English: Campfire at fire ring, Canoe Island (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I was a Girl Scout for 15 years, from Brownies through college.  It was pretty nerdy at the time – even then – especially in high school.  But I loved it and it gave me a tremendous sense of self-confidence because of the experiences I took advantage of.

One of the skills I learned as a Girl Scout was how to light a one-match fire.  I still use this skill when I make campfires in the back yard for enjoyment.  You can too.  It is not just luck.  There is a skill to it and I found a great video that shows you how to do it, albeit in extreme conditions.  A great tip I picked up from the video was to find some pine pitch and to use your one match to light the pine pitch to extend your flame.

One Match Fires video.

The video is done by a survivalist named Dan Corcoran of www.SurvivalMaster.com.  Most of you reading this blog (including me) will never put yourself in the situations he does – so why bother?   Because you will learn a new skill and, more importantly, something new about yourself.  I love learning new things and testing my skills.  Some things I try just once so I can say I’ve done it, but other skills open up a whole new world of experiences.

Here is a 2nd video by Dan that gets more into survival skills in the back country.  He starts out telling about a day hike he took with a girlfriend and where he was not as prepared as he should have been for the unexpected.  A 4-hour return hike turned into a very cold, very treacherous, very dark 12-hour hike home.  If he had known how to do survival fires at the time, he would have been more in control of his fate.    Survival Fires video.

Life is an Adventure.

Empty seats (Photo credit: SeeMidTN.com (aka Brent))

I got an email from the class instructor for the free online Philosophy class I signed up for (see previous post) that will start in a couple weeks.  They said they were thrilled and overwhelmed with the response — 80,000 people signed up for the class, worldwide!  Gee, I wonder if they will miss me if I decide to skip a class?I think the experience will be just as interesting as the opportunity to learn something new.

Life is an Adventure.

Coffee cup (Photo credit: @Doug88888)

Last Saturday I had the day all to myself.  What a wonderful thing… to be able to do anything you want.  I chose to take the kayak out.  It was a balmy 65 degrees (in January!) with light winds of 8-10 mph — important if you don’t want to get too tired from paddling through choppy waters — it affects how far you can go.

I packed a healthy lunch with lots of water and headed down to the marina.  It was around 10:30 am and Norris Lake was smooth as glass.  Perfect.

English: Norris Lake near the Sharp’s Station site at Big Ridge State Park in Union County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I had plans to go exploring in a more remote location, but since I was by myself, I decided to stay near civilization, so I kept along the shoreline at Sunset Bay where there are homes and then cut across the lake to head towards Hickory Star Marina. The Bass boat fishermen were out en force, so I really shouldn’t have worried about being alone in case something happened.

Once at the marina, I pulled the kayak out on shore and went in the store to look around and use the restroom.  When I left and returned to my kayak, the gentleman in the store came out a few minutes later and saw me gathering up my things and started up a casual conversation saying “you don’t need much fuel with that”.  I agreed and mentioned that I would normally buy a cup of coffee but I hadn’t planned on coming this way and did not bring any money.  I asked him if he took Paypal.  (I could have sent him money from my Paypal account using my smartphone).  He said no, but he pulled out his wallet and gave me $10, saying that he was the owner and that I should buy myself lunch and that coffee!  Naturally, I declined it, saying I had my lunch with me, but he insisted.  I asked him his name, and he said it was “Dean”.

Well, I did get my cup of coffee and left a thank-you note with the $9 of change with the cashier.  I enjoyed my cup ‘o joe immensely and loved the adventure!  Thank you Dean!

On the way home, I followed the shoreline that belonged to Big Ridge State Park.  Because of the low water, there were shear cliffs where you could really see the variations in geological formations.  I found what appeared to be a cave that was begging to be explored.  I’ll do that when I come back with reinforcements.

Halfway back, I stopped to rest along the shore of an island and used my cushion seat and life jacket to lay back on the rocks.  I opened my book and read.  What could be closer to heaven than this – the prettiest scenery that anyone could ask for.

It was a wonderful day.  So the next time you have a free day – don’t waste it.  Do something you really love and do it for yourself.

Life is an Adventure.

Test your skills in identifying this scat (animal feces) that I found in the woods the other day.  Here is a great Droppings, Scat & Feces Identification website that will help.  I’ll give you the answer at the end of this post, but I bet you’ll be able to figure it out yourself.

I always get a thrill when I come across fresh scat in the woods. It is a constant reminder that wild animals actually live out there, using their instincts to survive.  I continually am in awe that a large animal, such as a deer or coyote, can find enough food in the winter to survive.

ANSWER:  Deer

No firewood.  I wanted a fire in the fireplace, but we were out.  That put a little fire under Jim so out he went. He located a downed tree in the woods and cut it up with his chain saw. Then he took the tractor and loaded up the front-loader with newly cut logs and brought it up near the house.  Mission accomplished.

That night, I built a fire using the cut (unsplit) logs. The ones I chose were only 3-4 inches in diameter but I noticed that it took a long time to really get a good fire going.  Oh well, so much for short cuts. It looks like a little log splitting was in our future.

I really wanted to do this myself. I had this vision of Ronald Reagan from an old news clip, splitting wood. If an 80 year old man could do this, so can I.

Jim already had a special tool that is a combination of an ax and a wedge. I used that. I’ve seen people split wood before on TV so I had a pretty good idea what to do. Through trial and error, I got better… after a while, I was hitting my target the first time and on center, more often than not. In no time flat (an hour?), I had split all the wood you see in this photo.  It previously had all been on the pallet.

I was so proud of myself and it was actually fun!  Not to mention good exercise. I found this calorie calculator website that lets you put your height/weight/age, etc into a table and it tells you how many calories you burn doing certain tasks.  I burned 268 calories.  If I had gone running (5 mph / 12 minute mile), it would have been 375 calories/hour – but I wouldn’t have run that long.  Not bad.

In preparation for writing this post, I looked up some videos to share, in case some of you  might want to try it yourself. Some of the videos out there are a riot because they are these macho guys with all this testosterone trying to do it as fast as they can. Believe me, I found that if the wood is dry enough, it is pretty easy. I don’t say this to brag.  I only say it so that you don’t put limits on your capabilities without trying it first.  Start slowly.

This video shows how to hold your ax and swing.

This video shows how to “read the wood”. I sort of figured this out on my own. The tricky ones were those that had knots in them or “Y’s”.  One thing I tried on my own was rotating the log if it hit its mark but did not split right away.  When it finally did split, it ended up giving me the original cuts as well.  Pretty neat.  Half the fun is learning this on your own and gaining confidence.

Don’t forget to wear your safety glasses and work boots.  Let me know if you try it. Life is an adventure!