Hi-jacked and un-jacked

My blog has been hijacked and come to find out they never posted anything. They did delete a bunch of my stuff but that can be fixed. Weird. It took a lot of work to get the powers that be to believe me when I told them I am who I say I am and I'm the author/owner/creator of Rons Primitive Skills. So finally after a long break I'm back. I've been doing a lot of primitive goodness these past years and will have gobs of goodies to share. I don't do Facebook anymore and I don't hang out at any forums. I've been doing a lot of research and working 12 hour days. Our business takes up most of my time. I have some articles to post soon such as the fire plow, some new and exotic cordage plants,how to get anything useful from low grade coastal chert and some more fire making fun stuff. We're still here in Florida and have been casually looking at some sites in Missouri and Tennessee. I have a lot of work to do to make this place get a good market value. We will try to sell it as a working hobby farm/horticulture business. I've gotten rid of a lot of gear over the last 7 years and I've bought some new things, too.I whittled my library down big time when I was still in California and now I only keep a few very good books. Now that our business is up and running I should be able to carve out some time for frequent posts. Stay tuned.....

Odd visitors

I caught a glimpse of these flying over a few weeks ago and had my Kodak handy. The American Buff geese were not very happy about it but I was quite thrilled. They are F22 Raptors. Pretty neat to watch several million dollars worth of airplane fly over. Awesome!!!

Crazy weather, heat, wind and a forest fire

Wow! Its 109 degrees here in the Treasure Valley! We are having quite a heat wave here in the northwest. Working in the garden past 10AM is torture. Fortunately everything is in the ground and its just maintenance such as watering and weeding. Last night I watched a thunder storm roll in from the west over the Owyhee (pronounced OH-WHY-HE) mountains and the lightening show was terrific! I saw where a particularly bright bolt struck and a minute or so later I noticed an orange light. I thought someone was 4 wheeling up in the hills so I got out my Minolta 8x to 20x zoom binoculars and set them on the tripod. Sure enough the lightening had set a wild fire. In a matter of a few hours it had spread over several thousand acres. The wind was terrific and helped it along. Today the Snake river valley is full of smoke and I can't see across the valley to the Owyhee's.
This weather reminds me of several things: be hydrated constantly! After a few hours work outside I started to feel the effects of heat sickness so I got in the shade and downed a bottle of Gator Aid. I still drink plenty of water but when you sweat a lot you loose valuable minerals and need to replace those electrolytes. Sometimes I put 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt in a quart of nice cold water. It helps replace some electrolytes but its not as efficient as Gator Aid. My trusty bandana is always soaking wet and worn around my neck cowboy fashion. This of course gets my tee shirt soaked which helps with the cooling. And I always wear a booney style hat, doctors orders because of the skin cancer and its a great shade giver as well. When its this hot and you work outside you just have to make sure you are drinking plenty of water.
The wind was gusting at around 60-70 MPH last night and when I awoke at 5AM I noticed a lot of damage here on the farm. An old dead elm finally bit the bullet and laid down. Fortunately it didn't take anything with it. There is a huge cottonwood that has a lot of dead limbs and I'm afraid its going to come down soon. If so it will only block the road until we get it cut up and moved but God help the person who has the misfortune of being under it if it falls. Several pieces of equipment were blown over and some roof damage to a shed or two but nothing really serious from the wind storm. I think the heat really gets the wind speed up as it cools in the evening. I don't know all the mechanics of weather but I think I read about this particular phenomenon somewhere.
Take care everyone and stay safe! Drink plenty of water and stay hydrated if you are out in the hot summer weather.

Ammo and survival books. Whats new?

I've been very busy with moving, my part time job, my business and 1 million other small things. Moving was awake up call. My wife and I found that we were lugging around the same old stuff in the same old box's for years. I said "if its still in the same box from 2 moves ago we don't need it." She heartily agreed. The local thrift stores had a field day sorting out several car loads of goodies. And we have a lot less clutter and everything is much better organized. I did a re-inventory of our prep supplies and we are doing pretty well. There are a few areas where I need to stock up more. Anyone know of any super good deals on .17 HMR, 7.62 x 54R, .357 magnum, .38 special, quantity purchases of course, like 1,000 rounds or more each?
I thinned out my library a bit. I had a lot of survival books and after looking through them I decided the majority would go. There are just so many ways you can explain desert stills and dead-falls. I was very selective in keeping the ones I did. I don't do classes anymore and they were basically for that purpose. I still have a very well rounded library covering a lot of survival/preparedness subjects. Some day I'll do a list and explain why I keep certain titles.
My business is doing great and eventually I'll move it completely to ebay since that is a lot easier and more streamlined. Life go's on...........
More to come and now that I'm settled in I should be able to post more frequently. As for the nice lady who emailed me and asked why I don't post every day, well, here's my answer. I have a real life and spend as little time on the computer as possible. I tend to get lost and find myself wasting time surfing. A nasty habit!

The article below is from a forum where I hang out, Bushcraft USA. This pretty much sums it all up.

A Bushcrafter Is (Original work by DrGizmojo)

A Bushcrafter understands, appreciates, and respects the Natural World. Neither sappy about Nature, nor arrogant to its reality, the Bushcrafter is constantly learning how to develop his crafts for living with Nature. Confident in his skills, a Bushcrafter could be placed in the wilderness with nothing more than the clothes on his back, a knife, a blanket and a pot and improvise needed shelter and tools, acquire and store potable water, build fire for safety and comfort, forage, hunt and fish for food, and progressively add comforts and technology to his situation.

A Bushcrafter is fiercely independent and self-reliant. Neither sentimental nor cynical about the world around him, he uses his own wits and common sense to judge the world around him. Because of this, he is frugal with his finances, resourceful with materials, and smart with his preparations to maintain his independence and freedoms.

A Bushcrafter is big-hearted and encouraging with others of his persuasion, and generous with those of lesser resources. Though he may be a hermit most of the time, he loves to rendezvous, and has a fondness for tall-tales, history, and simple humor. Able to laugh first at himself, he lustily laughs with others. He may be able to sing, whistle or play an instrument, but a lack of talent never stops him from enjoying himself.

A Bushcrafter is passionately patriotic, often having served in the military himself. He believes in the values that made America great, and the form of free-market republican governance that stands at its core. He is proud of the country that---built through smarts and sweat to the highest standard of living---has done more good for more people, stood tall as a beacon of liberty and opportunity, and served to protect and defend liberty throughout the world from the chains of tyranny and despotism.

The Bushcrafter prefers simple, practical and rugged over the fancy, complicated and fashionable. He will adapt and utilize any of the latest technologies to achieve his goals, yet understands that old ways, in their tried-and-true simplicity, have bounteous virtues.

Though the Bushcrafter is a practical observer of the worldly, he understands that some things are bigger and more mysterious than man can comprehend or explain. Nonetheless, he gains strength, humility, and resolve from the Creator.

The Bushcrafter knows there is much to learn, and he enjoys his journey on earth.

Retirement? What retirement?

It happened to a friend of mine. He worked all his life for a steel mill in Johnstown, PA. Cambria Steel, to be exact. The company or whoever is responsible, lost all the retirement money. Can you frigging believe that? And that bastard, er I mean bastion of leftist, Democrat/communist politics, John Murtha, had the balls to say "Sorry, fellas, cant do shi-at about it. Too bad." This was several years ago. I couldn't believe my ears. Now, roll forward to the spring of 2009. I get an email informing me that my $400,000 retirement fund has disappeared. I dig deeper and find out that the filthy rotten bankers/money launderers who were responsible have disappeared, too. Probably to some Caribbean island where they have the dough stashed in their off shore account. And, of course, the big time "for the people" politicos "can't do shi-at about it. (I'm wondering how much of my $ they are getting paid off?) What a country! Justice? Where? We're on our own boys and girls. Beans and bullets never made more sense. Second rant for the day is over.

Thanks

I would like to thank everyone who responded to the stove request. I'll be putting something together soon. I just got home from shoulder surgery and everything is fine. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be (4 hours). They gave me some really good pain killers so I'll be going now...............take care everyone.