It's getting COLD!

The forecast was pretty much right on today. I saw about 10 snow flakes on my way to work this morning and it ended up being cloudy all day. By most, today was probably the mark for their FIRST flakes...but as I mentioned before we had a few drops of snow-ish precipitation. I would venture to guess more than we had today. As we speak...my weather station is reporting 31 degrees. Brrrrr! With nearing 80 percent humidity I would guess there will be frost on the pumpkins tonight. It would be an excellent night to get the wood furnace up and running...but it is still pretty dry out. We either need to fire it up when it is raining or wait until snow. Luckily, it looks as if we may see some snow toward the 6th. I always wanted it to snow on my birthday so I may just get my wish this year.

I do have a gripe with Discovery channel. Les has pretty much disappeared. Why is that? Maybe it is his off season? The only channel I can see Survivorman on now is some science channel that we do not get. How disappointing!

I did mention a shelter we were starting to work on the other day. Here is a picture of the base of it. I think we may change the design at some point. There is no way to create a shelter like this in the fall when the trees are cold and brittle. The shelter will get better. It has to. There will not be any winter survival outings without it unless they are planned well in advance. It is nice to have a shelter to go to so you are not starting from scratch every time you want to go out. That is the hard part during the winter. Especially when you are working most of the time. So I would anticipate a good weekend of building coming up shortly if we are looking to use this spot. Otherwise we may do some winter camping in the woods behind the house. Winter camping is winter camping in my opinion. As long as you do not go running home every time you get cold!

The leaves have been raked and the grass is mowed. I finished the winterizing of the lawn last Sunday. It had been neglected all summer until we moved back to the house in September. We were living in Petoskey for a good portion of last winter and through the summer. We found a better deal renting this house so we took it. I have been trying to clean up some of the messes I left when we first left this house last January. I could argue that it was a mistake leaving in the first place...but it was a very good experience. We bought a LOT of equipment that will come in handy when we move on from here. The other advantage to coming back...is the bulk of last year's fire wood was still here. There was a malfunction in the wood furnace blower last spring which left us one row of wood left. I still cut about three rows worth this fall with my new Poulan Pro 18" 42CC saw. Not a huge saw...but it cuts through the trees very nicely. Combine the new saw with a new attachment for my Dremel to sharpen the chain and I was in pretty good shape!

Typically I would go on for a while yet...but we have a little bit of cleaning up inside the house to do yet. So I will stop while I am ahead. :)

Goodnight from Northern Michigan!

Derek

Potassium Permanganate, Glycerin, and Surviving in the Wild

Since part of this blog is suvival...it is time to discuss a technique. I hope to provide you with a decent amount of my own material and techniques...but a bit of the information will come from other sources like Les Stroud.

Since it is late I will just discuss one of the most recent cool survival techniques I saw on Survivorman. It is extremely simple and can be done with off the shelf products from your local hardware and drug store. I will provide pictures of the ingredients and the process in an update to this post.

The first ingredient can be found at your local hardware store (unless you live in Petoskey...then it is impossible to find) is Potassium Permanganate. Often times it is used in cleaning bacteria from fish ponds. The second ingredient is Glycerin. This can be found at your local drug store in the antiseptic area. My bottle of it says you can use it to treat wind burn and chapped lips along with a few other minor symptoms. It is handy since it can serve a couple purposes outdoors.

Now, you ask, what on earth would you do with these? Clean fish ponds and treat wind burn? Nope. I say you start a quick fire in a survival situation. When the Potassium Permanganate is covered in Glycerin (just pour a quarter size dob of Glycerin onto a 50 cent piece size pile of Potassium Permanganate) it will slowly react and cause an intense fairly long lasting flame. You can continue to add Glycerin until the Potassium Permanganate has all burned.

I suppose in many cases you might not have these two chemicals on hand. Les had them in a small first aid kit. The Potassium Permangante as an antiseptic (http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/medicines/100002045.html) and the Glycerin for various stomach issues (possibly in suppository form http://www.medicinenet.com/glycerin_suppository-rectal/article.htm) So it may be something you wish to add to your first aid kit just in case. There are many uses!

Give it a try. If nothing else it is a fun experiment! However it is dangerous. These chemicals should be handled with care and should NOT be used by children. Only perform this if you know what you are dealing with. I do not accept any responsibility for your actions.

The serious part is over! I will continue to add more techniques as I learn them and try them. We are working on a survival shelter in the woods. I am starting to doubt it will be finished for winter camping since life is so busy these days...but I will try to post info and take pictures of our progress.

Goodnight from Northern Michigan!

Derek

Fall is in the air...

No kidding! I slept in today, which is fairly unusual, but when I woke up the temperature was 39! No indication of any frozen precipitation over night though. I'm not 100% ready because I've got a bunch of yard work to do yet. It looks as if we may get a peak of sun today with a high of around 49...and tonight should be mostly cloudy with a low of 39. Currently 39 degrees with a very calm breeze. No rain though!

I have my weather station all set for winter now. I believe the rain guage will be brought in by the end of next week. I would hate for rain to freeze inside of it and cause something to break. I am holding off as long as I can since October has been a very wet month. I did forget to mention that we saw a couple snow flakes last week as we were heading out to dinner. I believe it was probably Wednesday. I do not know if they would truly be considered flakes or hail though. They were white, they were not icy, but they did bounce off the hood of the truck.

I decided yesterday that I am going to try to make some apple cider. Unfortunately, we do not have a good blend of apples yet...and I have no idea what all is involved. I may end up changing my mind and making some chunky apple sauce. Everyone seemed to like that when we made it when I was a kid. Now the challenge is finding the recipe for it. :P The rest of our apples will be deer feed so I can get some good photos in the back yard before the snow starts falling. I do not hunt (more like I can not hunt because I would not be able to stand ripping a deer's guts out) so hopefully they'll find a safe haven in our area.

Anyway, I am finding myself getting a little bit random here so I will be done for now. If you like what you're reading and appreciate anything on here please leave a comment so I can tell if anyone is dropping by.

I might be overdoing it...

BUT...this is my first blog...and the first day I have written in it...so stick with me. :P I ended up leaving work about half an hour early today due to a quick spell of head cold. I am not sure what caused it, or if it even is a cold, but with the weather changing so dramatically lately it would not suprise me.

Last week we saw temperatures nearing 80 degrees. Yesterday morning it was 28 degrees when I left for work with the high of the day topping out at around 45. Today stuck to the forecast and was mostly cloudy for a better part of the day and has turned cloudy. Temperatures have stuck right around 58 at the house. It really does not look like snow in the near term which is mildly disappointing because this time last year I had already been riding the snowmobiles. I always figure the longer it waits to snow the better it'll be when we get it. :)

The leaves have peaked and most trees are starting to drop them if they have not already fallen. It was a beautiful fall this year. The yellows waited until the reds and oranges were about done before they started popping out. The yellows are my least favorite...but they all make for good picture taking. All of my recent pictures are on my laptop so I can not share them right now. However you CAN visit my Picasa page to view some of my most recent photos. http://picasaweb.google.com/dallerding. Some of the photos there may be published in a book that my friend is writing about the North Country Trail in Michigan.

On a side note...a cat has been trying to make our home, it's home. We adopted a cat a few years ago...the situation was very similar. Toward the beginning of November and the nights start getting cold...how do you say no to a kitten? BUT I believe that we'll be taking it to the shelter on Monday or Tuesday. Meanwhile, it will be using our cat's house out on the porch.

10/26/07 Northern Michigan Weather

This Afternoon: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 55. Calm wind.

Tonight: Showers likely, mainly after 11pm. Cloudy, with a low around 45. Calm wind becoming north around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.

The beginnings of a blog....

So this is my blog. It may eventually be updated by a couple people....but for now it's just me.

I live in Northern Michigan. It is a PERFECT area for discussion of survival techniques, outdoor activities, weather, photography, and other subjects pertaining to the culture of the area. (Occasionally topics pertaining to coins, cigars (rarely...I'm not a smoker), and work.)

A little about myself so you can get to know me up close and personal. I am married to a wonderful woman. We're almost done with the first year already! I work in Information Technologies for roughly eight hours a day. I have an affection for numismatics, snowmobiling, cross country skiing, meteorology, photography, enjoying a good cigar with friends, and most of all being with my wife. (She did not force me to type that!) This is just a little blurb about me. There will be more to come I am sure.

I am hoping you'll find my blog to be informational, entertaining, and culturally profitable.

Check back soon!

Derek