19 Comments

a few comments from decades of experience building and living in the woods:

Always make sure your saw blades are chamfered or you'll be swearing to the skies as the blade jams over and over.

To split wood, get a real splitting maul, not just an axe. An axe will often jam whereas the maul's more heart-shaped profile will blast through and actually split it - plus has more weight to help you out.

Matches backup for sure but for super convenience, get a micro butane torch and a small bottle of butane that will last forever with this torch, often 1/2 price at Princess:

https://www.princessauto.com/en/micro-butane-torch/product/PA0000141010.

Also, a super convenience to cold start a fire are the parafin and sawdust firestarters from Dollarama. $1.25 for a package that will last to start fires for many weeks...you'll see the benefit when you use them, especially using the torch noted above to ignite them: https://forums.redflagdeals.com/dollarama-firestarter-1-25-2547937/#&gid=1&pid=1

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These are all excellent additions to the list, and great advice. Thanks, Larry! People, what he says....

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Yay, so good to hear your chemo update. And I love your shoreline pix. And the frozen brook. Keep on keepin' on! :)

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Thank you, Mary. The brook is right behind our home. That's where we draw the water from. It goes through an UV filter, and a couple of other filters and becomes our drinking water, etc. Thanks for reading!

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All great tools to have! I'd add merino wool everything. Your beach looks like a gorgeous, restorative place. Thanks for the peek and, great news about having your arm strength back!

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Yes, a lot of the technical clothing can be a big help too. I've kind of gotten out of the habit of dressing in it as much since I haven't been running for about eight months, but I used to wear a lot of tech clothing as well for wicking away moisture, etc. That's one of about six nearby beaches to us.

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John used to run a lot. He did the Hood to Coast marathon for 16 years and every year he received a team shirt made of wicking material. These t-shirts were usually very bright, for safety - yellow, orange, etc. Last summer he was wearing a bright orange one while staining the barn and he kept getting stung by bees. Finally figured out the bees were attracted to the shirt! That thing went in the trash immediately! :-)

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More likely were wasps but if were bees, then he was likely too close to their home and they are defensive in that situation. They do not go out of their way to sting people, just to defend themselves or their colony. Signed, long time beekeeper with 200 colonies at one time. Also, the colour likely did not matter, more the odour. Bees actually respond and attack more to black and other dark colours.

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Larry, remember the wasp's nest on CTO, and how it became one of the routine obstacles? That's was wacky.

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Oh....chemo brain....funny that I was just watching a movie called The Judge...with that subject matter.

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Interesting. I'll have to look that up.

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YES. All the warm days, and lack of snow is unsettling.

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Those tool tips are excellent. Thanx for assuring me that even tho I have alot of tools, I am correct in thinking I need more. LOL

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One can never have enough tools.

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My best tool is a lobster pick. LOL.

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Ha, ha! That's funny. Today's last day of the Lobster Crawl. I imagine the pick could find a lot of work today.

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I'm so happy that this treatment is working for you!

Thanks for letting us know about the generator. Our solar panels--on our roof, and not at the best position for that reason--generate no power during the winter. We end up buying from SaskPower in the winter and selling back in the summer, and over the course of the entire year, we generate as much as we need. It just doesn't come at a steady rate.

How far is the ocean from your place? How often do you go there?

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Thank you, Ken. It's a relief, that's for sure. I feel like I'm recovering my life. A lot depends on how much storage your batteries can take as well. Ours can store two days' worth of power. After that, if we don't get a strong sunny day and we've had a string of short, cloudy ones, we can find ourselves losing power. It takes about five hours for the generator to power our batteries up to full again. In terms of the ocean, we're about 20 minutes away with some six beaches or so in the immediate area, which is nice for variety. In the summer I probably visit four times a week; in the winter once or twice. It's lovely and restorative to walk along the water.

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Take good care of yourself, Charles.

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