck or two, a tractor in need of repair
a house that needs work, a life that needs less despair

what can i say. ive been a man for some time now
men accumulate things. too bad its all a waste.

ive got bed, some blankets that are warm
ive got shoes, and slippers, fleecy coats and hunting clothes

ive got a lot compared to some and not lot compared to others

ive got 3 things you cant buy
guess

survival series

Sometimes we get ahead of ourselves . in the past i've cautioned about being bullheaded about certain aspects of survival in these trying times. And yes, you can learn the basics easily
enough, but putting what you've learned to practical use can sometimes be frustrating. especially
if things go wrong. when i was in the service, we had a name for this phenomena mr. murphy
of murphy's law . if things can go wrong, invariably they will. . . nine times out of ten thing go right. the engine starts up , the process works. but that one time... that one instance. and occams razor
also fits into the equation. its usually the simplest thing that proves to be the truth.

today i had my share of mr. murphy. and its an expensive fix. the head gasket on my tractor
blew out. i need it for my garden this spring, so im looking at several $ to repair the parts. and then my truck battery was dead this morning... and now the weather is going south on us.

so i grin and bear it. as best i can.

i hope your day was better than mine... peace

Survival series

this is a good time to talk about a few things. first water is on my mind. fresh, clean
drinking water is essential to a healthy lifestyle. all to often here in north carolina
i have heard about wells being polluted with lead and arsenic in them. have your
water tested . usually if you live in an affected area, the health department or ag service can do it either for free or for a small fee. thats all for toinight have a great day tomorrow...peace