Steady, steady...

Another post, just to prove that I am really still here! I'm not getting as many sporting-related things done as I wanted, but I did sort the fly-tying box today... that was an adventure! Still finding feathers and fluff floating around; the cat loves it. I'm moving forward again, and looking at pretty pictures of wooden boats, and plans, and... thinking. It's a big investment to build a wooden boat, and I have a lot on my hands right now. School, business, trying to get to the range more often... still, I enjoy the "old school" of sporting attitude, and a good wooden rowboat just fits it very well. There was a time when a sport wore wool, carried a wooden-stocked gun or wooden rod, used a wooden rowboat while wearing an oiled-canvas raincoat... now we enjoy the great outdoors with a high-tech arsenal designed to isolate us from the very things we say we are going to experience. I'm not suggesting that getting wet and developing hypothermia is a good, or fun, adventure... but the sports of the 1900s didn't exactly drop left and right when they went into the woods without wonder fabrics, either. We have developed, unwittingly, the bubble-wrap mentality for much of our outdoors activity. It's a brief foray, a break from the workday. It's not really a part of us. I lived in Alaska for a while, including the bush, and the oiled canvas and wool did just fine... they actually outlasted the synthetics in some cases. And I lived, and was comfortable most of the time; the times that I was not, I don't think synthetics would have helped anyway!
If this makes sense to you at all (or perhaps especially if it doesn't), look up a book called "Camping in the Old Style", by David Wescott about American camping in the early 1900s. He makes an eloquent argument that modern the "low impact, leave no trace" mentality is an illusion... the reliance on petroleum for stoves is weighed against the fire ring; the manufacture and persistence of synthetics in landfills versus natural materials which will decay and go back to the Earth... It is neither low impact or no trace: the impact is merely displaced, and traces are left all over the planet as a result of the mining, technological processes, and disposal of modern gear. Agree or not, it is thought provoking. It sees the impact of our activities not just in our favorite camping spot, but on the world. I tend to agree. A fire of wood results in a ring of charcoal, a material that has been around in the wild for a few million years; the aluminum fuel tank relies on a mine somewhere, often an open mine, and there is a tremendous amount of embedded energy in the tank when it is finished. Which is worse? I don't like the idea of fire rings scattered everywhere through the woods, but open pit mines that you can find on Google Maps from space don't really strike me as being too environmental friendly either. Moderation... moderation in building a fire, moderation in the amount of high-impact gear you choose to use. I suspect another reason behind much of the modern attitude is marketing. It's hard to market a good campfire, but a stove and fuel can be carried out in a bag, time and time again as they wear out and are used up. Campfires don't turn a profit. I have an oiled canvas jacket from 1999, bought and used the first three years of it's career in Alaska. It's worn, it's tattered, and it is still perfectly functional. The "breathable membrane super fabric" jacket didn't survive the first year... which would you rather be selling to make a living? Which would you rather have? I don't offer any absolute answers, because there aren't any. If you are going to walk or jog, or even hike on engineered, marked trails, the synthetic might be just the thing for you. If you are carrying firewood into camp, or dragging out game, the oiled canvas might meet your needs a little better.

So what does this have to do with a wooden rowboat? It's just a matter of opinion and point of view. The rowboat and most of it's components will go back to the Earth after a while. In the meantime, it won't use a lot of resources in it's construction or operation, won't leave a cloud of hazy blue smoke over my favorite lake, and I won't need ear protection and a crash helmet while it's moving. It puts me closer to what I'm going out there to enjoy in the first place. To each their own; enjoyment of the outdoors is a very personal experience.

New Start

It's been over a year since I posted anything, and what a year it was. In a line reminiscent from the old Bill Mauldin cartoons; I felt like a fugitive from the law of averages as friends departed this world at an alarming rate. I see this year as a chance to restart a lot of things I enjoy in life, things I let slide by last year. I only shot in one match last year - I must shoot in many more this year! And fish more! And boat more! Oh, and I should probably throw in finishing my PhD as well... at some point. I started kayaking on a local lake last Fall as a diversion, and loved it. I'd done a little sea kayaking before when I lived in Alaska, but it had been years ago. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed being right on the water, and this was low-impact kayaking; flat water, big, stable boat, and no spray skirt. Terribly addictive, it was! I'm looking forward to warmer weather to get on the water again.

The upshot of this rambling post? I think I'll make an effort to reactivate this blog and it's wanderings on the life a sportsman, listening intently for the Red Gods...