No Bake Cookie Recipe

These chocolate drop cookies are fantastic. They're easy to make in fifteen minutes and nearly everyone loves them.

You don't even need a stove, just a big pot and enough heat to boil the sugar for one solid minute.
I  doubled this recipe and made them at the Man Camp. Next time I'll triple the recipe. A complete hit.

Measure into a sauce pan:

2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup butter or margarine
pinch of salt

melt this together, stirring frequently until it comes to a roiling boil. If you don't boil it hard and long enough, it won't set up. If you over boil it, the cookies will be dry and crumbly. I just watched the clock, timing one minute after the sauce was bubbling and couldn't be "stirred" down.

Bottom line, make sure it boils one full minute. Remove from heat and add:

1 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

when that is incorporated, stir in 3 cups of regular oatmeal. I used the old fashioned kind and it worked great.

Immediately drop by teaspoonfuls onto waxed paper, or a sheet pan lightly coated with pan spray.

This recipe will make about 24 cookies. You'll probably wish you made more.

I would consider this a "hobo" recipe cause if you had the ingredients, you could make it over a camp fire.

Freedom is Won, Not Given

Working up here at the Man Camp at Yellowstone Lake, in Yellowstone National Park, I turn on the Pandora Radio Station and listen to music in the kitchen while I cook.

Just before the men arrive for meal time, I switch from the Bob Marley or Shakira  Station to Simon and Garfunkle or Bob Seger Station. I call them my Man Camp Music. You type in an artist and Pandora adds music that is similar.

Twice now I've heard Blowing In the Wind, by Bob Dylan and twice the same thought comes to me. I finally had to write about it.  Check out the third and fourth lines......


How many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea?
Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head
Pretending he just doesn't see?

Read more: BOB DYLAN - BLOWING IN THE WIND LYRICS


Allowed to be free. That thought just sorta irritated me. When people are ready, they demand freedom. No one gives it to them. We could list many historical events proving this, from the story of Isreal escaping Egyptian enslavement, to modern  Iraq.

The Arab Spring is a prime example that freedom comes when the people demand it, armed revolution is the common path, not legislative votes and executive decrees.

China underwent the Communist Revoltion, fighting off a corrupt monachy.

Our founding fathers knew wed need the right to bear arms to keep this freedom.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution Follow this link to read more about our constitutional right to bear arms. In fact, the whole concept of a Militia is noted in the Bill of Rights:


As passed by the Congress:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

As ratified by the States and authenticated by Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State:

A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.^[8]

We fought the Revolutionary War and the Civil War in the name of freedom. Politics didn't do it, discussion didn't do it. It took blood.

Enslavement and freedom have existed throughout history. Type Declaration of Independence into the Wikipedia search engine and you can research all the places and times a people have risen up to declare themselves free. Armed struggled usually followed.

History proves that people must fight for their freedom. It is not a gift.  No one will allow you to be free. You have to want it, demand it, take it.

Windtalkers-Movie Review

Last night I watched Windtalkers on my computer via Netflix.

I used headphones and got so into the movie I didn't hear the guy knocking on my door until several attempts to roust me from my chair were made.

OK, so, here's the main thought. The Movie was fascinating, although I would have loved to hear more of the Navaho's language. It's beautiful. The sound and flow, the intonations and spiritual undertones were fantastic.

Nicolas Cage is listed as the main star. You gotta love just about every movie he does. Totally believable commitment to the character and story.

He is a solider, thrust into a command position when the commander is killed while deep in Jap territory. After refusing to retreat, Cage's men are all taken out, he survives, recoups in a hospital. Damaged? You bet, but he has to get back to the war. With the help of a nurse, he manages to pass the hearing tests and feign that his equilibrium is restored.

Because of his great valor, he is given the assignment to "babysit" or in war terms, Protect the Code, which is an adaptation of the Navajo language spoken by Navajo Soldiers. Its not about the protecting the Navajo lives, its about protecting the code. When Japs broke the Allied code previously, many marines were killed.

Ok, as the story progresses, we see the importance of this code. At on point US radio is destroyed. Cage and his charge manage to capture a Jap radio and call for air support. Another time, friendly fire is taking out marines and the Code Talker radios the correct enemy position.

This is a 2002 film. It is easy to follow, has many stars in it, is well filmed, gorgeous scenery and horrifically realistic battle scenes.
Racism is overcome, eventually, when the Code Talker goes rouge, proving his military worth as well as his communications skills.

In the end, we learn more about the Code Talker's family as they are reunited in the desert scene, looks like somewhere in Arizona or southern Utah.

This is a movie worth watching several times. I give it a five stars rating.

The Laptop-A Survivalist Guide to Connecting

I've met lots of folks along my journey who are just now finding out what a computer, more specifically, a laptop can mean for the minimalist.

I have Netflix now. For 7.95 a month, I can stream movies, comedies and documentaries. I can pause them, play a portion, back it up and see a favorite part again. I no longer have to carry DVDs around in my car, rent them, or put up with commercials on other free websites. They remember the types of things I like and offer suggestions, too.

I can call out from my gmail account, which is really good because you can talk for hours free and the save numbers in a history list, making redial simple. My Verizon cell phone doesn't work up here at Lake Yellowstone, but the WIFI has been boosted so that calling out doesn't cost a dime.

I have music on my hard drive, but I also use Pandora for listening pleasure. It has one commercial per hour or so, which is tolerable considering all the music available. I've heard artists I wasn't even aware of because they will add "similar" artists to your specified playlist.

I do online banking, can shop at various stores online, comparing prices, getting the best deals then have them ship whatever I order to this location. This saves gas and lots of agravation looking for something specific.

Of course there is e-mail for staying in touch with family and friends, sending them photos and videos, having a record of what you talked about.

You can apply for jobs online. Its amazing how many employers are going this route, rather than paper applications. Craigslist offers free ads for everything under the sun, including jobs. That's how I landed this great job at the Man Camp. I answered an online add on Craigslist, emailed my resume, then had a phone interview.

I love the researching capabilities for anything you can think of. Simply put what you're looking for, like "Snickerdoodle Recipe", "Free music" or "parts of a pistol" in the search engine and you'll have tons of information at your fingertips. It can take the place of dictionaries and libraries.

Speaking of books, you can download books at Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble.com for next to nothing. There is a free application that allows you to access thousands of e-books. You don't have to own a kindle or nook to buy these books.

I use my word program all the time. Right now I'm working hard on book four in The River Survival Series. This is a perfect way to write and produce all sorts of written material. You can write it in one format, easily reformat it to print in a full size page, with smaller font or margins. I printed my new horor story for the boss by first reformating it to an 8 x 11 inch page. It saved about 80 sheets of paper by doing this rather than printing it from the original document.

I know some people have tablets and I-phones, but I prefer the wide screen on this Toshiba for viewing and work space. If you can only afford one techincal piece, consider the laptop.

My Laptop is used for entertainment, education, work, staying in touch, shopping, and banking. It offers so many possibilities if there is WIFI that its nearly essential.

Hobo Water Bucket-Free Project

Water Bucket made with tyvek type fabric. Its interesting to play with something free because there's no fear in cutting away. Notice the slots impact where the level of the water can be, regardless of how strong the fabric is.

Hobo Grill

A friend posted this photo to my facebook page. I thought it looked pretty cool. The can would hold charcol briskets or a small wood fire, I think. Notice the small holes punched down in photo three. You do need air flow.

Now, a grill, some dogs and does any hobo have a bit of Katsup?

One thing to remember, those flanges from cutting the can down would be sharp. Some of us hobos don't have health insurance. Take care cutting metal. That could make a nasty cut.

Problem with Plagerism-Warning-Rant

I was researching some ultralight backpacking sites last night and came across one with misinformation and surprisingly, a strange quote attributed to me.

I soon found myself reading other paragraphs and wondering why this web person copied and pasted important portions of my writings on ultralight philosophy yet attributed them to another author or took credit themselves.

I know, this happens on the World Wide Web and there are no police monitoring intellectual theft. Its a lazy author who doesn't take time to properly credit another's work or plain out steals it.

I'm not naming names. Some friends tell me to just ignore the jerk, others say no publicity is worse than bad publicity. The last thing I want to do is send his hits through the roof as people go check out what I'm ranting about.

All I want to say is, if you didn't write it, find out who did and give them their by-line.

Come on dude, be honest with your readership.

I've been at this a long time. Back when I started long distance hiking, ultralight extremists were rare. We had Ray Jardine as the Godfather. Then, a few others began to playing with concepts, like stripping the frames and belts off packs because our gear was so light we improvised those components, using socks to pad shoulder straps, sleeping on bubble wrap to see how it fared, using silnylon for rain gear and aluminum cans for cook pots, weighing every gram of fuel and designing sub-one pound shelters cause you really didn't need all that room just to sleep, trying everything under the sun for pot supports, testing everything imaginable to see how it burned in or on a soda can stove.

Nothing was immune to total heartless scrutiny. Rainmaker made me some gram weenie sandals out of shoe inserts. I used them on my AT thru hike. We cut down trowels. Hell, who needs a trowel? Use your hiking pole. Wait, they are holding up my shelter!
Nothing was sacred. Nothing is still. Except your integrity.

Quit stealing, all I'm saying!

People like Glen Van Peski , Triple Crowner Brian Robinson and his father,the Trail Dad were a few of the new names. There were gear contests at the zero kick off party on the Pacific Crest Trail, backpackers seeing what was being designed by real people doing it, not some company with enginers and fashion designers. We've been at this awhile. There's a mindset, an internal flaw if you will,  that allows us to test our bodies with minimal gear, bringing on pain and unreasonable ecstasy when something works. Yeah, most of you don't get it. You weren't meant to. After all, there's a reason why it's called Extreme.


So, the point of this rant is to say, quit stealing someone's work. Use it, spread the news, but give proper credit.
I'm one of those rare females that like the rugged minimalism of ultralight living. Don't act like you invented it. You know who you are!