Looking for adventure

A lot of my blog posts concern being prepared for emergencies and survival. I’ve also posted about projects I’ve done, like boat building and converting diesel vehicles to waste vegetable oil. Some of my posts concern travel in everything from a converted ambulance to sailboats to train trips. 

Survival is critical as you can’t have any adventures if you check out early. Survival by itself is pointless. Just surviving is not living. At least that way I feel about things.

So now I find myself getting that itch again. Maybe it’s due to travel being limited the last couple of years. Maybe it’s just time to do something interesting. 

There are some limitations. My budget is not that large. I’ve never spent any more than $2500 on a sailboat. Even my ambulance was picked up at auction for a ridiculously low price. The projects I’ve done were all fairly low cost. Many of them ended up saving money in the long run. 

So what shall my lovely wife and I do next? I’m open to ideas. Some things are out. We aren’t exactly in condition to hike the Appalachian Trail. We used to go on long extended canoe camping trips, but my lovely wife had both shoulders rebuilt. No sense in ruining those surgeon’s good work. While small aircraft are fascinating the hobby is beyond my budget. 

I thought she had completely ruled out motorcycle adventures. Today she said she might be okay riding on the back of one again -if we didn’t go too far in a day. That could be done on a budget. We wouldn’t be on a new Harley-Davidson, but an old Honda Goldwing might be doable. That being said it was an idea she was only sorta lukewarm to. 

So I’m throwing this one out to my readers. Any idea what would be a interesting adventure? 

-Sixbears

Calm Before the Storm

I’m enjoying summer. The weather’s been amazing here in the Great North Woods. My lovely wife and I take the sailboat out on the lake. We’ve visited with friends and family outside and in a safe manner. The other day we even went to listen to a local musician play in the park. Home projects are getting done. Maybe not as quickly or as easily as during normal times, but they are getting done. In these interesting times we are doing better than most. New Hampshire is one of the states managing the crisis fairly well. However, there are signs of trouble ahead. Tourists have come into the state from all over. There are packed restaurants. Bike week, which had been rescheduled from June, will be taking place. That usually brings in crowds from all over. Some people have gotten very lax about precautions. I’m hoping that our luck will hold, but still taking all precautions. Too many places have gone from few cases to major outbreaks to relax. Now is the time to sort out any last minute preps. You don’t have to be Nostradamus to know the fall and winter are going to be challenging times. Don’t let this narrow window of prep time slip away. I’m expecting to be pretty much locked down when the cold weather sets in. I’ve plenty of coffee, books to read, and popcorn to watch the show. -Sixbears

The Woods are Full

If you have plans on bugging out to the woods you might have missed your chance. They are full. I’ve been going out into the National Forest to do some walking to rehabilitate my knee. Even during the weekdays the dirt roads out in the forest have heavy traffic. Wild camping sites are occupied.

Probably a lot of this is just people from the city looking for something fairly safe to do. However, with people unable to pay rent some of them appear to be on the road full time. Having traveled for months that way myself I know how it looks.

My cousin, in an attempt to avoid people, hiked way out in the wilds on a long abandoned trail and still ran into someone.

I’m curious to see how busy the woods are going to be come hunting season. With the price of food going up and people out of work I expect lots of meat hunters this year. I’m going to be one of them. However, it doesn’t look to be a good year for game. Berries aren’t doing well this year so critters have to work much harder to eat. We might all have to work much harder to eat.

-Sixbears

Flu Pandemic

I've been doing a lot of reading using the Kindle app on my phone. When snuggled under my sleeping bags, it's a nice way to pass the evening. Recently I read, Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel.

In the book there's a flu pandemic that kills over 99% of the world's population. The flu's so fast moving that you go from sniffles to dead in two days. Unlike a lot of pandemic books, it covers things right before the flu and years after. Usually these sort of books are centered on the disaster as it unfolds. It also digs deeper in character's lives than most disaster books. Most importantly, it's very well written and enjoyable read.

For me, the book was enhanced by the fact that that right now we are going through a worse than normal flu season. It gave the book a level of reality it might not have had otherwise. Then today I read this Wall Street Journal article that points out how we are not ready for the next flu pandemic. We are actually, in some ways, worse off than we were 100 years ago. International travel is a lot quicker and easier than it was then.

In the book, by the time people realized the flu was so fatal, it has already traveled all over the planet.

There are things one can do to reduce their chances of getting sick, and we hear about them every year: hand washing, covering sneezes, rest, diet, flu shots and all that. What really works isn't practical for most people: isolation. Some person living alone on an island miles from anyone else is pretty safe from the flu. He might be in danger of going stir crazy, but that's another article.

-Sixbears

Economic Depression and You

Anyone want to bet on the economy? Anyone?

Funny thing about economic downturns. The kinda sneak up on you. We tend to think the start of the last major depression coincided with the collapse of the stock market. While in hindsight that was a major turning point, the average Joe at the time didn't feel it. Some folks were impacted right off, but others didn't feel the pinch for a year, two years or even longer. A minority actually prospered.

Even most of those who lost big didn't get feel the full brunt of the downturn immediately. It took some time for savings to be exhausted and debt collectors to catch up. Some folks limped along for a while selling hard assets at fire sale prices. There are families who's tales of the depression are about how they had to let most of the servants go. Yeah, times were hard on them.

There are a couple of ways to deal with a downturn in one's economic situation. One is to limp along trying maintain as much of the old lifestyle as possible. Middle class people will probably try and do that by living on their credit cards. The idea is that when their situation improves they'll make good on all that debt.

Another method is to not wait for things to get better. Instead you assume things won't, at least for a long time. With that in mind a person's lifestyle is ruthlessly cut back. Expenses are reduced to reflect one's downsized income.

Personally, I've used both methods at the same time. That's not something I recommend, but I had some reason to expect a monetary settlement that would eventually cover most of the debt. While it worked for me, it was a near thing. The stress level is pretty high so if you can reduce your expenses and still live a reasonably comfortable life, that might be better.

Most people think they are in pretty good shape if they have the resources to survive a year. Yes, that's good, but economic depressions don't last just one year. If you can radically downsize maybe that cushion can last much longer. The time to prepare for a down turn is before it really impacts you.

On a personal level I was fortunate that I had my own well, some solar electric power, and a woodstove. Those resources were extremely useful. However, after four years I was about to lose the house for nonpayment of the mortgage and taxes. Even if the house had been paid off, I would have been unable to pay the taxes. That's something to keep in mind. They will take your house away and put it up for auction.

Now is a good time to figure out how to deal with a depression. It might be a world wide economic downturn or it could be something personal like a job loss, medical expenses, or other problems like legal issues.

Don't let your problems pile up. Have a plan. The last thing you want to do is ignore approaching disaster.

-Sixbears

Emergency Pants

Finally, it was a sunny and warm day -shorts and T-shirt weather. My lovely wife and I had to run into town. It's about a twenty minute drive, with no traffic. There is never traffic. That's one of the perks of living out in the country.

Even on such a short drive I made sure I had a spare pair of long pants and a warm jacket. While it was warm when we left, this is the time of year when temperatures plummet once the sun goes down. Sure, we were only twenty minutes from home, but that's by car. Walking is a different story.

More than once I've broken down a couple miles away from the house. Living in the woods is great, but if you have trouble, you stand a fair chance of being on your own. Cell phone service is nonexistent the last couple miles. The last thing you want is to be walking home in shorts, in the dark, in freezing temperatures.

How many people make a big deal of having a bug out bag but lack decent clothes for a long walk in bad weather? They may take more care about their concealed carry piece than the condition of their walking shoes. Odds are they'll need good shoes and warm clothes more often than a handgun.

Maybe I think more about hiking back because I've driven so many junk cars over the years. Even new cars break down, and roads become impassable to wheeled traffic. Infrastructure isn't maintained like it used to be, especially in the country.

So . . got your emergency pants?

-Sixbears

Shaky markets

This is one I haven't seen before. Apple is so big that if it has a financial downturn it will take the whole market with it.

Now I would have thought Puerto Rico's inability to pay its debt would be big story about market threats. Maybe Apple is bigger than Peurto Rico.

We used to think the Greece situation was dire. It is, but the story has been pushed to the back burner as the EU fix is in. The "solution" is a temporary papering over of a financial mess that cannot be fixed.

Of course, there are other countries that are almost as in as much debt trouble of Greece -bigger countries that will have more geopolitical impact. Italy and Spain come to mind, but really, the whole EU has issues.

By rights, if there was going to be any sort of an economic boom it would be now. Petroleum prices are lower than they've been in some time. That should be a major economic boost. The fact that we are still just muddling along says something. When the economy takes a big downturn, the whole petroleum sector will really go in the dumpster.

Then anything can happen. In fact, we could then reach a point where energy prices sore, even during a major recession or even a depression. The energy sector could suffer so much damage that it might be unable to supply even a greatly reduced market.

Will this all happen? When will it happen? If I could answer those questions with any precision I'd be a rich man indeed. What I can say is that it would be very imprudent to assume things will keep chugging along the way they are. At the very least, look at your situation and figure out how vulnerable you are to financial fluctuations.

The Great Depression is almost no longer in living memory. When we forget the past is when we repeat it.

-Sixbears

Just melt snow

My home town had a major water break. The Water Department crew worked hard to repair the break during extremely trying winter conditions.

Now some folks would think that it'd be easy to just melt snow for water. Yes, melting snow for water is possible in an emergency. Unless you've had to do it you don't realize how tough that can be.

Melting snow takes a lot of energy so you'd better have plenty of fuel to spare. It takes a lot of snow to yield a small amount of water. Of course the water content of snow varies, but it's not uncommon to start with a big pot of snow and end up with just a couple inches of water.

You might think the snow you've started with was pretty clean. Once it's melted down you might be surprised by the sticks, tree needles, snow fleas, and dirt in the melt water. Never mind the things like bacteria and dog pee that you don't see. Best bring that water to a good boil before you drink it.

Even clean snow can produce some bad tasting water. For some reason regularly stirring the melting snow seems to improve the flavor. If just left to melt on its own the water acquires a burnt taste.

I have melted snow for water, but it's a last resort. Going through the trouble of cutting a hole in a frozen pond or stream is usually a better use of one's energy.

Even if you are buried in snow, it's still a good idea to have a backup source of liquid water.

-Sixbears

Winter's coming

Hello Polar Vortex! If our border patrol was any good they'd stop that cold Canadian air at the border. Alas, the weather is beyond their skill set.

My lovely wife and I took advantage of some mild weather before the storm. The solar panels are now properly orientated at a steep 60 degree angle, which is about right for winter on the 45th parallel. The beach is squared away. Tools are now inside or at least on the covered porch. It's possible this time of year to set something down then have it disappear under the snow until spring.

My big mistake this year has been shaving my head. My long pony tail was cut off and my head razored down to nothing. That wasn't the mistake. Epoxy had gotten in my hair and the only smart thing to do was to cut it off. That was weeks ago. The mistake was shaving it again. The hair had gotten to an awkward length -too short to comb properly, yet long enough to be messy. Frustrated, I razored it back down to nothing.

Then it turned cold -and all the head insulation was gone! So now I wear a knit hat -inside the house. By the time it's long enough to provide decent coverage, I'll be on my way to Florida. If I'm smart, (yeah right) I won't shave it then either. Something has to prevent sunburn. Okay, so my hair, at its best, only covers about half my head. It's better than nothing.

My lovely wife and I never thought we'd turn into snowbirds. We were hardy northern folk who laughed at sub-zero weather and snowstorms that buried cars and buildings. Guess what? Add some years, mix in some injuries and chronic medical conditions, then going south makes sense.

It's a funny time of year. On one hand we are securing everything for cold and snow. On the other, we are preparing and packing our boating and camping gear. It's a little schizophrenic, but what the heck. Polar Vortexes can make anyone crazy.

-Sixbears

Well it's about time

It wasn't easy, but my water supply line is unfrozen and the house now has water. The water line was frozen for all of 8 feet. It's never even been close to that bad before. The good news is that none of the plumbing leaked. At least that part of the shutdown went as planned. Having water frees up time and energy for other things -and there are plenty of other things to deal with.

Hauling water, even from the well on my own property, takes time and energy. We are extremely frugal with our water used, especially by American standards, but it seemed I was always hauling water.

It's good to have backup plans and systems. The problem is that every backup is harder than the thing it replaces. If was easier, it would be the primary system. During a disaster more than one system goes down at the same time.

For example, take any sort of major natural disaster. Power, water, waste removal, communications, public safety -just about anything in modern life we take for granted goes away. A well prepared person may have contingencies for the loss of all those things. However, does he have the personal strength and energy to do all of them? Does he have others in his extended group who can pick up some of the slack? That's one reason community is important.

A person's response to the loss of a critical service may depend on the length of the emergency. With my water out of service a lot of my hand carried water was used to flush toilets. If for some reason water service was never coming back a lower effort sanitation system would need to be used. Maybe I'd build a composting toilet or an outhouse.

One bright spot about this little challenge: my lovely wife never really complained. She knew I was doing all I could to fix the situation. Besides, after all that time on a small sailboat, we are living large.

-Sixbears

Single point failure and triage

When my lovely wife and I were out on the water, we overheard a call for help from a powerboat. They were in contact with the Coast Guard. It wasn't anything major. Their battery was dead so they could not start their engine. Boat US was notified and was on the way.

Long time readers know I'm a belt and suspenders type guy. If I had a powerboat, it would have a second outboard small enough to pull start. Ideally, it would have the ability to charge a battery. (like the 6 hp outboard on my sailboat.) That way it would be possible to charge the dead battery while slowly making headway.

Growing up on lakes, I had friends who had powerboats. Back then, the biggest outboards on those boats was about 50 hp. In a pinch, with a strong arm, they could be pull started. We did it often enough. Sure beat the heck out of trying to paddle a powerboat back to the dock. Big outboards are much more common today and there is no pull starting them.

The day we heard the distress call we were sailing down the long channel back to the boat launch. Winds were favorable and we were riding a rising tide. We lost the wind in a narrow channel, but by then we were only a couple hundred feet from the landing. I fired up the outboard, but we could have easily paddled and/or polled the rest of the way.

Sure, I felt clever enough, but this was the same channel back in February where we ran out of gas, the winds were against us, the tide going out, and it was dark. Yep, felt like an idiot then. Helpful fishermen towed us the rest of the way. Since then we've added three times the gasoline capacity, installed a depth gage and carry a powerful spotlight. Even I get caught ill prepared -once.

The boat with a dead battery is a perfect illustration of single point failures. One critical thing fails and it's over. Modern man lives with single point failure systems all the time. Here it was a boat's battery, but it could be his house's electrical, water, or sanitation system. Even people's food supply is just-in-time or not at all.

I wondered why people tolerate so many single point failure points in their lives. Then it occurred to me. They are used to help being just a call away. The guy with the boat called the Coast Guard who sent help immediately. People expect power lines to be repaired, streets cleared after storms, stores restocked, FEMA to rescue them, and police and fire to be just minutes away. Sometimes it even happens that way. Other times, not so much.

Emergency services work best when there are few emergencies to deal with at once. One boat in trouble is no big deal. However, if there were suddenly 100 boats in trouble at the same time, it'd be a different story. That's when a little something called triage comes into play. Most civilians are not too familiar with the concept.

Roughly, it goes like this. In a big disaster resources are insufficient to deal with everything at the same time. So things get sorted into three categories. Those that can't be handled with the resources at hand. Nothing will get done for these people. Nothing. Nada. Zip. They ain't even gonna try. On the other end of the scale are the people who might need help, but aren't going to die in the short term. The boat with the dead battery fits into that category. It's not on fire or sinking, so it can wait. In EMS it would be non life threatening injuries. People are hurt and suffering, but they aren't going to die in the next few minutes. Between those extremes are those that you have a reasonable chance of helping. With luck, you can help most or all the people in that category.

In a big disaster, do you really want to trust in the triage system? Will your problem fall in that narrow sweet spot where help is available? Heck, even if you aren't going to die, why deal with more pain and discomfort than you need to?

Look around for those failure points in the things you count on. Then imagine help will not be on the way. More often than not, you'll find there are relatively cheap and easy solutions that will make all the difference.

-Sixbears

Getting back on track

It's funny, I can bug out on a moments notice. There's about a month left before my lovely wife and head south for the winter, yet I feel a time crunch. That's the difference between needs and wants. Hope I'm not over planning this.

One thing I learned. If there's any crawling around to do under the vehicle or the trailer, do it in New Hampshire, not Florida. New Hampshire doesn't have fire ants. Need I say more?

There's a cousin of mine who also sails small boats. He clued me in to the fact that one of the local lumber yards carries marine grade adhesives and caulks. That's a big deal. There's almost nothing marine grade around here. That will speed a few little jobs along.

We did a lot of sailing on our little lake, but only started the outboard three times all summer. We used about a quart of gas. The old gas will get dumped in my wife's car. We'll fill up with new in Florida. The boat came with a 3 gallon tank, but I've got another 6 gallon tank to back that up. For us, that's a huge amount of gas. We have learned that sometimes the safest thing is to motor in before conditions get worse.

There are sport fishing boats out there with well over 1,000 horses of power on the transom. The thought of burning that much gas in so short of time boggles my mind. There are times when I wonder if 6 hp is too big for my boat.

It actually feels good to get back to doing real physical things. Too much of my time has been taken up with paperwork, e-mails and phone calls. Funny how life gets complicated when you aren't paying attention. Planning for a 6 month trip I'm reminded of the the virtues in simplicity.

The dog knows something is up. She won't let us out of her sight. Brownie the Sailor Dog will not be left behind.

My lovely wife just wrapped up the last of her doctor and dentist appointments. Nothing like medical or dental issue to ruin a good time.

Still a bit of paperwork to finish up before out trip. At least I can see the end of it.

I'm keeping busy so I don't dwell too much on other things. I know what anniversary this is. As a retired firefighter who lost so many brothers on this day, how could I not? One way of honoring them is to embrace life. That's what I'd want people to do if it had been me.

-Sixbears

Boat season

It's the wonderful time of year again. Time to get the boat and trailer ready for my trip to Florida. It feels weird to be working on the boat and trailer in the snow. I'm also the first one in town to register my boat every year. I can't put the new stickers on until the boat is in Florida and it warms up enough for them to stick. There are few little projects that will have to wait until I get to where it's warm. Winter cold and ice make everything harder.


There's a bit of ice in the cockpit so I've just put a better and larger tarp over the boat. Like in previous years, the snow and ice probably won't completely melt off the boat until somewhere in South Carolina. At least I shouldn't have to shovel snow out of the boat this year.

The trailer needs to be greased and the tires inspected. Also have to make sure the lights and safety chains are in good shape.

I had hoped to have all this stuff done by now, but my nasty cold set me back over a week. Then there's this holiday thing coming up that's requiring time, money and attention.

-Sixbears

Can’t leave this alone

The ongoing mess created by hurricane Sandy confirms a number of things I’ve been saying for years now. Of course, the big one is to get the heck out of big cities. For me, that means don’t live in one. Other people like cities. Good for them. Don’t like them so much that you don’t leave when trouble’s coming.

Imagine how much of a mess things would be should an unforeseen disaster happen? People had plenty of warning. It would have been worse if they didn’t. Look at the boatlift that took people off Manhattan Island during 911. When the towers came down, that was actually a very limited area of disaster. Horrific for the people there, but in reality a tiny geographical area.

Don’t depend on government to save you. I could not believe that cops are being assigned to help out with a marathon when there are still looters in the streets. The NY National Guard almost was sent to an exercise in Missouri, even though they knew the storm was coming. It was only at the last minute that they were assigned to the real disaster. That’s just a sampling. I could go on.

Connecticut closed the Interstate highways. So much for bugging out at the last minute. If that’s your plan, leave early. A good road atlas is worth its weight in gold. Don’t rely on a GPS that assumes the roads are all open. Be aware of choke points like bridges and mountain passes. Knowing the back roads doesn’t do much good of you can’t cross major rivers or get to the other side of the mountains.

Some people had generators. Some of those generators worked. Often people die because they don’t vent them properly. A noisy generator tells people you have power and probably other supplies too. Most people with generators run out of fuel to run them in a day or two. Refueling can be difficult or impossible.

People have to provide their own security. New York and New Jersey have very strict gun laws. That doesn’t seem to have hampered the criminals much. Nice for them that most of their victims are unarmed.

How many people lack basic tools and materials to do repairs? How many people don’t know how to fix things. Being able to secure a good tarp over missing roof shingles will save thousands of dollars of damage.

I thought I was don’t writing about Sandy, but I can’t. I have to point and say, “There, I told you so!”

I really hope people learn from these things, hopefully with as little suffering as possible.

With any luck I’m done venting about this. It’s hard when hugely stupid things keep coming to light.

-Sixbears

Medical training

Yeah, I’ve had medical training. I know when to bleed a patient, when to apply leeches, and when to shake a turtle shell rattle and burn a sage bundle.

Recently it’s come to my attention that my medical training just might be a wee bit out of date.

Seriously, it has been decades since I’ve sat in a formal emergency medicine class. Quite a few of my friends work in EMS. Talking to them has really brought home how some of the thinking about emergency medicine has changed.

Reviewing the new literature would help. The book “Where there is no Doctor,” is darn useful too.

Even so, there is something to be said for actually taking classes. The price is reasonable. It would give me a reason to actually do the studying and practicing. For me, nothing beats learning from people who actually use this stuff.

It’s something to think about as part of living a prepared life. Actually, what you really want is for all the people around you to know this stuff. Convince the people in your life to join you in class. That way there will be someone close by to help you in an emergency.

-Sixbears

Liquid fuels

There’s no good substitute for liquid fuels for transportation.

Alternatives work fine for production of electricity. In my local area we already produce electricity from hydro, biomass, wind and even a tiny bit of solar power. I can imagine a gradual switch over to a mix of renewables to keep the lights on. Very little oil is used for electricity. The big power generator in the US is still coal.

Transportation is a problem. Electricity’s use in transportation is severely limited by the lack of good cheap high density storage -the batteries. It might be feasible for the commuter with a relatively short driving distance. We aren’t going to see electric tractor trailer trucks hauling produce from California to New England.

Expect that gasoline and diesel will be used where it’ll do the most good. Right now, tractor trailers do a huge part of the heavy lifting. However, rail is more efficient than roads. Water transport is better than rail. Wind powered water transportation would be even cheaper, if somewhat slower.

Expect everything to slow down a bit. If transportation fuel is $20/gallon, people are going to think very seriously before they go anywhere. There may still be big SUVs on the morning commute to work, but there will be 8 - 10 people crammed into it. There’s a lot of our lives that will be significantly different. The ability to live within walking distance to work will be a huge advantage. More food will be grown locally to shorten transportation distances, among other reasons.

How will you deal with huge price hikes in transportation fuels? No politicians or the media will talk about it, but it is coming. Even if we get a miracle breakthrough in transportation, it will take years to convert the infrastructure to accommodate it. When the world switched from wind to coal powered ships, it took about 40 years for the changeover.

The only reason we’ve been able to keep the wheels turning this long has been the desperate development of less than idea fuel sources: ethanol, tar sands, shale oil, and deep water drilling. Those efforts barely produce more energy than it takes to extract and process them. When it costs more energy to produce than you get out of it, it’s game over. Liquid fuel will suddenly become in short supply. Exporting nations might come to the logical conclusion to keep the oil for for their own country, never mind the world market. Thinking like that could crash supply.

Then $20/gallon would be a bargain. It could happen soon. A massive economic collapse could prevent the price hike, but we’d all have other problems by then. A person who can’t afford food won’t buy gasoline. Assuming they can keep the economy struggling along in some fashion, the hike in transportation costs will have to be dealt with.

Have you a plan? A bicycle? Good walking shoes? The ability to car pool? Public transportation? Enough stuff stored up so you only have to go to town on a monthly basis? I know I won’t be hauling a boat all the way from my home in New Hampshire to Florida. I could afford to drive the 120 miles or so the coast of Maine, then sail down to Florida. That would add a couple months to my winter vacation, but I could live with that.

-Sixbears

Slight Delay

As you can see, there will be a slight delay on the painting project. I’m willing to work under some trying conditions, but even I have a limit.

It sure is pretty though. The second shot is off my deck looking towards the lake. With all the snow weighing down the branches, it’s almost impossible to see any of the lake. Normally this time of year I have a nice view of the water.

We only received about 3 inches from this storm. Some parts of the state got over 2 feet. Something like 3 million people lost grid power in this storm. We weren’t one of them. The solar electric system’s batteries were fully charged. Firewood had been brought in the house for the kitchen stove. It wasn’t necessary after all, but sure felt good to be prepared.

The last few years, there’s been a pattern where many storms stay south of the White Mountains. They used to all come here to the far north. The only reason we end up with more snow at the end of the winter is our colder climate. What precipitation we get in the winter tends to be in the form of snow, and it sticks around longer.

Milder daytime temperatures are predicted for the next few days. If all goes well, I should get a chance to do more painting.

-Sixbears

Tenting in wet weather

The near daily rain storms we’ve been having has got me thinking about tent living. There’s nothing worse than a leaky tent. Well, a leaky house isn’t too great either. With the promise of 5 sunny days, I once removed the roof from my house so as to put up a second floor. It started raining the evening of the first day and didn’t stop for a month. The weather man is the Prince of Lies.

A tent is a house. Maybe you are using it for just the weekend, or maybe for months on end. It’s your shelter; it’s where you live. A leaking tent is just as uncomfortable as my house was with a missing roof. You can’t sleep with water soaking your bedding. Water drips into your coffee and makes your cooking splatter. It’s a miserable way to live.

A common solution is to stretch a tarp right over the tent. That can either work just fine or be worse than useless. A tightly rigged tarp, well tied off and with no water collecting valleys can keep you dry. Many tarp arrangements, however, just blow off, collect water to dump in one big splash, or provide little protection on a windy day.

I’m not a big fan of the tarp solution. It’s better to have a well made tent that doesn’t need a tarp. Tents with separate rain flys, in my experience, work best. The rain fly should almost completely cover the tent, nearly reaching the ground. A good fly has a lot of tie downs so as to keep its shape and position in windy weather.

Tent seams should be sealed on at least an annual basis -more often if needed. I like the seam sealers that go one like roll on deodorant. They are easy to use, so are likely to get used. There are also sprays to restore a fly’s waterproofing. Even a very good tent, if used often or constantly, will need a waterproofing touch up now and then.

I prefer a tent where the rain fly extends beyond the main body of the tent and forms a small screen room. Tents can get claustrophobic, especially if you are stuck inside due to bad weather. The screen room is a good place to set up a couple chairs and a small table. You can look outside, cook without water falling in your food, yet you can keep your mud boots on. It’s a good transitional space between the outside and the main part of the tent. It’s your tent’s mud room, (if you are from the north,) or your Florida room. (if from the south).

If the weather is sunny, the tendency is to not even think about your tent will perform in a storm. That’s how tents get set up in low spots with a sloppily assembled fly or no fly at all. When a surprise storm hits, you want to be the guy sitting comfortably in his screen room drinking a hot coffee. You don’t want to be the guy he’s watching for entertainment. The wet guy running around in the rain trying to secure a tent that the wind’s tearing out of his hands.

-Sixbears

Man on a White Horse

There are a couple of competing theories of history. There’s the man on a white horse theory. It’s named after all those statures of people like George Washington and Napoleon, mounted on a white horse. The theory basically states that certain people make history. They bend the course of history with their actions.

Another theory is that individuals don’t really matter. It’s historical forces that shape the day: economics, population pressures, environment, climate, psychology, disease and so on.

I think they are both right, depending on the circumstances. Some people have vision, will and the ability to get things done, but the conditions have to be right. George Washington would not have founded a new nation if everyone had been happy with the old English rule. Napoleon seized the day, but after a period of turmoil where people were ready for a strong leader. Hitler would most likely have not come to power if the German economy had been doing well.

Looking at the world right now, I see plenty of historical forces in play. It is really tempting to wish for that man on a white horse to come riding in to save the day. However, looking at the likely leaders, I fear we are more likely to get a Hitler than a Washington. That type does really well when everyone is fearful.

There are circumstances where it doesn’t matter much who’s in charge. If the boat is already going over the falls, changing captains isn’t going to help much. It didn’t matter who was leading Pompeii. When the volcano erupted, everyone got buried.

The grand sweep of history is interesting and all, but what’s a person in the middle of it supposed to do? For most of us, our best bet is to keep an eye on the volcano. Never mind what everyone else says about the volcano. If it starts to rumble, get the heck out of the way. The best thing the average Joe can do about historical forces, or “great men” is to not let them run him over.

-Sixbears

For what it's worth

Wednesday, the stock market took a 280 point tumble. No idea what Thursday is going to bring. If I did, I'd most likely have some money in that game. In the long run, it's all going down the drain, but in the long run we are all dead anyway. Timing is everything.

Now the market could fall into the basement. On the other hand, inflating currency could raise up the numbers, but the money won't be worth anything. I'm not in the market, and I'm not qualified to give advice about it . . . as if anyone is.

While the market itself doesn't affect me directly, if it collapses, everyone is affected. There would certainly be a time of chaos and panic. Interesting times. Few of us really want to live in interesting times. Oh, it might be fun to contemplate, but when things don't get back to normal in a few weeks, and chaos becomes normal, it's no place to raise the kids.

I just finished listening to Michael Ruppert's "The Lifeboat Hour" on the Progressive Radio network. He still sticks to statement that the financial situation will definitely unravel during the month of July. His reasoning is that corporate reports will have to show the economic disruptions caused by Japan's problems. Personally, I've first hand reports about the difficulty getting certain parts from Japan. There might be something to Ruppert's warning.

In the very short term, I'm more concerned with my local weather. In the North Country of NH, we've had 3 hailstorms in as many days. We used to go years without a hailstorm. My lovely wife has seedlings ready to go in the garden, but we don't dare put them out. Golf ball sized hail and tender plants don't mix well. We've flooding and bridges have been washed out. Now I know weather isn't climate, but conditions weren't like this when I was a little kid. Bad weather around the world has made agriculture a tricky business.

Agriculture has gone the way of industry. Everything uses the "Just in Time" model. It's terribly efficient when production matches consumption exactly. No money tied up in granaries and warehouses. Unfortunately, an efficient system is a fragile system. When Japan is unable to supply parts and equipment, assembly lines around the world shut down. When the crops don't come in, someone's going to go hungry.

For years there have been warnings about the dangers of our world wide economic system. Of course, those warnings fell on deaf ears. The system has had enough slack to absorb a few shocks. Can it survive the big ones facing it now? There is reason for concern.

Could we be facing the end of the world as know it? Let's just say it's not a 0% chance nor a 100% certainty. What harm in some preparations? A 30 day family supply of food and water would put you ahead of 99% of the people out there. Even if there are only temporary disruptions, do you want to be one of those disrupted?


-Sixbears