How not to camp! We need a fire, campfire that is.

Wow! look at that fire. I could not believe that it was so big, the flames at least two feet high and it pouring down rain. What happened?  Six hours ago I could not even get a spark.--You know" it only takes a spark to get a fire going"-- where was the spark then? NOT in my love life, NOT in my flint and really NOT in the match I was trying to use,nor in the second match, third match, fourth match, you get the picture! As far as the fire was concerned there was no match--at least not made in heaven! and surely not on earth.  Kinda' hard to roast weenie dogs with out a fire.Eating a cold weenie dog is pretty much like getting a cold kiss--you ain't gonna' talk about it! You want chili and onions with that? no.  Did she slip you the tongue? Duh!

Earlier, back when the sun was shining bright and we had a-this is going to be fun attitude-darkness was far away. It had rained the night before so everything was a little bit damp, everything except our zeal! The boy and I picked the little twigs and the bigger twigs, then the smaller sticks and the bigger sticks, then the real big chunks of wood. A fire was what we needed and by George a fire was what we were fixin' to have! It was a teachable moment-How To Start A Fire With One Match-me the teacher, my boy the student.Does it get any more bonding then that? I would think not, even today years later I still think not! Teacher,oh so gently laid two sticks side by side and then allowed student to log cabin style place the little twigs on the sticks and then the bigger twigs. How do you define bonding? We be ah bonding! Teacher had brought paper with him just for this purpose, now was time to use it.Paper was slipped under the little twigs and the match was presented. The match was struck, it flared, it burned, it was put to paper, paper lit, paper burned, little twigs burned, bigger twigs burned,FIRE!!! Carefully we placed the smaller sticks on the fire, then the bigger sticks, slowly oh slowly a nice fire burned; success. Done-How to start a fire with one match.We carefully began to add the other chunks of wood to the fire.A nice bed of coals, but- why is but popping up? the chunks would not burn, the fire went out, we could not revive it, no flame, the warmth of the coals disappeared, no weenie roast.

We tried to restart the fun and the fire, did not happen. Used all the matches and collected more twigs-you  know what kind-collected more sticks-you're right, smaller and bigger- nothing worked. We ate cold uncooked hot dogs, it started raining, we crawled into the tent, tried to sleep, it was cold and wet! Bummer!  Then about two o'clock in the morning the fire flared up and burned it self out.  I'll never know why!!

Turtle

New knee joints-9-21-2010

Today is Nov.15,2010.  I just finished two hours of physical therapy in a warm pool of water. Both of my knee joints were replaced 9-21-2010. I am starting over! Recovery is going well, I will be hiking again soon.

       As I start hiking the easier short trails and working my way backup to backpacking trips I will be keeping a blog of my progress. Any one who is interested in tagging along, put on the hiking shoes and join me as I slowly get these knees in shape and return to the woods!

I now walk three laps around a track every other day and do the PT the other days. After Thanksgiving will increase to four laps which equals one mile! Now I am excited about that.

Nov.16  Walked my three laps today in the rain, just a light mist.  It always feels good to walk. Not to cold, good deep breaths of fresh air. Always good to be out doors.

Be back soon!

Turtle