“The criminal class are no threat to the authoritarian state whilst a disenfranchised citizenry is a threat to the authoritarian state.”
We don’t have a justice system with have a legal system! A great explanation of our current level of breakage in the system of this country.
Had a little splurge and purchased some titanium cookware from Alton Goods. Ill be testing these out over the next few months. I haven’t owned much titanium in the past preferring stainless steel.
I was mainly interested in a new plate and bowl and got lost in the website. The tongs Im not to sure of the tip is very narrow but Ill find out how they perform cooking a steak. The alcohol burner looked much larger in the site pictures also. Initial impressions . It may require a small wind shield.
Ive been looking at several twig stoves on the market. All I knew was I wanted one with a large hole in the front for feeding fuel.
The plate and bowl Ill be comparing to other brands upcoming I like having things for a while and testing them before doing a complete write up. The billy pot I really wanted as the aluminum pot I use for cooking in van I wanted to upgrade to another material.
I went over some old clips of using fatwood and figured out what I was doing wrong. I was taking shavings using the edge of the blade and trying to ignite. Firstly you have to take scrapings using the 90 degree spine. I thought this deserved a post of its own to point out the basics.
” Work is not optional ! Its a requirement , a necessity . its something you commit to regardless of your internal state. This is the essence of discipline. Discipline is doing what needs to be done. Whether you feel like it or not. Its an internal standard that you refuse to be compromised. Disciple is built its trained like a muscle and like any muscle it grows stronger the more you use it. The more you override the voice to stop the quieter it becomes. You simply do what needs to be done. Its about persistence.”
Ive had days where everything in me screamed to stop not get out of bed. my lungs have been full of crap from fluid or infections. My lung capacity has fallen to below 60% and yet I still make the physios wheel in an excersise bike and force myself to climb on it and do 2.5 minutes. Then rest 5 minutes then do another 2.5 minutes until I reach 20 minutes in total. I then spend three hours in bed totally exhausted before climbing back on that f*kn bike again. To start the cycle of 2.5 minutes again. This is the only way I can get off an oxygen hose and the only way I can get out of hospital and the only way I can lead any sort of reasonable life. I have no option.
(This will not break me, The only way forward is through. This is the test that most people fail).
I’m at the gym everyday, if I don’t then my lung capacity lowers. My knee seizes up. It’ll take longer to get back on the road to finish off my training courses. I found a light job doing gardening at a small coffee shop. Mainly watering and a little weeding. As my strength returns light landscaping and planting a herb garden. I get lunch and coffee out of my effort. I no longer feel right taking cash for my labour. I cant work as hard as I once could. This gives me focus, gives me sense of fulfillment for the day, a purpose. I then train at the gym working up my splits to the 20 minutes. By the end of the day my leg aches, my arm aches, my shoulder aches but I have achieved something with my day, when I’m not writing or doing little projects for the blog or on my van build. The plants keep me calm, the smell of the mint enters my soul as the water sprays over it.
“Struggle is temporary, but quitting is permanent. The pain of discipline is nothing compared to the pain of quitting. Never loose sight of the goal. See beyond your current circumstance. What ever obstacles are in front of you they are not the end. They are simply part of the journey, they are the price you pay for the life you want to live. To struggle to endure, because every step you take no matter how small no matter of insignificant it feels is still a step forward”.
“The first battle you fight every day is with yourself. The moment you wake up there’s a choice. Give into the resistance or break through it. Your thoughts create your reality, The way you think determines how you act and how you act determines the life you build.The real test is can you push forward when every part of you wants to stop”.
Paraphrased from Jordon Peterson
Philosophy in Bushcraft ?
“Live each day as if it were your last. Without fear, apathy or pretense”.
This really resonated with me after 25 years of disability and multiple surgeries. In the last year Ive had close to 20 hospital admissions. Most of those I now find out were due to the wrong medication causing fluid to build up in my lungs. The stage 3 kidney failure Ive now been told Ive had for 10 years and has been stable, this also due to scaring from the medications. Still at the gym every day, sometimes just on the bike to keep the knee and lungs going like the last few months. Other times for 2 hours straight of weight work, but still there none the less.
Injury list highlights:
L4 to S1 back injury 2 operations
2003 first bilateral lung transplant
2014 second bilateral lung transplant
throat cancer, shoulder cancer
severed quad tendon
sternum broken 3 times
scar tissue right groin 90 litre blood transfusion
left shoulder severe arthritis
tore the tendon off my right bicep
stage 3 kidney failure
“If you cant give a man something to love, give him something to hope for, if you cant give him something to hope for, give him something to do.”
Even though my last post was on building a GO Bag, I wanted to point out the fallacies of using that as your primary plan and not as your contingency or emergency options.
When I had my Raptor ute, if i just threw my GO bag into the back, with the amount of food Id be carrying in that bag, there’s 5 days. In reality Id throw in the GO bag for my equipment bag then a duffel of dehydrated food supplies, another duffel of clothing, tools, Jerry cans of fuel, Jerry cans of water, larger medical kits, 6 months of my meds, larger solar array, chainsaw, generator, etc etc. There’s two months before becoming a refugee.
In my van I have three weeks of tinned food and a water filter on my sink and 6×8 trailer with 6 months of supplies and a secure place to sleep. Id need to find alternative sources of water after two weeks and I could only travel as far as a tank of gas and two Jerry cans filled with diesel could take me if my tank was full from the beginning. How far could you get carrying all this equipment on your back.
The second video is placed here to show your not only escaping a disaster but you have to work your way through major damage to infrastructure. Damaged roads and bridges etc.
(This has been a work in progress over the last year with only a few items left to purchase and test).
I keep going through my gear to pack a GO bag. I don’t believe in a bug out bag due to the methodology behind them even though they carry similar equipment. . A bug out bag is meant to take you somewhere. If you DONT have some where to go you become a refugee. A GO bag rather is an emergency bag, set up to last you 3 to 10 days depending on the amount of food packed. Its for an emergency resource.
Ive based mine around the below youtube clips.Ive changed out certain pieces of equipment to suit the area Im in and the brands available to me. The reason its taken so long to build are two reasons. One I live in a mobile home and have everything with me and two there were certain pieces of gear I wanted to upgrade too. Such as a square multicam tarp to set up a ranger diamond fly rather than a standard hootchie which is oblong. Square shapes let you set up a greater variation of tarps shapes.
Your not going to live off the land out there. This is a large ditch option to support you until help can be provided. As part of the P.A.C.E plan primary, alternate, contingency, emergency, this is the last E.
(its good to compare the difference between the third and fourth video pack contents)
(check out the bumbag first aid kits Em going to have to make one of these out of a 511 Rush Moab 3)
TOOLS
cold steel shovel
boreal 21 inch saw or corona razor tooth saw 10 inch (I would like to try the Corona)
SAK or leathernam
5 inch belt knife
paracord line kit 5ft and 10 ft daisy chained 20 ea
FIRST AID
IFAK
booby kit
extra tourniquet
SHELTER
poncho
tarp 9×9
swagman roll
3/4 gonk mat (non inflatable)
ridgeline kit with stakes
sleeping bag recon 6
gloves (leather and woolen)
bivi bag
COMBUSTION
butane lighter
ferro rod
tinder kit
duct tape( gorilla)
POWER
solar
power bank
head lamp
spare batteries( rechargeable)
NAVIGATION
maps
compass
COOKING/FOOD
MSR pocket rocket and small butane cylinder
MRES
tuna
food bars
coffee or tea with creamer
spoon
WATER
grail ultra press
brown bag
large dry bag to carry water from a stream
32oz water bottle stainless double walled
nesting cup
extra water bladder
SPARE CLOTHING in a dry bag to be used as a pillow
extra socks and jocks
beanie
hat
shemagh
thermal under wear
neck gaiter
snugpack arrowhead jacket
PACK and PACK COVER
camo cover
Eberlestock Pactrack or Snugpak rocket pack ( I like the pactrack with the front opening, but here’s its an $800 pack). I already have the rocketpack.
I saw this project on youtube and wanted to give it a go. I called around to local antique dealers and found one cleaning out his back shed and was throwing out a lot of old steel for scrap. He offered me some old files for free so I grabbed as many as I could for a mate that’s into making knives out of them. We used his workshop to cut the file and found it it wouldn’t spark until the sides were smoothed. We polished it up a little and applied gun blue to stop it rusting, leaving enough of the file edges in for looks. It was cut to fit an Altoids tin in length. I didn’t bother drilling a hole in the end for a lanyard.
On the off chance I searched for fat wood in Australia and it came up at my local hardware store. It wouldn’t light by itself using a ferro rod. A cotton ball had to be used for the initial ignition and then it went off and burnt for almost 4 minutes. I still have to try using a scandi grind to see if the shavings are finer. Id also like to split the kindling into smaller pieces to place in my fire lighting tin or have a pre-shaved hand full in a small bag.
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