This would have been a great weekend to get away into the woods. The temperatures are in the low eighties, and the rain has cleared out for a while.
Unfortunately, I’ve not been feeling tip-top. Instead of backpacking, I decided to do some chores at home and see how things went.
The first chore was to cut the grass, trim some edges and tidy up with the leaf blower. I hit my first maintenance task with the leaf blower, It had a gas leak. I’ve been going through several cycles of it leaking and me patching it up. This time I opted to strip off the carb and effect a better repair. We’ll see how that goes.
The second was repairing our aging but excellent hair trimmer. I’d already diagnosed the problem as an internal break in the lead. Of course, when it came to soldering the connectors back on, I discovered that I’d given my meager supply of solder to Alek. A trip to the hardware store was necessary before I could finish the job.
Finally (besides doing the washing), I sealed the seams on my new winter tarp. Last year I spent 15 – 20 hours hunkered down in the rain, and earlier this year, forecasts of weekends of rain kept me off the trails, so I’ve invested in a more storm-proof tarp complete with doors. Not only will the doors keep the rain from misting in, but they will also keep more heat in when I’m camping out in freezing (and below) conditions.
Of course, the extra material, bits of string, and stakes the new tarp needs mean it weighs more than my fair-weather tarp. I found a solution to that. I switched out my stainless steel wood stove for an inexpensive titanium one. The result is almost zero weight gain.
I’ve also been trying to get hold of a lighter-weight handgun for backpacking. With all the COVID lockdown madness, first ammo, and now it seems handguns (well the one I want to buy anyway) are out of stock. To coin a phrase, “Take my money.”
Mid-summer seems to be an odd time to purchase gear and prep for winter, but I’ve learned the hard way it’s better to be ready early than need the gear and not have it.
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