a weblog sharing info on outdoor skills and campfire musing by a guy who spends a bunch of time in pursuit of both
CULTURE
WHERE -
TALES ARE TOLD OF
Welcome to Roland Cheek's Weblog
Roland is a gifted writer with a knack for clarifying reality. Looking forward to more of his wisdom
- Carl Hanner e-mail
I intend my Campfire Culture weblog to be the work of a "Conservative Conservationist." What does that mean? Well, both "conservative" and "conservationist" stem from the root word "conserve."My dictionary defines conserve as: "1. to prevent injury, decay, waste, or loss of. 2. to use or manage wisely; preserve; save." So there you have it -- conservative conservationists are those who believe it disastrous for Americans to be such spendthrifts that we must squander our natural resources in order to stave off bankruptcy.
To access Roland's weblog and column archives
Click Here
Tip o' the Day
I went into the boot testing program with a modicum of preconceptions. For instance, I secretly doubted that insulated leather boots could ever be suitable for summer wear, at least in the rugged mountains country where I dwelled, worked and played.
Moreover, I've been long accustomed to shedding leather boots for lightweight rubber pacs when autumn storms hit (though rubber pacs trap perspiration worse than insulated leather boots).
Neither did I believe any manufacturer's claim about waterproof leather boots, despite their incorporation of supposedly resistant fabrics and silicone treatments. Nope, I'm a single-layer-leather, high top, treat-'em-rough, grease-the-heck-out-of-'em, old fashioned Montana mountain stomper who cut his teeth as an Oregon logger. Imagine my surprise when a wilderness guest -- a boot manufacturer from Maine -- asked us to test experimental boots for him.
Each of we guides received two pairs of boots in early summer. Our instructions were to alternate them, wearing one pair one day, the other pair the next, etc. Each boot, we were told, was of different construction, even between right and left -- though we probably would be unable to tell. We were also told to use only silicone treatment, instead of my tried and true boot grease. (Grease would plug the pores of both leather and Gore-Tex, making them unable to breathe and thus "wick" out perspiration.)
We tested our boots for six months. At the end of the period, in some ways I became confused, at least about some of my old prejudices. I wound up still convinced there's no such thing as a waterproof leather boot -- with or without Gore-Tex lining. I also became even more convinced that an active hiker cannot wear insulated boots of any kind in mid-summer, and maintain healthy feet.
But insulated leather boots are superior to rubber pacs when pushing hard in most fall hunting conditions -- even cold weather and deep snow. They will, as advertised, "breathe", whereas my feet perspire a flood when hiking hard in rubber pacs. And one's feet remain warmer in insulated leather than with rubber. In addition, the leather boots always has better soles for traction than rubber boots.
Silicone, as an outside treatment agent, does work by allowing the leather to breathe while making it somewhat moisture resistant . . . if one stays out of wet snow on brush and beargrass.
And I wound up having to admit the Gore-Tex thinsulate inner lining did keep my feet warm and dry during one 27-mile trek in the midst of a driving rainstorm.
Conclusions?
It's tough. When I said I had reservations about it being possible to develop leather boots that would permit perspiration to be wicked out while the boot's exterior is wet, my boot manufacturer friend said, "Why? Your skin does it."
A PRIMER ON SHOPPING FOR THE LITTLE WOMAN
Years ago, an effort similar to this ran in the 17 newspapers syndicated to carry my Wild Trails & Tall Tales outdoors column. Then, a few years later my syndicated Trails to Outdoor Adventure carried in 75 radio stations across America aired a similar offering. But, the truths contained herein (not to mention its poignant revelations, especially to we poor downtrodden men laboring under the yearly millstone of what to buy the little lady for Christmas) is so timely that . . . well . . . I'd be derelict if I failed to share its genius one more time. So guys, hitch up your sleeve garters and put a firm hand on your pocketbook while Roland spins out a tale of personal discovery to rival those of Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus, and Francisco Pizarro.
It happened to be Jane's birthday, but the same principle will work equally well at Christmas, wedding anniversary, or Valentine's. She was beside herself at all the brightly wrapped packages I carried into the house for her, crying, "I haven't been that good!"
Smugly, I positioned her on the divan and surrounded her with her presents. "Go ahead," I said. "Start opening."
She did. The first of four similar packages was a camp stool. As one may guess, each of the other three were the same. "That's . . . that's . . . nice," she said, reaching for a more compact box that looked as though it could contain a Coleman lantern. It did. She looked up at me and frowned.
The largest package contained a Coleman ice chest. "Who's birthday is this, anyway?" she snarled. And when the last package contained a Coleman cookstove, complete with aluminum stand, she refused to say anything, but stomped over to stand by the picture window and pretend indifference.
Since I worked the afternoon shift at a plywood mill and it was time for me to go to work, I really didn't get a chance to plum the depths of her elation at all her wonderful birthday presents. I also thought it best not to ask why she never filled my lunchpail prior to her stomping out of the house in an apparently mystifying woman's pique.
I'd been gone from home about an hour when the delivery truck rolled in. When the deliverman knocked, she opened the door, wiping hands on her apron. "Yes?"
"This where the refrigerator goes, ma'am?"
"No, you have the wrong house." She strode past him down the porch stoop and pointed to the straggle of homes in the field behind. "You must want one those homes."
"This the Cheek house, ma'am? That's the one I want."
"Yes. But I've already told you . . . oh my God!" She remained bewildered while two men rolled her old dilapidated fridge out and the new one with the big freezing compartment and the automatic ice cube maker into its place. And when I came home at midnight, she was waiting right behind the door with a cocktail in her hand and a smile on her face.
But the real moral of this story, guys, is not so much how to please a woman, but a lesson in what I call Machiavellian domesticity. She desperately wanted a new refrigerator and I knew she needed it. But I equally desperately wanted campstools, an ice chest, campstove, and gas lantern and, truth tell, she was less than persuaded that I needed them. So voila! she has her refrigerator and she lets me borrow her camping equipment.
It's win-win for everyone. Since then, I have access to her reflex camera w/ telephoto lens, spotting scope, flyrods and big game rifles. There are shotguns and revolvers and powerful binoculars that can focus on a couple of grizzly bears at a thousand yards. We have an inflatable raft for shooting through whitewater or paddling across a quiet mountain lake.
We dwell on 15 acres suitable for raising horses capable of carrying me and her and all our camping gear into the Bob Marshall Wilderness. We have a 4WD pickup truck to pull the horse trailer that's capable of carrying our horses. We have a barn filled with riding saddles and pack saddles, canvas tents and nylon backpack tents.
Now the reason I'm sharing this revolutionary concept, fellows, is because I already have everything I want (or need) to aid in my pursuit of a life of adventure. An outboard motor? Think, men! Can't you just see how excited she'll be when you roll it in from the garage with her name on it while some urchin wails about two missing teeth on the phonograph!
There is this one little problem, though: last Christmas, while she was opening her box of reloading equipment, a deliveryman knocked on our door and asked for Roland Cheek. "That's me." Then he wanted to know where I wanted him to put the new dining room set that was my new Christmas present?
Roland Cheek wrote a syndicated outdoors column (Wild Trails and Tall Tales) for 21 years. The column was carried in 17 daily and weekly newspapers in two states. In addition, he scripted and broadcast a daily radio show (Trails to Outdoor Adventure) that aired on 75 stations from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean. He's also written upwards of 200 magazine articles and 12 fiction and nonfiction books. For more on Roland, visit:
www.rolandcheek.com
Recent Weblogs
December 2, 2008
for more info about these and other Roland Cheek books
There's a bunch of specific info about Roland's books, columns, archives and radio programs. By clicking on the button to the left, one can see Roland's synopsis of each book, read reviews, and even access the first chapter of each of his titles. With Roland's books, there's no reason to buy a "pig in a poke."
for detailed info about each of Roland's books
Read Reviews
Read their first chapters
For interested educators, this weblog is especially applicable for use outdoors/nature, environmental, or history classes, as well as for journalism students.
Roland, of course, visits schools. For more information on his program alternatives, go to:
NEXT WEEK:
GOOSE HUNTING EASY? HAH!
www.campfireculture.com
Roland says "Elk was the creatures who took me to the wildlife dance over a half-century ago." In The Phantom Ghost of Harriet Lou, the guy shares what he learned about the magnificent animals throughout the mountains of the West
Roland's best-selling book, in its 5th printing. Said by Outdoor Editor Mark Henckel writing in the Billings Gazette: "New book paints perfect portrait of grizzlies"
And respected Outdoor Editor Bob Mottram said in Tacoma's The News Tribune: "Cheek is at his best when he's describing bears in action, and at his best, he's excellent"
Chocolate Legs is an entire book about a single charismatic grizzly bear who became both famous and infamous in her own time
The best 116 of Roland's 2,700 newspaper column and radio scripts, mostly humor, all poignant -- much the same as his columns found in this weblog
Montana's Bob Marshall Wilderness was where much of Roland's and Jane's adventures took place. That's why they've produced a 9 X 12, 80-page coffee table book about the million acre chunk of land that is arguably considered the "Crown Jewel" of America's wilderness system
Dance On the Wild Side is the story of Jane's and Roland's life. It's filled with romance and adventure, from childhood sweethearts through their decades guiding others to adventurew in some of the wildest lands in all the Rocky Mountains
source links for additional info
to send this weblog to a friend
to tell Roland what you think of his Campfire Culture weblog
to visit Roland's newspaper columns and weblog archives
The books listed below make wonderful xmas gifts
