Ever get the feeling ya being watched ?

[pitdog]

As the sun was shining bright I decided to head to the beach and try and get a fire going using the magnifying lens on my SAK.
I used some char cloth and some cotton ball.....

I eventually added some fatwood slivers, man this is a tedious way of starting a fire !!! I eventually manged to get a hot glowing smoking tinder ball which I guess would have started a fire had I placed it into a decent tinder bundle but I was expecting it to burst into flame which it never did !!!!
I'd hate to have to rely on this method.

Snicker watched my crazy antics:

Ever get the feeling ya being watched ? Well if Snicker didn't then she should have because there was a large eagle with it's eye on her very close by:

With her big sister ever by her side the eagle thought better of it and took flight:

Found some clams on the beach, these would make quite the meal for a hungry survivalist eh:

There were lots of clam ' shows ' on the beach:

A little off topic but after leaving the beach I called in at a local hardware store and they had some Coldsteel Pocket Bushman folders. Holy what a beast of a knife they are, if anyone has been toying with getting one then do it, ya won't be dissapointed these are a tank of a knife and the closing mechanism which seems to worry some people is simple to operate. I can't understand why some people struggle ?

 

[carspidey]

really nice place where you are... and nice dogs...

 

[Rick Marchand]

A lens' main focus (ha, I kill me) is to create an ember. Sometimes you can get something to flame but things have to be just right. A lens and some punkwood are all you need to get a flame going. If the Sun is out they are a very dependable tool.


Rick

 

[390beretta]

Nice photos! I'm responding to your comment about ever feel that you've been watched. Some years ago, I and two friends, one a chief probation officer for Coconino Co. and another friend who was a restaurant owner in Flagstaff, were hunting quail in the valley. On our way back up to Flag., we decided to stop near "Dry Beaver Creek" in the Verde Valley for one more walk around to see if we could find some more birds; this was perhaps 45 minutes before dusk. Now the history: This particular area had been in the old days, a stage route and there had been a particularly gruesome massacre of a stage/occupants by the Apache. To continue: The three of us, after parking the vehicle, decided to go off in different directions and meet back at the vehicle in 45 minutes. To make a long story a bit shorter; after 15 minutes or so, my dog, Huckleberry and I had seen no quail. In addition, I noticed that it was "unusually" quiet...no birds/songs and seemingly nothing moving. Now, the "kicker" for me was that I felt that something/someone was "watching" me. The hairs went up on the back of my neck. Bottom line is that I called Huck to heel and decided to head back to the vehicle a bit early. About a hundred yards from the truck, I see my two companions coming in also (remember, this is AZ Sonoran desert and you can see a ways). We converged at the vehicle and we had all had the same experience, and all decided "what the hell, we shouldn't be here and might as well head home" All three of us had noticed the silence/absence of normal activity and felt that we were being watched. Not sure what to make of all this but believe there was something happening there that we were somehow intruding on. Now, I won't conclude this experience by telling you all that it was the anniversary of the massacre, because it wasn't. But, it was within 2 days of that event according to the memorial marker along the access road. Sooo, I know what its like to be "watched".

 

[remmmm]

Glad to hear Snicker didn't end up being dinner. I've got a flame with a 2-3" lense and a Kleenex, not sure what the magnification was, but it was a cheapy. Those lenses on SAK's are much smaller though, I'm impressed it did as good as it did.

 

[kgd]

Hey Pitdog, sounds like you gotta play with tinderbaskets and blowing embers into flame a bit more. It is super reliable, but you need to give it lots of oxygen and have the right tinder to nurse it. Cotton, while great for firesteels, is not very good tinder for embers. Next time, try rolling up some cedar bark between your palms into a nice dry fibrous mass. Stuff your charcloth in there, fold over and blow it into flames.

 

[sodak]

Good thing that you and Maisy were there. My sister's whippet was attacked by an eagle, and the puncture wounds from the talons weren't pretty...