Did You know - outdoor edition

[WV Sawmiller]

   I did not know they could read posted signs either and I see this one figured out how to get away from you. Pretty smart critter if you ask me.

[Hilltop366]

The biggest porcupine I have see was running up a dirt road, I must have startled it the when I drove out my camp driveway. It was big enough that at first I thought it was a bear cub. It was twice the size of any I had seen before.

[HemlockKing]

Very funny VW lol , this was only 25 ft to the edge of my property though, he went off into some new growth spruce/balsam, they logged that 15 year ago so it's perfect for them buggers

[HemlockKing]

The biggest porcupine I have see was running up a dirt road, I must have startled it the when I drove out my camp driveway. It was big enough that at first I thought it was a bear cub. It was twice the size of any I had seen before.

That one I seen today must have been around 40-50lbs. Probably one of the bigger ones I’ve seen.

[KEC]

I have a very simple rule in dealing with wild animals up close and personal. None of them will bite, unless you give them the opportunity.

[Ljohnsaw]

I stuck my finger in to touch the wiggly nose of a big tame rabbit and he nearly took off my trigger finger.

He just thought it was nice juicy carrot!

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know that while everyone knows bats carry and transmit rabies they also cause heart attacks, strokes and hearing loss? If you find that hard to believe you should have been downstairs in my basement midafternoon yesterday when my wife opened our sons old bedroom door where she keeps her big quilting machine set up. Somehow a large bat had gotten in the house and he buzzed her pretty good. I am sure the neighbors a quarter mile away heard her screaming at me to come catch this thing. I rushed downstairs and the bat was flying around the utility room then back into the quilting room/bedroom. I closed the door to contain him in that room and I calmly walked over, pulled the curtains open and opened the window. My wife was offering excited suggestions on whether I needed towels or sheets or such to catch him in. While I did get buzzed a few times I never made any attempt to defend myself or catch or harm the bat nor did he attack me. He finally swooped by the open window, spotted the opening and flew out. Problem solved!

    I don't know how he got in the house as he seemed like a pretty large bat and hopefully we have seen the last of him at least inside. Bats can be like snakes - they won't hurt you but they will make you hurt yourself. Especially when you have an easily excitable spouse to contend with.

   One of these days maybe I'll tell you about the time the cat dropped the chipmunk and it ran up her pants legs.

[Texas Ranger]

  One of these days maybe I'll tell you about the time the cat dropped the chipmunk and it ran up her pants legs.

No need, just made up my own story. 8)

[WV Sawmiller]

TR,

   I'll make a deal with you - you tell me your version and I'll tell you mine. ;) :D

[doc henderson]

did you know you can boil water in a paper cup.  it is a part of a youth group ordeal and i am sworn to secrecy.  but you get a cup, and raw egg and water.  two matches to start a fire, and a pack of hot chocolate mix.  when you are done boiling the egg in the water in the cup, you add the hot chocolate mix.  you get a slice of bread so if you are lucky you get a slice of toast, a cup of hot chocolate and a boiled egg, as well as a small fire to warm up with for breakfast.  if you knock over the water and put out your fire.  you get a pack of dry hot chocolate mix, a piece of bread, and a raw egg.  the water in the cup keeps it from catching on fire.   
usflag

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know that I don't eat boiled eggs so this tip will not do me a lot of good? :D 

   I did know you could boil liquid in a bark, bamboo, big leaf or other flammable container if you kept the flames low and not above the level of the liquid. Indians and other indigenous group used to use the stomach of their kill to boil soups and stews in the same fashion.

[doc henderson]

well given your frequency on the did something dumb thread, i guess you like your eggs raw!   :D :D :D

[WV Sawmiller]

Doc,

   Why don't you go hard boil a turtle egg! I promise that will keep you busy for a while. :D

      I eat my eggs scrambled hard or as an omelet. I have been known to eat a hard fried egg on a ham and egg sandwich but even then it is much better if the yoke were broken early on in cooking.

[HemlockKing]

Over and easy the only way. If I go the scrambled route I just add hot sauce 

[Old Greenhorn]

did you know you can boil water in a paper cup.  it is a part of a youth group ordeal and i am sworn to secrecy.  but you get a cup, and raw egg and water.  two matches to start a fire, and a pack of hot chocolate mix.  when you are done boiling the egg in the water in the cup, you add the hot chocolate mix.  you get a slice of bread so if you are lucky you get a slice of toast, a cup of hot chocolate and a boiled egg, as well as a small fire to warm up with for breakfast.  if you knock over the water and put out your fire.  you get a pack of dry hot chocolate mix, a piece of bread, and a raw egg.  the water in the cup keeps it from catching on fire.  

Wow Doc, I hadn't thought about my Ordeal days in many decades! Thanks for that. We didn't get a paper cup, we got a brown paper bag and hoped it wouldn't leak (it was the late 60's).  :D Yes, you can also boil water in a brown paper sandwich bag. I ate fine that morning, but was plenty hungry before lunchtime.  By the way, have you seen the light? I don't really recall what I went through on the second step. But I surely remember that long night when I sat Vigil (20 years ago next month (it was not warm), I just had to check the date). Some very good times, for sure that will always stay with me. As an older youth (ute?) I served on the ceremonial team as Kitchkinet and during the day I was the head taskmaster for the Ordeal during the summer camp sessions. Served as an OA advisor for several stints 2 decades later, really enjoyed those young men, we went all over. The National Leadership Seminar was a highlight for me to bring some young men to and partake in with the National Chief. These days it's just another framed certificate on the wall.
 But I like eggs any way they come, except maybe raw, unless it is in a very good German beer. I eat 'em scrambled, but prefer fried, over easy but never had benedict. I hard boil some to take in the woods for the day when I am doing that sort of work, or sliced on a sammich. Nary a day goes by I don't have a least two, sometimes 4. With a free source, it's hard not to like them, and some we get are pretty big (I gotta figure out which hen that is and thank her). My friend Bill just built a 'help yourself' honesty egg stand which will be diagonally across the road and I spent the late afternoon making him a little cashbox which is not quite done. I'd rather buy our eggs from him, but he prefers to give them to us. Now I can finally get my way. :D ;D

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know throughout central Africa there are giant fruit bats? They are about the size of crows and eat the assorted tropical fruits in season such as mangos, bananas, figs, etc.

   There was a big fruit bat rookery in a couple of huge mango trees in Douala (Doo Allah) Cameroon near where I lived and worked when I was there in the early 2000s. There were easily 10s of thousands, if not more, bats roosting in the trees and at sunset when they started leaving the roost or when disturbed they would look like black volcano circling the trees and would literally blacken the skies. Local residents would sometimes come shoot them with pellet guns and eat them. 

   We went back for a visit in 2008 and I took my wife over to photograph them and she had great camera and lenses. When she got back to the hotel and checked her pictures on the computer and could blow them up she asked "What are these things on these bats?" I looked and told her "They are male bats." Her cameras and lenses could pick out enough detail to readily identify the sex of the bats.

   I'm sure glad one of them never got in my house when my wife was around.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know that animals that are nocturnal in nature typically are color blind? I can't think of any nocturnal animal that sees in color. Animals that see in color that I can think of are all Diurnal in nature. (Think of humans, monkeys, apes, and diurnal birds.) Night active birds like owls do not see color as far as I know. I assume that is true of the one species of nocturnal night monkey in the Amazon basin. 

[JJ]

We didn't get a paper cup, we got a brown paper bag and hoped it wouldn't leak (it was the late 60's)

When I did this, we had an orange and a egg, and had to boil the egg in the orange husk/peel.  Got the water from the lake. 

        JJ

[jb616]

  Did you know that animals that are nocturnal in nature typically are color blind? I can't think of any nocturnal animal that sees in color. Animals that see in color that I can think of are all Diurnal in nature. (Think of humans, monkeys, apes, and diurnal birds.) Night active birds like owls do not see color as far as I know. I assume that is true of the one species of nocturnal night monkey in the Amazon basin.

I might have to fact check this  :D  I'm colorblind and I like to be in bed by 9:30  8)

[doc henderson]

 JJ that sounds mmmmmmm good.  depends on how hungry you are. xtra protein from the micro organisms in the lake water.    usflag

[HemlockKing]

JJ that sounds mmmmmmm good.  depends on how hungry you are. xtra protein from the micro organisms in the lake water.   usflag

MMMMM water bears!!! 

[JJ]

back then, bottled water!?!, unheard of unless by gallon(s) or Perrier..
It was Maine :laugh:

[WV Sawmiller]

Did you know that animals that are nocturnal in nature typically are color blind? I can't think of any nocturnal animal that sees in color. Animals that see in color that I can think of are all Diurnal in nature. (Think of humans, monkeys, apes, and diurnal birds.) Night active birds like owls do not see color as far as I know. I assume that is true of the one species of nocturnal night monkey in the Amazon basin.

I might have to fact check this  :D  I'm colorblind and I like to be in bed by 9:30  8)

Please do and let us know what you find. I would be particularly interested if you find a nocturnal animal that is not color blind. The fact you are color blind and are not nocturnal may open you to assorted medical research opportunities. Let us know how you enjoy the rest of your life as guinea pig. :D

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know with the increase in access to crossbows and modern compound bows, many people are hunting in the suburbs and woodlots much closer to peoples homes than they were previously allowed to hunt? This is a good thing to help thin the overpopulated deer herds in such areas and help reduce the incidences of lyme disease and deer/car accidents. Many homeowners with sizeable lots will allow you to hunt there because the deer ravage their landscaping and such. Others like to feed the deer and watch them and this often causes disputes between next door neighbors. I used to like to watch the TV show "Chasing tail" (Poor choice of titles if you ask me but the producers did not) filmed in Connecticut I think where the hunters would hunt around wealthy homes and golf courses. Occasionally the arrow shot deer would go die next door in the back yard of the PETA president or one of his members and they would have to sneak over and get him out. (Yeah - I know there are varying thoughts on that but even though my land is posted I have always told my neighbors if they wound a deer and he goes on my place to go get him or call and I'll help them recover it. Anyway, lets not beat that issue up here. There some conflicting moral and legal issues there.)

 What I would like to do is remind you mobile sawyers and others working in the woods and fields, if you find you need to "commune with nature" check for nearby feeders, tree stands and maybe even game cameras. I finished a job today and while briefly checking out the adjacent woodlot for a quick sojourn, I noted a deer feeder hanging near where I had just been and had been the day before. It is bow season here so I assume it is or has been in use. I doubt I helped him attract any deer and, if he did have a trail camera out, I doubt he got my good side. : (It may actually belong to my customer as there is not active fence from his yard and it is not posted.) Kind of reminds me of the old movie "Doc Hollywood" where they try to scare the deer away with judicious scent markings near where the hunters were setting up their tree stands.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know that a pound of fresh cut softwood sawdust (any species) at 28% moisture content weighs 16 ounces while a pound of kiln dried hardwood sawdust (any species) dried to 4% moisture content weighs the same. ???

  A graduating class of UGA foresters were presented with this question on an exam but the professor had to throw it out as the dean told him it was a trick question. I understand a Texas A&M student has taken this on as his doctoral project and his thesis is expected within 12-14 months if all his experiments proceed as planned and he is granted the computer access he needs from his department. ;)