127 HOURS - Looks awsome and a little too parallel to a young man I know...

Comments are now online! And my hands are on fire.

I changed the settings, so that now anyone may leave a comment,

Im guessing there wont be too much hate comments, so feel free to type away.



Also, I hit the gym again tonight, and my hands are on fire.

Im getting stronger...

Hit the Gym and feel good!

I hit the climbing gym last night, and im glad I did.
I had taken almost a weeks break, after I tore myself up pretty bad the first time I went, last week. I had healed by a couple days ago, but I was finally able to work up the energy to go yesterday.

I feel strong and satisfied, as well as a bit inspired.

The problems there are amazing, considering its a gym and not real rock. Ive owned plenty of memberships to plenty of climbing gyms, and frankly im surprised that the gym in this smaller city is so good.

Im going to go again today I think, get my six-pack back!



The gym is called 'Beyond The Crux'

www.beyondthecrux.com

Game Of Thrones: Third Teaser

Gives you a much better feeling of what you'll be expecting from this series.

Game Of Thrones: Raven Teaser

The Raven.

Winter Is Coming... In spring..

SOOOOOOOO PUMPED !!  My favorite book series for many years is now coming on HBO in April!!

A Slow Down of Blog Material

So if you've been following,

unfortunately there is now a bit of a lull in blog material.
I've moved into a house and am living the domestic life at last.

I have a Super Nintendo and TV at the foot of my bed, and I've been playing all the old 'Greats'

I got a membership to the rock-climbing gym in town, so as not to become TOO soft and city-like.

School has been much more hectic, as now courses are coming to a close, and the final stretch of schooling is taken over by our Least favorite teacher, which doesn't help any of us. Oh well.

Im waiting for Christmas break to get some serious work done on a contract. That should be some good material for the blog, and some good money.

Im waiting to pull my bike into the garage of this house, once I've gotten more comfortable with my room mate. When I get my bike in here, than ill start blogging the battle of getting that beast to run.

My fore arms are destroyed right now, from going to the climbing gym a couple days ago. I had hoped to heal by today, but the last thing I can think of doing right now is pulling hard on holds. I can even feel the soreness on my arms from typing.

I think I might have a lead on a cutie from school, and now that Im out of the bush, I can actually do something about it.

So, nothing too crazy going on. But Im enjoying myself immensely. Mostly because everything is so EASY!! School is literally a minutes drive, or a 5 minute walk. Work is walkable as well and only 2 minutes to drive, but I dont want to walk in these cold mornings at 3am.

I have a shower!
I have a easy access to laundry!!!
I have a kitchen!!!!!!
I have entertainment on hand!!!!!!!!!!!!
A WARM BED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The benefits of playing by the rules are definately in evidence here

Drained *Note

To be fair to those that I've spent time with this weekend,

I have alot of homework to do before the day after tomorrow, and I have a LONG drive tomorrow too.

Drained

Short story, un-spaced as its pretty long. Untitled.

The night is long and dark.
I curl up in a semi-fetal position and try to relax in my truck.
I have had been camping up here now for two weeks, and the loneliness is setting in hard. With no real home other than my truck, and no real company other than my thoughts, the dark of night can be a hard beast to face.
Most nights I have been using my laptop to play simple games and listen to music. I plug the laptop into my trucks power-adapter and run it as long as I feel comfortable, before I get worried enough about a dead battery, and shut the truck off.
My battery sucks. My laptop battery I mean, just useless. Fully charged the comp’ might last 10 minutes, with dim lighting and low music. Oh well, I can’t afford worrying about luxuries when I’m squatting on the land in the mountains.
Tonight is a special night, for one great reason. My truck battery just died.
Damn!
I even have a volt meter for assurances. How could I be this dumb? Again!
Alright, don’t panic. You have time; you have water and food, sleeping bags and clothes. You have no music, and no form of transportation. That’s okay, those I can deal with for a bit.
What can I do?
Well, I’m parked on a hill, but its steep as hell and full of stumps, rocks, and pits for me to get happily stuck in. Let alone the fact, that at the end of that short hill are some nice trees for me to get jammed against.
Hmm... I could do it though. I have a bit of juice. Enough to help me turn over the engine, and gravity can do the rest.
I’d have to be quick.
Razor sharp.
I’d have one chance. With only 10 feet of run, it’s gonna be dicey.
Damn.
Can I back out of those trees once I’m wedged up against them, assuming I got the truck running?
I think I can, but shit, that’s another big chance too.
Go big or go home.
Okay. Let’s do it. Firsts things first get the truck just on the cusp of the hill and get it set up to roll down. Only a foot or two, no problem, I’ve pushed cars up shallow hills before, this should be no problem.
Push.
Not an inch.
Push harder.
Maybe an inch.
What the?
Can’t even get it rolling a bit.
Okay, its late.
Take it easy and rest the night.
Maybe it’s not the best idea to get my truck stuck down there in the dark when the truck needs to be level for me to sleep.


The sun is baking me alive. That must mean its morning. I roll around a bit, and try to hide from the sun. But my windows show the sun exactly where to shine on me, and I’m done like a roast.
Same battle most mornings. Takes so much to get to sleep, and so little to pull me out of it.
My thoughts wander for a while, as I’m being cooked out of my slumber. And like a glass of cold water in my face, the realization hits me that my truck is dead. It pulls me out of my half-sleep in a hurry.
Damn and double damn! I thought that was just a silly nightmare.
Nope, no nightmares out here, just hard consequences from small mistakes.
Okay, you have the whole day, first things first, breakfast.
I go to town.
I scramble three eggs with some thick chunks of onion, spices, and good hit of jalapeños. I cut up some potatoes into some nice thick squares; fry them up, with overdose of oil, into a burly plate of hash browns. I boil up some water, throw some coffee together, and cut up an apple and a banana.
Eating breakfast turns into an almost drug-like induced coma. Calms me down, and I am surprised at how hungry I was. Stress was so potent and available, that I didn’t really realize hunger was such a big part of it.
I am calm now and collected.
I congratulate myself briefly on my wisdom of calling it quits last night. I have a whole day ahead of me, I’m well fed, and it’s a gorgeous day.
Back to the problem.
Last thing I was trying was to get the truck to start rolling.
I try again.
I try hard.
Same thing, truck won’t move. It seems to want to roll a bit but it’s like all the tires have wheel chalks.
I take a good look around the truck and where the tires seem to be catching. Not much obstruction.
I know that I’ve never tried to move a vehicle on rough ground before, but still, it shouldn’t be that hard.
I do my best to clean up the areas in front of the tires, and really can’t do much, as there isn’t actually much debris in the way. I can’t dig down in front of them, as then ill just be able to roll my truck in to four little pits. Then I’m really screwed.
What about leverage?
Got to be some fallen lumber around here strong enough to push the truck.
I look for some time, but can’t find anything very promising. All the fallen wood around here is rotten crap. I’m also not the guy to chop down live trees either. So I’m stuck with using a 50 pound rotten log, only wood I could find that might be strong enough.
It’s so heavy and awkward that alot of my strength and agility is taken up by just handling the thing. Once I have connection to the back of the truck, there isn’t too much more raw strength from me to push.
I try.
I try harder.
I get upset and give up.
Not only is the logs weight holding me back, and can’t really find a good point of leverage and contact that is in the right spot. Either the bumper is too tall and above my point of strength, or the log is slipping against it, or my footing isn’t good, etc.
My only other option other than jump starting this thing myself, is not something I’m looking forward too.
My only other option is chancing on finding people after I can sweat my way up out of here on to the more active logging road.
It’s a long hike.
Not only that, but I don’t have jumper cables. It’s stupid, but I lent them to my cousin before I left and forgot about them in the haste of leaving.
If I don’t have jumper cables, and no vehicle in site, I’m going to look pretty ridiculous out there. A man who lives in the bush by himself is not someone your immediately going to trust, or at least that is the perception.
I also don’t really want to be discovered out here. I came out here to get away from it all, to get some connection to the land, but explaining that to someone, in these circumstances, will probably just sound like I’m an outcast, or maybe sound like I’m growing something illegal up here.
Do I really have a choice?
Well, not really. Pushing the truck seems to be not possible, or at the very least extremely difficult. And at the end of that, it’s a big risk as the hill isn’t long, and the chances of me getting the truck running are slim anyways. And if my truck doesn’t fire up by the end of that hill, than I’m really screwed!
Okay, it’s time for the last resort.
I can’t bring my truck, obviously, but I seriously doubt that if I do find someone, they’d be willing to let me lead them deep into the bush, supposedly to charge the battery of this bush-mans truck.
I’d have to make it easier for that person. Only option than is too bring the battery with me.
Man! This is gonna suck!
It’s a long hike out anyways, but with that battery… I mean the thing is built for a truck. Car batteries are forty pounds, this is a truck battery; at least one third bigger, filled with acid and lead. I’d rather carry 10 bricks.
Not only is the batter very heavy, that’s one thing. At least with ten bricks, or some equivalent, id be able to strap it securely to my backpack or something. I’d be able to rig up a viable method of carrying it. Not so with batteries. Well do I know what the acid in them can do to clothing, and anything really. I’ve melted a shirt once just from carrying a car battery from the front yard of my parents place to the back. The next day I grabbed the shirt again and found it covered in huge patches of emptiness. I had held the battery against my belly, and the acid had leaked out.
I don’t want to sacrifice my camping gear, especially not me expensive back-packs.
I also don’t want to destroy any good clothing, so my only safe way to carry it is to wrap in tarp and carry it against some cheap, sacrificial clothing.
Standing here all day worrying about the hike ahead, isn’t going to put any miles under you feet.
I grab my Leatherman, and unscrew the battery. I wrap the thing in a torn and worn tarp I have buried in my truck.
Time to walk.
I start walking.
I keep walking.
I walk, and start sweating.
I adjust my load, and rest, than walk again.
I walk for a shorter distance, rest, adjust the way I’m holding the battery, than keep walking.
I feel my muscles giving way.
I won’t be able to do this. I won’t make it to the logging road, maybe not even the offshoot road that I came in on.
Okay buddy, don’t be weak, tough it out and keep going.
I keep walking.
I make it to the offshoot dirt track. I realize that making it to the logging road won’t happen. Or at least not right now.
I brought some snacks and water. Time to eat and refresh a bit.
I wait.
I think I hear a noise.
Yes, it’s a vehicle.
No, it’s a plane.
I wait.
I see a squirrel squawking loudly, making a fool of himself. Almost as much of a fool as me.
I wait.
I think I hear voices.
No, that’s a bird.
I wait.
Man, how long have I been here? I should have kept track of the sun or something, or at least brought my cell phone, even though there isn’t reception up here.
I wait.
I hear voices. This time I’m less accepting of it, and tell myself that it’s just birds.
But no. That’s a laugh I hear. People are coming up the dirt road. I don’t hear any vehicles, maybe they are hunters?.
I wait.
They come into view, and I see that there are two people on bicycles. Once they get closer I see that it’s a youngish guy my age, and a fellow in his early 50’s.
I’m slightly embarrassed, as I know it must look pretty uncommon to see a young guy sitting in the middle of a random dirt road, up in the boonies, beside a car battery.
Once they get within general talking range, “Hey buddy, how’s it going?”, I reply with a smile, “Pretty good, nice day, just got a dead battery is all.”,
“Dead battery huh?, hmm… Shit, we can’t jump you, obviously, you need us to get help? Or something”,
I tell them that I’m alright and have food and water. I say this to them, with a confidence that I don’t really feel.
I find out in a brief chat that they are on a big bike tour, riding some trail that comes from somewhere and goes somewhere else. My mind isn’t really in their adventure, just that they aren’t able to help me. I try to be polite, and they are super willing to help if they could, but they can’t, and I’m disappointed, whether I show it or not.
They leave.
I’m left pretty much exhausted and noticing that its getting fairly late, as well as I’m getting hungry again; I decide that I’ll have to try again tomorrow.
I leave the battery a little off the road, thinking that no one ever really comes up here, and if they do they aren’t going to spot, or at least, steal the battery.
I begin my long trek back to the truck, and find out by the time I get back, that it’s really not that long after all.
I resolve to hike the battery much further up the road tomorrow and get it to the main logging road.
I give some self-sympathy and remind myself that I spent most of the morning and my effort, trying to push the truck.
I pull out my cooking gear, with not nearly as much enthusiasm as I had this morning. I figure out the simplest dinner, and begin to heat it. Canned chili. I toast some bread, to try to make up for the awful flavor of canned crap. But I have no energy, or no motivation, for anything else.
My mood is foul, and clouded with disappointment.
I read.
A noise.
Probably a plane again.
I listen to it for a while, I come to the conclusion that it’s not a plane. It’s a vehicle, or vehicles, probably 4x4s, as no car can travel around here.
Oh well, probably a long ways off, and it’s just my luck that I couldn’t stick it out on the road and had to be a wimp and run back home.
I try not to berate myself, but my frustration with myself is tough.
Why couldn’t I just hang out for a half hour more?
I listen for a while longer, and the trucks are getting closer.
What could it hurt to walk out that direction and see if there is a chance of catching the guys.
I start walking towards the road I was on earlier. As I’m walking the trucks are getting noticeably closer.
I start running.
I’m running hard, and all of a sudden I see a jeep. Its huge and lifted, and I hope I can get to him before he drives off without seeing me.
I’m running hard and I think I’m going to miss the jeep.
I do
He’s past field of vision, but I keep running.
I get to the road he was on, and start running his direction, than get startled with a honk right behind me.
The other truck!
Relief battles with adrenaline, and a crazy fast heart rate.
I walk up to the truck and try to speak, but all that comes out are gasps for air.
I’m trying to laugh cause it’s so ridiculous but I’m having a hard time of it with all my gasping.
Finally I’m able to choke out a few words, and slowly explain to the guys in the truck that my battery is dead and my truck is a little down the road off in the bush, but I don’t have any cables.
The jeep turned around now and now I’m talking to both trucks. The guy in the second truck tells me, “definitely, this is not my truck, ask the other guy if he has some jumpers, I’m sure we do”.
I go to the jeep, and this guy is super eager to help, but tells me that there aren’t any cables in his jeep as he forgot them with his buddy or something. But he says, no worries, there should be some in the Ford.
He’s out of his truck and spends at least 5 solid minutes searching up and down through his Ford for the cables.
I find out that he owns both vehicles.
I think he doesn’t have any, but the guy refuses to believe that both trucks have none. After a bit of time though, he accepts that he doesn’t have any.
I have to laugh.
I tell the two guys, there are five of them all together and I think they are relatives, “that’s fine, what can you do?”
But the guy with the Jeep isn’t done yet.
He asks me how far in the bush I am.
I tell him.
He tells me they could tow my truck out of there and jump it.
I tell him that I wouldn’t want him to scratch his jeep in the bush, as where I am I wacked more than a few branches coming in, and the jeep had an immaculate paint job, even though it was such an awesome off-roader.
And I tell him, ‘Its alright man, I’ll get it jumped tomorrow.’
He doesn’t buy it.
Him and his group talk a bit, and I find out pretty quickly that I’m not part of the decision process.
That’s fine. I leave fate up to them.
They get them self’s all pumped up, and I’m told that they are getting my truck out of there, no argument.
It takes them over two hours and a bunch of sweat to grab the battery back from the road, pull the truck out of the bush and jump it.
By the time we are done, its well past dark.
They do it though and I can’t help but be amazed at their generosity, and good cheer.
I go to bed with a smile, and think, man what rollercoaster!

Didnt win Contest, Oh well.

So I signed up for a short story contest.

The rules where you had 3 hours to come up with a story from a word/phrase/event etc.

The phrase given was "Booster Cables"

I ended up writing something, probably not very creative, that happened to me up in the mountains.
I did an okay job, but I was super tired, hungry, had to pee... etc etc.
I didnt win, but im glad I signed up, and I hope to read some of the stories that did win, to see what I was up against,

Other than that, Im a little sad, cause I dont think skiing is a real possiblity this winter. Just doesnt make sense, as Ill be working weekends and going to school during the week. No time to get some real shred time in, and itll be to expensive.

It looks like I have a place to rent, and me and the guy are just working out some of the specifics of that.

Im going to try to find a way to attach the story if I can.

Last post was from last weekend, this one is today, couple pic's

Today was my day off, so I used it to head up the mountain and check on the hut. It still stands!!

I was also able to clean up after last weekend, and got some chores in too.

Couple pics of the drive up, SNOW!! Dark and dreary.

What my hut looked like today before I cleaned her up and added a few 10 foot lengths of wood to her.

Just a pic of me holding one of those logs on my shoulder, I hauled only 4 of them to my hut today before I was pretty exhausted.

Kyle comes up first this weekend and helps me with wood gathering

On the second day of my friends visit, we ended working on gathering rough 10 foot lengths of wood to build my roof.

 All the lengths once they were cut. Kyle is there starting to consolidate them into one pile.

Dragging it didn't work. But it DID give the rope some serious tears.

From here we just did two loads in the truck

And at the end of the night, we hang by the fire and drink the beers

Visit to the Hut

Went up and visited my hut today, and MAN, Its so beautiful up there right now.

Clean, cold, and light powder is all over everything, and my shack is still standing!

Im going to pick up a wood stove this weekend it looks like, and hopefully install it then too. Depends on how heavy it is.

I also sweated a crap load of 9-12foot lengths of wood into the shack, and what I mean by a Crap Load is 4 lengths... It FELT like alot!! Or maybe im just weak.

I was able to get the site more set-up for winter now also, and brought all the camping stove/pots and gear in, and cleaned up the shack from over-snow.

Consolidated my wood pile and re-tarped that.

Came into town after and did my recycling and talked with a person from Valhalla Pure about where to do some ski-touring around here(Backcountry/Skinning), and she gave me a bit of info, though Im still quite in the air about what Im going to do this winter, ski-wise.

Looks like I might be forced to fork out the 900$ after taxes for a seasons pass to Big White, if I want to get any turns in this winter. As skinning on my skis might not be possible in the okanagan, or at least I might not find someone to do it with, as skiing in the backcountry is not a solo-sport.

** By the way;
Skinning is the term used for trekking on your skis/splitboard, up the mountain to ski down it after. Back in the day, seal skin was actually used and attached to the bottom of your ski. The seal skin is very smooth one way and very rough the other, essentially making it easy to slide forward, and giving you friction backwards.
These days the skins' are sinthetic, but work great, and really is a MUCH easier, (And enjoyable), form of travel through the snow, than are snow-shoes.


I got some photos of the road up today and of the shack when I got there (Covered with snow) unfortunately, leave it to me to abuse electronics. So right now my phone is giving me a hard time and not allowing a connection to my computer.

Stay tuned for a bunch of photos of last weekend and today...

In a warm bed

So these last couple nights I have been warm and cozy in a warm bed, with a hot shower each night and general good company.

Hard to write on this blog, im so lazy and relaxed.

Not much going on, just hearing different stories, and chilling with the Aussies heading up to Big White Mountain to get ready for the ski season.

Wish I could have got the photos up from last weekend and all the good times that happened up on the mountain.

Peace.

Troubles with Electronics...

Cant get photos from my phone uploaded.

Struggled hard to log into my OWN BLOG!!!!

have 15 people trying to talk to me on face book!!!!!!!!!!!

Cant save photos from facebook to this blog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



I love Life.

Stay tuned for some awsome photos and some good bloggin'

School Projects! School or Playing?

Here are some examples of some of the projects I've been doing in class. These are more of the interesting ones, but still, a good example of why I enjoy school so much, so far!

Fire

Some cool photos from my phone of the fire at night. Guess the phone's camera isnt that advanced, but the images of that fire are pretty cool!

Also just a pic of my usual evening life by the fire. Sometimes that is spiced with a cigar or two.

Pow Pow, and the toys of snow. Dreams of a better tomorrow

All heavenly Pow,

How I long for your fresh whiteness. The turns of a lifetime, the fresh air and feeling of floating.

Those thoughts get me thinking about the fact that I dont really have a set-up to go back-country skiing right now.

I got all the, expensive, avalanche equipment, and I have a back country snowboard thats spit and the skins for the board. BUT

Telemark has gotten me hooked these last couple years. It is the ultimate method of cutting turns. And I feel like its time to invest in a good set-up for winter. Ive been playing in snow for more than half my life now, and only once bought a proper set-up. It happened to be a snowboard set-up many many years ago, and served me well until it got stolen.

I bought some cheap tele gear last winter (Under 100$ for ski bindings and boots) and it confirmed my desire to cut some knee hugging turns, for life.

But DAMN!, so expensive for a good set-up.

Nice thing is that the tele boots last so-long these days, the way they are built compared to the old leathers.

Maybe when those big checks roll in, Ill bite the bullet and buy the expensive boots (600$+), I have bindings that will do right now, and can find a decent pair of skis for cheapish. But tele-boots you cant really buy second hand. There is no break-in, basically if it fits it fits, if it doesn't theres nothing you can do.

Or so i've read.

They are, for some reason, even worse for break-in than your average plastic ski-boot.

With some epic boots, and some decent skis and skins, im ready to hit some epic back country trips. Just gotta hit the Craigslist and Castanet.net for some guys(girls) to hit some gnarly backcountry. 

Note: ** How to meet strangers in the dark.

Just a quick note:

If your interested in meeting strangers in the dark,

there's no better way than to drive up a logging road at night, and run out of gas.

Start walking back to town with your cigars (But no light) and a headlamp.

After a hour or so of walking you might see a bunch of stoners smoking up, don't talk to them, you'll just freak them out with your headlamp.

Keep walking until a guy called Sean pulls over and asks if you need a hand. Tell him what happened and let him help you out.

Also, just as he's taking off after a hour or so later of driving to the gas station with him and then back to my truck, forget your brand new toque in his truck so that he gets something out of it and you sleep cold that night.

Just words of advice!

How to Test Sharpness of Saw: Step By Step Guide

Requirements for testing sharpness of saw;

#1 - Extremely sharp saw

#2 - Professional First Aid Kit

#3 - No one within 10 mile radius

#4 - A free, full, day

Step One - Find yourself a project that requires 9-10 feet lengths of wood, and then find yourself a secluded area where you can cut yourself some of these lengths from fallen trees.

Step Two - REMOVE ANY GLOVES YOU ARE WEARING! Extremely important to test. If you are wearing glove's, you must remove them IMMEDIATELY!

Step Three - Get yourself good and tangled in some bush and branch's. Very important that mobility is extremely difficult.

Step Four - Make sure your saw is out of its holster. Wave the saw around erratically in frustration of the branch's and slash. 

Step Five - *** Quickly slash the blades of your saw against the top of your fingers. Speed is crucial here, you want a quick slash. Fast enough that you don't even really know what happened.

Step Five - Make sure blood starts flowing quickly and efficiently from the cuts in your hand. 

Step Six - Run to your truck and take out your first aid kit under the pile of junk. While looking for your first aid kit, you can slow the flow of blood by using a dirty sock. 

Step Seven - Remove a large pad of gauze and wrap it around your wounds. 

IF BLEEDING IS DIFFICULT TO STOP AND YOUR WORRIED YOU MIGHT PASS OUT, YOUR SAW IS SHARP!!!

My saw passed the test with flying colors!

Step Eight - Relax with your feet above you, to keep the blood in your head so you don't pass out. Relax in the comforting thought that even though you had big plans of work to do on your day off, now your done and can't do any work. YAY!

Shaved.

I shaved.

I look like im fifteen now.

Peace!

Possible end of chapter, beginning of next...

Here are some pics of a hot rod I saw yesterday that stopped my heart!

That truck is SOOOOO Hot! holy shit.

Later last night I ended up going for a beer with a buddy from school, and we was telling me that he found a

place for his family in town here. For 1100 a month and its got four bedrooms and a GARAGE... He was wondering if Id be interested in renting one of the rooms with him to help his costs. Well. One thing Im not getting out in the bush, is a chance to work on my projects, mainly my bike. When I saw that hot rod it reminded me how much I wanted to get my project done, and how I dont have any ability to work on it. If I can get some space in that garage to work on my bike, im pretty much sold.

My Bike, (Still a long ways from finished)

Where It Started.

I also talked with my mom yesterday, as well as some advice from a few people, who generally suggested that buying right now isn't the best option. For reasons of the market, where Im at, and etc.etc.

Im also not hitting the gym cause I dont want to get sweaty, as finding a shower for me isnt as easy as it used to be.

Im not getting a chance to work on my bike (Finish it and start another Rat rod project), which that Model T Ford got me thinking about. Im driving alot, and not really having as much fun as id like to.

I live right by a rock-climbing area, but dont climb at all cause its where I live and I dont have the energy for it.

I want to SKI!!!! And I stay in the bush, that can't happen either. (No way Im getting cold and wet skiing then driving up to my shack in the middle of winter).

Not me, But I want it to be.

So, all in all, Maybe its best to hunker down in a apartment this winter, as it sounds like it would take a extreme amount of effort to make it happen in the bush anyways, and there are other things in life that im interested in.

Ive been out there for 2.5 months now, and wouldnt move into that place until beginning of December, so thats close to four months,

I feel thats a pretty good stint of roughing it.

And I can use that shack to get away in for the winter if I get squirely in the house. It would mean I have to get up there quite a bit to look after it, but that shouldn't be a problem

So maybe that chapter of this school adventure might end. Another begin.

Gonna go smoke some cigars

Now that im fed and well posted,

Im going to go up the mountain and light up a fire, and smoke a couple cigars.

OOPS, I double posted,

Oh well, both poems are good haha,

I re-wrote it cause I thought that I didnt post the last one..

Computers..

A sonnet to my truck. And some pics of my site.

 A sonnet to my truck.

Oh truck,

How you never fail,

How even when I break you,

You are always fixable,

I love how you sound when your cold,

and you scare old ladies on the street with your

loud exhaust sounds,

How you squeak and groan, 

But you eventually get there.

I love your rust.

Those great holes of rust that are getting bigger,

I love that your front shocks are blown.

I love that the back shocks are good.

I love that often I need to kick my bumper back into shape,

with steel toe boots.

I love my truck.

Here are some pics of what my shack as it is right now, as well as some of the wood that Ive gathered.

My truck was a huge help with that fire wood as I used it to cross some pretty gnarly terrain, totally natural terrain, with full loads of that fire wood, as close as I could to my site. It still took a fair amount of sweat to get those rounds of wood to the site, but it helped tonnes!

Ive got a tarp over the wood now, as it was snowing later that night that that picture was taken. I hope to set up a little roof over the wood so that I can gather more and have easy access to it.

That log there is a beast and Im trying to figure out something that I can use it for that would be worth the effort of hauling it to site. I dont have a chain saw to hack it up. All those rounds that I have Ive scrounged from abandoned campsites and the logging road itself. People lose them from there truck and leave them there.

I also have a friend from school trying to hook me up with some roof building materials, hopefully that pans out.

The Wolf

On the way to work on Sunday morning, I was attacked.

Nothing could have seemed more unlikely, but like as not, it happened.

So it was a 4am start at the bakery as usual, means that I set the alarm in the hut for about 3am, crawl out of the warm tomb of my blankets and sleeping bags and quickly throw on my boots and run through the bush to get to my truck, as the cold cuts through you and follows you like a predator.

I got in my truck, and to be honest, I had enough sleep that night.

I was driving down the logging road and chilling out with the thoughts of books and such in my head. One particular book lead to the particular scene of a wolf biting off the fingers of a grown man, than…

BOOM!!!

I was attacked.

I am not joking with you.

A wolf jumped out and attacked me.

My heart skipped a beat and the shot of adranaline that hit me was enough to kill a small horse. The old instincts of fight or flight kicked in, and I knew what my body was deciding, than…

like all silly scares, I realized the next instant, it was the white bum of a deer that had, fast as lightning, jumped away from me, around the corner of a hill.

HAHAHAHAAHAHAHA. Oh my god, I thought I was a goner right there and then.

I was shaking the fear was so sharp.

Oh well, a deer looks a lot like a wolf right??

Also a thought of moving into that little lot that guy marcel has, doesn’t actually get me that excited and I think I might still stick it out, out here until I get really destroyed. Or at least that is this 5 minutes of thought telling me.

A rant.

Ive always done things independently, and ever since I could ride a bike I would ride around for hours. Not really going anywhere particular, just exploring and trying to create missions.

I remember very vividly sitting at my living room window, staring out at the street to wait for my friend (only friend) Nathan. He was a little older than me, and a possible escape to the never ending boredom that I was always under.

I remember that I wasn’t really even satisfied when he was around. But still a better option than boredom. I wasn’t near old enough to understand my feelings. Only to feel them.

But now that I am older, the main enemy in my life is boredom. That is the killer. That is why I try to break my comfortable ways. Why I sometimes go to relative extremes to do so.

Im not a thrill seeker really, and am not addicted to fear or adrenaline, even though I enjoy a good thrill and a good adrenaline rush. What I am afraid of though. And what is with me often, is sitting somewhere, bored. Not interested, not productive, not feeling good or bad, just bored. That is my fear. And like all fears, it can find a way to manifest itself from the very fear of it itself.

I wonder if I am a loner.

Im not really worried either way. Just that I seem to be quite comfortable with large periods of being alone, not social. Compared to other people? I don’t know about that.

I am alone a lot, and it can be uncomfortable at certain times. But then again, I am very social and friendly, have amazing friends and a great family support, enjoy peoples company. And yet I am completely alone here. I don’t have any real friends here yet and am just starting to work at building some friendships. But being alone is my reality right now.

I don’t think I mind.

This guy from school, is one year older than me and has a wife and two kids, a mortgage and is moving and has a steady job and etc.etc.etc… Crazy how different our paths are right now, and yet we are both in the same program and I believe we both will make good teachers in our own right.

Change of plans and beer

So beer leads to shacks

or shacks lead to beer

or... There was a crow, there was a raven, and there was Matt. Who came first? The shark gets the rest.

Yes.

This weekend was filled with a fare share of beer as I got a few checks and finally feel on top of the water for a bit and needed to celebrate a little. Nothing too crazy though as I have a new found fear (Or respect), of poverty.

I went out for a classmates birthday, the guy who said he'd talk to his father in law about getting me a wood stove. Well it turns out that the father in law said F*** That.

He said to my buddy that a wood stove isnt going to do me any good if my walls are just canvas and my roof is just tarp. He said that "why doesn't he just stay on my land?"

haha, what?

It turns out this guy has a acre of land with a trailer and a shack on it. Its not being used and he's trying to sell it but it definately wont sell during the winter (So he says). I end up meeting him and me and him go down to the land (with a beer stop on the way, for him not me, i dont drink and drive), and we see the place. Well I gotta say its better than where im staying. Not as nice a area but the building has a ROOF. It has INSULATION. It has a WHOLE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FLOOR THAT IF I FELL INTO I COULD SERIOUSLY HURT MYSELF. Thats all fine! The whole needs to be covered up way better, it needs a stove installed in it, it needs some SERIOUS cleaning up and the property itself could use some TLC but thats all fine, and with this little building i could make it all winter!!

The guy was crazy enthusiastic to get me in there, and to be honest at first it worried me a tiny bit, but my friend from school is the kind of guy I would trust heavily and he tells me his father-in-law is solid gold, and its stupid to turn down help. I offered to pay a little rent (Before I saw the place haha), but the guy (Marcel is his name) said that is not a problem and I think he just wants to help. The place hasnt been touched for years at a time, and I can tell. Probably helps him a bit to have someone on it getting little things looked after. The trailer on the plot is at first what he suggested but when we went in there, it was done. The roof of it had fallen and everything was almost destroyed inside.
The only problem is there is a large pack of angry wolves that use their surrounding plots of land to grow their stock and things like that. I told him thats fine and me and wolves generally get along fine, as long as they dont go for my achilles tendon and try to eat me.

He also told me there was a cougar in the area looking for young meat. I also told him that was fine...

we'll see how it goes on monday as Im planning to head out there with my bud from school again..

Help Comes In Fours

Yesterday was a interesting day.

I guess all my whining has gotten around and decided to cause some trouble.

Four levels of help came to me and Ill tell you what they are.

First is a Santa Clause sized satchel full of muffins. My muchy rations for at least a week, as well as each guy in my class got a muffin today. They where burnt while I was working. The whole... muffin batch. But to be honest it wasnt really my fault. Well, mostly not my fault.

Second is a co-student ended up giving me a bunch of cash straight up. (I gave half of it back today, but still kept the rest), partly for helping him with some school work and mostly just to help. It took me back a bit, and I didnt want to accept it at first, but he was sincere and Ill get him back.

Third is my grandparents emailed me in a panic wanting to help me. And through a phone call and bunch of talking they are going to help me, wether I wanted to be helped or not, it is best. And now much appreciated, cause taking out loans with a 100% interest makes no sense and is hard to get out of.

Fourth, on my way home I decided (Wisely) to check out a big campsite that had been in use for a week or so and recently vacated. I ended up finding a huge stash of big rounds of nice pine firewood!!! Loaded the hell out of my truck and dumped it as near as I could get to my shack with my truck. Tomorrow, on my day off, ill sweat it into my location.

So somewhere it was decided that I was to be given a helping hand that day.

Note: May have a giant lead to getting my hands on a wood stove! As well as sounds like a guy in my class is gonna try to help me with building a good roof for my shack!!

Minor Success Number One

Last night was the best sleep in my shack I've had yet! (even though I woke at 3am to get to work).

Due to a few factors, the major one embarrasingly being that it was considerably warmer last night (I mean 1 or 2 degrees instead of minus 5), but a couple other factors helped to.

First thing, My blankets that I wrapped around my sleeping bags had been falling off and losing their fasteners that I put into them. I fixed that and improved it. Snugging it around my sleeping bags and tightening it up, leaving no air flow areas open that would destroy my warmth.

The second thing, I ended up trying that theory of heating water and putting it in a bottle and throwing that in with you when you sleep. IT WORKED!

It felt like I was with another body, without the benefits of that in reality, haha. Even though it was a small aluminum bottle, not even 1 litre. It was still noticably warm when I woke up at 3am, 5 hours after I put it in with me.

Im pretty sold on the idea and when I get a bigger bottle, I will definately keep that in with me.

It gave me some confidence that I might be able to slowly build my comfort levels up as the weather gets colder, respectively.

Note: Grated Road!

Just another Note:

and that is that the logging road up to my location was grated with new soil and rock,

Basically means SMOOTHER RIDE!!!!

hopefully I wont have as big a issue with truck maintenance as I thought. And it cuts down on my commute time a bit too!

Failed Attempt Number One,

Couple of nights ago, I may have mentioned, it was SUPER cold. Yesterday I went online and did a weather check and found out that last night was to be the last day in this last little cold front and that it was going to be zero degrees in kelowna which would mean minus three or four where I am. On one side I was happy that it would be only one more really cold night for the next little bit, I was also worried, cause I still wont be able to grab a stove for I dont know how long and Im not getting much sleep.

So Yesterday after work was done (10Am haha im finished), I went to play the last of my hours at the computer gaming store. I feel pretty satiated with Starcraft as Ive gotten into the league that I think I deserve to be in, and now I feel like ive played enough of it for a while and am starting to get back into reading for entertainment.

Buddy said he would call me for some of his homemade beers, and he did, but said that he was pretty smoked from work, which was just fine by me as I kind of wanted to enjoy me night off relaxed by a fire, and that I did.

I built a nice hot fire and kept it hot (Cause it was really cold last night), and while I was fire side, I went over my mind of different temporary options to get a warm nights rest.

A guy had told me once that when your wintercamping boil a couple of liters of water and put it into a 2liter coke bottle and throw that in your sleeping bag. He said that went a long way to getting a warm sleep. I thought of that, but i didnt have much water to spare, or a 2liter pop bottle, AND I dont know if I want a bottle of water in my sleeping bag as I dont think it would be that comfortable.

I also thought of my assets for that night. My biggest asset being a warm fire, even though its outside of my tent. What does a hot fire have at the end of the night? Well, coals and the stones around it are hot too. That let me into the train of thought of sauna's and how they work. Coals and hot rocks right? Well, I didnt want open coals in my tent , but would hot rocks keep me warm?

In theory I thought so, and I ended up putting out quite a bit of effort to make that Idea happen, Unfortunately last night was the coldest night ive slept yet and barely got any sleep considering the huge amount of hours I spent in that bed (9pm-11Am!!). Though the hugely broken up sleep gave way to an amazing amount of vivid dreams.

Unfortunately because there where so many dreams, I dont remember any of them specifically, just bits and pieces. I still liked it though as its almost a psycadelic trip.
So all this said, I am no closer to solving my issues of a warms night sleep, though the weather should give me some mercy for the next couple days at least.

I also have to deal with a big pile of big stones in my tent now, ha.

Wood Stove, the simple life,

Just a note:,

It seems the main thing that I want or need or think about, is my ability to purchase or aquire a wood-stove.

Ive got a wood supply source thats adequate for now.

But if thats all I want in this world, than im doing pretty good.

(Unfortunately, its not all I want, what I want more than anything right now is financial floatation.)

Sorry if the last post had a bit too much violin in it.

Woke up this morning at 2Am, or so, to get to work. And HOLY MOLY its cold.

I found out today that at that time it was about minus 1 or 2 in kelowna which means it must be a few degrees colder on the mountain.

To be honest it worries me a bit, if I cant handle minus 5 than how can i handle minus 30. Then again I dont have a stove or anything else that I want to set up before the full of winter hits.

Also I need to adjust some things with sleeping and that should help a bit. But man, winter is here ready or not!

(Oh and it SMELLS like winter, which I really like!), hopefully i can get some skiing in this winter.

If you think your living on the edge of your seat...

Im so broke it makes me sick,

I had a check for 34 dollars from the government, And all I could think of was how to use it best. When I deposited it into my account I went to immediately withdraw it and found out that my account was now minus 10$, AFTER THE DEPOSIT. It turns out I had a 35$ fee or something in there that I didn't know about.I have a small visa maxed out and nothing else. I threw the last 30 bucks cash I had into my truck for gas, and that was a few days ago... Dont know how low I am now, and if I run out... I dont know what ill do. I didnt go volunteering at the high school today cause I cant afford the gas, and need the free day to figure out my shit.

I sighned up for a visa at Zellers because I need to eat.. I am buying crap food from there and eating at their resturaunt for 28% interest. I tried to withdraw cash from my temporary card but I cant until I have the real one.

I am going to money mart to withdraw 60$. I am withdrawing that 60$ as thats the max I can off of the first (Very small), pay check I got from my new job. To withdraw that small amount of money, its going to cost me just over 50$ straight... So I am paying almost 100 percent interest on that small amount of cash. But I cant think of another option, other than begging... Begging my parents or grand parents, and Ive already done that, and it doesnt make me feel good, and it has to stop some time.

I woke up this morning very cold and slept till 10am trying to get enough un-interrupted sleep. When I went outside the tent, I was threated by ice all over the ground and the outside of the tent.

A wood stove would solve that problem as I can load big stones around the stove that would absorb the heat while the stove ran and then realeased it while I slept. But I dont have 30 cents to spare, so I sleep cold.

Anyways, life gets tight sometimes, and as my granpa used to say to his sons, its not the bills and the tight week or two youll remember when your older, but the big decisions and important degrees or financial investments you didnt get. (I.E. school).

And school is still going good.

Moved In

Moved into the shack this long weekend. Slept three nights there now and I got to say I really like it. By the way, I really shouldnt call it a shack, as its more a glorified wall-tent.

Spent hours and hours beside a hot fire all weekend. Very relaxing and settling.

The tent is buttoned up, as the second night I slept there I almost didn't get any sleep I was so cold.
I found the culprit, and that was the tarp was un-secured and letting air in.
As soon as the breeze starts hitting you, your done.

I also set two extra blankets wrapped around my sleeping bags so now I am sleeping in a four layered taco. Very warm!!

I spent alot of time thinking about it last night and realised that living there doesn't make any financial sense. I am spending more on fuel, entertainment inside town(Starcraft), and food, all together than I would on a 400$ room a month. Not to mention the wear and tear on the truck and the eventual repair bills i would have to pay on it. Also, I would inevitably spend lots of money just to make living there in the winter possible as well.

As soon as I can, I will look for a room, and definately keep the shack as my weekend get-away place, in lue-of money for a cabin and land.

Oh, and for you starcraft players, this weekend I made Platinum League!! Very hard for me to do, I had to destroy many-a expert player to do so!

Other than that, life is fine

Moved in, and a light substance

Last night I moved into the shack.

Finally.!

got all my bedding over and a bunch of other stuff, finished the door with some canvas, tightened up the roof a bit, and built a fire pit a bunch of feet in front of the hut.

I smoked a cigar in utter contentement last night, The next days financial worries not with me and completely forgotten.

I sat in front of a hot fire and contemplated life and girls.

I slept very well and didnt change anything yet compared to my sleeping arrangments in my truck.

** And, though not heavily,

It snowed last night.

The Beginning,

So, as i've never had a blog before, I guess ill just start off as if I have been doing this for a while.

Last night I finally had time to get a huge sleep. About 12 hours actually. The weekend partying in vancouver and then the late drive out here to kelowna, and starting work at 4 in the morning on monday, killed me. The hungarian moonshine (Called Palinka), was drank by me like water on saturday night (For my Moms birthday), and monday and sunday I felt it hard.
Last night was tuesday, and the reason I still not had a good sleep is on monday night, (The night I should have focused on recovering), I stayed in town and played Starcraft II for hours. Then worked again 4 in the morning at the bakery on tuesday, and had school both days... Big mistake

Note to self: NEVER PLAY STARCRAFT WHEN YOU SHOULD GET TO SLEEP EARLY!!

The twelve hour sleep I had was great, but I didnt walk away from it actually getting  full twelve hours. I underestimated the weather, and went to sleep with not much warm clothing and tossed and turned from the cold quite a bit. But all in all I got enough sleep to recover.

This morning was the coldest ive been in yet. Surprising cold. Was difficult to get changed in my truck before my balls froze off (Sorry for that rough language, but was the absolute truth). Maybe a small taste of things to come this winter.

My doubled up sleeping bag set-up wasn't warm enough. Even though one of them is rated for minus 17 degrees celcius. Though to be fair to it, its pretty warn out, and has been washed one too many times.

It looks like my plan for the winter is setting up a multi layered sleeping cover system. With A very large, heavy duty wool blanket wrapped around a smaller down blanket wrapped around my double sleeping bag wrap. The large blankets will be fastened on the sides to the ply-wood sheet that is my bed frame, so as not to shift. Hopefully the wood stove can keep the shack warmish for most of the night too.

Im looking foward to finally moving into the shack..

Its a long drive up the mountain just to park my truck. Even if the location is awsome.

Not much to do to move in really, but there is always something better to do in town, (Starcraft II), and without the wood stove yet, the motivation to get in there isn't quite enough yet. Though a soon as I get free night ill probably do it.

At school, we are working in the wood shop now, and have huge wood waste bins all over the place. I asked one of the authority figures if I can get access to the garbage wood, and he said for sure, no problem. SWEET!!! heating supply for the winter, DONE.

One of the guys from the classroom advised against using the wood-waste because something from processed wood gums up wood stoves and fire-places. But what he doesn't know is , I dont give a shit...

Oh well, advice taken and stored in my brain. Maybe sometime when I own a nice wood stove, ill try not to use wood-shop waste.

Today was the first day in the shop for school, instead of sitting in the same chair in a classroom for eight hours. And man did the time fly. Sometime during midday I looked up from my work and noticed only a few guys left and the teacher, so I asked where everyone was, and the teacher told me they went for lunch break 20minutes ago, haha. Oops, having too much fun with a wood planer.

Hope this was a good first blog!,

now off to Starcraft...

First Post!

This is my first post!

Hope I can figure this site out.