Gun Safe In Every Home

 

I saw this photo posted on my Facebook. I thought it was really cool....ahh, awesome.

 

Who hasn't had a frig go bad? These heavy duty monsters are hard to get rid of. Why put it in the landfill.

 

Put it to good use, a fantastic storage unit. This dude is ready for serious work!

Outfitted Igloo at Man Camp

 

On down time we cooks up here at Man Camp experiment with survival skills. Chef Bob built this igloo over the course of three days. In order to keep the ceiling/roof solid, he laid thick branches on the six foot walls, then piled snow on top. The snow is not of packable quality so he used a rectangular bucket to shape the blocks from surrounding snow.

 

Bob then experimented with various stoves, eventually making one of a number ten food can, using a second one to insulate it. The stove pipe here he found somewhere, capped it to prevent all the heat from rushing up the chimney.

 

As you can see in the video, he set the stove on a cinder block which has the double purpose of holding firewood. Not sure about that idea. I think I'd keep my wood near the wall.

 

Anyways, he'll be testing it by sleeping in it one night. I gave him a thermometer to take readings.

Home Made Power Bar Recipe

 

I baked these at the Man Camp. Power Bars for Expeditions. I used a 10 x 15 inch sheet pan and cut them into 3.5 inch by five inches long for a total of 15 bars. Wrap in plastic, freeze until you need them.

 

1 cup brown sugar, packed tight

3/4 cup canola oil

2 cups raw oats

3 eggs

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup raisins

1 cup coconut

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

 

Mix together in order given. Press into a lightly greased sheet pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 17 minutes. They should be soft. Turn off the oven and make frosting by:

 

Immediately pour 4 cups of  chocolate chips on top of bars. Drop six tablespoons of peanut butter onto chocolate chips. Return to oven for a few minutes until chocolate chips are soft.

 

Remove from oven, spread chips and peanut butter to form an even frosting. Let set until firm. Cut and wrap.

 

 

 

Shoveling Snow off the Man Camp

 

I posted another short clip on  Facebook, I couldn't help myself. In it I showed the snow,  and I said, "Shoveling snow off the Man Camp roofs is like changing a baby's diaper. You know you gotta do it now, and you're going have to do it again."

 

Merry Christmas.

Red Fox Freed At Man Camp

Today we had quite a rare fox encounter. I filmed it while some of the guys freed it, having to cut away the spindle the little guy stuck his nose into.

Happy ending. The fox is uninjured and doing well, running around like usual.

Close Bison Encounter

 

I pretty much tell exactly what happened on my skiing adventure. I wanted a photo of this bison that came bursting out of the woods about a tenth of a mile away. At first, I thought it was a big griz, my heart was pounding like crazy. Then, the creature shook his black scraggy head, and I saw the horns, knew it was a bison, about 3 years old. Not your monster bison, granddaddy, but an upstart.

 

I reached for the zipper on my side pocket, began to open it for a photo shoot. He was pissed, paced back and forth, then suddenly started running towards me, not a charge, a fast trot. I called out to him, Hey, I'm not a bear! He kept coming. This summer I watched a bison take on a full size griz. The griz ran. I should too, I decided, and skied down a shallow embankment, through deep snow, until I stood just inside the forest behind a tree. I stood very still, didn't say another word. The bison stopped.

 

He looked around, headed to the right hand side of the road, stopping just inside the cover of the trees. I waited, wanted to actually ski farther, down to Pelican Valley.

 

After some reconsideration, I headed the opposite direction, every once in awhile pausing to glance behind me, make sure the guy wasn't right on my trail.

After all, I'll live to ski another day. I am the female survivalist!

Promise Fullfilled-the Seasonal Killer

I promised to let you know when I finished writing this Thriller, called, Primal Cut.

After writing this story, a novel of nearly 50,000 words, I realized it really wasn't over. Without giving too much away, let's just say our detectives, Avery and Jenison soon find out our heroine is not dead. Along with the Ghost, Caretaker John Deerfield of the Historic Hotel in Yellowstone, they follow her to Utah where she has taken on a new identity and seasonal job in Zion, but that's in the next book.

Primal Cut , available now for Kindles or Computer download, is the first in a new series called the Seasonal Killer Series.

For those of you who would like to do seasonal work, or read about the fantastic locations where seasonal workers ply their trades, these novels will be spot on. I'm using the locations I've worked at myself for my literary endeavors. Nearly all the rest is my imagination, the character's names have been changed to protect the guilty.

Making Wine With Apple Trash

Up here at Location, in Yellowstone National Park, I'm learning alot of things.

Some key thoughts:
you  have to be flexible. Now that we're snowed in and food arrives via snowcoach, how long something is going to last, otherwise known as "shelf life" is critical.

If the lettuce freezes its junk. You can throw it in stock, but, not so great on tacos.
Ok, so fresh fruit and fresh vegetables are at a premium. We don't waste anything. You would think we had starving kids in Africa on Location.

So, we're getting in a lot of back up supplies, like frozen, dried and canned.

The apples? Love them. We peeled them and made apple crisp, by design, from fresh apples. The chef told me they would actually ferment, providing a natural yeast product if left in a warm spot. I didn't hardly believe it, considering how long they've been in storage since harvest.

I remembered apple mash, the trash left over from making apple cider at Bethke's Orchard, discarded into a near by field. It was during the heat of fall, and eventually one day the farmer called, said, Don't Do That Anymore, the cows are getting drunk. Turns out, the mash, apple trash, had fermented into a lovely intoxicating mess.

Well, we here at location have discovered that left in water, the apple trash will ferment. The peelings must be submerged, held down with a lid or plate or else they will mold. Not good for beverages.

In a survival situation, this knowlege could provide fermentation for breads and drinks.

I'm loving it up here at Yellowstone Lake Man Camp.

GMail Free Phone Calls at Yellowstone

Up here at Lake Yellowstone we have a lot of snow. Its beautiful. Yesterday we were out of power. Many times the only phone access is via landline, one phone in a dorm, or as I recently was turned on to, Google!

If you have a gmail account, you'll find a little phone icon. Click on that icon, dial up the person you want to talk to, and go for it. Its free, totally wifi supported, and I can talk and hear the person so well, you'd think you were sitting in the same room.

Its come a long way from phone chat I remember years ago. We have good wifi up here when there is power and I have tested this application for business calls as well as personal. Your call history is recorded, so next time you want to call the same number, you pull up the history and click on it.

Thanks Google!

Winter Survival Shelter In Minutes

This new video I posted on YouTube is a little shaky at times, sort of like the Blair Witch Project movie. I bring my camera when possible when I'm outside.

This short spontaneous clip is the result of  my serious contemplation of the snow cave, snow fort or snow shelter. I've tried making snow shelters by chopping blocks. I usually end up tired, wet and dissatisfied with the results.

By using natural surroundings like dead falls and live pines, a person can create a shelter in minutes and not waste valuable time and calories. The only tools I had was my hands, If I had a knife, a saw or plastic sheeting or a small tarp, the shelter could be improved with spruce boughs and dry seating.

Of course, being in a national park, the forest service frowns on cutting of live vegetation. In a true survival situation I would do what ever was necessary to survive. Today, that wasn't a problem.

Within an hour of playing with this concept, I was back in my room, took a hot shower, turned on my laptop to write.