Okay, this morning dawned – eventually – as gloomy and foggy as yesterday did…
Which is grounds for instant Seasonal Affective Disorder here in the frickin’ Arid Desert, okay? It rained last night, it rained ALL day yesterday, it rained the night before. The wash has run TWICE. The frickin’ volcanic ash deposits…
…are causing frickin’ MUDSLIDES, filling up my labor-intensive drainage ditch and making my driveway slick as snot. And have you seen those wash crossings? Huh? Have you? Who’s cleaning that up? I’m not, I’ll tell you that.
Do you know how hard it is to use a shovel with ONLY YOUR LEFT ARM???
(deep breath)
Fortunately, Landlady came in this morning. She had to leave her froufrou car out at the county road, because the roads are all impassible, and this morning we filled the Jeep with care packages! Yay!
Big Brother sent me what is becoming the traditional monthly box’o’goodies I wouldn’t buy for myself but certainly enjoy consuming. Plus a couple of scifi books. I love that pretentious old commie. (Clarke, that is. Not Big Brother.)
We’re seeking the Perfect EDC Knife, if you’ll recall. And this just might be it!
That, my friends, is an Uncle Henry Schrade 164 Badger in very good condition. It’s an old knife – which means it’s not made in China, and it was constructed with an expectation that it might be seriously used. I believe it’s got the same steel as my Schrade folder – it’s roughly the same vintage – which means it will hold a good edge. It arrived dangerously sharp, like unto a razor. This thing’s going on my belt.
The same generous reader also included…
The ORANGEST knife I’ve ever seen in my life. Seriously, we were talking about Moras and Puukkos, and this is a Morakniv, made in Sweden, and might be … well, I’m not familiar with them but they certainly get glowing reviews. I may give this a try. After I paint it green. But if I leave it orange it’d made a darned good Jeep knife. Couldn’t lose it in the center console, that’s for damned sure.
My dear friend Ilo sent me a hammock, for the next emergency when I can’t get up into the loft!
Brand new! L. L. Bean! This is not an inexpensive hammock!
But ever since we discussed it, I’ve had a question…
“Can I set up a great big hammock in a little tiny cabin?” And though I’m still working on it, the answer to that question may actually be “no.” I’ve got a few other ideas. Working on it.
Also Ian sent me a thumb drive with some TV shows and films, and Landlady brought up a book we’d discussed.
Thanks, guys! I always look forward to Care Package day, I must admit.
That “emergency” hammock is a BRILLIANT idea! If that (beautiful) hammock won’t fit, then surely a more modest (and perhaps not so beautiful) one surely will. After all, they were used forever in sailing ships and those things weren’t known for their extra room.
Lately I’ve been very aware of the changes caused by my own aging, so I can assure you that your ladder-accessed loft won’t continue to be a useful idea forever. Something like a hammock or Murphy bed might serve as a long-term solution.
A more ambitious possibility might be to build a mini “bedroom” onto the Lair. (Think about the sleepers on an old-style 18-wheeler, and you get the idea.) One could be built with lots of useful storage above and under the bunk, which would help provide insulation, and possibly even incorporate your outdoor summer kitchen and even a small RV furnace so you wouldn’t need to heat the entire Lair all night.
Actually plans for a bedroom addition are firming up. It’ll eventually go where the woodshed is now, but it’ll likely be a few years before the money’s there.
And yeah, the biggest plus will be that I can heat it at night. This freeze in the morning till the woodstove heats up thing has gotten extremely old.
. . . back to the drawing board . . .
Maybe a nice ripstop nylon climbing hammock will be the ticket. I will look around in the gear boxes and see what I can scrounge. I’ll also check out some sales on line.
And if the hammock from LL won’t fit in the Lair, maybe you will be able to hang it outside in the shade of the solar array, for a lovely shaded napping hammock. Or would the chickens occupy it if it were outside? Hmmmm….
The care package looks bountiful! Do you like salmon and tuna? What about lentils? And do you like sunflower seeds? No, really, these are actual nutritional questions.
Ilo, Landlady and I discussed it this morning. I can get the hammock up in the Lair, but it will literally stretch from one corner clear to the other and come dangerously close to the woodstove in winter. I’m thinking that for now, until a bedroom gets built, I’ll go with an emergency inflatable mattress. It may actually be possible to find a couple of handy junipers for summer snoozing – especially since you helpfully included tree straps. The solar panel mount is too small, though that’s a good idea. I never pasture the chickens – which is why I’ve never lost a chicken to a predator – so they won’t be pooping on it, wherever it goes. 🙂
I’m not much for sunflower seeds, but the rest of that sounds delicious. I do eat lentils in winter stews.
And a folding Cabela’s cot to put the mattress on so you don’t have to get up off the floor. The cot takes up a tiny space when folded. Any estimate for how much the addition will cost? so we can start donating toward it.
The chickens might not be pooping on it, but the packrats surely will…
}:-]
“I’m not much for sunflower seeds, but the rest of that sounds delicious. I do eat lentils in winter stews.”
Are there any holes in your wish/want winter pantry? You mentioned “goodies I wouldn’t buy for myself but certainly enjoy consuming”. Any suggestions along those lines? If you’re going to get care packages, they might as well contain things you want.
Not really, CH, as far as staples go. Thanks entirely to care packages I’ve got enough canned and frozen meat to eat meat twice a week through the winter if I wanted to. I’ve also got lots of flour and oatmeal, pasta and dried peas and lentils and beans and rice and barley as much as I’d care to eat, canned veggies and sauces and condiments. I’ve never been so well prepared, which is kind of comical since it’s not as though I’m snowed in all winter or anything. I just had that one winter without transport when I got so tired of rice and beans I nearly stopped eating, and since then I’m a compulsive hoarder of food and warm clothing.
About the only things I don’t stock are quick-eat goodies, because if the mice don’t eat them right up I do. After all these years of plain eating I’ve got no discipline around a package of cookies. 🙂
I had one of that exact model of Uncle Henry knives for a long time until I lost it. You should be real happy with it. I used to.be able to field dress, skin and quarter a moose with mine without stopping to sharpen.I just bought a 162 UH from the new ones, it has a more swept back point but is put together with full tang. Haven’t had a chance to try it except on a couple chickens which is no test at all.
Moras are great using knives, you should be happy with it. I’d leave at least a bit of the handle orange, just for visibility issues. That Schrade 164UH was manufactured for six years (’82-’88) according to my sources. A bit rare – a fine gift indeed !
Hammock makes for a good chair too, its not just for sleeping. Do take care how you set in it, the time in getting dumped on hard ground is surprisingly fast.
Hope your arm healing continues to go well.
So this sunday I dressed out a smaller buck with my Morakniv (light my fire edition with the fire steel in the handle), and I will say it did a gangbusters job of it.
the scandi grind did go through the ribs quite well (with some force behind it) and through hide like no ones business.
I even loaned it to the ladies at the deer check station when they were cutting out for the skull plate as their knife was dangerously dull.
Put two or three more bucks under that blade and I will call it an unqualified success.
I spent last night in a hammock in side and it was wonderful.
I worked under our sink pulling all the old drains and supply lines, putting in a disposal, and a new faucet. Being me, it took all day where a competent plumber would have been out in an hour or two. Of course, I am dealing with 1954 supply and drain lines in odd sizes and cast iron.
The point (yes, I have one) is that spending that amount of time half in and half out of a cabinet and leaning on my shoulders oddly left me very sore. I got to sleep alright in bed but once I was awoken, I couldn’t get comfortable even flat out. Threw the hammock up in the basement and was happy in moments.
A note: Hammocks require underneath insulation if it’s <70 degrees otherwise you'll get cold butt syndrome and not sleep well. I just took a long down comforter and ran it under me, then under the hammock, then tucked it in on the side. put my other blanket over the top and slept quite well.