Inklings

Category: recreation

  • Tenting

    tent

    We’ve been campers for quite some time and our primary form of residence has always been a tent. I grew up hiking, camping and tenting so for me it’s really nothing new. In Scouts we had our fair share of erecting the heavy canvas tents so the transition to the nylon variety was a welcome change. We purchased our second family tent just last season and I have to say I’m amazed at the improvement in tent design – especially when it comes to stowage, weight and set-up. Gone are the days of having forty aluminum poles all different sizes that you had to assemble in some miraculous manner to hold the fabric that would be your home for the night. I can’t speak for anyone else, but that alone makes me a happy camper!

  • Hot Dogs

    hotdogs

    Nothing beats food over a campfire. There’s just something about preparing your meals over the open flame that makes it taste better. Probably the easiest food to prepare is the hot dog. Granted it’s not the most sophisticated of meats, but a nice convenient serving fit for being prodded and suspended over the pit. Camping ensures that everyone makes their hot dog quota.

  • Memorable Weather

    smores

    Today we kick-off the eighth annual Memorial Day camping weekend with my in-laws. In that time we’ve experienced all kinds of weather which, if you’re tenting, can make all the difference. Most years the nightly lows would hover just above freezing. Other years we’ve nearly been carried away by the rain and high winds. And two years ago we endured the entire weekend sitting in inches of rain without a campfire due to the ridiculous county-wide fire ban. This year, despite the forecast, looks to be warmer and, for the most part, drier than years past. Regardless of what the weather forecast holds, the tradition has built some amazing memories over the years and continues to be one of the highlights of summer.

  • Ninja, Hunter, Bear

    ninja_hunter_bear

    My boys introduced me to an alternative approach to decision-making. Everyone’s familiar with Rock, Paper, Scissors but have you heard of Ninja, Hunter, Bear? I have to admit, I was intrigued with how this worked and the boys were so kind as to indulge my curiosity. Turns out it isn’t as discrete as one would hope. You actually stand with your backs toward each other and in duel-like fashion you count to three and do a jump turn to reveal what you are: hands up like claws if you’re a bear, hands up like your aiming down the sight of a rifle if you’re a hunter and one hand out holding a sword and the other back if you’re a ninja.

    It seems to work okay, though logically I think it’s a bit more troublesome. In my mind a hunter with a high-powered rifle should be able to take out a ninja (provided he can see him), but that is not the case. Likewise, a bear defeating a ninja seems unlikely – unless the bear is also a ninja, but I digress. As long as the participants know the trumping rules such analysis isn’t necessary but personally I’d rather stick with the Rock, Paper, Scissors hand-jive.

  • Snipe Hunting

    snipes

    All this wet weather should really bring out the snipes for camping this Memorial Day weekend. Snipe hunting opens after dusk on the Friday before Memorial Day every year and it’s a tradition that’s been kept alive for generations. Surprisingly enough, in all the years we’ve been out hunting we’ve yet to bag one of the buggers. I realize it’s the one species of wildlife that is not under the management of any state game department (that’s why a license isn’t required to hunt them) but I think the world would benefit from a class or two on how to track and identify a snipe. Instead we’ve come to rely on intuition and family tradition to pass this on to future generations.

    As far as I know the snipe species varies like all other animals but legend holds that the rainbow-colored snipe is the most vicious and, contrary to what you might believe, is very hard to spot in the wild. It’s for this reason that I would never suggest going snipe hunting alone. Always bring an adult and two very firm and dry sticks for clicking together (and defense if necessary). I’m not sure if the clicking helps attract or repel the snipe, but past hunts would suggest maybe both.

    In the event that you should see a snipe, be prepared to capture it. Stunning it with one of your calling sticks is recommended before handling any snipe as they are usually antlered and have very sharp claws. A simple pillow case will do the trick (be sure to take the pillow out of it first). Lastly, be sure to lace up your running shoes, because snipes are also very fast. Whether you are pursuing or being pursued you don’t want to be caught in flip-flops.

    There are no books written on the topic of snipe hunting, so hopefully you’ve found these few tips to be somewhat helpful. I think the most important things to remember about snipe hunting are to be safe and have fun. Happy hunting!

  • Risk

    risk

    Last night I spent a picture-perfect evening on the patio with my two boys playing a somewhat civil game of RISK®. I realize that the serious gamer would consider RISK® to be ‘Ameri-trash’ because of its dependency on dice to settle a player’s fate but all things considered, the aptly-named Parker Brothers classic teaches simple strategy and consequence.

    My oldest is so competitive when it comes to games. Any time I was on a lucky roll he would proclaim the game ‘stupid’ and accuse me of picking on him. No matter how many times I tried to explain to him that it takes no particular skill to throw sixes, he was convinced that it wasn’t luck. How quickly his attitude changed when I was the one begging for mercy. Once he and his brother allied with one another they pretty much ‘owned me’. It seemed that no matter how much mojo I threw on those dice I could do nothing but roll ‘cap gun’ ones to their ‘cannon’ fives and sixes. Stupid game!

  • Billiards

    I always enjoyed the game of pool. I think a lot of that had to do with the fact that we never had a table growing up. It was always something we wanted – especially after visiting any friends or cousins who did. It didn’t occur to me until I was much older that there was actually some skill involved in playing the game. Turned out it was actually more than just hitting the cue ball as hard as you could. Suddenly physics, geometry and even ‘English’ had new meaning.

    In college I played nearly every day after classes. For Christmas I got a pool cue. By all standards I was ‘into’ the game. At least I thought I was. I entered an eight-ball tournament in college and soon learned differently. Apparently there were people out there that were more ‘into it’ than I was. In one game I actually beat myself before my opponent had the chance by scratching on the break. Yeah, I was not a pool shark.

  • Swimming Lessons

    I was fortunate that I grew up in a town that made it mandatory for every kid to learn how to swim. Seriously! As eighth graders we were all shipped off to the local indoor pool and evaluated to see where we were on the swimming skills ‘food chain’. I think I landed somewhere between shipwreck and anchor. I wasn’t even an accomplished doggy-paddler based on the fact that I was placed in the beginner’s class. I was a splash above drowning. So, for a whole semester I learned how to swim, dive and even snorkel. By the time I completed my freshmen swim class I was asked to consider the swim team (I had been promoted to driftwood).

    Knowing what I had to go through to learn how to swim, it’s easier to encourage my boys to learn this skill when they are young. While our oldest is a level four, I don’t think our youngest has made it past level two. Neither one of them will drown if they are in the water, but there’s a certain comfort level knowing that your kids are accomplished swimmers. We tend to keep a closer eye on them both when they’re in the pool, but I’m proud to say that my youngest is a much better doggy-paddler than I was at his age.

  • Assembly Required

    If I see another schematic on how to assemble something, it will be too soon. I spent most of  today assembling patio furniture and installing new door knobs in the house. Most would assume that those projects wouldn’t take all day, but then they’ve never thoroughly consulted the manufacturer’s assembly instructions.

    I think the individual designers responsible for drafting the illustrations for assembly instructions must have some sort of score to settle with mankind. The stuff may be manufactured cheaply in China, but some American is responsible for the design of it – why can’t the instructions be illustrated well enough to understand easily? I know a lot of guys refer to the ‘instructions’ as ‘suggestions’ and prefer to figure it out on their own, but I fall into the minority that does things to the letter. Yes, I am told quite often that I can make any simple project take more time. I guess I just have a gift.

  • Baseball

    There may still be snow hiding in the northern recesses of my yard, but the season of America’s game is officially upon our household. My oldest is starting his sixth season and has, for the first time, tryouts for the 10 year-old Bismarck All Stars traveling team this Saturday. I know he ranks baseball as his second favorite sport next to football, but lately he’s been all about (ironically enough) his third-ranked sport – basketball. I just thought with tryouts this weekend he would be more inclined to condition himself and get reacquainted with the game of baseball.

    I’m not the type of parent that will ever coerce my kids to participate in a sport if their heart isn’t in it, but I spent a fair amount of time gently encouraging him to reconsider my offer to work with him a bit before tryouts. Apparently shooting buckets with his buddies was more of a priority. Hopefully he won’t have a reason to regret that decision come Saturday.

    Admittedly, the evening wasn’t an entire loss. I did have the opportunity to work with my youngest on the more fundamental aspects of catching a baseball – like actually getting the ball to touch his glove. It’s sometimes painful to have to ‘start over’ with the basics with son #2, but in a lot of ways I’m fortunate that I have the opportunity to do it all again.