I don't get my picture taken too often, at least on my camera, but this time a daughter told me to give her my camera, to sit and smile.
Blessings abound.

blessed

Somedays the only thing one can say is "I am so blessed."

new sleeping bags

Our last tent camp trip proved one thing: we needed to upgrade some equipment.

Our sleeping bags were new over 30 years ago. They were a good brand when new and even now, there are no rips, no tears, the zippers work well, they just aren’t warm any more.

So I emailed our grandson David. David and his wife Mandy are avid outdoors people and live in North California. What would he suggest.

He wrote back that REI and North Face stores in his area both had yard sales frequently, where they sold returned merchandise, often at very good prices, and that they always had sleeping bags. He was going to go any way, and he would look to see what was available.

The sale was a week ago. REI had a pair of bags like I wanted, a long and a regular that should zip together, since they were the same series, but the colors were not even a close match, so he decided to see what was available at NorthFace.

He called back a few minutes later. They had a double bag (NorthFace Twin Peaks). Two people, one bag. Rated at 20 degrees. Retail $159. “How much?” “$50.” “Buy it.” “It’s yours.”

When we came home yesterday the box containing the bag was waiting. Very nice. It had been the display model in a store somewhere, the one that people looked at and handled to decide what they wanted to buy. A trip through the washing machine and it is ready to go.

More than that. David had sent a message: “Merry Christmas Grandpa.”

And it is only September.

Thanks David, thanks Mandy. We will make good use of it, and if it wears as well as the other, I will be about 105 when it needs to be replaced!

Thanks again.

Granddaughter Emily told me what she wanted for Christmas from me.
"Grow your mustache back, Papa."
Hmm

home again

We are back home.


The month’s travel budget is happily spent! A weekend alone is a good time to do serious thinking, but a weekend with close family is a great time to visit.

Grandkids grow up very fast.

We camped in the same place we have for the last couple of years. It is nicely primitive and quiet. We had good food and a great time.

And, yesterday, we put in a new bathroom floor, and a new toilet in Daughter's house. My helper was our youngest granddaughter, Amy, who was a very good helper.

But now we are home again.

It is good.

We will be off line for the next few days.
Camping with Daughter 2 and her family.
Back Monday or Tuesday or Thursday!

As part of my pledge to be a part time fanatic, I would like to build this boat and do a bit of rowing around our lake.
And I stole this picture from the guys to sell the plans: http://www.gaboats.com/boats/westportdinghy8.html

favorite quote.

“Do not burn yourself out. Be as I am, -- a reluctant enthusiast, a part-time crusader, a half hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourself for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the West. It is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still there. So, get out there and hut and fish and mess around with your friends, explore the forests, encounter the griz, climb the mountains, run the ribers. Sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the loverly mysterious awesome space.” Edward Abbey.

I particularly like the line: ". . .a half hearted fanatic."

That is my goal. Be a fanatic, but half heartedly so!

When it was built in 1911 this was the highest dam in the world.
Arrowrock Dam, Idaho.

My stoves, or part of my collection.
The top one is the venerable Optimus 8r. Once upon a time mine looked as good as that!
And I swiped all three pictures from Google Images.

stoves

I own several camping stoves.

Some I bought for parts, a couple I bought new. I have 3 that I use and a 4th that is operable.

Back packers are always on the alert for simpler, lighter equipment, so they upgrade as often as the technology improves.

Car campers, on the other hand, are different, way different.

The main stove I use when we camp from the teardrop is a two burner Coleman that was made right after World War II. It was like new when I bought it a few years ago, and works very well. It is two burner, but I don’t remember when I used the 2nd burner.

Usually I take along a contemporary Coleman single burner stove. When I car camp that little one is the only one I take along.

They all work fine, and when I do grape juice I set up three of them in the backyard and we make a lot of hot.

But this morning I was thinking about my first back pack stove, which I still have. It is an Optimus 8r. The technology is as old as gas blow torches. You fill a little pan with gasoline, it flares up and heats the “carburetor” which vaporizes the gas and it burns.

It works well. It is not quiet, and parts are still available. Not a few back packers prefer these old ladies to the new fancy ones, the old ones are so reliable. Mine sure does not look new, it has cooked for 5 or 6 people a lot of times and it shows it.

I noticed some 8r stoves for sale and the price was 2 or 3 times what they sold for new.

To paraphrase the famous general: “old stoves don’t die. . . they just keep on going.”