Bright Idea Outdoors Weblog

A New Project and the First BrightIdeaBlog Contest Giveaway

Thomas Jefferson gave us the Declaration of Independence.  James Madison gave us the Bill of Rights.  Abraham Lincoln gave us the Emancipation Proclamation.  But Henry Ford gave us freedom.

Now the oil companies are taking it away.

Something like that will be the lead for my next big blogging project: the Impact of High Fuel Prices on Outdoorspeople and the Industries that Serve Them.  Something like the following will be the rules for the contest associated with the post:

• The contestant who comes closest to guessing how much I will spend on gasoline for my personal vehicle in the week starting today, May 15, and ending Wednesday May 21 will receive a pre-paid Exxon gas card valued at $20 (OK, I know that won't get you very far, but give me a break; I'm a starving blogger!) 
• You should also include a guess as to how many miles I drove during that same time period, which will be used in the event that a tie-breaker is needed.
• To enter, all you need to do is write a comment on this post telling me how you expect fuel prices to affect your hunting, fishing, camping, summer vacation, etc. travel plans for the remainder of calendar year 2008. 
• I'm particularly interested in your thoughts if you are in an outdoors-related business, such as guiding, outfitting or running a sportsmen's equipment business of some kind.  If the outdoors are your business, let me know what impact fuel prices are having on your bottom line.
• At the end of the comment, put in your guess as to how much I spent and how far I went.  I will announce the winner on Monday May 26.
• If you'd like to elaborate on your comment, you may email your fuel costs outlook for 2008 to outdoorblogger@verizon.net.  But in order to keep the contest fair, all contest entries must come in blog post comment form and must be received no later than noon Thursday May 22.  If I use your comment or email as a quote for the article, I will, of course, include a link to your blog or website.
• I'd also be interested to know what you drive and how many miles you get per gallon; but providing that information is not a requirement to enter the contest.
• Finally, feel free to tell me about any strategies you use to combat high prices at the pump.  I'm curious about anything from driving slower to boycotting Exxon for a day.  If you've tried it, or considered trying it, I want to know about it.

Please tell your blogging buddies and other outdoorspeople about the contest.  If I get enough to write the article without having to do a lot of legwork (I don't want to have to spend money on gas to go do interviews) I may increase the value of the prize!

Author's Note: I got the idea for this story and contest from a post on the Black Bear Blog, which linked to a Washington Post article on "hypermiling."   

Internet Safety Still a Hot Topic

It's been almost a year since I wrote the post "Internet Safety: Does Blogging Put Our Families at Risk," but the danger of posting information about yourself and your family online continues to be a much-blogged-about subject.

A link to my post turned up May 12 on the Seattle Mom Blogs site in Jenny Blackburn's post "Blogging Smart: How to Protect Yourself and Your Family Online."  Kristine also wrote about the topic on the Outdoor Bloggers Summit site last week.  Her post, "To Reveal or Not to Reveal", was apparently inspired by the Munchkin Wrangler's previous post, "The Intartubes and You: Reflections on Anonymity."  This type of post always generates a lot of interest and comments (when I last checked, the Munchkin Wrangler had 43!)  I think every blogger wonders, at least in the back of his or her mind, whether information on her site could make the blogger or his family the target of some type of Internet predator.

Blackburn's article lists some good tips on how to avoid posting information that will put your family at risk.  Unfortunately, if you're like me, you'll repeat this to yourself several times as you read through the rules for safe blogging:

"I break that one all the time."

Still, it's worth reading, at least as a reminder of some of the risks we are taking and may give you some ideas on how to blog a little safer.  Blackburn links to several other interesting posts in addition to mine.

Author's Note: I'd never read a "mommy blog" prior to yesterday.  A special thanks goes out to the BrightIdeaBlog reader who sent me the link.  Of course, I can't mention the reader's name here.  That just wouldn't be safe!

Product Review: Lacrosse Alpha Camp Mocs

Ducks live their lives with wet feet, but I could never get used to it.  That's why I recently picked up the Lacrosse Alpha Camp Mocs pictured here .  With these inexpensive shoes, the wet feet that have plagued me for years are things of the past!

Much of my morning is typically spent in other people's yards.  I go there for a variety of reasons: to do a landscaping estimate; to take a look at some perceived problem; and most often to show my employees what they are supposed to do.  Morning lawns tend to be wet, either from rain the night before or from a.m dew.  Many of my customers have sprinkler systems, so their lawns are wet in the morning even during dry spells.  I hate wearing heavy boots, especially in the summer, so before I got the mocs I more often than not had to either change my shoes and socks at around 10 a.m. or spend the day with wet itchy feet.

Now, I put my camp mocs on in the morning and wear them until things dry out.  If it's raining, I wear them all day.  Yesterday, I even wore them into ankle deep flood waters as I took the pictures for this blog.  So far, the mocs have  a perfect record of keeping my feet and socks dry.

I wouldn't recommend hiking two-and-a-half miles in the mocs, but they're surprisingly comfortable for doing a moderate amount of walking.  I imagine they will be somewhat hot to wear when summer finally comes, so I may have to start switching over to something that breathes better a little earlier in the day.

These shoes are a good choice for any moderately wet outdoor activity for which you don't feel like putting on big waterproof boots.  If October 2008 is as hot as last October was, I may even try wearing them on a hot weather, early season deer hunt.  At $39.99 from Cabela's, Lacrosse Camp Mocs are also a good value.

If you love being outdoors in the morning but don't say "quack", you should give them a try!

Water and Fire

We couldn't buy a rain shower last year, but this spring has been a different story.  Steady rain with periodic heavy downpours over the last five days brought Goose Creek and other area streams over their banks and over several roads throughout the day today.

Meanwhile, my friends at Palm Bay Fishing Outfitters in Brevard County, Florida wish we could send them some rain to put out the fires that are consuming about 4,000 acres in that county. Florida's "Treasure Coast" is still in a drought, and the dry weather has led to wildfires.  Bright Idea Outdoors correspondent Mike Tokarchic spoke this afternoon with Captain Al, who assured Mike that everyone is OK; as long as the wind doesn't change, that is.

The good news in my neck of the woods, is that all the rain is keeping everything nice and green.

The animals don't seem to mind the mud either, as long as those feed buckets get filled on time!

On a serious note though, I'll be praying for the safety of my Palm Bay pals as well as for all of the people throughout the United States, and the world who are currently experiencing the worst that nature has to offer.  I spend so much time enjoying the outdoors, that it's sometimes easy to forget how quickly the natural world can become dangerous and mean, how suddenly a dark cloud can appear on a seemingly perfect day.

More Random Notes on Causes

My recent post on fighting world hunger may have had a slightly sarcastic tone, but I really have been trying to think of a way to devote some of my personal resources to a worthy cause.  So I thought I'd take a look at some of the causes other bloggers support and a few I'm thinking about myself.

Support of our Second Amendment rights to bear arms is one of the most popular causes on outdoor blogs.  To me, good gun control is hitting what you're aiming at.  But, since so many other bloggers devote a lot of time to advocacy of this issue, I don't see any reason for me to say much else on the subject. . .

Denny's Stop Mountaintop Removal campaign has taken on a life of its own over the last few months.  I'm proud to have been involved in its early stages, when I answered Kristine's Blogging for Appalachia challenge, and I wish Denny the best of luck. . .

I found this in an ad The Adventurist's site.  It looks interesting, but I can't claim to really know anything about it. . .

Kris from Jakes Outdoors recently took up a cause that is very close to him.  I also found this in a banner ad on his site. . .

Kevin Paulson of HuntingLife.com dedicates as much of his time and resources as possible to promoting conservation efforts.  His practice of donating a portion of the profits from his website, which serves as a clearinghouse for outfitters, led the editors of Field & Stream to declare Kevin a Hero of Conservation earlier this year. . .

Kristine is quick to come to the aid of other outdoor bloggers and their various good causes.  She often does this in the form of blogging challenges, as she did for Denny.  When Marc Alberto of NYBowhunter.com took up the fight to lower the hunting age in New York, Kristine gave him the opportunity to write an "outdoor activism" post on the Outdoor Bloggers Summit site.  She also helps bloggers be better writers and promote their sites.  Kristine does a lot to promote safety in the outdoors and the image of hunters and outdoorspeople.  She is an extremely hard worker, and with a little help from the rest of us, Kristine will move mountains. . .

From my own point of view, I've always been more inclined to work on very specific causes of my own than to join or donate to large organizations.  I prefer employing an immigrant who sends money home to his family in El Salvador over making donations to an international aid organization.  I'm more likely to give that same guy venison to help him make it through the winter than to donate a deer to an a group that distributes venison to food banks.  I get a better feeling from filling a coffee can with concrete and turning it into an anchor for my canoe than I would from tossing the can in a recycling bin.

Still, there are broader causes in which I sometimes think I should become more involved.

From everything I hear in the media, it sounds like veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are getting a pretty raw deal, like the United States government and the country at large are not giving them the appreciation they deserve.  I've also heard how making it possible for more World War II veterans to go to college played a big role in shaping the United States' eventual economic dominance.  So why not do something to help more veterans get a college education today?

I've never made any donation to my alma mater, Virginia Tech, but if they set up a program to offer scholarships to veterans, particularly those who otherwise might not be able to attend such a competitive institution, I'd be willing to come across with some cash.

Another cause that's very personal to me is keeping kids active. I believe that they need to spend more time on the playing field and in the woods and less time watching T.V. and playing video games.  Perhaps my series on Hunting With Kids could be a springboard to activism in promoting involvement in hunting, fishing and other outdoor pursuits as a way to fight childhood obesity.  And then, maybe those same kids who I helped stay fit by getting them outside would take their newfound love of the woods and waters and become active conservationists.  Some of them might even take on the big companies  like Denny did.  Others might simply become safe, ethical hunters and anglers who work to promote a positive image for outdoorspeople and to protect our Second Amendment rights.

Wouldn't that be cool, if I could do that?

It sure would.  But in the meantime, I guess all I can do is the best I can: take my kids fishing; teach someone else's kid how to hit a ball; lend someone a helping hand; try to make a tiny part of the world a better place every day. . .

As for the rest of you, keep up the good work on all your good causes.  If I failed to mention yours, I apologize, but feel free to promote it in the comments section.  Comments and plugs from those whose causes I did mention are welcome too!

Cool Running

The unseasonabably cool May weather made Saturday night the perfect time to build a fire and make S'mores.

Luckily, it wasn't too cool for the kids to grab a bat and work on their swings.

It's going to take me all week to find the many balls they blasted out into the darkness!

Talking to the Animals

Some Notes on World Hunger

Lately I've been thinking a lot about how good I've got it and how I need to do something to help people less fortunate than me.  I'd like to take up a cause, do my part to change the world for the better.

Soaring food prices are taking their toll and leading to starvation and food riots in various parts of the world.  Since the price of food and the price of fuel are tied both directly and indirectly, and fuel prices still seem to be going up daily, I don't think this global crisis is going to end anytime soon.  So perhaps fighting world hunger is the cause for me.

I've thought of a few different approaches I could take:

The easiest would be to just work hard, pay my taxes and trust that the United States government will do what it can to share this country's vast wealth.  International aid is a good way to fight world hunger.

Only I've always been a little skeptical that my government uses my tax money in the most efficient way possible.  And I'm downright distrustful of the governments of most other countries.  I can't help but think that if the leaders of developing countries weren't corrupt, then the majority of people in those countries wouldn't be so poor.

No, I'm not going to quit paying taxes.  But I'm not going to count on my tax money having a major impact on ending world hunger either.

Another option would be to regularly contribute to an organization that helps feed the world's hungry.  That might be a good idea and is certainly one that warrants further investigation.  Still, I'll always have that little voice in my head telling me that a lot of what I'm paying for with my donation is to support the administration of a large, inefficient organization.

There is one way, however, that I could help feed people in a developing country and have a very good idea of exactly where my money is going.

What I could do is pick a country, one that has been ravaged by war, natural disasters and poverty, like say El Salvador, and employ a few of its people.  They could come here, work long hours for me and send as much of the money they earn as they can back home.  It would help ensure that their kids have enough to eat.  It might even enable their families to have a decent place to live and to have medicine when they are sick.

If no one from El Salvador was available, I could employ people from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala or any country where people are hungry and where individuals are willing to take risks and work hard to build a better life.  It wouldn't save the world exactly, but at least I could feel like I was making life in a small part of it a little more pleasant.

It wouldn't have to stop at paying the foreign-born workers the money to send home either.  I could help some of the guys learn to speak English and do little things for them like help make a doctor's appointment, rent an apartment or get a car insured.  Maybe I could even help one of them get started in his own business.  Someday, he might even earn enough to bring the rest of his family to be with him in the United States.

They could become Americans, just like my ancestors did.

That third option, the one about employing people and helping them help themselves, looks pretty good to me.  Come to think of it, it's exactly what I've been doing for the last decade or so.

I just wish people in this country would stop trying to make it harder for me to practice my personal brand of international aid.

Fire In the Hole!

OK, it was Tuesday, and the traditional Memorial Day Weekend summer kickoff is still more than two weeks away.  But I decided last week that I wasn't going to waste any more time waiting for summer and would instead get it under way immediately.

So I did what any red-blooded American outdoorsman would do upon making a decision to embark on an adventure.  I bought something from Cabelas.

The Big Sky Fire Pit arrived on my front porch today.  My wife called to let me know, and I immediately took to the woods to gather kindling, firewood and hotdogs.  By 6:30 p.m. I had the product assembled and a roaring back-yard blaze.

I thought the kids would be excited, but all they and Rocky wanted to do was play with the box the Big Sky came in.

They finally came around though and had a good time helping me prepare the staple food of summer.

My Dog Ate My Blog

You ever had trouble sticking to an exercise program?  I know I have.

What happens is, I'll start something, say running two or three miles four or five times a week.  I'll do real well for awhile, maybe even a month, then something will come up that interrupts my exercise schedule.  So I'll miss a few days.  Then something else comes up, and I miss a few more days.  Pretty soon I just say to hell with it, and give up.

I know that the smart thing to do would be to just pick up the program where I left off and get back after it.  I just haven't been focused or disciplined enough to do it.

Writing has been the same way for most of my adult life.  I've written 80 or so pages of three different books but never finished a single one.  It's always the same.  I work on the book pretty steadily for a month or so; then I get busy doing something else, usually my day job, and don't work on the book at all for a week or two.  I never make a conscious decision to quit working on the book. But by the time I get some spare time again I'm preoccupied with some other idea or a different writing project.

I know I should pick the book up, start where I left off and for once in my life finish something.  I know I should, but I don't.  There's that old lack of focus and self-discipline again.

About two years ago, blogging began to fill the void that not writing regularly had left in my life.  I knew I had a handful of people reading the blog, and I knew I was writing something pretty good every  once in awhile.  Those factors and some others drove me to write nearly every day.  But lately even my once-faithful blog posting has dropped off.  Last week, I hit a new low, writing only one real post the entire week, with a press release thrown in out of desperation.

The good news, at least, is that I have been exercising.  No, I'm not lifting weights, swimming laps or even running.  But I have been walking my dog.  Rocky and I do a good one, at least 30 minutes, every evening and whatever we have time for in the morning or occasionally even at lunch time (OK, I know what you're saying; this guy has time to go home for lunch, and he's got the nerve to complain about not having enough time to blog; but anyway:)  The walks are a good supplement to the exercise Rocky gets playing with the kids and wandering around Camp Cowboy.  They're good for me too; I've even shed a few pounds in the two months since I got Rocky.

The bad news is, the time I spend walking and doing other things with the mutt has come directly out of my blogging budget.  Spring is always hectic for me, since it is my busiest season at work.  Add to the work schedule the ever increasing time commitment of my children's sports and activities, and it's very difficult for me to find time to hunt or fish, let alone write about them.  Then I threw a puppy into the mix, and he immediately ate up what little time I had left.

Why, just this evening, as the kids began the nightly migration toward the place we call "sleepy town" (actually, I just call it that; the boys find it really annoying) I said to myself: "Hey, I may have time to write a blog post." 

Then I let Rocky in from the back yard.  He ran right to the spot where his leash hangs, wagged his tail, looked at the leash and looked at me.

"Oh yeah," I said out loud.  "I guess I better take Rocky for a walk."

Don't get me wrong.  I love my dog, and am delighted to have him after spending nearly 15 years without canine companionship.  I love the stuff I do with my kids.  I find their sporting events thrilling and feel privileged to have had the opportunity to help coach both t-ball and flag football this season.  The unstructured stuff is a lot of fun too, like our recent camp-out and the Washington Nationals game we went to on Sunday.

To tell you the truth, I even like my job for the most part.  Yeah, I complain when I'm busy, and there are customers and employees who drive me up the wall.  But how many people get to make a decent living while spending about 60% of their workday outdoors?  And yes, going home for lunch is a big perk too.  So was the buck I killed in the woods behind my office last fall.

Still, even with all the fun I'm having, I feel a twinge of regret every time I sit down at the computer and don't write a blog post.  I also feel bad about missing so many of the posts my outdoor blogging colleagues are publishing on a daily basis.  As of last week, I officially felt that I'd abandoned the blogging program that had brought me so much satisfaction and helped me make so many great contacts over the last two years.

So I guess there's just one thing to do: pick up where I left off and get back on the program.

It won't be easy.  My life will be no less hectic tomorrow than it was today.  But staying up late to write this post is certainly a step in the right direction.

With a little luck and a few small sacrifices, I think I can once again become a force in the outdoor blogging world.  Maybe the dog didn't eat the blog after all.

If I could just get him to quit eating my shoes. . .