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I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and self-contain’d,
I stand and look at them long and long.
They do not sweat and whine about their condition,
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of owning things,
Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago,
Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth.
Song of Myself, Walt Whitman 1819 –1892 from Leaves of Grass
Just a few quick pictures of the High Speed Steel lathe bits in 2mm/14mm vs the 3mm/16mm strikers I made up previously. Currently waiting on black 3mm paracord to do the grip wraps on the 2mm. I wanted to get a comparison pic before posting off the last 3mm strikers.
The above wrapped with 425 tactical cord or 3mm macrame, with loops at the ends this time. I also found out you can grind off the burs at the back.
Attached to a neck lanyard. Had to re-wrap the large striker I can only take brightly colored paracord for so long.
I was watching the two you-tube clips below on edge modifications to a Cold Steel Recon Scout 3V and sent mine off to a mate to have the edge checked to see if was worth me adjusting the angle from 25 degrees to 20 degrees. He firstly asked if it were to be used as a skinner/fighter or a chopper/survival knife. This was was purely for survival. His opinion was to leave it as is. With Australian hardwoods a sharper angel would chip the edge. The edge itself he thought would require honing only on his Japanese Water Stones. One comment on the bottom of the clips was that they decided not to purchase a Recon due t the change in ownership and quality control, however I found this rendition of the Recon I have liked the most. My friend also has an original recon and believes that the grip is also slightly thicker but has yet to find the carbon model to double check.
He has also modified the sheath to use as a cross-draw by manufacturing an adapter plate.
Along with an adapter to make the Extrema Ratio Pugio fit better onto molle.
The third project was to add an primary bevel to the TOPS El Pionero false edge.
I’m always on the look out for easy to grow plants that can be used as a staple crop. Going to try growing these next.
A Lifetime is Made up of Moments
“We can learn from the past, but we cannot change it. We can prepare for the future and influence it, but we cannot control it. Life is informed, somewhat, by past and future, but it’s lived now.
What’s important is your actions and your state of being in this moment, because this moment is all you have.
Just as you cannot control anybody outside yourself, you also cannot act on anything outside the present moment.
All it means that all that’s necessary for you to begin to live with more intention is to claim this one moment, right now, as your own.
You only have to live, choose, decide, be, in this one moment.”
I was reminded of this the other day when I was chatting to a mate while having a break and becoming increasingly frustrated over working on my van. He said to me, I quote “A wise man once said to me were f%^ked, time doesn’t matter!”
Several months ago I had said these exact words to him, being new to chronic illness and having a bad day of trying to do something that was taking him longer than it should have. After 20 years of ill health and injuries I developed a philosophy of time doesn’t matter. Its about enjoying what your doing and having a productive day.
I had spent 3 hours building batons for pantry shelving that should have taken 30 minutes.Crawling around on my backside like a dog with worms inside a cupboard space the size of a suit case not being able to breath well or bend my leg to turn around.
The whole job took me 4 hours, out of breath and not concentrating well to build my pantry. A whole other day to install a piece of timber, router out the bottom of the 90×45 with a drill and spade bits along with chisels. Having no router in order to have a working fridge. Just trying to figure out how to mount it in. The medications I’m on are causing more problems with my mind. Only two weeks left of the course.
He had repeated to me “Were f&*ked time doesn’t matter !” at just the right moment to remind me that I’m on disability WTF else will I be doing with my day. Drinking piss and watching bad free to air TV. So what if it takes me 4 hours to do a 30 minute job. The pain and the frustration melted away leaving me feeling productive.
The next day I lifted the banana boxes out of the pantry. I call it my banana box pantry as it has no doors and I contain everything with two banana boxes I can lift out when driving. Reached for the tin of coffee and made a cuppa with cold milk for the first time in my van and it felt like a home and not like I was roughing it as a homeless person slogging it out trying to build a van while living in it and tripping over boxes of food on the floor.
I sat outside in the sun on my folding chair and for the first time felt at peace since my staffy passed away. The feeling only lasted for half of the cup of coffee before I had to get up and load firewood into the house. I still cant sit for very long, my mind stays busy all the time.
Several days later I had purchased a cheap 8×5 trailer that was in kit form. I asked the owner of the company if he needed a hand putting it together. Four hours of work later I hobbled out of there now knowing how to put a trailer together but barely being able to walk to the van. We finished it off the next day with the roofing frame work for the canvas. I thought Id finished threading wire through chassis rails after the van but it seemed not to be. I don’t think the owner understood. Many don’t, when your a workaholic and cant work you begin to enjoy what your doing with your hands again when money isn’t involved. You jump at any opportunity to work and do atleast something with your day.
https://www.elitedaily.com/life/you-need-to-take-life-one-moment-at-a-time
A mate “Dave’ sent me the following podcast. It goes for 45 minutes. I haven’t really been a podcast fan but it was 45 minutes worth spending listening to DJ Hookie’s experiences when loosing both arms and legs. His time in ICU and rehab brings back many memories for me. The term “Shutter Island” was a good description of rehab.
https://www.booktopia.com.au/hook-line-and-sinner-tom-nash/book/9781761340734.html
Ive put together this small fishing kit that is convenient to carry and store, mainly for smaller streams rather than the river Ill be testing it out in at the end of the week. I replaced the nylon line on the Yoyito to an old floating fly line to make it easier to rewind onto the hand-line. A sinking line may have been a better choice for the river Ill be using it in. I may have to rig it with a heavier sinker and a running float to use as an indicator.
Ive been meaning to do this for some time. Wrap all my Bic lighters with Gorilla Tape to use as an emergency fire lighter. Ive also had holes in my emergency Blanket. This one has lasted me two years and Id like to see how far I can take it before total disintegration. I probably need a new one for the pack I’m currently setting up. However this is why you always carry a roll of gorilla tape in your pack.
Prepping is a life style not something you can really do here and there. Life gets in the way every now and again. Ive noticed many of my friends that are into prepping are the same way, but lately they have gotten back into the prepper mindset with all that is going on in the world.
Governments have learned that it is much easier to fight each other through proxy and economics than ever firing a shot and to control people through fear rather than force.
I myself had put aside prepping to deal with loss, injury, rehab and building a new home to live in. I had enough tinned, jar food and TP to last 6 months which over the last nine months has slowly been rotated into oblivion to help save funds to pay off vet and mechanical bills. I’m still trying to save for a small trailer and working on my van which includes another fridge.
My preps are by far not complete but Ive thought of starting to stock up again on essentials. Storage room is now my short coming, hence the trailer idea. I was always buying extra tinned tomato’s when out on sale, I put them in everything from stews to curry’s. With the rising price of food and fuel I walk through the markets now and barely come out with anything for the same money which a year ago would have filled a trolley.
Seeds are once again on my list many still out of stock, chicken forage, wild garlic, strawberry spinach, walking onions, alpine strawberry’s, goose berry’s, salsify, burdock, mangel wuzel, okra. Anything easy to grow from seed and can be used as a staple.
I no longer watch the news, I no longer care about which countries are fighting one another, which are trying to create their own currency, or trying to launder off their old stock piles of arms to fight by proxy or the new variants of germ warfare. I don’t know how else you would describe our latest plague. I wont say the (C) word its not politically correct.
I prep because I know if anything goes wrong there’s always food in the pantry, even if I cant afford anything else.