Sweating in the Arctic

27C (80F) at 11pm. Not the kind of temperatures most people consider when they think about arctic living but it's not uncommon to hit the high 20s or even low thirties. Plus the sun is still up and will be up all night, feels a lot warmer. All the buildings are cooking, they generally have atrocious ventilation, metal siding and roofs, and heavy insulation without attic vents. The apartment I lived in when I moved up here was consistently 40 degrees (104F) in 20+ weather, there was no way to cool it down and sometimes you couldn't even turn off the damn heat!! They'd leave it running because it had just snowed (worried about pipes freezing) and no one could be bothered to turn it off for a couple of days.

I know air conditioning is a waste of energy and resources but I just can't sleep without it.

Thinking of the extreme heat that so many regions will have to look forward to due to changing climate conditions is pretty brutal. And A/C is not the answer, it's too power hungry and you can't count on power being available. Using solar panels for power may be a short-term option but a non-technology based solution is ideal. For example, having a basement in your home sure helps, I grew up in Saskatchewan and practically lived in our basement in the summer. Handy for tornadoes too!

Make sure your home is well ventilated, use tinfoil if needed to keep heat from streaming in windows and explore non-powered ways to keep your house tolerable. Trees provide shade and of course other good things - wood, possibly fruit, etc. A good system of window shades or tinfoil will help. If you have pets, children, or elderly people in the home, remember they are all more vulnerable to extreme heat. Make sure everyone stays hydrated, most people don't drink enough fluids - by the time you feel thirsty, you are already dehydrated. The easiest way to check is to see if your urine is clear.

Cold Steel Recon Scout Knife Modification

In my previous review post of the Recon Scout, I said that the "only real negative about the knife is that I absolutely hate the guard" and that I could see why some people (saw some online) would cut off the back part.

I finally did it too!

It hurt a little to deface this knife but I had to try it. This isn't a pretty display knife, it's a knife I intend to use hard around camp. It's not going to stay "pretty" so why not make it even more functional? More functional for me at least.

My fancy mod involved a hacksaw, a file, and some anti-rust black spray paint for after. At first I just cut off about half of the back guard. Was OK but in the end I took off all of it. The handle got rubbed a little, the file work is amateurish, the spray paint is very bush league - but it's functional, it looks good enough in my eyes and I LOVE IT!!!!

The knife is pretty much perfect now. Losing the guard may not be the best thing for a tactical/fighting knife but that's not what I will ever use the knife for and it's not a great knife for that anyway - too heavy and I don't like the handle for a fighting knife*. It's still more than capable of emergency use along those lines but its use as a camp/woods knife, a super strong, super thick piece of steel, is where it excels. Now I have a usable finger choil (works for my small fingers) for more fine work. I didn't like the idea of bashing the back of that guard when batoning either, makes a nice smooth line along the back (well, smoothish if we ignore the ugly cut marks).

If I ever get a new camera I'll do a video or pics.

This mod isn't for everyone and it certainly will reduce (if not eliminate) the possibility of selling the knife, but it's great for me.

The sheath still works the same, no change to retention. I am planning on getting a new kydex sheath anyway, I can get a smaller sheath now and something that won't rattle. I found a new kydex guy on ebay, he does great work.


*For a pure fighting knife at a cheap price, consider the Cold Steel OSS.

Change to Blog Name?

I have requested a transfer to NW British Columbia. I am hoping it goes through but I am very nervous about the actual move and pessimistic about my chances.

If it happens, I will be over 800 NM further south....maybe I will be From the Not Quite as Far North? :)

My lack of youtube videos

Periodically I've promised to do youtube reviews of various knives and gear items. I've definitely fallen behind on that! They are more time consuming than I expected and difficult to do without a tripod, even with a digital camera (tripod has been ordered). I did intend to bang out a few this weekend, I finally had some time off work and was feeling ambitious. Unfortunately my wife seems to have caught wind of my plans and broke both of our digital cameras! Within three, she dropped both of them and smashed them beyond my ability to repair.

Damn, that sucked.

Guess we'll be picking up another one on vacation.

So.....no videos for at least 2 months, sorry, unless I borrow one from someone else or give a webcam a try.

More Snow in June

I should probably be all contrite and say "uh oh, be careful what you wish for..."

But I am LOVING IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good thing I never packed up the winter coats.

Also a good thing that we don't have a garden! I was going to try a window garden this year but never got to it. I am pretty sure another one of my middle names is procrastination. Plus my wife really wasn't on board with the idea.

June 11/11 Note: OK, still liking the snow (more today) but I could have done without the rain yesterday. In a different location where there were actual crops and gardens you have to love rain (at the right times) but I much prefer snow over rain. Mental note, don't move to Prince Rupert BC.

Drowning Doesn't Look Like Drowning

With summer and swimming season upon us (well, most of us) this is a worthwhile article on the differences between what a drowning person looks like in reality as opposed to the accepted TV version. I included a few highlights, please review the full article, has a great example at the start.

Drowning Doesn't Look Like Drowning

Thanks to Mario Vittone for posting this worthwhile article.

Drowning does not look like drowning – Dr. Pia, in an article in the Coast Guard’s On Scene Magazine, described the instinctive drowning response like this:

Except in rare circumstances, drowning people are physiologically unable to call out for help...drowning people cannot voluntarily control their arm movements. Physiologically, drowning people who are struggling on the surface of the water cannot stop drowning and perform voluntary movements such as waving for help, moving toward a rescuer, or reaching out for a piece of rescue equipment...these drowning people can only struggle on the surface of the water from 20 to 60 seconds before submersion occurs.

(Source: On Scene Magazine: Fall 2006 (page 14))

This doesn’t mean that a person that is yelling for help and thrashing isn’t in real trouble – they are experiencing aquatic distress. Not always present before the instinctive drowning response, aquatic distress doesn’t last long – but unlike true drowning, these victims can still assist in their own rescue. They can grab lifelines, throw rings, etc.

Look for these other signs of drowning when persons are in the water:

- Head low in the water, mouth at water level
- Head tilted back with mouth open
- Eyes glassy and empty, unable to focus
- Eyes closed
- Hair over forehead or eyes
- Not using legs – Vertical
- Hyperventilating or gasping
- Trying to swim in a particular direction but not making headway
- Trying to roll over on the back
- Appear to be climbing an invisible ladder.

So if a crew member falls overboard and everything looks OK – don’t be too sure. Sometimes the most common indication that someone is drowning is that they don’t look like they’re drowning.

The Hoody - Everday Survival Clothing

The hoody, (aka hoodie, kangaroo, or bunnyhug) is the kind of simple and relatively inexpensive clothing item that can be very useful in almost any survival situation. The kind I recommend is the full zip version with front pockets. The material is not super important (any hoody is better than no hoody) though some fabrics are certainly superior to others. I usually favor an under armour zip up hoody as they fit me well, are very comfortable, decent for either warm or cold weather, and are quick drying.

The full zipper allows easy on/easy off and effective ventilation. The front pockets are useful for carrying all sorts of items, and the hoody is useful for protection against sun, wind, cold, bugs, dust, etc. Having a hood is an enormous benefit and provides a simple flip-up layer for cold weather. I wear or at least carry one of these with me everywhere. We don't get a lot of rain here so this is more useful to me that a zip up hooded shell, I have the one use ponchos and a few giant orange garbage bags for really wet, unexpected weather.

Simple, relativey cheap, multi-use, appropriate wear for most settings (won't attract attention). Now that's an EDC survival item.

Politics

This entry was originally a post on the Canada Post strike, a very bad situation for non-urbanites. I ended up deleting it and kicking it over to my other blog, survivalsocialist.blogspot.com.

When I was trying to decide where I wanted to go with this blog, I made a decision to mostly avoid politics and religion. There are sites I used to follow that turned me off with their rabid and uninformed views, I just couldn't take sorting out the interesting items from what I viewed as ignorant drek or items that weren't of interest to me.

I didn't want to turn others off in the same way and decided to have an alternate blog going where I would discuss more controversial things. I really wasn't adding any content to it though and ended up deleting it. After what was supposed to be a brief discussion of the CPC strike and its effects turned into a lengthy pro-union diatribe, I decided to undelete my other blog and kick over the occasional pertinent entry. I may add a post on this blog from time to time that mentions new content on the other, we'll see. For those of you that don't want to see such things, I'll try to keep this site non-political.

Snow in June

My wish has been granted, we got a couple of days of below freezing temperatures this week (around -2C overnight) and some snowfall. DIE MOSQUITOES DIE!

After a couple of weeks of ridiculously warm (20+) and sunny days, it was a very fast change. And already we are back to very sunny days and highs approaching 20C.

This kind of radical temperature change is something to consider when preparing an evacuation kit. Some people I know totally repack their equipment for different seasons. I realize that different parts of the world have vastly different climates but I do think it is important to try to maintain a more all season bag rather than too much of a season-specific one. One simple reason is that you might forget to repack it for the next season or just not get around to it - I am pretty sure procrastination is my middle name at least. Additionally for where I live, similar to many parts of Canada, rapid weather changes and extreme temperature fluctuations are not uncommon. Does it snow in summer a lot? Maybe not but we do usually get a little snow, even in July or August and it does occasionally occur even in the southern parts of the country (snowed south of Edmonton this week). And even if it isn't actually below freezing, much colder weather than the norm can always happen.

You must also consider overnight temperatures which can be exceedingly cold compared to daytime weather. When I see the way some people pack for "running for the hills" I suspect their camping experiences were some combinations of:

1. Never
2. So long ago they might as well be never
3. Car camping
4. Using an RV
5. "Roughing it" in a cabin with a woodstove/fireplace
6. Summer weather that worked out for them

It's like they've been cold or wet before, even when camping! Lucky people perhaps, but I have a hard time imaging how they could even manage living in an improvised shelter let alone in the bush with such limited gear and clothing. When packing an evacuation kit, you should consider the worst case scenario - wet, freezing cold, etc, rather than always go for the lightest items possible. It's a lot easier to jettison extra items than go back and get what you didn't bring.

Why do I keep saying evacuation kit rather than BOB (bug out bag)? A lot of the BOB examples I see online are based on a more grab-and-go small bag and seem to cater to an American audience - they are centered around firearms. Not that I'm opposed to the idea but grabbing your guns and taking off with them is more complicated in Canada and a lot of the best portable weapons are illegal. Additionally, the weapons based gear kit is for defense against people, it's not necessarily of much other value. Plus that kind of BOB doesn't address pretty much the most important thing you should consider for evacuating - clothing. I can build some pretty decent shelters, I can potentially scavenge for some food or just starve for a long time (it works for many situations), there is lots of water here, etc, but I can't imagine trying to make clothing. And even if I somehow become the mighty bushman and killed a moose with my teeth, I have no idea how to make clothes from it!!

Our Evacuation Kit

What I have is backpacks pre-packed for all of us (also useful for camping trips). This is the main evacuation kit item and is relatively grab-and-go. I also have some very large duffel bags with extra clothing and various other useful items - they can be thrown into a car but wouldn't be something we carried with us if we were walking out. Unfortunately, due to the bulk of some items and the cost of good gear, we don't have duplicate sets of our best boots and extreme winter clothing. We actually wear that stuff in winter. If we weren't able to grab it at the front door, we would have to make do but we would be in trouble. I hope to improve on that over time or just move somewhere warmer, hehe.

As for what you should focus on, clothing-wise, it's always best to remember the old standby - layers. Layers provide the most effective way to maintain your core temperature and since you are planning for an evacuation that could happen at any time under any sort of conditions, clothing layers provide you with options suitable for more situations.

There are far better explanations out there than I could provide about maintaining core temperature, I would suggest you read Cody Lundin's book 98.6 Degrees: The Art of Keeping Your Ass Alive.

Obviously your clothing choices will be affected by where you live. Someone living in Florida is looking at different weather possibilities than someone living in Nunavut, so I'm not going to jump in with a whole bunch of useless advice but I will add in a few reasons why I value layers, for my personal situation. I live in Canada's arctic, in the treeline. There is a lot of water, brush, stubby tress, etc and there is snow on the ground for about 9 months - my main priorities are: keeping dry, keeping warm, and keeping hydrated.

It's a very short summer season here and it's rarely warm enough in any 24-hour period for warmth not to be a consideration. Even a small wind change will blow in cold moist air off the arctic ocean. Dry is always a consideration and hydration is obvious. I need clothing layers that are waterproof and can add some bug and sun protection while allowing for venting to keep me from overheating.

Winter temperatures are frequently below -40 C (huh, that's also -40F, what a strange system) not counting wind chill. Working hard in cold weather with all your gear on makes you sweat, which is a great way to kill yourself. Drying out wet clothing in winter requires a lot of heat. Fire-making materials can be hard to come by in my immediate area and are nearly non-existent past the treeline (driftwood along the ocean coast and trees/brush along the river). Again, being able to reduce and add layers as needed is a simple way to regulate core temperature and similar needs apply - I need waterproof clothing preferably with some way of venting heat.

Comfortable, waterproof boots are a must, winter or summer. Running shoes are a waste of time here. Get the boots large enough to allow for a double sock.

What I would consider as your no-shit must haves for an evacuation where you might actually have to live in the bush are:

1. A proper set of clothing and good boots.

2. A cooking pot

3. A good knife

4. A way to make fire

Everything else is gravy. Very useful gravy mind you....but gravy.

A few extra items that I find useful:

Year round

Hand and foot warmers - they can be a literal lifesaver, or a toe saver at least! Cheap and weight next to nothing.

Sunglasses - an absolute must here, snow blindness is not BS and 24-hour sunlight makes it an obvious need. Get wrap arounds, helps with wind protection too.

Winter

You can never have too many spare (dry) socks.

Summer

Bug net clothing - pants, jacket or, at the very least, a head covering. The head covering is so small you can leave it in your bags year round so you never forget to add it. The bugs have to be experienced to be believed here and bug spray is of limited effectiveness and can run out.