Timestepper

UPDATE: This particular outing was very much like my first "romantic experience" in three ways: 1.) A wonderful time was had by all who attended, even though, 2.) I was the only one there. And, 3.) I sincerely hope and pray that at least one more person can make it next time, even if it's only to watch. On a more serious note, I realize that the timing was screwy and for that I apologize. I'd definitely like to try this again, whether I host the event or someone else and I hope others are like minded. On a side note, I've already pm'd with a couple of members as to the possibility of just getting together one on one, which is how this particular date started out. If anyone is interested, give me a holler. If you can't make it to me, then maybe I can make it to you or we can meet up in a suitable area somewhere in between. ...TS...

EDIT: After further thought, all I wish for is happiness and good cheer for those who are in need of a smile.

Oddly enough, that's generally about the step where I cease to have any troubles whatsoever.

One of the great things about this country is that we still have the 5th amendment. That doesn't mean that we necessarily have to "plead the 5th" so much as just politely tell whomever is inquiring, "I'm sorry, but that's really none of your freakin' business." And it isn't. The government has no more business meddling in our personal lives than our neighbors do. Unfortunately we've become such a nanny state that virtually no one feels obligated to take care of themselves anymore. And those of us who do wish to take care of ourselves without any interference from federal, state and local governments have become the minority upon which the majority feeds. I am proud to be an American, but I am also disappointed and disillusioned with what "My America" has become. "Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses..." and "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.." have become "If you're too lazy to do for yourself, don't sweat it. We'll make it legal for you to do unto others. And if they complain, we'll do unto them for you!" So sad... so sad.

What's 'troubling' to me is that we as a nation have degraded to the point where a judge would be reprimanded for stuff like this.

For those who still hold to the custom of making fruitcake every Christmas, I have found a WONDERFUL recipe guaranteed to be the best you ever tried. Be sure to read the directions VERY carefully, then... Enjoy! Christmas Whiskey Cake 1 cup butter 2 cups sugar 6 large eggs 2 tsp. baking powder 3 cups flour, sifted 1/2 tsp. salt 1 cup Bourbon 1 pound pecans, chopped, 3 cups white raisins or candied fruit 1 tsp. nutmeg AND... A very large bottle of good bourbon whiskey First, sample the whiskey to check for quality. Assemble all of the ingredients. Check the whiskey again. To be sure it is of the highest quality, pour one level cup and drink it. Repeat this step. Turn on the electric mixer and beat one cup of butter in a large fluffly bowl. Add one teaspoon sugar and cream until beat. Make sure the whiskey is still okay... Try another cup. Turn off the mixer. Beat six leggs and add to the bowl, then chunk in the cup of dried flute. Mix on the turner. Throw in two quarts of flour. Gradually pour in the cow. Add two dried anything. If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaters, pry it loose with a drewscriver. Sample the whiskey again and check it for tonsistency. Next sift two cups of salt or something... Who cares? Check the whiskey again. Now sift the nutmeg and your nuts. Add one table. And the spoon... Of whiskey, or something. Whatever you find left. Cour another pup of viskey and spoon your mouth into some. Grease the oven. Turn the crake pan to 350 degrees. Don't forget to beat off the turner. Pour the oven into the batter. Throw the bowl out out the window. Lick the batter off the floor, being careful not to will the sphiskey. Bake 300 minutes at 50 degrees. Finish the bobble of whishky and go to bed. ...Who the heck likes Fruitcake anyway?

In extremely cold temps you'll lose just as much heat through the top of your bag as you will by sleeping on warmth robbing cold ground. (Believe me, I've camped at temps down to 16 below with nothing more than a couple of wool blankets and I know whereof I speak.) As long as it's not raining, don't sweat building the shelter. If you do decide on a shelter, keep it small. It'll be easier to warm up and keep warm. Otherwise, build a simple fire reflector (I'll tell you how in a moment) and use the tarp as both a ground sheet and as a cover sheet over the top of your bag. In fact, go one better and build two long fires about a foot wide by 6 feet long and about 6 feet apart with reflectors behind each one, then roll out your bag and tarp between them. The fire(s) don't have to be big, just get a good layer of coals built up before you rack out for the night. I won't guarantee you'll sleep toasty, but you should. Simple fire reflector howto: Basically, you're just wanting to create a "slot" into which you can pile sticks, logs or slabs of bark. To do this Find or cut 6 poles about an inch in diameter and about 4 feet long. Shove or drive two of the poles at least six inches into the ground about 3 - 4 inches apart then repeat with two more about 6 feet from the first two. Do the same with the remaining two, placing them roughly centered between the other poles. Keep them lined up so that, when looking at your creation from one end it looks like this: l l After that, simply stack long sticks, logs or slabs of bark in the "rack" you've made to a height of 2 or 3 feet and, voila'! You have a field expedient fire reflector. Be sure to build your fire far enough away so that it won't burn up your reflector. If you go with the "two fire camp" (highly recommended in colder temps with substandard sleeping gear) simply build two reflectors as mentioned above. Building a reflector or two takes a bit of extra prep work and maybe a little practice to get right, but it's well worth the time when it comes to sleeping cozy. ...TS...

They don't actually get in any more since I pegged landscape timbers to the bottom of the chicken wire around the coop and dug a trench outside of that and filled it with quikcrete. (I've also got 1/2 inch heavy wire mesh around the bottom of the walls of the hen house buried in quickcrete.) The problem is, we have an idiot neighbor who feeds them, so they still come over looking for an easy meal. We haven't lost any chickens for quite a while, but they tend to tear hell out stuff trying to get to them and I don't know how many times I've had to take a wheel barrow and walk through the woods picking up the trash they've scattered! I've gotten a couple of them with leg hold traps and one with a conibear, but the little bastards have gotten too smart for most of the sets and I think Johnny's snares would be a great addition - either that or I'm going to have to start feeding them myself and then just sit on the roof with the .22 and a spotlight.

Had no problems on the road with the laptop, but my wife couldn't get online on the home laptop until last night. (We have Verizon 4g wireless cards for both CPUs.)

Watched a bunch of the Duke and liked most of them. In my not so humble opinion, I think his best was his last: "The Shootist" And I think that primarily because John Wayne was finally playing John Wayne. In a lot of ways it was the culmination of his career, or at least the culmination of his Western genre career. Gosh, just the opening sequence was like a history lesson on the Duke. Oh, and I'll give honorable mention to one no one else has mentioned yet - maybe because he starred with James Stewart and Lee Marvin - "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance." Loved the book, liked the movie almost as well. ...TS...

Agree with MacGyver & BigK - Used to use these quite a bit for beaver up home (in Kansas) and the same type but smaller for rabbits and such. Back then they were called "self-locking cable snares" or simply cable snares and were legal on anything that leg hold traps were legal on. Wouldn't mind finding a few myself to aid in removing the 'coons that frequent our hen house. ...TS...

jcj: PM sent back. Everyone else: Good thing about this stuff is that I used to do it a BUNCH up home and out West and I enjoy it. Kinda' got out of the habit more than I would like since moving to East Tn. and I miss it somethin' fierce. So yeah, I'm planning on doing it again if anyone is interested. Doing it this Saturday because jwolf4 and I have already re-scheduled once and arbitrarily decided on the 10th. I'll even go one better and put it out there like this: If some members (2 or 3 or a dozen) want to get together sometime on a Saturday, then put your heads together and I'll let YOU GUYS decide on the date. Then you tell me what works best for you and we'll do it then. Any date is fine with me as long as it's on a Saturday and I have a little notice. We can start off with basic stuff (like I'm doing this time) and get as 'realistic' as your comfort zone allows, up to and including an over-nighter provided I don't have to leave out the following Sunday. Sound good? ...TS...

Wonderful thing about the English language is that it gives us two words to describe being alone: It gives us the word "lonely" to describe the tragedy of being alone, but it also give us the word "solitude" to describe the glory of being alone. Having been there twice myself, I do not envy your situation. But you'll get through it and you'll be stronger for it in the long run. You'll be lonely at first, but later you'll come to treasure the solitude. Luck to you.

Okay, given the overwhelming response , I've arbitrarily decided on 10:00 A.M. to let the frost burn off and give those who are not early risers a chance to get their morning coffee digested. Still don't know what all we're going to do, but it'll mostly be basic stuff: Flint & steel firemaking, ash cakes and stick bread, maybe building a simple fire reflector, shelter or maybe something on wild plant foods. If I can find suitable materials, we might get into the basics of making cordage. Again, it'll be determined largely by what presents itself and what someone wants to learn. My apologies for the lack of shooting available at this point in time. I know that's pretty important to alot of folks. Maybe next time. ...TS...

Ate dog a few times back in the 70's & 80's while staying with some American Indian friends out West. First time I tried it, I was hungry and broke and darned glad to get it. After that, I almost developed a fondness for it. Believe me there's worse things to eat - just ask anyone who ever ate my ex-wife's cooking! ...TS...

I used to have an interest bordering upon obsession with the Western fur trade era, starting when I was a teenager - to the point where I would literally put myself for weeks at a time in as close proximity as possible to that time period, using only the weapons, gear and accoutrements available then. Fast forward: Several years back I was wearing my usual boots & jeans, waiting to deliver a load of steel poles in Florida when I struck up a chance conversation with, of all people, a Seminole medicine woman. We'd been talking for a few minutes when she suddenly looked at me very strangely and blurted out, "You don't belong in this when! I think you are a time-stepper. You have family in this when so you live here, but you belong to another time." What she said really shook me up for a while, but later I accepted it and moved on, eventually choosing "Time-stepper" as the title of my first book (a work in progress) and a slight variation of it for my screen name here. Corny, huh? ...TS...

Yeah, we had our sample for supper last night and it was pretty tolerable. No plans to order any yet, but only because I've got medical bills to pay and possibly a new furnace to buy.

...Next Saturday morning (12/10/11) another TGO member and I are planning to get together out here at my place (just off the Clinton Highway - about 1/2 way between Powell & Clinton) and just kinda' take a walk in the woods. While we're out and about I'll take the time to show him some of the "primitive survival skills" I've picked up over the years. I'm not going into detail on the skills simply because I'm not sure what all we'll do or what I'll show him. Guess it'll depend largely upon what he wants to learn or what presents itself. I said all that to say this: Anyone who wants to come out and tag along is more than welcome. I don't know what time yet, but it's not gonna' be dark and early - probably mid-morning, give or take - and I don't know how long we'll be out and about, but it probably won't be more than a couple 3-4 hours at most. Just a very informal meet up and a walk in the woods or maybe down on the creek, or both. Again, if anyone else wants to come along, you are more than welcome - and if anyone wants to come along and demonstrate other, more modern skills, you will be a great addition to our little outing. Eventually, I'd like to host a more or less full fledged survival/preparation outing with several different demonstrators, such as what BBS had planned for this weekend. If we could trade off locations, so much the better. I doubt that we'll be doing any shooting this time. I thought about taking along the .22 just in case I saw a squirrel, but after further thought I think I'll go with what a Survival instructor told me many, many years ago: "Guns are great and I love 'em, but if you can't survive getting lost without one, chances are you can't survive anyway." That said, anyone with a HCP is more than welcome to do their thing and maybe we can set up to do some shooting at some later date. If anyone is interested let me know, either through this thread or with a PM and I'll give you the particulars on how best to find me. When we actually decide on a time, I'll post that as well. Right now, I'm figuring on about 09:00 - 10:00, but that may change depending upon what time folks can make it out. ...Don...

Haven't used them, but sounds like the way to go. We use 2 & 3 gallon buckets (for easier portability in a pinch), but I'm not sure where my wife gets them. I also have a cache up on the ridge containing enough food and water for a couple of days, plus some extra ammo. I made it out of a 36" section of thick walled 10" pvc pipe. The bottom is a glued on, well sealed end cap and the top has a threaded and well sealed plug. I've got it buried about 18" down - to keep the water from freezing - and I check it a couple of times a year to rotate out older foodstuffs and to keep the ground loose enough to get to it in a hurry if need be. I guess if I were smart, I'd have several caches in different locations just in case I couldn't make it to a particular spot, but I haven't gotten quite that ambitious yet. :-\ ...TS...

Nice fish! Maybe I'll get around to posting some trout pics some day.

Ok, I understand what you're saying, but I wasn't necessarily talking about the Scouts doing the camping, just us guys who would demonstrate. The Scouts could show up at a given time the next morning. As to shooting - yeah, I realize that wouldn't be an option. But I have demonstrated (via blanks) the loading and shooting of muzzle loaders for groups of youngsters (including Scouts) up home. As a rule, the kids aren't allowed anywhere near the equipment we use, unless we are actually teaching something (like water purification) that requires hands on. Oh well, it was just a thought...

Found this on another forum and it was too awesome not to share. Wasn't too bad at first when all I got was chills, but by the end I had teared up and was looking for a tissue. I sincerely hope y'all enjoy it! ...TS...

Hey Mike, just a thought - Any reason why we couldn't get together some Saturday (maybe in the Spring) and put on something like this for the scouts? Us "big boys" could camp out the night before and discuss what each will "teach." I'm guessing that shooting probably wouldn't be a great idea (too many potential liabilities), but there are several non-shooting "survival skills" that could be demonstrated in a fairly short amount of time by knowledgeable individuals. I used to do mountain man demonstrations for literally hundreds of school kids (one class coming through every 15 minutes for 8 hours straight) at a historical site up home and it was always a big hit. Plus, I was a muzzle loading instructor for the 4-H Shooting Sports Club for a while. Seems like your scouts might enjoy it. Anyway, just a thought. Whatcha' think? And for that matter, what do the rest of you guys think? ...TS...

Sounds like mucho macho fun - Sure wish I coulda' been there! I carry two wool blankets and a blanket poncho in my tumpline bedroll and generally sleep pretty comfortable down to the teens - after that, I burrow into a pile of leaves or make a "scout pit bed" and I'm good down to just below zero. Maybe y'all coulda' learned from the low-tech guy. Oh well, maybe next time. (That is if my hissy fit over the furnace - which is still not working - didn't turn everyone off from ever wanting to be around me.)

Actually, I was thinking that the jogger probably didn't exercise the greatest judgement. Don't know if I'd want him for a healthcare professional, if he doesn't put any more thought into stuff than that... It's like the time, nearly 25 years ago, when I was working construction and the owner of the company I worked for had designed a new pull-over face-mask to protect us from the over spray when we were coating exterior basement walls: Just as a "lark" he pulled one out of his pocket and slipped it on before going into the bank he'd used for 30 plus years - the bank where he was one of the largest depositors and EVERYONE knew him. Suffice it to say that he found out just how many bank officers had guns in their desk drawers and that the cops didn't think it was quite the joke that he did. Like I said, not the greatest judgement in the world...