Luckily this time I am not sick again. It is just going to get COLD over the next couple days. Tomorrow we are supposed to see highs in the high 50s! Over the weekend it gets a little better...we should see mid 60s into low 70s. We should also see a few rain showers through Saturday. Sunday looks to turn out okay with highs in the 70s and no rain...yet.
Every once in a while I sit down and think about where I should take the blog. It is during those times that I realize that I REALLY neglect the actual content that I promised from day one. Survival, Outdoors, and Other Essentials. In that title I mean encompass not only those...but everything that I find of interest under each of those subjects, and hopefully catch on some bits that other people will enjoy as well.
I looked at my tracking stats today. There are a number of topics that bring people in to read. By far numero uno is my article on using potassium permanganate and glycerin to make fire in a survival situation. It really amazes me that so many people are interested in that! I have to admit...it is a really cool way to make fire. The others are not as popular...but people come to my site for the Ruger P345 article, articles on my 09 Ski-Doo MXZ Renegade and Northern Michigan. Some seasonal articles that I wrote, which I admit were not of high quality, brought it people looking for information on wild leeks and morel mushrooms. Finally, and this is kind of wierd, but people are searching directly for my name. I did not know I was that popular! :P In the past some of my top searches were from knife making, North Country Trail, and survival in general.
I always get down on myself for not keeping the blog on topic. However, I realized by looking at my stats today, that I really have done a 85% good job keeping on topic. When I do not have anything to write about...I usually keep it short or do not write anything at all. When there is something I feel like I need to talk about I will write about it...but most of the time I just keep my mouth shut. ;)
Anyway, with all of that, I want to thank everyone that visits the blog. I do not get an incredible numbers of hits...so I do thank all of you that take the time to glance through what I have written. I will continue to write and hope to get a bit more on topic.
I decided at the beginning of this week that some changes in my life were needed. Through the last two years I have put on a decent amount of weight. It has not kept me from doing anything by any means...but it has made it a bit harder to get out and have energy. That also comes from stress, sitting at a desk all day, and having just a general disinterest in everything. No, I am not quitting my job, but I am going to get out and do what I can to take the weight off so I can enjoy the outdoors again. I get winded just walking up the road! So I am going to walking and getting out as much as I can. While I am doing this...I hope to bring pictures and stuff to talk about back to the blog. I was thinking of featuring some sort of gear on the outings...possibly shooting some video of a survival technique or just an outdoor technique in general. This should get me started back on the right track with the blog and possibly inspire me to hurry up and get www.outdoorsmi.com up and running.
Okay, now that I have all of that out of my system, big news for Emmet County. On August 13th the county will meet to discuss allowing ORVs on the shoulders of county roads. That would not mean MUCH out this way I suppose...everyone already rides out here...but it would mean that we could do it legally. It would also mean that I could drive my four wheeler right to the gas station! How great would that be? The limitations are fairly great though. The townships in which the county roads lie can determine whether or not the roads are ORV friendly. State and US highways are exempt...so I could not ride my four wheeler to work. :P Forest roads and forest trails are off limits. No complaints I guess. The only thing I would change...not even change but plan for...would be a designated area for ORV use on state land. Cheboygan county has their Black Mountain Recreation Area. Why does Emmet county not have something like that? Maybe this will be something for the state and county to look into in the future.
Well, this is a long post compared to most that I have written in the last couple months. I feel better about how things are going to go...and certainly about getting outdoors more.
Goodnight from Northern Michigan!
-Derek
