Survival Walking Stick part 2

After about 4 hours of work, I have the Diamond Willow Survival Walking Stick all carved out.  I put on two coats of Polyurethane and a coat of Boiled Linseed Oil.  

As you can see, the stick will contain a lock blade knife, an emergency whistle, a fire starter (magnesium, flint, and steel striker), a Mini-Mag flashlight, and a compass with a signal mirror in the cap.  I know, a mini-mag light is not the best, but it is water resistant, produces a lot of light on just two AAA batteries, and is lightweight.  Most importantly, is produces the most lumen for a compact light which I can insert into the stick.  

The only task remaining is to weave a parachute cord handle which will hold of these items in place.

Survival Walking Stick Project

Since moving to Alaska, I have seen many Diamond Willow walking sticks and they all cost between $70 and $100.  Although the sticks do have a lot of character and look great!  I just wanted to make my own.  Then, I through about taking it to the next level, by making it a "survival" stick by adding a few survival gear items like a small flashlight, a magnesium fire starter, whistle, compass, signal mirror, parachute cord, and a small knife.  The plan is to cut, carve and drill out places in the stick for these items to fit neatly into the stick.  Then the parachute cord would hold the items in place and be used as a handle wrap.  The parachute cord would be wrapped using a quick release hitch.

I was able to procure a five foot piece of Diamond Willow and I began my project.  The wood was cut probably two years before and had just been sitting around in the corner, left behind by a former employee.

I had no idea how easy or difficult it would be to remove the bark from the stick.  I sat down with a paint scraper and began to work.  After just a few minutes, it was apparent that the bark would come off with a moderate amount of work...then I remembered I should take a picture.

After about 1 hour, I had all of the bark off of the stick and was down to easy scraping to remove the residual layer.

After this was all removed, I began sanding with 100 grit sandpaper.

Before I had all of the sanding competed, I was anxious to get started on the survival gear.  I started with the knife.  I drew an outline of the knife and began carving out the stick using a rotary tool.  I used two different bits, cone and drum carving bits.
Then I drilled into the top of he stick using a 5/8" wood bit.
This is where I began to run into trouble.  I am not very good with tools, carpentry, or mechanics, so as I drilled past one of the knots in the stick, the bit began to come through side of the stick.  So as it stands, about 1/2" of the bottom of the flashlight can be seen through the side of the stick.  At this point, I have put in 3 hours of work into the project.

My fix for this problem will be to begin the parachute cord handle higher that I first wanted to.
I hope this will cover the flaw.

I have not begun carving any other slots for the remainder of the gear because I don't have them yet.  The items I want are a little harder to come by up here and I will have to order them off the internet.

Birch and pine tea light holders

This is my first attempt at making a Birch tea light holder.  I actually used 2 pieces of wood that were in the pile for the fireplace.  The third holder is not Birch, but rather pine.  It is the bottom 4 inches from our Christmas tree.

My son helped me sand the two ends of the holders.  I took the wood to a local wood hobby shop and used a drill press and a 1 1/2" wood bit to carve out the spot for the tea light.

These 3 were given to my wife as her Christmas present.  I hope to make a few more of these and then consign them at our local thrift shop.  I don't expect to make a lot of money with these, just a little extra for spending.  The wood was free and it cost me $10 for 2 hours of work at the wood hobby shop.  Now that I know what I am doing, more or less, I can knock out a few more even faster.

I'll try to get a better picture uploaded.

"You are a stay at home dad? So what do you do all day?"

Yes, this is a serious question I have been asked...more than once.  Well, has your spouse ever been an at-home-parent?  Then I am pretty sure I do just about the same thing they do/did.  You know, sit around in sweatpants, eating ice cream right from the container, watching daytime television while the kids run around the house in nothing but a diaper if they are not sitting in front of a television in another room watching the cartoons that play on it 24/7.  Right!?!  WRONG!

I make the majority of the 3 meals and 2 or 3 snacks a day for all 5 of us.  And I typically am the one cleaning up all the dishes and pans following those meals.  I pack the one school lunch and snack.

I do some cleaning, not as much as my spouse would like or as much as she does, but I do some.  The iRobot vacuum runs every day and takes care of the major eyesore, all the dog hair.

I shop for the food that I cook, although my spouse is usually the one who comes up with our weekly meal plans (menus).  I take her clothes to the cleaners and can usually remember to pick them up in time for her next event that she must attend.  I try to do laundry, but I am very forgetful and it will sit for a day, or longer in the dryer.  If I do remember to get them out, fold them and into a laundry basked, I rarely put them away, she does that.

Then there is the never ending honey-do list and list of chores.  But there is also rough housing and playing, singing songs and dancing around, helping with homework, and reading books.  Once in a while we will do some crafts, but I'm not a craft guy, again, I leave that up to my wife.

Yes, sometimes I schluff off my chores and honey-do list to do a little bit of hunting or fishing, absolutely.  Do I take the kids with me, yes I do.  My 4 year old plays with a dead duck like it is a baby doll.

Sometimes, I can catch a break and get the kids into hourly drop in care at the child care center.  If that happens, I can usually get some of my bigger chores out of the way like changing out the snow tires and summer tires on both vehicles.  They don't like little kids being in the auto hobby shop for some reason.

I also do some volunteer work for a few organizations when I can.

Occasionally, the stars align and everyone is either napping or reading and I can pound out a quick blog post.  I should probably be taking a nap, too.  Yeah, I get to take a nap once in a while too, that is one of the other perks of this great job of being an at-home-parent.

#Dadsdontbabysit  It's called parenting!  http://athomedad.org

Fried Turkey at 20 Below!

I fried my first turkey and I did it in Alaska on Christmas Day when the temperature was 20 below 0.

Hardware:
1 full propane tank (and 1 for back-up)
fire extinguisher
Digital thermometer with "oven safe" wired probe
Turkey fryer:
 - Large pot with lid
 - Poultry rack or basket
 - Oil thermometer
 - Burner and stand
 - Gas line with control knob - I cover the gas line in foil to keep it from getting burnt with hot oil

4 gal. peanut oil for frying

Injection marinade:
Fresh rosemary
Fresh thyme
Fresh sage
course sea salt

1/2 C Broth
1/2 C White wine
1/2 C melted butter


Start with a clean fryer pot.  Place the turkey (with the giblets removed), neck down onto the poultry rack/basket.  Place rack and turkey into fryer.  Fill fryer with water until it just covers the turkey.  Remove turkey and allow to completely drain.  Mark the level of the water in the fryer.  This is how much oil you will need.  Drain the water and dry out the fryer pot.  Water and hot oil DO NOT MIX.

Put the herbs and sea salt in to a food processor or coffee mill and chop as much as possible.  Transfer to a bowl with wine and broth.  Use an immersion blender to grind herbs even finer.  You want the herbs small enough to fit through the injection needle.  Add melted butter to wine and broth mixture.  Inject marinade throughout the turkey.  If the herbs are still too course to fit through the needle, strain the marinade.  You can loosen the skin of the turkey and stuff the strained herbs between the meat and the skin.

Let the turkey sit at room temperature for for about 30 minutes or until your oil is ready for frying.  I kept the turkey on the poultry basket and placed the entire basket and turkey in a large pan.  This allowed the excess blood and water to drain and gave me something to carry the whole thing in without making a mess.

I began heating the oil inside the garage.  Once the oil reached 250 deg F., I turned off the propane and disconnected the tank.  Then I carefully moved the fryer and propane outside and continued heating the oil until it reached 350 deg F.  I used sections of cardboard to create a shelter for the fryer so I would not lose as much heat.  If I had some, I would have rather used plywood or something more sturdy.  When the oil reached 300 deg F., I removed the digital thermometer probe.  Then I inserted the probe into the breast of the turkey.

If the turkey skin is not dry by the time it is ready for frying, pat the skin and cavity dry with paper towels.  Again, water and hot oil DO NOT MIX.

Once the oil reached 350 deg F., I turned off the burner, just in case there was a boil-over.  Then I inserted the turkey into the oil using a large hook.  Once it was submerged, I removed the hook and lit the fryer again.  I kept the lid on the fryer to help retain the heat and still could not get the oil back up to 350 deg F. again.  The oil stayed between 275 and 300.

When the digital thermometer read 155 deg F., which was about 35 minutes into the cooking process, I turned off the gas and removed the turkey using the hook.  I placed the turkey and basked back on to the pan and immediately brought it into the kitchen and let it rest for at least 20 to 30 minutes.   Then I moved the turkey to a carving board and began serving.

Changes in latitudes...

Major change recently.  We are no longer on the Central Coast of California.  We are now in the Interior of Alaska.

But our quest to find real, whole food that is Non-GMO and preferably Organic, has not changed.  Our first two weeks here, we purchased the last offerings at the local farmer's market.  We were able to get: potatoes, carrots, beets, squash, brussels sprouts and two bushels of tomatoes.  Organic meat on the other hand has been hard to come by.  Well, maybe next year we can fill our freezer with caribou and moose.  But I'll need a new gun and that is just such a shame.  -- Sorry, my sarcasm font just does not seem to be working correctly.

Then there is also all of the salmon and halibut.  Yeah, it's going to be rough.  -- See, still not working.

Real, Homemade Almond Butter

I made a 45-minute trek (each way) to Whole Foods only to find that the peanut butter grinder was "Out of Order".  With no real good options for a jarred organic and Non-GMO peanut butter (or almond butter) at the stores near our home, it was time to get creative.  So I searched the internet for way to make my own peanut or almond butter.  I secretly hoped it required a grinder!  This way I could finally buy my own grinder for processing game!  But I found out you can use a food processor or blender.  Guess that grinder will have to wait.

I came across this recipe:  http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-homemade-peanut-butter-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-199110

Well, I decided to experiment and try it out with our 6 yo son.  I washed an old glass jar and then I started my stop watch.  We pulled out the food processor and began our trial run.

I pretty much followed the recipe but we used 1 cup of raw, whole, organic Non-GMO almonds. 

I did not add any oil and only 1/4 tsp Celtic sea salt. 

At the very end, we ended up with about 5 or 6 ounces of almond butter.  I filled the jar, put it in the fridge and stopped the stop watch.  13 minutes and 30 seconds.  From now on, I vow to being looking for quality whole, raw, organic Non-GMO nuts to make our own nut butters. 

This was TOO EASY!  And, the kids can help make it!