Endless miles

Lately I have been successful at getting back into shape and living healthy. I been walking the cross country track at the university at least once a week the distance is around three miles depending on the path you follow. Also been walking the small track located near work every morning after I get off of work, some mornings I even have coworkers accompany me. We usually do two or three laps not knowing to the actual distance of each lap. One coworker paced it out and said each lap was roughly 1800 feet. I have also just started going to the local state park and will try to do all three traipsing adds up to doing 3.25 miles.

With company I can tolerate doing the small treks to nowhere. Even when I'm alone as long as I have my earphones I can complete my task of walking the same path over and over again. I haven't worked up enough strength or endurance in my legs to starting running or even jogging, although I can do short distances. I have considered buying a bicycle just to another means of exercising. But I think I will grow bored with it, there are no places to enjoy riding a bicycle in my area other than along side of the road.

Small update on the vitamins I have been taking. The hydroxycut sx-7 has been returned to GNC after only three days of use. No problems with them other than the severe heartburn I will get even on a full stomach and horrible aftertaste from burps that taste like mustard.

The loss of a favorite hat

I recently lost one of my favorite ball cap to a Pizza Hut booth. It was a black and grey cloth mesh back with "Hooters" written in old English script across the front. Me and a friend went out to eat at Pizza Hut, we were both burned out on most other places due to daily routines with work. We sit down and ordered our pizza, once it arrived he bowed his head to say grace, I removed my hat to give both him and the Lord respect and placed it in my seat next to me. We are our dinner and got up to leave. I paid for dinner and we both left the restaurant. I had abandoned my hat, left it sitting there in the seat alone. I did not notice I was without my hat due to the fact I had grown out of the habit of wearing one during the summer. I had grown intolerable of wearing a hat because of how hot my head feels while wearing one. I finally noticed I was hatless a couple hours later while riding around with my friend. We returned to Pizza Hut to rescue my hat but discovered it had apparently found a new owner. The hat was missing from the booth and none of the employees seen it. So safe travels my old friend may you shade the sun from your new owners eyes and protect them from the weather.

Enjoying the cooler weather

Past few days we have been experiencing cooler than normal weather, it also brought rain. Saturday except for the overcast it was a very pleasant day, it was in the mid 70's, perfect to be outside. I took advantage of the fall like weather and went to the local state park.

Logoly state park is one of those parks you don't hear about, mainly due to its small size and not much is there to attract people to come to it. It has three trails that add up to a distance of no more than 3.25 miles. It's main purpose is a education park teaching young people the various animals that live in the forest. I remember going to the park for field trips many times as a young student.

I took my day pack and went roaming the trails. Watched a duck swim around in the pond for awhile. There are a couple of geocaches out there, I failed at finding one and ran out of time to search for the other. I think I'm out of practice due to my summer hiatus from geocaching. There was also a birthday party going on near the visitor center and they were getting quite loud for such a little park.

Robin Williams

Growing up like most kids my age I watched Nick at Nite and saw reruns of Mork and Mindy, Happy Days, grew up watching movies like Aladdin, Good Will Hunting, Jack, Good Morning Vietnam. I grew up watching Robin Williams, I laughed at his jokes and will surely miss him now that he is gone. The cause of his death doesn't matter to me, a great man is now gone and can never be replaced. Robin Williams was truly one of a kind.

 

Robin Williams

1951 - 2014

13 years ago

Today marks the 13th anniversary of the attacks on US soil; the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and to flight 93. For most Americans today history has faded to nothing more for just another day, oblivious to all the lives we lost to acts of terror on our own soil. For others the pain is still felt as strong as it did 13 years ago. 13 years ago the world stood still and watched the horrific scenes play out on our TVs, our sense of security was lost.

Modification made to knife sheath

Last year I purchased a Bark River Bushcrafter off of eBay. Great knife, it has been out with me on a lot of day trips. Only complaint I have is the sheath that came with it. The sheath was made by Sharpshooter, which the sheath itself is a great quality sheath, but it's useless when paired with a hip belt on a backpack. The belt loop makes the knife ride high and interferes with the hip belt. Knowing that I wanted to carry the Bushcrafter with me on my overnight camping trips I started looking into what others have done.

Most obvious option was to add a dangler belt loop to the sheath so the knife would ride below the hip belt. So I dug out my leather tools and scraps of leather and started laying out a design to modify the sheath. I had some stainless steel rings I picked up at a feed store, had to cut the weld open to get it on the current belt loop on the sheath, now wishing I just cut the stitching and redo it. Took a strip of 8oz leather and measured for the width of the belt I usually use and for the loop for the ring. Dressed the leather while it was flat, leaving a few spots bare where the contact cement would be applied. Looped the leather around the ring and glued everything together, finished by stitching the three layers together. After I was happy with the fit I glued down the old belt loop and stitched it down. The new belt loop and whole sheath was waxed which darkened the leather and blended the color difference.

Pictured before reinforcing stitching was made on old belt loop.

Pictured with the other tools I usually bring with me.

Single use antibiotic ointment packet

There is a lot of great information out on the internet, most is hard to find due to the amount of useless crap cluttering the search results. One small idea was learned from reading a blog by Brian Green, he is a avid backpacker and has done some really great gear reviews. I would like share a great idea he posted, a single use antibiotic packet.

I have a first aid kit in my pack that had a couple of antibiotic ointment packets, they are fairly large with way more ointment then one would use in a single cut or blister. I hate to be wasteful and decided to look for a better option. Using a drinking straw you can make a very small packet of antibiotic ointment. For instructions on making these check out his blog. I have made about seven from one straw and have them in a small plastic bag in case one does burst by accident.