I recently found out some great news, I am going to be a Father! Personally I am very excited, and the Hobbit is working on it. The morning sickness is throwing her off a bit. But a short while after we found out, I found this article on http://artofmanliness.com (Great site by the way) about how to take your kids camping. Seems like kids are on the mind of lots of people, or my eyes have just been peeled for these kind of things. They get full credit, I just want to share it. Hope you enjoy it.
http://artofmanliness.com/2011/09/08/camping-with-kids/
Go have an adventure, and take your kids with you.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Every Day Adventure Essentials
Every good adventurer has to have some quality gear, whether for every day adventures in town or in the back country. While I could go into the nitty gritty details of each brand of the pieces that I will cover, or what I personally feel is the best, I will share my opinions. But they are simply my opinions and I want each of you to go find your own opinion. So here we go, every day essentials.
1. Wallet and all included! Yes, you need to have your wallet. In my wallet I have proper local ID, a credit/debit card, family pictures, a little bit of cash in small bills, and assorted other cards IE: School ID, library card, Sam's/Costco/BJ's. Each of these things are increasingly important to have in our modern world. Even in the back country, a wallet has many uses. Some are first aid, body ID if you die (Sad but true), old receipts can be used for fire starting. Figure out what multi-use functions your wallet can provide you for your activities.
2. A knife. A good quality pocket or neck knife is a wonderful tool to have that, once you get used to it, you will use every day. I personally use mine while working on hobby project or at work. Much of the time you will use it for opening boxes and the like, it is great to have when you need it. Do your own research on good knifes, for a good resource visit nutnfancy on YouTube, take a look at his playlists, he is subscribed on my YouTube page. Be prepared to spend a bit of money, but if you by quality, you will only by once. Unless you lose it, like I have for a few of my knifes. I use a Spyderco Tenacious
3. A small flashlight in AA or AAA. Trust me, it is another every day tool that you don't realize how handy it is until you have it with you every day. I was in a room with no windows when the power went out, and my small quality light lit the room UP! Just some circumstances that I personally have used my small flashlight in power outages, dark basements, under desks looking for dropped items, unlocking my car, and looking for something in a room without turning on the lights (Someone was sleeping and I didn't want to bother them.) Like the knifes, see nutnfancy, pay a bit, have it last much longer. I use a Streamlight Stylus Pro.
4. A handkerchief. Yay! Something cheep! Yes, you can use it to wipe your nose, wipe your tears, as a napkin, etc. Great, cheep, you can get a pack for a few dollars at any megamart or big box. I use cotton bandanas.
5. Your brain. You can do SO MUCH when you just use your head. Using your head, you can see what kind of things you personally need to add to your individual gear. Be MacGyver, or if that is too old a referance for you, be Micheal Weston. If you don't get either, use a search engine and put netflix or Hulu to work.
Go have an adventure.
PS: Just got word, and wanted to share. I ham going to be a father! A whole new, much anticipated adventure.
1. Wallet and all included! Yes, you need to have your wallet. In my wallet I have proper local ID, a credit/debit card, family pictures, a little bit of cash in small bills, and assorted other cards IE: School ID, library card, Sam's/Costco/BJ's. Each of these things are increasingly important to have in our modern world. Even in the back country, a wallet has many uses. Some are first aid, body ID if you die (Sad but true), old receipts can be used for fire starting. Figure out what multi-use functions your wallet can provide you for your activities.
2. A knife. A good quality pocket or neck knife is a wonderful tool to have that, once you get used to it, you will use every day. I personally use mine while working on hobby project or at work. Much of the time you will use it for opening boxes and the like, it is great to have when you need it. Do your own research on good knifes, for a good resource visit nutnfancy on YouTube, take a look at his playlists, he is subscribed on my YouTube page. Be prepared to spend a bit of money, but if you by quality, you will only by once. Unless you lose it, like I have for a few of my knifes. I use a Spyderco Tenacious
3. A small flashlight in AA or AAA. Trust me, it is another every day tool that you don't realize how handy it is until you have it with you every day. I was in a room with no windows when the power went out, and my small quality light lit the room UP! Just some circumstances that I personally have used my small flashlight in power outages, dark basements, under desks looking for dropped items, unlocking my car, and looking for something in a room without turning on the lights (Someone was sleeping and I didn't want to bother them.) Like the knifes, see nutnfancy, pay a bit, have it last much longer. I use a Streamlight Stylus Pro.
4. A handkerchief. Yay! Something cheep! Yes, you can use it to wipe your nose, wipe your tears, as a napkin, etc. Great, cheep, you can get a pack for a few dollars at any megamart or big box. I use cotton bandanas.
5. Your brain. You can do SO MUCH when you just use your head. Using your head, you can see what kind of things you personally need to add to your individual gear. Be MacGyver, or if that is too old a referance for you, be Micheal Weston. If you don't get either, use a search engine and put netflix or Hulu to work.
Go have an adventure.
PS: Just got word, and wanted to share. I ham going to be a father! A whole new, much anticipated adventure.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Quick Update
Hello Ranger fans, this week, things have been a bit slow at Ranger HQ and the biggest adventure I have had was my batch of projects for Bushclass. But fret not! Ranger's Adventures has a Facebook page and a Youtube channel. They are in their infancy still, but they will be growing. I am working on a Winter Overnight adventure and will be posting all about it, as well as trying to get a camera with video so I can begin posting things on youtube. But in the wait, go ahead and take a visit and see some channels I have subscribed to. Links are below for your internet surfing pleasure, thanks everyone for your support. We also added the Adventures tab, which provides information to allow you to come on an adventure with me! This way, we can add more content that you are interested in as viewers. I look forward to your response.
Ranger
Facebook- http://tinyurl.com/rangerfb
Youtube- http://tinyurl.com/rangeryt
Ranger
Facebook- http://tinyurl.com/rangerfb
Youtube- http://tinyurl.com/rangeryt
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Bushcraft USA Review
This is a first for the Ranger's Adventures Project, a web site review. I found this site a while back called Bushcraft USA and and have enjoyed the information that is available. The members of the forum are generally friendly and open to other forms of outdoor adventure. They even have a class called Bush Class USA that is taught by actual bushcraft teachers from across the country and around the web. I am currently taking the class and am about halfway though the basic portion.
If you don't know about bushcraft, it is a style of outdoorsmanship that focuses on minimum gear, maximum knowledge. Practitioners learn skills and build the majority of their gear in the field. Hardcore bushcrafters, bushcraftmen? People that do bushcraft that are more into it even carve their own dishes and silverware. Many will take the minimum amount of food, and hunt, trap and gather a good amount of their food in the wild. Basically it is voluntary wilderness survival, but definitely an adventure. If this peaks your interest, swing by bushcraftusa.com
If you don't know about bushcraft, it is a style of outdoorsmanship that focuses on minimum gear, maximum knowledge. Practitioners learn skills and build the majority of their gear in the field. Hardcore bushcrafters, bushcraftmen? People that do bushcraft that are more into it even carve their own dishes and silverware. Many will take the minimum amount of food, and hunt, trap and gather a good amount of their food in the wild. Basically it is voluntary wilderness survival, but definitely an adventure. If this peaks your interest, swing by bushcraftusa.com
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Memories of My Grandfather
I got a call today that I have been expecting for a while, but wasn't looking forward to. I learned that my Grandfather, Lee M. 'Ranger' had passed away. Looking back at the memories that I had of him, I thought I'd share some of them, as well as have them recorded for my own children one day. Thinking about the times that we had together, I can certainly say that we had adventures, and I believe that I learned much of my adventure spirit from him.
One of my earliest memories of him is going fishing with him and my father when I was just a little guy when we journeyed to Utah for a visit. Latter, I remember him taking my father and I with him and my great grandfather to the same lake. In retrospect, I wish I knew what an opportunity that was as a boy, to be able to enjoy four generations of my family together, doing something that we enjoyed together. He always took care of his garden and put away food into storage, filling a basement room with jars of food. He put away extra fish and deer meat from the hunt into freezer storage. I believe that I learned my preparedness mentality from his example.
He worked hard, and was one of the strongest people I know. As I grew, I had the opportunity to work beside him as my family built our house, and latter as we worked on an addition to his. I gained a lot of work skills from him, and I am not sure I thanked him properly.
One of my favorite memories of him was how he was one tough SOB. On a country drive, my cousin and I were with him, he saw the train tracks ahead and instead of slowing down, he floored it. The car caught air and I hit my head on the roof of the car. Nice moxie for a gent in his 60's at the time. While working on his house, we were taking a break and turned on the TV to end up watching a WWII movie. Some Japanese officers were drinking Sake, he leaned back in his chair and said, "Ahh, Sake, good stuff." I asked him, "You're not speaking from experience, are you?" in a lighthearted tone. He replyed, "Shut up."
He could cuss like a sailor, and I knew every colorful word in the book by the time I was 10, mostly thanks to him. My younger brother has always been a clean living kind of guy, and was shocked when he heard my grandpa cuss when a driver cut us off on the freeway. In response to my brothers shocked expression, he looked at me in the passenger seat, "Dammit 'Ranger', why didn't you tell your brother I swear?"
I know that my grandfather is in a better place and that I will see him again, because families on earth can be together forever. Despite my grandfathers colorful language, he is a good man, and God needs colorful people. He was too ornery to go willingly, so he needed to be put under for a surgery and have things happen the way they did.
One of my earliest memories of him is going fishing with him and my father when I was just a little guy when we journeyed to Utah for a visit. Latter, I remember him taking my father and I with him and my great grandfather to the same lake. In retrospect, I wish I knew what an opportunity that was as a boy, to be able to enjoy four generations of my family together, doing something that we enjoyed together. He always took care of his garden and put away food into storage, filling a basement room with jars of food. He put away extra fish and deer meat from the hunt into freezer storage. I believe that I learned my preparedness mentality from his example.
He worked hard, and was one of the strongest people I know. As I grew, I had the opportunity to work beside him as my family built our house, and latter as we worked on an addition to his. I gained a lot of work skills from him, and I am not sure I thanked him properly.
One of my favorite memories of him was how he was one tough SOB. On a country drive, my cousin and I were with him, he saw the train tracks ahead and instead of slowing down, he floored it. The car caught air and I hit my head on the roof of the car. Nice moxie for a gent in his 60's at the time. While working on his house, we were taking a break and turned on the TV to end up watching a WWII movie. Some Japanese officers were drinking Sake, he leaned back in his chair and said, "Ahh, Sake, good stuff." I asked him, "You're not speaking from experience, are you?" in a lighthearted tone. He replyed, "Shut up."
He could cuss like a sailor, and I knew every colorful word in the book by the time I was 10, mostly thanks to him. My younger brother has always been a clean living kind of guy, and was shocked when he heard my grandpa cuss when a driver cut us off on the freeway. In response to my brothers shocked expression, he looked at me in the passenger seat, "Dammit 'Ranger', why didn't you tell your brother I swear?"
I know that my grandfather is in a better place and that I will see him again, because families on earth can be together forever. Despite my grandfathers colorful language, he is a good man, and God needs colorful people. He was too ornery to go willingly, so he needed to be put under for a surgery and have things happen the way they did.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Shooting with Friends and Wife
Last Saturday I had the chance to go shooting on the west side of Utah Lake with some of my friends and my wonderful wife, the Hobbit. After setting up the shoot while enjoying some wings earlier in the week, we headed out Saturday afternoon to enjoy some high powered firearms action. My wife has been interested in learning how to shoot the rifle that we have, so I brought her along. We had a wonderful time, despite some other shooters who were not being safe in their gun handling. Toward the end of our time as the weather turned cold, the unsafe shooters, lets call them morons, were approached by a BLM ranger and ID-ed. He was joined by many local county sheriff deputies. Many of the shooters there, along with ourselves were glad to see them busted. It was a great experience to work with the Hobbit, teaching her to shoot my little .22 caliber rifle. It also was entertaining the see her try to shoot a 12 Gauge pump action shotgun and a .45 handgun. One of my friends, Blackhawk, let me shoot his 12 gauge that was loaded with a Magnum Slug, and it gave me a dead arm and left me with a stiff shoulder for the rest of the day. I will include pictures when I get them uploaded. Keep having adventures.
Monday, January 9, 2012
New Job, New Adventure
My posting lately has been thrown off because I started a new job, which has lead to many adventures. I am one of the night clerks at a local gas station convenience store, and it has certainly been an adventure of a different sort. Because it is winter, and I am awake mostly at night, my outdoor adventures have been few and far between. I have plenty of adventures in my duties at night, cleaning the gas station, dealing with people who want to buy beer when it is not legal, others who want to buy cigarettes without ID. Things really get fun when stoned or drunk people come in and change things up. I will be working to get out more, as a bit of a gut is forming on me. (If you ask the Hobbit, it was always there) More adventures will be held shortly as I get out more. Stay tuned.
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