veloxseeker

Boreas Paid a Visit…

Boreas- the Greek God of the North Wind

Monday was another hot day with temperatures peaking at 97F. Most of the local residents that I speak with are tired of summer. It has dragged on too long for their liking, and mine.

Oklahoma weather is fickle and such is the case this year. However, the North Wind made a surprise appearance today with a steady blow and temperatures topping out at 77F during the day and dropping to 50F as of this morning. Boreas tempts and teases us time and time again. Promising relief with a glimpse of the season ahead, only to vanish leaving the heat to fill the void.

And true to form…the days of this week will be pleasant, yet by the weekend we will climb back into the mid-90’s. Frustration looms large, yet patience is the order of seasonal change. Roller coaster rides with brief respites intermixed, autumn is coming…it’s just not here yet…but soon will be.

The Marttiini M571 knife…

The Marttiini M571 knife had somewhat of a cult following while it was in production. Its direct competitor was the Mora 510 or even the Mora #1/#2. The prices were similar of around $10 USD. Ergonomically the M571 won hands down, even though the blade was just a little over 3 inches long. Amazingly, the M571 came with a polished carbon steel blade edge…it’s the little extras that catch my eye. It also felt MUCH better in hand while using than the Moras. The “written rule of bushcraft” stated that you needed a blade that was the width of your palm. Good advice for the most part unless you knew what you were doing when using a knife.

I’m not going to get into the bushcraft aspect and all that it entails…I called it camping since we always did similar things when outdoors. Call it whatever you want.

Since we were dog-sitting this weekend and couldn’t get away, I decided to try my hand at re-handling knives. I had some Cherry, Blood wood and Zebra wood pieces laying around and they were the right size for my intended project. I didn’t take any photos of the process since it’s pretty straight-forward. I measured the blocks, cut a few pieces of leather for spacers, carefully drilled and filed the inlets for the blade tang and then epoxied and clamped everything together. Shaping was done by a bench belt sander to remove the bulk of the wood and final shaping was done by hand with sandpaper. When I was satisfied I applied wood stabilizer and let it dry.

The end results…

Re-handled Marttiini M571. Zebra wood and Cherry wood.

I prefer a plain handle over various contours.

I have large hands so I opted to make the handle longer.

I also re-handled an old Mora I had laying around. Blood wood and Cherry.

For working with softer woods the Scandi grind is ideal but here in the Cross Timbers the convex grind reigns supreme. It’s much stronger and holds up better than the former grind, and you remove a lot less metal when re-sharpening. But I always keep the M571 in my pack since I can use it for cleaning small game, whittling or other simple camp chores.

It was a fun project that kept me occupied for a few hours. I was happy with the results and feel it took the knives to a level that was better suited to my needs.

Thanks for reading….

Sumac-Ade…

Almost every summer we make a refreshing drink from the Sumac shrub.

We have these growing on our property in healthy patches so we use them for their medicinal purposes. I like to experiment with wild edibles and medicinals and according to common sense recommendations I always perform a test by rubbing some on my wrist and waiting several hours to see if there might be an allergic reaction. Then I proceed to the next step. That being said…I am NOT a Doctor or Homeopath so take all of this with a grain of salt and forage at your own risk. I spend countless hours doing research and plant identification as well as looking up any scientific studies relating to the species I am interested in. Research and “dirt-time” are critical components to my hobby.

It gets hot in Oklahoma and I haven’t found a better method to cool off and feel refreshed than drinking Sumac-ade. Of course we could always jump in a lake or stream, but this method has added benefits for us.

In this series of photos I will admit that I collected drupes from the Sumac rather late in the season and these specimens are not in their prime condition. When prime they are a beautiful, uniform red color. I have read on several occasions, that the drupes need to be collected before a rain or a week or two after since the rain tends to leach out the Vitamin C content.

The first step in the process is to properly identify the plant- be 100% positive that it is the correct species.

Collect however many drupes you need for the quantity you’d like to make.

We use a mortar and pestle to gently crush the seeds to help release the contents.

Next we place the lightly crushed seeds into a bowl full of water and let them soak overnight in the refrigerator.

We strain the mixture through some cheese cloth.

Resultant liquid after the first straining.

Second straining. We place a coffee filter over the mouth of a Mason jar and pour the liquid through.

Our end result. Prime drupes processed in a similar manner will have a more reddish tint than ours did.

This creates a tangy and tart liquid that is very refreshing. You can add a sweetener of your choice-organic sugar or locally grown honey if you prefer. We drink it as is.

Current research shows that:

-High Vitamin C content

-Contains Antimicrobial compounds

-Sugar regulating compounds

-Antioxidant compounds

-Boosts good cholesterol while lowering bad cholesterol

-and several other benefits

We like the tangy flavor and find that it cools us down on a hot day. It takes some effort to make but its worth it for us. On several occasions we have made this in the field just using a bandana. Currently we carry a few items with us to make foraging and using edible and medicinal plants easier…

We each carry a tea ball strainer and biodegradable tea bags in our packs.

Thank you for reading and have a GREAT weekend…

The Book That Started It All…

When I was around 12 years old, my family had a trip to Colorado planned. I knew nothing about Colorado except that it was a long drive to get there. At the time I was a voracious reader of history, Native American culture and skills and various other things. I was never really interested in comic books or Mad magazine. Anyway, I was strolling through a Woolworth/Woolco store and noticed a paperback on the wire rounder by the title of Outdoor Survival Skills by Larry Dean Olsen. It was $4.95…which I didn’t have. My mind started whirring and processing ways to make five dollars so I could buy the book.

So what does every desperate future entrepreneur do? I worked up the courage to go door-to-door in my neighborhood asking if there was any chores that needed doing for five bucks. On the second knock I found an older lady who agreed to pay me 5 dollars if I would edge her front yard. It’s a deal lady! I’ll do it.

I ran home and rummaged around until I found a pair of scissors. I raced back to her house and meticulously trimmed her front yard edge all the way around the curb. Man, my hands were sore after that! But I had the five bucks and ran all the way to the Woolworth store and bought that paperback.

On the ride to Colorado I leafed through it and stared at the pictures intently. I read it cover to cover and was desperate to start trying all of these skills out. Are we there yet? How much longer until we’re there? Yes…I was that kid!

I had a pretty good childhood. I was raised as a “latch-key kid” and my parents were all about kids being allowed to “free range.” I knew the rules and what time to return to camp…other than that, I was free to roam.

And roam I did! Up mountains, through meadows and along streams. The whole two weeks we were camped, that book was my constant companion. I tried almost everything that book mentioned or depicted. Bows and arrows, rabbit sticks, shelters etc. I tried to make fire with the hand drill and bow drill methods but failed miserably. But it all planted a seed that has remained with me to this day.

I still practice those skills. I wore that little paperback out years ago and currently have the 6th Edition of it on my bookshelf. I figured out pretty quickly that reading a book on something was only part of the equation. The other, more important parts are going out and trying it firsthand. Taking a class from a knowledgeable person really speeds up the learning process. I figured out that success and failure were both sides of the same coin and I could learn a great deal from both.

All of our children have received a copy of this book…among many others. I guess in a way I wanted them to have the same sense of freedom that I had and we free ranged our kids as well. None of them took to the woods like I did…yet each of them has an interest in it…be it fishing, hunting or camping. Maybe there is hope for them in the future. If not, that’s fine too.

I just fondly remember that book and the world it opened up to me. And I still thank my Dad for taking me to Colorado!

Local Lake Outing 12 Sept 2021…

I was talking to my Dad last night via Facetime and he was giving me a little grief about not fishing. He said, “you say its too hot yet you’re running around all over doing other things.” He was right! We were trying to come up with something to do today so opted to hit both of our local lakes. We got up early to beat the heat and headed out.

The first lake was a bust since it is completely overgrown now and fishing from the shore is virtually impossible. We caught zero fish after walking all the way around it. As usual I was on the lookout for plants. Here is just a few of what we ran across.

Indian woodoats (Chasmanthium latifolium)

After getting skunked and picking all of the burs and stick-tights off of us, we opted to try the other lake near us. As we were driving down the gravel road we were witness to a Bobcat crossing the road carrying a rabbit in its mouth. We watched as it loped across the road and coursed up a steep hill. We thought that was pretty cool…especially with how big it was.

We reached the next lake and chatted with a local. He was out on his 4-wheeler with the grandkids and was letting them burn off some energy. We know the feeling all too well.

All told we caught 5 largemouth bass, a perch and a crappie. I wanted to get a few pictures for the blog and quit fishing after an hour. Remember me mentioning that this area was covered by the Western Interior Sea during the Cretaceous Period 145 million to 66 million years ago? I took some pictures of the fossils that cover a large portion of this area.

As we were roaming around the area just looking, we ran across this guy!

Eastern hognose snake (Heterodon platirhinos)

It was pretty docile despite the flared hood. They come in a remarkable range of coloration.

After interacting with the snake we decided to move on and see what else we could find. As usual, there were numerous plants in bloom in the area.

Honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos) Watch those thorns!

Common whitetail dragonfly (Plathemis lydia) When reeling in I hooked some weeds and it rode them all the way in.

We had fun with the few hours we were out. We tend to free-range the chickens on the weekends so we decided to head home to let them out for the day. As I sit here typing, I’m surrounded by foraging chickens. There is shade at the moment and a breeze blowing through the tree tops.

They do a good job of keeping the raised beds tilled up…so I don’t have to do it!

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Shore Exploration 11 Sept 2021…

Both of us had a really busy week and wanted to get out and relax for a bit and stretch our legs. The high temperature for today was forecast at 99F so we opted to go early in the morning. This particular area is relatively close to our house and it’s generally quiet without too many people around. We ended up seeing more Whitetail deer than people.

When I’m not fishing, I tend to just roam and explore. As I’ve stated previously, I am always curious about what’s around the next bend or over the horizon. And both of us continually learn something new every time we get out and look around.

The shoreline is covered with Willow trees, Buttonbush and Cockle Burs. We like to pick our way through it all and see the animal tracks and anything interesting we might come across.

Halberdleaf rosemallow (Hibiscus laevis)

We had fun even though we were only out for about 3 hours. We covered 4.91 miles and collected 8 bags of trash on the way out. I managed to find two other plants I wasn’t familiar with so didn’t include those as it will take me time to identify them. Below I will show 2 books that I use most often. If anyone from Oklahoma is interested-they are available from the Oklahoma State University bookstore.

One of the better books I have seen and used in relation to my area.

Taxonomic key. Not for the easily frustrated!

A few of the things we found (Knife is for scale).

The belt-kit I was using. I really like the Maxpedition Roly-Poly Dump pouch. It’s perfect for storing things when exploring or even foraging.

Thank you for reading. When the temperatures cool off a bit we plan on doing more fishing…but until then, we’ll keep exploring.

An Oasis…

The wife and I decided to get out to one of our favorite spots and take a look around. It had been awhile since we visited the area and summertime is as good of a time as any. In the Cross Timbers, water is life, and where you find water you also find life in abundance.

Several years ago, we were looking around in this area and stumbled upon an atlatl point. This area is perfect for a camp so I wasn’t surprised to find the artifact. I will discuss that atlatl point in another blog post at a later date. Back to the story…

Spring fed and drops into a pool down below the ledges.

We really enjoy visiting this area. We’ve seen snakes, bobcat, coyotes, deer, raccoon, beaver, opossums and mountain lions. To date we’ve managed to explore an area of about a 5 mile radius centered upon this area. Just to the South you will find a labyrinth of sandstone cliffs then it opens up onto a savannah, all the while surrounded by your typical Cross Timbers habitat of Blackjack and Post Oak as well as Hickory and Cedar.

Vibrant reds. Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis)

Brilliant whites and yellows. Prairie Fleabane (Erigeron strigosus) and Sneezeweed (Helenium amarum)

Subtle purples. Blue Mistflower (Conoclinium coelestinum) and Lesser Snakeroot (Ageratina aromatica)

Being surrounded by color in the dog days of summer is a nice change of pace. Usually by this time of year, many plants are going dormant due to the intense heat. Yet water and shade allows some plants to hold out until the end of their natural life-cycle.

Tucked away in the shade and grateful for the breeze.

Both of us are amateur naturalists and are continually learning the plants and trees in our area. We consider ourselves “life-long students” and as such spend a considerable amount of time researching things.

I am forever taking notes and making observations.

I am a nerd at heart, and as such have a vast library on outdoor related topics. Everything from botanical taxonomic keys, anthropology, all the way to spelunking. We don’t own a television for the simple reason that we are too busy doing other things to bother with watching one. We try to spend as much time outdoors as our schedules allow and find that we are the happiest when in the wild.

My choice of gear. I use the pencil and canteen the most!

Addendum: in a previous blog post on the Cross Timbers Ecoregion I mentioned the variances that it contained. Below are 2 photos we took today to illustrate those.

Fringe Zone where the Cross Timbers meet the Prairie.

Thank you for reading and I hope you found this interesting. Take Care…

Gratitude…

This post will be a rant and might get somewhat political. So if this isn’t your thing then I would suggest skipping this blog post. Furthermore, I will be writing specifically about the United States since that’s where I live.

What happened to GRATITUDE? America is a great nation and while it does have quite a few problems, it’s still a pretty good place to live. I don’t see many American flags flying like I used to. Why is that? The flag represents We The People…NOT the US Government! If the government had a flag it would be the scrolling US Debt Clock or a $100 dollar bill.

Why can’t we be grateful for what we have, what we can be or any other multitude of ideas or concepts?

I’m just a humble outdoors guy, I’m quite apolitical but versed in what’s going on. I am a registered Independent because I’d rather use facts and critical thinking to decide my stance. It makes me sick that there is no dialogue in America anymore. What little that occurs is heavily censored. That’s NOT the America I know and grew up in and served. Free speech is under attack…that is a fact! Notice I didn’t say anything about hate speech…that should be handled, but when there is only one side allowed to speak and the rest get censored, demonetized, deplatformed or cancelled…we have a major problem. Healthy debate is good for a Nation. They still teach debate in schools for a reason. Yet our leaders do not really debate, they rule by fiat or dictate. The “my way or the highway” mentality is childish.

What can I do to help fix the problem…speak out! I’m not afraid to speak out against wrongs and have many times. Will it make a difference…probably not. But I DID SOMETHING.

I get tired of social media companies promising transparency yet hiding behind the AI program they created. The Terms of Use that essentially says, “whatever we deem to be negative” when they purposely write the “Terms” to be a little ambiguous. Or worse…one company does it just because another company does.

I have stated this a gazillion times…I don’t care what color, creed, race, religion, gender, sexual preference etc etc etc…I value your opinion. I value you as an individual. I value you as a countryperson. My mentor and best friend is at the polar opposite from me in regards to the political system. Yet we talk and debate often, the end result being that we realize we are not really that far apart. That the issues we discuss COULD be solved by working together. It’s not that hard-we just have to engage in dialogue.

TRAVEL….please travel around the world as much as you can! You WILL be grateful for what you have. You WILL be grateful for the people you meet. You WILL be grateful for the different cultures you encounter.

I would have even more Gratitude if our leaders began to work together to solve the issues at hand. They work for US…We The People. They NEED to be held accountable for the job we elect and pay them to do.

And with the current political slant, I’m not seeing much in the way of facts. And the last wasn’t any better. Postmodernism is a sham. Neomarxism is a scam. We all know that Capitalism is doomed to failure. I see a lot of people pointing out faults yet offering no solutions. Yes, this system is complex and the issues are more complex. That’s where dialogue comes into play. That’s where debate becomes necessary. What if we started with GRATITUDE for what we have and are as a Nation and worked upwards from there?

End of Rant…LOVE TO ALL

Outing 5 September 2021…

Due to the heat, we haven’t been doing much fishing lately. Today was the first time in weeks that the temps were below a 100F. The high was slated to be 87F but ended up being 90F. No worries…we’ll take it!

We opted to hit a lake relatively close by and try our luck catching catfish. Spoiler Alert: We didn’t catch any. We each managed to catch a Drum and a White Bass so we still had fun. It was kind of nice to just sit there and watch a rod tip as opposed to wading mile after mile.

For bait we used a cast net to gather shad. It’s hard work and takes both luck and skill to catch them. We cast probably 50 times and ended up with 5, but it was enough to get us started. Later in the day I managed to spot and throw into a bait ball. I could hardly drag the net in because it was so full. We tried using slip bobbers but the wind kept blowing them by us way to fast. Plan B was to fish on the bottom or a little bit off of the bottom. Not ideal because this lake is full of turtles.

Early morning quiet with the sun coming up.

We arrived at about 0815 and left around 1315. Up until 1230 we had the place to ourselves. A nice quiet cove entrance, sunshine, moderate temperatures and a breeze. Then the Jetskiers and Kneeboarders showed up, making waves with their stereos cranked as loud as they would go. Time for us to leave. Besides, we promised our son that we would stop by his house on our way home to help with some carpentry work.

Sure beats working!

The Cross Timbers Ecoregion…

This blog post is not about fishing obviously, instead I thought I’d share some information about where I live.

I live on a cuesta in the Cross Timbers Ecoregion. This is a unique transition zone between the Ozarks to my East and the prairies to the West. It consists primarily of a tangle of Blackjack Oak and Post Oak trees. It is a mix of woodlands, savannah and prairie, some of which are found together in a 5 acre stretch, or a 5000 acre stretch and sometimes one or the other are in an exclusive swath spanning many miles.

I keep a half acre wide patch of my property in its natural state. Since I have horses, they have pretty much manicured the rest of the property to their liking. But there are areas around me that are true old growth forests. You couldn’t tell by looking at the trees that they were actually really old.

This particular Post Oak is at or near 100 years old and it might be 30 feet high at the highest point.

Not far from here is a preserve named the Keystone Ancient Forest that holds 500-year old Eastern Red Cedars and 300-year old Post Oak trees. It is a sight to behold.

The landscape is rugged, water can be difficult to find and the heat can be oppressive. Anything growing here has to be hardy. But it has a beauty to it that has to be experienced to fully understand. I’ve ventured through forest areas that were so thick and intertwined that you were forced onto your hands and knees just to traverse through a section. I’ve meandered through areas of savannah that had knee to waist high prairie grasses that remind a person of the African Savannah complete with non-native Mimosa trees. And the rocks…they are everywhere! They comprise every shape and size from pebbles to house size boulders.

No shortage of Prickly Pear Cactus around here.

If you spend the time and do the research, you begin to notice the abundance of edible and medicinal plants in this ecoregion. I have cataloged 63 different varieties on our property so far. What most people call weeds are actually very useful plants. And for those who don’t know…Botany is another hobby of mine! I just read an interesting article this past Friday about the effects of Taraxacum officinale on the COVID-19 virus…that’s the Latin name for Dandelion by the way. And as a side note: look into the US Pharmacopeia Book from the 1800’s–before modern pharmaceuticals took hold.

This is a picture of the soil in this area. Since this area used to be covered by the Western Interior Sea during the Cretaceous Period 145 million-66 million years ago…we have LOTS of sand.

I could literally start another blog just on the topic of edible and medicinal plants but I’m sure there are plenty of those out there.

Anyway, enough of me rambling on. I thought I’d share a small snippet of the area I call home. Beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder. The pioneers weren’t too impressed with this region and saw no economic profit potential here. That’s fine by me as they ignored it and left an amazing old-growth area intact for us to experience today.

MONACHOPSIS: the subtle but persistent feeling of being out of place.

Change is inevitable. That’s a fact and a fundamental law. We are surrounded by change and are a function of that process. Not all change is good and not all change is bad…we know that, we see that, we experience that, but more importantly, we deal with that.

As humans, we are generally disinclined to change unless we are forced to. Yet all around us things are constantly changing and we have to adapt or die. Sometimes we can be overwhelmed and we struggle with it.

I struggle quite often. I try to keep my bearings amidst chaos, amidst responsibilities and balancing my life. Thats where my passion for fishing comes into play. When I step into a stream all of the bullshit fades into the background. Somehow when I’m at the car and gearing up, I do a cursory check of my gear, and consciously decide to leave all of that unnecessary “mental detritus” locked up in the car. I hit the key fob and begin to relax and calm my mind.

I focus on being present and trying to blend into the river. My mind begins the process of focusing on “solving the puzzle.” I try to find my place! Doing what brings me a semblance of joy and happiness. I feel completely out of place surrounded by coworkers or mobs of commuters and being choked by the hustle and bustle of change.

I am not an “escapist” by nature and take my role as parent, husband, co-provider etc. seriously. But not to the point where I feel overwhelmed and lost. I know when to take a break and go somewhere that allows me to recharge my internal batteries. That place where I feel as if I belong. And for me, that is usually a place where I can fish and be away from people. A place where I find happiness. We ALL deserve a chance to not feel Out Of Place. To do something that brings us joy.

Tailwalk Troutia 55L Spinning Rod…

I have been curious about this rod for quite awhile. I like the price ( $137 shipped ) and the hardware. The fact that it has a screw-down handle is a bonus.

We finally had the time to go fishing this morning so I took this rod along to test out. I paired it with the Shimano Stradic FL 1000 and I think they compliment each other quite well. It is a 2-piece rod with 6 eyelets and it casts as expected. The reel seat and handle consist of nice hardware and geometry.

We managed to catch 11 bass but didn’t bother taking pictures since they were only about a pound in weight. The rod performed well and I really liked using it. I am impressed with the Tailwalk quality and might look into some of their other offerings.