Ikea wishlist items:
1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7
(notice how these are all sort of outdoor items — probably a direct
result of spending seven hours on my deck the day before) Continue Reading
Every good survival story starts with locking yourself outside on your own deck. Which is what happened to me yesterday when I went outside to set up and photograph some product shots. Without thinking, I set up my shot, grabbed my camera, and then shut the sliding door behind me without realizing it had clicked shut…and locked.
I think I went through the full range of emotions from saying f@&! about a million times. Then denial (there’s NO WAY that’s locked), to rage (THIS STUPID DOOR BETTER OPEN!) to whimpering, to finally acceptance (crap, I’m really going to be stuck on this deck for hours).
Hours 1-3 were spent considering my options. First I tried to pick the lock with a bobby pin I had, you know, like on tv. Because obviously tv shows everything accurately. I have an understanding of locks and theoretically understand how to pick them, but in practice, not so much. After that failed, I tried to lure my kitties to the door thinking that either a)they could somehow call for help or b)I could quickly train them to open the door for me. Obviously neither worked.
Our other boy, Max, has always been the smart one — the kind of kitty that you look at and know that he is really an old spirit trapped in a fuzzy kitty body. He started doing “dog-like” things on his own when he was very young: playing fetch, jumping up in the air to catch items I threw, retrieving mail. He can do a series of tricks: sit, stand, down, stay, and listens and responds very easily to commands. When I say hello to Max, he always responds with a meow.
Rufus is the opposite. To put it nicely, he’s our sweet and cuddly cat — the one that always wants to snuggle, the one that always needs and wants a hug, the softest little bunny bear marshmallow of a cat ever. Unlike his older brother, he has been impossible to train due to a massive case of ADD. He cannot focus on anything for very long unless it’s food, in which case he is so obsessed he can’t think of anything else.
BACKPACKING NATIONAL PARKS PACK LISTS Shenandoah VIRGINIA
What We Packed | Backpacking to Corbin Cabin
Posted on January 31, 2013
PACKING LIST: light my fire mess kits / first aid and cleaning supplies / target wine / north face waterproof shell / baggies / montrail hiking boots / buffs / SOG knife / alice pack (sly’s) / tp and cleanwell natural hand sanitizer / card games / clothing.
NOT SHOWN: lafuma ultralight sleeping bag / big agnes inflatable sleeping mat / eno double hammock / thermarest pillow / mammut head lamp with ambient light adapter / ultralight canister camp stove with fuel
These are the blueberry muffins referred to in my previous Corbin Cabin posts. When I first heard about this recipe, I thought that it was a joke. Cooking with rocks? It was too curious not to try. I took notes from various YouTube instructional videos, but realized in making the muffin-cake that I really didn’t need much instruction at all. The directions are nearly fool-proof: if you can add water to a mix and throw it in a container over some heat, then you’ll pretty much find yourself with a warm muffin cake.
Ingredients:
- 1 bag of pre-made muffin mix, the kind that says “just add water”
- Water
Equipment needed:
- 1 pot (any fire-proof container works)
- tin foil (fold some tinfoil and stash with your cooking things)
- rocks
- heat source (fire, camp stove, candle)
Directions:
– Add water to muffin mix according to directions. Stir.
– Place a layer of rocks at the bottom of the metal pot/cup
– Line the pot with tin foil, placing the foil on top of the rocks. Pinch the edges to create a little bowl.
– Pour in the muffin mixture and fold over the edges of the foil
– Cover and place over heat
– Cooking times vary depending on how hot the fire is and how big your container is. I poured the entire mix into the pot shown and cooked it over a medium high flame. It took approx 45 min to cook through (stick a toothpick or similar utensil in and make sure it comes out clean, not wet). If I had cooked the muffins in two batches or in smaller containers, it would probably have taken half as long. The muffins will cook, just be patient.
– As an alternate, these can be cooked in orange peels by mixing the muffin mix with water, filling a scooped out orange peel, wrapping in tin foil and placing on the fire.
The last photo doesn’t look too appetizing because it was pitch black when I took the photo, but trust me, the muffin thing was tasty.
The idea behind the rocks is that they distribute the heat so that the muffin cake doesn’t burn. I have no idea if this is just a gimmick or if it actually worked. I’m sure you could just put the mix in an empty can, cover it, and throw it on the fire and you’d get similar results. Evenso, having warm bread out in the “wilderness” felt like such a luxury that I’m sure we’ll be making this again, probably with our own home-made muffin mix.
more from this trip
BACKPACKING CABINS HIKING NATIONAL PARKS Shenandoah VIRGINIA
