I (we) Will Survive!!!

Last night was Family Home Evening at our house...probably most of yours too. It was HH’s turn. Over the years he has provided us with the most interesting FHE lessons. This is the format in which our children learned, among other things, to shoot a gun (just a .22, but a gun nonetheless), geocache, shoot a bow and arrow, rock climb, identify native trees and plants (if only for a few seconds), play the most exciting and innovative game of indoor hide and seek ever (hubby laying on the rafters above their heads as they hunted and hunted is a favorite memory, as was hiding "Nutella" in the laundry basket which was such a good hiding place that she smelled like dirty socks for hours), and many other things that have provided a unique perspective on life to three little girls who would never have the benefit of boy scout camp.

Last evening’s activity included learning to start a fire without matches. Daughter #3 and I were pretty sure (after watching a few episodes of Brat Camp, Endurance and Survivorman) that we could master this one. Let me tell you it is a LOT harder in our living room than they make it look on TV (and we thought it looked pretty hard there!). We started out with a bow and drill (Gosh I’m good with these terms!)and HH’s copy of "The Lost Lore of a Man’s Life: Lots of Cool Stuff Guys Used to Know but Forgot About the Great Outdoors"....this is a book you’ve got to see to believe, it’s author, as noted on the cover is "Denis Boyles with Gregg Stebben and a Whole Stack of Librarians".

The book is really just too funny. In a chapter entitled "To successfully Enjoy a Trip to the Woods" the authors give suggestions on "What to Read when Alone in the Woods Because you Are Perplexed by Life’s Vicissitudes"........

If you have been driven to the woods because you have been confused by women,
read ‘The Modern Man’s Guide to Modern Women’ available from our office.; If you
are in the woods because of a peculiar grooming problem (huh?) read the exhaustive entries on the subject in ‘A Man’s Life: The Complete Instructions". If you have found yourself in the woods with a woman and wish to find a means of relating to her feelings (Is that what he'd be thinking about?) Then read ‘The Modern Woman’s Guide to Life’ also available from our office.

In the Acknowledgments the author makes this statement:

"In a book full of so much information, almost all of which has been gleaned
from other sources, I’m pleased to say that I think I have been successful in
weeding out errors and correcting mistakes. Where misinformation remains
however, I’m even more pleased to say the fault lies with the original authors;
I didn’t know about it, but if I had known about it, I wouldn’t have permitted
it. And above all, I had nothing personally to do with it".

Anyway if you’re looking for some fun reading for the guy in your life I highly recommend the above.

Back to the fire building. We timed HH as he demonstrated the proper making of, and use for, a bow and drill. It was HARD work and although we succeeded in getting a lot of smoke and drilling completely through a 1" cedar board .... twice, we wore out after 40 minutes and before achieving fire by this method. We moved on to something more to my liking.....flint and steel.

Making a little pile of dry wood and using the flint I was able to actually start a little fire in just 15 minutes or so....it took Daughter #3 a little longer but as we were interrupted by a phone call which HH had to take I helped her out (cheated actually) with a serious amount of dryer lint ..... this worked (Yay Girls Camp!).... in fact it worked so well that the little nest of tinder in her hands burst into full out flames.....she shrieked and threw the whole thing several feet in the air ,

and luckily in the general direction of the fireplace, successfully avoiding setting the house afire while HH was on the phone (and I was "in charge"). After discussing the evening’s lesson the conclusion she presented to her dad was "Lint is better than Flint........in my opinion".

It was a good time....and we learned a lot. Daughter #3 and I will never again simply throw away the lint in our pockets (or belly buttons), and should we ever find ourselves lost and alone in the woods we’ll rely on "The Modern Women’s Guide to the Outdoors: Survival techniques for the hopelessly inept"