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The key thing is that the gnomon (pointer) has to point at the pole star, Polaris. Then you have a clock circle, perpendicular to the gnomon. Like the ring you see commonly on sundials. The angle above the horizontal is the latitude of your location, 53 degrees for my place. Hope that's...

Yup. I learned to carry lots of water for the stupid people. In my youth, in the outback, we all had "SaltaDex" tablets, salt and the necessary dextrose needed for the salt uptake. Salt and sugar, you pick your pair. One day was 117F, real hell out of the shade. Nobody was moving at all.

Bought all the ones that keep coming up: Mayall & Mayall, Rohr, Savoie, Cousins, Waugh, Stoneman, Muller. If it weren't for all the huge discounts from abeBooks.com, I couldn't afford to do this. Cousins is a hard cover with mind-gagging maths and some fold out patterns in the back. Stoneman &...

I used to lay 25 x 2 liter plastic soda bottles of water on the floor of my big, old car for summer travels. Sand dune country and 40+C is spooky without a lot of water supply. Now, I have 2 x 5 Imp gal water tanks and 2 x 4.5 liter plastic water jugs. They don't impose on the space for...

Extreme cold (-25C) possible by the weekend, heavy 25 cm snow drifting into us from the west (typical). But at least here, it has to warm up to snow. So, stocked up today on food and drink. Store empty of my favorite junk so will have to cook and bake my own treats in the coming days. Four more...

That's what we call a "camp knife". This is a great example. From splitting kindling to dressing and boning game, has to do it all with ease.

I buy all the good foods and drink that Rumpuss-cat and I could want or need. Shopping again tomorrow for the fresh stuff. Need to, might be -25C by next Sunday. I think we are ready. Despite always picking the best, my bank account continues to grow! Nice to have the choice about buying...

There's a global consortium of booksellers: abeBooks.com which has a site in the UK. Outstanding values on more recent titles (6,000,000) and eye-watering prices on oldies and classic firsts.

Two flats of 24 cans each of mucky wet cat food for the blob, Rumpuss-cat. The year will cost me at least $450 to feed the pig. Enough electricity to have forgotten and left the electric blanket on all day on LO. Ah well, juice is cheap here. Snow all around us and the freezing level can't...

The Canadian province of British Columbia borders the Pacific coast. It is bigger than the UK+Japan+NewZealand. For the most part, it is very sparsely populated. Some cities, some villages and a great deal of empty forest. The law says you must move your camp (on public/crown land) every 2...

Welcome from 120W x 53N in the Rockies.

Take a look at simple large tiffens. My kids gave me several in different sizes, any of which sit well on a single burner stove (or hang above it if too hot for reheating stuff like rice, soups and curries. Looks like coffee, smells like chicken soup and tastes like orange juice. I must be...

In addition to being wind proof, Carhartt Chore coats are quite waterproof or at least minimally absorbent. I've still got the 40 yr old coat hanging in the front hall. Yes, they are expensive. Yes, I'm very comfortable. They are some sort of very heavy cotton(?) canvas, treated with a water...

I want to eat them as very young plants. I don't care what a plant under 5cm is called. Sort of a simple salad. Location and technique seems irrelevant. They sprout 12mm and die. Always. Predictable. I can buy bricks of alfalfa sprouts most weeks in our little grocery store, Alfalfa (aka...

For the second time, I have bought seeds: Sunflower, Peas, Alfalfa, Mung beans and Red Clover. To that, I have bought 4 dozen fiber germination pads this time(Lee Valley). Probably spent no more than $100 this time. The germination percentage is really good, I'll say 90% or more. First trial...

The old OP on fishing was wonderful to read. If I can clean perch (Perca flavescens) boneless, so can you. Some other items I need as essential kit for fishing: 1. A dedicated fish cleaning knife. The standard seems to be fixed 6" thin flexible blades. Learn to keep it razor sharp. Slide...

I have a nice little butane cartridge stove which works really well in warm weather. Or in the house during a total power failure. It's an extreme disappointment in cold weather as the butane is so slow to vaporize. It burns like a bomb for the first 5 minutes. Then as the butane cools by...

I have a deep drawer in my kitchen with 4 kinds of rice and CDN Wild grass "rice." The cook times vary so much. Wild rice is 60 minutes, my plain basmati is 20 minutes. Which will it be? I can't help but keep thinking about the fuel cost to cook it vs the energy benefit to you, the camper...

I never believed in ghosts until November 2021. My little, old runt of a cat, Heidi, died in October of that year. She would have been pushing 18, I guess. She walks across the bed almost every night, stepping on my legs. Like she did so often when she was alive. Wakes me up, nobody there...

Most of you don't have nearby mountain ranges 7,000'+ to put your home in shadow early in the afternoon and delay the sunrises. It's about an hour at each end. My house is in shadow on the solstice at 1:52PM. Gloomy & cold is understatement. I really enjoy the wood carving, sort of gave up on...