What a long strange trip its been,,,,

Home from the J.O.B. yesterday, spent it working on Brudda B’s Selkie, putting in that floorboard, or at least getting the boards in place so I can lay some glass over them. Thats taking a wee bit since they are getting fitted between ribs to lay flat. Want a nice smooth surface to keep shoes on feets in the event of a wet exit.

I did some walkin’ in the woods with an aging mutt, THE Voodoo, cracked-glass eyed mutt from Texas. Poor dawggum can’t hear a lick these days, but his eyes are just as sharp as ever. Unless he is distracted, I found. He was busy gnawing back some fresh greenery and I spooked a rabbit; said runny-babbit ran within 2 feet of Dawgum and ,,, NUTHIN’. no jump at the fuzzy, nothing,,, just chew chew chew,,,, LOL. Maybe he did see it and figured, ‘ain’t no way I’m gonna catch THAT!” ; he is an OLD dawg after all(13 years!!!). Dunno.

And I did some ‘walking back in time’ while out in those woods. Y’all have read my posts on growin’ up, but I didn’t mention that I had pulled out my Da’s ol’ Bear Recurve, one of the original Grizzly models. Even has the funky green glass they used and the original copper bear penny in the wood riser. Only 40# pull, but thats plenty for that type of bow. It’s not like I intend on hunting buffalo with the thing. Walking with Voo in the woods, had a couple of field tips with me, and was shooting stumps. First couple of shots, rusty as hell. But I was back in the groove pretty quickly. Found I can still hit a pie plate sized target at 60yds. Not bad for a bow with no sights, and an ‘old dude’ that needs readers to read a book. Voo remembered it as well: as soon as I raised that bow to make the first shot, he was all excited about chasing after whatever I shot. He does the same thing when I am shooting rifles. All “Hell yeah! Lets kill sumpin!!!” Da’s bow is one of those heirlooms that will probably follow me through hell and high waters, until I get like him, and just not able to handle it. Then it will find home with someone highly appreciative, not necessarily family. The bow is made to last generations, and is so simple in function, it would take serious abuse to ruin it. (Like leaving it improperly strung for years,,,, SERIOUS abuse,,,). I do love that old bow, and Da knew it when he passed it on to me.

I would love to get a Hungarian Horse bow. Shorter length with even more snap due to the Saiya’s. I made a couple of PVC versions years back (documented on earlier blog) and had a blast with them, but they weren’t made for longevity. PVC doesn’t age well. The biggest thing about that project was learning how to ‘make do’ using materials out of the box. Learned a lot, not just about ‘making do’ but making bows in particular and how to squeeze every ounce of energy out of them. How to tune the arrows to match the bow, and more importantly, HOW TO SHOOT INTUITIVELY. Not a lost skill; many others are right there too. BUT, it’s not a common skill anymore. Far too many archers using modern compounds with sights and telescopic ones at that, with high tech arrows and mechanical releases. (I still own my TRUball BT gold 4 release from when I was playing with compounds,,, Its great release.). I do appreciate the technology improvements, I just feel more in-tune ‘throwing sticks’ with minimal fuss and equipment.

But I have been doing that whole ‘Where have I been, what have I learned’ thing this week, and Dunno how it came to be. Not perturbed by it; I think I needed it to be honest. May be that it was something I am in need of in Grounding and Centering my spirit in these turbulent times: sorta kinda like reminding myself that I DO have the skills to make my way when things go all teats up. Skills enough to support others if need be, especially if they are willing to learn,,, I won’t say that I am “Tom Brown Jr” levels of survival skills, but I wouldn’t be in danger if I only had a knife and the clothes on my back. And I do keep an old M65 field jacket with couple of pockets filled with simple survival tools; things like a Lifestraw, Morakniv, spare bowstring, and some fishhooks. Little shit that might be the difference between “well that sucked’ or “this is gonna hurt, A LOT’. (Why a spare bow string? Because I can come up with a bow from just about anything, but that string can be the linchpin to success. AND, its an 11 strand continuous wrap string that I made using 75# test braided fishing line(spyderwire brand). There is 44′ of fishing line in there, if thats what is needed over a bow; whether it be fishing or trapping.)(yes, if you haven’t read my old blog, I do know how to make bowstrings, and not just the Flemish twist types.)

It’s been one hell of a trip, these last 50 some odd years. Things I picked up along the way, skills that are cross compatible and lucrative (potentially) but seemingly trivial in modern life. I occasionally preach about picking up skills and PRACTICING THEM whenever able. And I guess that was one of the things I was doing while out walking Voo,,,, putting my words into practice. Survival is actually easy, so long as you know some basic things. Fact is, we have EXACTLY the same resources today that Mungo the Cro-magnon had back before Capitol H history began. (lower case history is what they dig out of the ground, Capitol H history is what was recorded for posterity.). We just have to realize the details of those resources.
And the biggest detail is that animals make grass and other inedible (to us) things taste good!!! Ya just need to know how to get that animal into your hands to make it work. And how to make a fire even when the weather (especially when) is against you. How to make a shelter that keeps you warm even when the fires die. how to get water that is safe to drink (because the modern waters are full of bugs that can make you violently ill, even when they look and smell perfectly clean,,,) Sounds complicated, it ain’t, not really,,,, The biggest difference between us and Mungo: we know WHY clean water and such are important, no myths or horror-show guesses.

sigh,,,, So much stuff crammed into this wee cranium,,, I surprise myself somedays with the shit I can recall, and Dog only knows what there is in the back channels that I haven’t recalled,,,,It’ll come out with need, I am sure: thats how I am always getting surprised.
——————————————————————————————
It’s Satyrday, kayak-y day and I am headed out soon. One thing I must do before I get rolling and that’s to put Buffalo’s summer shoes back on her. The winter ones are pretty much shot through, (one has a busted belt, making her ‘wobble’. One of the joys of living on a drive that a rutted mess. ) and need replaced. It’s nice having spare rims for easy swaps like this. And I can take her winter shoes to have new put on, and NOT need to leave her at that shop all day.
But, I am going to get WATER TIME in, finally. Looked on my tracking app and the last time I was on water was Feb3 of this year. TOO LONG,,,, granted, fighting the Crud held me back, but that doesn’t appease the spirit of the wild in me,,,,

more laters