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Getting Back to Basics: 3 Things You Must Do in a Post Covid World

ArdyJul 02, 2021Adventures,Camping,Camping, Adventures,Current events0 Comment

Whether you’ve noticed or not, ever since this Covid pandemic, people haven’t been congregating to the level that they used to.  I, personally, am fine with that. I’ve never been a crowd loving kind of guy. And the fact of the matter is that it seems as if this level of isolation might very well become normative in our society.  As we reconnoiter from the effects of this first wave of Covid, it seems possible that we as a race might have to face many more variants of it or other viruses.

So, that being said, here are three things that you must do to get ready for the future, at least in regards to the entrainment industry.

  1. Go camping. While a well loved and basically traditional endeavor, camping also is a skill that can become centered around survival. One of the things I have done over the years is to slowly take some of t he modern conveniences out of my camping trip and substitute something rustic in it’s place.
  2. Go fishing. While an excellent form off relaxation, fishing also benefits from a survival standpoint. Good fishing skills can be replicated in a survival situation with nothing more than raw materials found in the wilderness. So go fishing at every opportunity and take your skills in fishing to the next level.
  3. Learn storytelling. In the old days, storytelling was the national pastime. Way before movies or books, humans were meeting around their campfires and keeping accounts  of their exploits in the form of the oral story.  It is just recently that the digital age has made storytelling obsolete. In this post pandemic world, s we get moved back into our clan mentality and away from the globalistic viewpoint, we will find the need to talk to each other again.  For me it will be a welcome change of pace.
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5 Things You Must Do to Prepare For the Coming Double Hurricane

ArdyAug 22, 2020Emergency Preparedness,Uncategorized0 Comment

Next week, for the first time on record, two hurricanes could hit  the Gulf of Mexico at the same time.

According to sources there have been two other times in history that two storms have entered the gulf at the same time, but they have never been hurricane force.

Though the threat of a double hurricane is looming, it’s not necessarily going to be the case because, as of this writing, one of the storms is merely a cyclone.

However, here are 5 things that you need to do immediately to be prepared for the emergency that is certain to arise if both hurricanes do hit.

  1. Get a portable temporary shelter. This doesn’t have to be a military surplus tent, but there is no better option than this. The problem is that in the event that two hurricanes hit at once the water damage and volume will be multiplied by two as well. If you have a home in an affected area you might be unable to use it for months after the hurricane is even over.
  2. Get plenty of waterproof storage containers. Even if you do have a survival tent for shelter, there is no guarantee in flood water that you will be able to keep it dry, together, and usable. Same goes for food and other supplies; therefore, make sure you get some containers that are able to seal tightly, (with a rubber seal preferably), and make sure that it’s buoyant. You might find the need to tow it with a kayak or other type of watercraft.
  3. Get some sort of an emergency flotation system. This can be something as simple as a heavy duty inner tube and paddle. A flat kayak works well too. It is important that you get some type of craft that isn’t susceptible to filling with water and then sinking should you find the need to brave the storm while it’s still raging.
  4. Plan for Potable water. This should be stored well as described above, but to be honest it’s a pain to try to haul around potable water. You would be much better off investing in a few portable infiltration devices.
  5. Get Non Perishable Food. That should be stored in a manner described above and secured tightly.
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Running missions: 3 reasons you should keep an item of faith with you

ArdyMay 22, 2019Adventures,Current events,Earthquake Preparedness,Emergency Preparedness,Uncategorized0 Comment

If you are the type of rugged individual who enjoys the use of military surplus tents and equipment, (and it’s obvious you are or you likely wouldn’t be reading this), then you know what it’s like to run a mission.

And since the last installment was about the legendary Case™ trapper style pocket knife, I wanted to play off of that line of thought this week and talk about my personal Case™ trapper and explain why it has significance and what three very important reasons are that I carry this particular knife.  My particular Case™ knife has an excerpt from The Lord’s Prayer engraved on it’s white bone handle. This knife goes in my pocket everywhere I go and there is a distinct reason I carry this knife.

For those of you who were Ernest Hemingway fans, perhaps you will remember that he always had a good luck piece on him. Now, in his case the lucky piece changed regularly because he was prone to losing them. I personally don’t carry mine for good luck. I don’t believe in luck for one thing. I’m a man of faith who believes in the God of the Bible, and I carry mine instead as a connection between me and my Maker. Here are three reasons why I carry the blade I do, and why you should keep an item of faith on you as well.

  1. It gives me courage. If you believe in God, then you know that he is an ever-present help in times of danger. I have seen many people draw bravery from religious artifacts over the years, everything from Stars of David to St. Michael medals.
  2. It keeps me focused. When things are spinning fast and I feel like my mind is going ten thousand different directions a second, a brief pat of my palm on my left trouser pocket brings a feel of that familiar bundle that connects me to the Lord. That touch is often enough to get me focused.
  3. With it I’m always armed. I used to work in a maximum security prison, and I’ve seen dudes get killed with soup spoons sharpened on a concrete window sill. I know how much damage I can do with a knife of that caliber.
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Survival essentials: 3 reasons to keep a Case Trapper with you… no matter what

ArdyMay 16, 2019Camp Cooking,Camping,Camping, Adventures,Earthquake Preparedness,Emergency Preparedness0 Comment

I have been a survivor all of my life, but I became a survivalist in 1987 when I took the Standard Course with the Old Tracker himself, Tom Brown Jr.

One of the things I had learned long before ever taking my first survival course was the importance of having a knife in your pocket. I grew up on a horse farm that also had a working herd of black angus cattle. My father, an old time cowboy, used to carry a pearl handled Solingen Cutlery stockman’s knife in his front right pocket which he used for everything from farm/ranch work, to entertainment. He even had one of the four blades on his full size stockman reserved for eating. He called it his apple blade. It didn’t escape my attention that the “apple blade” was also the preferred utility for cleaning the grit from under his fingernails when sitting around the stables at night after working horses.

We all know how important it is to have a good survival knife in your kit when on an expedition. However, you need to ask yourself how often the likelihood might arise for you to be thrown into an unforeseen circumstance where you won’t have time or opportunity to grab a kit bag, but will be forced to go with just what you have in your pocket. That’s why I always carry a Case™  brand trapper pocket knife. There are many companies that make these knives, however, few companies make them as well as Case™ does. Here are three reasons to keep a Case™ trapper in your pockets at all times.

  1. It has two blades. One is known as a clip point utility blade which comes in handy whenever you come across something that needs stabbed through… your belt for instance, if you lose weight and it needs to be tightened by making new holes. And lastly, the “spey” blade, which gained it’s name from the design which works perfectly for castrating livestock. It is also good for skinning by not having a sharp point that will slit your hide as you are skinning your game.
  2. It is well crafted. You might find other trapper style knives, but you won’t find one that is as well made as the Case™ brand. It is made to last and will hod up to the hardest abuse. There’s a reason you don’t find any cheap used ones on eBay.
  3. It has a lifetime warranty. If you manage to break this thing through normal use, you can get it replaced at no charge. Yet another reason you don’t find cheap used ones anywhere.
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Apocalypse survival: 3 must have critters for the coming storm

ArdyMay 10, 2019Current events,Earthquake Preparedness,Emergency Preparedness0 Comment

If you have been watching the news at all lately, then you are aware that the nation and even the world are on the precipice of volatility.

Therefore, it would behoove you to be prepared for any upcoming problems and you don’t even really have to change your lifestyle much.

The fact of the matter is that as a species, on the whole, humans are highly dependent on animals. Not only do we eat them, we are also dependent on them in other ways. So, taking that in mind, here are three animals that you must have right now to function in a coming crisis.

  1. A really good dog. Pictured here is an Australian Blue Heeler Cattle Dog. These are my favorite picks as a survival dog for many reasons. First they are full of energy and very smart. Next they are easily trained and very loyal. Lastly they are herders by nature, and not only will they defend your pack, (family), but they will control and corral other animals as well. (There’s no telling what you might wake up and find in your camp in the morning).
  2. A sheep or a goat. Not only can these things live on nearly anything, but they are meat in hard times, and milk and heat in better times. You’ve heard I’m sure of a “three dog night”, one in which it was so cold that you need three dogs in bed with you to stay warm, well the going consensus is that a three dog night is equal to a one got night, or a half sheep night.
  3. Some chickens. Chickens are great for many things. Not only do they offer food in the form of meat and eggs, but they offer feathers for warmth and crafts, and they make excellent alarms for more than just the crack of dawn. They will shriek and raise hell whenever confronted by any predator.
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Reading sign: Natures way of telling you how to act

ArdyApr 17, 2019Adventures,Current events,Emergency Preparedness0 Comment

                                     

It wasn’t long ago that I showed up at the lake to try out my new kayak and I got a really good lesson in reading sign. I didn’t think much about the fact that there were literally no other boats out on the lake. As a matter of fact, it even occurred to me how lucky I was to have the whole lake to myself and I remember chuckling a bit as I launched from the kayak ramp.

Several hours later as the old crusty park ranger helped me hoist my bedraggled kayak up onto the deck of his huge pontoon boat, he laconically said: “Next time fella, learn to read the sign.”

The sign he was speaking of wasn’t a square piece of metal with words on it posted discriminately on a five foot post; rather it was the fact that no one else was stupid enough to get out on a lake swollen with floodwater from a week’s long rain.

The truth of the matter is that nature is full of signs that we should be able read quickly to know what is safe or not. A rattlesnake’s rattle, or the angry buzzing of bees doesn’t take long to figure out that there is a detrimental affect to the pressing of such a creature. As one wise old outdoorsman once said, “it’s God’s way of sayin’ ‘Don’t touch'”.

I recently ran into a less sinister but just as obvious instance of this early warning system when I was at the local title bureau and decided to take a picture of my truck to use in a future blog post. Suddenly I heard a violent hiss and felt the hot breath of a serpentine figure striking at but narrowly missing the back of my thigh. Succumbing for a moment to the normal jumping and feinting that accompanies such incidents, I finally got my bearings and turned to see a large female Canadian Goose who had made a nest right next to the door of the title bureau. Just goes to show, you should always learn to read the sign.

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SURVIVAL 101: THREE WAYS TO BOIL WATER IN THE WILDERNESS

adminJan 12, 2018Camp Cooking,Camping,Emergency Preparedness,Uncategorized0 Comment

BOILING WATER IN THE WOODS

So, in our last post we discussed why it can be important to boil water in a survival situation, but we did not delve into the methodology of boiling said water, so, in this insert we will discuss three very easy yet effective methods of boiling water in a wilderness situation. Now notice, I said wilderness situation and not necessarily survival situation. The fact is that the only way I’ve ever been able to get water to boil in a survival situation, (one where I didn’t even have so much as a tin cup to boil with), is the hot rock method. So here are three methods that you can use to boil water in the wilderness.

  1. Fresnel Lense. I’ll mention this first because it is the least practical; however it is probably the most fun, rewarding, and the greenest. The Fresnel Lens harnesses the power of the earth’s sun to boil your water or to otherwise cook your food. This would be a great apparatus to have for a military surplus tent adventure, family camping trip, or any other planned outing. It is kind of big however, so in order to get one together that will be effective you will need to have room in your camper, truck or Subaru.
  2. Fire and iron. Or aluminum, or steel, or ceramic, copper, tin, brass or anything else that can withstand the heat of a fire or cookstove. Most non-ferrous metals other than lead, zinc, etc… The trick here, regardless of the heat source, is to get the water hot enough to boil by getting the vessel hot. This is how we boil water all over the world, the most common method.
  3. Hot rocks. This is the easiest method when in a survival situation because you can use a wood container, clay, mud or even a thick leaf container, or bark, to hold the water while it is being heated to boiling by placing egg sized hot rocks in it. The rocks should not be sedimentary, rather you should use igneous or metamorphic rocks.
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