This weekends camping with the family.

Diomedes Industries

Diomedes Industries

Joined
Mar 19, 2007
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The family and I went camping this weekend in North East Texas (Martin Dies Jr. State Park). The weather was supposed to be about 30% chance of rain - that turned into a DELUGE starting at about 7pm the night we got there and continuing all night - until about 5pm. Accu-weather should change their name to Guess-your-weather.

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Anyway - we had a great campsite and a good time. The kids were happy, and the fire was warm. A day or so before we left - I sewed up some new Bandanna's for myself. Regular bandanna's fit - but I have a fairly large melon and they don't fit well. In addition, most aren't very thick cotton. I bought a few yards of Bandanna looking fabric and put my VERY limited sewing skills to work. Every 24 x 24 inch piece I cut left a piece for the kids to use. So I made them some too. I think they turned out cool!

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We mostly hung out - improved the site (the state park was hit HARD by Hurricane Ike - so I cleared some brush from my site and piled it around the camp fire area. The kids played ball with my wife and I:

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The dog sat and looked miserable in the rain and then when the sun came out - laid in the rays:

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I took some time to practice some skills. I made fire with only one match (making sure to practice proper fire building skills) and taught my wife proper fire building skills as well. After this - I made a split stick deadfall out of a chunk of oak with a pine trigger stick. I used my Fiskar's hand axe to section and split the wood (also used for the fires above), a SAK farmer for the sawing portions, and my Aurora for the rest. This went very well and I would say that I have this trap mostly figured out. It sets quickly and safely - and I could use the oak portions indefinitely due to the robust wood. I used my Fiskars the most - but all three of these performed VERY well - I think this is a great trio to have.

The Aurora was fun. It is EASY to sharpen, and touch up, and worked wonders on the oak. I few seconds of touch up (it was still hair popping sharp) when I got home and it was wiping away hair again. I am liking the convex edge but a Scandi certainly has its place in my heart.

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As you can see - I quickly got some action around the trap - but it appears my quarry uses tools and figured out this trap pretty quickly! I think it does not help that I taught him how to set these off safely!

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Heck - the second one used a baseball bat!

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Continued.
 
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One of the coolest parts (heart warming) was when my 3 year old spent about 1/2 hour "building his own trap":

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He tells me how the animal 'crawls into the trap - and then the stick falls on him and squishes him!'. It is so funny and cool that he likes doing stuff that dad does.

Here was the Emergency kit I brought for this trip. It is not my complete bag but great for this trip:

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I am still in the process of building it - but it has first aid, water procurement and safety, fire building, some signaling components, extra batteries for my Fenix, some fishing line, and other bits.

Although this was totally a trunk camping experience, my oldest, Lambert, says he LOVES camping and he can't wait to go again. I want to really expose the family to camping early and make their first few experiences very positive ones. We bring lots of snacks and have lots of fun. I think the plan is working!

TF
 
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Very Cool! Great looking family! It's always good to see families outdoors together.
 
Excellent, looks like everyone had a blast. :cool::thumbup:

I have a few months to wait before I can take the kids out for any fun like that. :(

Thanks for sharing
Helle
 
Talfuchre said:
Mymind,

How are you feeling bro? Anything I can do to help? Is there anything you need?

TF
Click to expand...

Thanks for asking! I am alright today, just a little whiny on the inside.:o
No more tests or scopes until the 26th, but no more answers either.:rolleyes:

Dude, your kids are Awesome and look like they had a blast. I'm going to try to go out with my little man today now.:thumbup:
 
That pic of your son working on a trap is priceless :thumbup:

looks like a great time .... thanks for sharing
 
Hey! I just realized that the picture I staged with the trap - shows the split sticks backwards. If they are in the configuration seen above - it won't fall!

Sheesh!

TF
 
Hey tf,

Looks like you had a good time. A question, though, if you wear your handkerchief on your head, do you blow your nose in your hat? :confused:

Nice looking family, well most of it, anyway. :rolleyes:

Couple of things, if you're car camping, I would do away with the tent fly, and opt for a large tarp over the tent with room to spare. This does two things, first of all, it keeps the tent drier when the rain comes down at an angle and it also gives you dry space to get in and out of the tent. We like this so well that we also do this canoeing. There's enough room under the tarp, to sit in lawn chairs in front of the tent and still stay dry.

The second thing is that given your fondness for trap triggers (like me) a trap I would suggest you fool around with is the Promontory Peg. If you want more info, I'll send it to you. BTW, don't believe everything you read about it.

Doc
 
great fun times with your beautiful family :)


beautiful boston terrior :)

priceless :thumbup:
 
Doc,

Damn you - you just mention this stuff in passing - and then I go off and spend dozens of weeks figuring it out!

I would LOVE to see more on the peg idea. I will contact you!

TF
 
fabulous pics Tal, I hope I will be as good of a Dad some day as you are!
 
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