Gulo gulo's 13 in 13 progress thread

[Gulo gulo]

Hello! I think I registered under a different name on the 13 skills website (Ajarbaugh) but no matter.
Pretty excited to share progress as it comes. That might be kinda slow at first, I work for UPS and it's that time of year. I dunno if it counts for small engine repair since I never did anything with the engine except disconnect the spark plug lead, but today I cleaned out my father in law's chainsaw and got Er workin right again. We had a big windstorm awhile back and there are plenty of cottonwoods wiring to be turned into woodybeds this spring!


Edited to add OP's name to the subject

[fritz_monroe]

Yep, I think that counts as small engine repair.  Good start. 

When you get the chance, please stop over at the Intro Thread and introduce yourself.

[Gulo gulo]

Update:
Bought the bow and a bunch of practice arrows (pink, cheap and should be harder to loose) will be put out for my son to discover on Christmas morning. Also bought a block brand target and tested the snow berm in the yard for efficacy as a backstop (it'll do nicely).

[Louisiana Suvivor]

how much were the bow and arrows? is it of hunting quality? i really wanna start bow hunting soon but on a budget of course. i'm not gonna go out and buy the top of the line. i'll probably buy off craiglist LOL

[Gulo gulo]

No, they were not hunting quality. My son is only eight and we live in an urban area (as far as Alaska goes). The bow was 20-25 lb draw weight an it turned out that he can't even draw it! Oops! He seems really interested though, contents himself with throwing arrows javelin style for now.

In other skills, made a (storebought) goose for Christmas dinner, made stock out of the bones (I really need to learn how to clean a carcass better) and frose the stock in ice cube trays so measuring for future recipes is easier. Also did the rest of the bottle of wine I needed for the recipie up like that too. We're not big drinkers (tho I do love me some single malt or a Guinness) but I have quite a few recipes that call for wine, usually I substitute 100% cranberry juice. Signed up for America's test kitchen's online cooking school, I'll let you know how that goes.

Today I went down the hill and cut up some of the trees downed by the big windstorm (would have classified as a hurricane back east, here we just call it "another day in alaska") we had a few months back. I'm trying to make it into a "hugle-ie swale-ish thing" for erosion control and soil building. The trees were torn from the ground because are topsoil is very shallow, not even an inch and you're down to gravel left by retreating glacier. This summer ill dump grass clippings and garden waste (and horse manure if a friend of a friend is willing!)on the logs to help em rot. My father in law was doing kinda the same thing before, I'm just taking it to the level of putting them on contour and making it food producing. I'm getting some of his raspberry runners to put in there this summer. I am also gathering lupine seeds to spread for a leguminous chop and drop crop.

[Gulo gulo]

Today I completed In Depth lesson one: sauté on onlinecookingschool.com. I had to buy a traditional finished skillet so I could use the browned bits that stick to the bottom (called fond by cooks) to make a pan sauce after I cooked the dish. The recipie was for chicken Saltimbocca. Basically it's chicken breast with prosciutto (basically thin sliced Italian bacon) on top. I undercooked some of it slightly, but I think the sauce really made the dish. It was basically white wine and butter, all that fat gave me an almost drugged feeling of satisfaction and bliss. I tried heating the oil in the pan while I prepared the food some more before I cooked it, next time I turned around  the oil was sending a  pillar of smoke to the heavens! Now I say time, tide and hot pans wait for no man, tis better to wait on the pan to heat up after you've prepared all the ingredients than have a dish ruined when you're  not paying attention. Also sharpened up my Chef's knife a bit.

I'm continuing on the hugle-ish swaley thing; bought chains for the chainsaw and a sharpening kit yesterday. O! What a difference a sharp chain makes! It's like cutting through butter again. I picked up a Christmas tree from someone in my neighborhood, limbed it, used the trunk for the retention wall portion and scattered the limbs for a sort of green manure layer. I've got another tree on the hook, might pick it up tomorrow.

[blademan]

So, you must like wolverines. Am I correct?

[Gulo gulo]

Good catch, blademan!

It's been a while; I've found a bow my son can draw, we just gotta go and shoot it soon. Sold some gear I had no more use for and bought a used marlin model 60 (Appleseed here i come!)
Due to some financial stress I haven't been cooking like I'd like to be, but I've been learning how to make do with what I got. Also been fine tuning my cast iron pan's Cure. I'm not sure which skill of mine this fits under, but I made a wood gas backpacking stove that I plan on using this summer.

Big news for gardening this year; my landlord is letting us be his serfs and work the land for him we get to put in a few raised beds in the backyard as long as we share the produce. Also planning on putting in some raspberry transplants on some unused hillside. I learned that you are supposed to cut out the old brown canes to help production and keep down mildew ( important since our rainy season coincides with harvest time).

I am applying for a carpenter's apprenticeship for next year.

Haven't touched a snow machine, but I took apart my chainsaw's carb and cleaned it.

[Gulo gulo]

The Marlin's stock had a huge "j" carved into it, so yesterday I sanded the whole thing down and stained it with some ebony min wax, putting the tru oil finish on it now. I'll get some pics up when I'm done, it looks nice!

[Gulo gulo]

Made a quicky bow out of a birch sapling; I think I made it too thin and too short. It'll launch the Walmart youth arrows an inch into a bock target. I'll try again with a thicker tree.

[Gulo gulo]

The thicker bow is doing a little better, seems to be splitting at a knot.

In marksmanship news, I just registered for Appleseed in June. The marlin is all ready, gonna make some speed loaders.

[Gulo gulo]

Just got in from Appleseed, best BRM course I've ever had. I shot expert in the army, but I learned more in the past two days about shooting than I did there. The history was great too. Unless you're a total nerd, you'll learn something from it. Please, everybody go to Appleseed!
And, no. Alas! The magic 210 eluded me. I think my sights were loose (so was the nut behind the rifle butt more practice is definitely in order). The marlin was great. I was shooting federal champion bulk pack. Had about a one in one hundred misfire rate. Also had some failures to feed (could have been the nut behind the butt again) also ran into a problem that is peculiar to tubefeeds; the backwards fed round (definitely a nut behind the butt issue! ) I blame it on the speed loader I was given. It was capped at both ends with half of a brass casing; rim half on the bottom, neck end at the top. When you ain't thinking straight, It just seems natural to have the bullet end come out of the neck! But they don't go into the gun right that way, do they?

So next time (maybe next month!?) ill have different ammo and cranked down sights. Then we'll see ifn I don't come home with that purrty patch. Trying to talk my wife into going, I had so much fun I want her with me!

[Gulo gulo]

Update time, lesse lesse. I got one woody bed in production and another dug and filled; the producer has sugar snap peas that have been enjoyed, broccoli which is starting to head and potatoes that took over nearly to the detriment of everything else. I ain't doing potatoes in a bed again. Next year ill try the potato tower method. We planted a dwarf North Star cherry tree and actually got three verifies of of it! They're very tart, almost like a cranberry. My wife loves cherry pie and cherry flavored anything but is almost anaphylactically allergic to raw cherries, so I bought a cooking cherry var. also found a blackberry var. that's supposed to be hardy here. We shall see. It's been an unusually warm, dry summer

went dipnetting on the kenai but missed the big run, we ended up going to a family friends house up river and catching two days limit for three ppl with rods and wet flies. We're gonna have fins before we've finished it all!

Taking Appleseed again in two weekends, chasing the illusive 210.

Planning on taking my canoe into the kenai national wildlife refuge and hunting he lakes contained therein later o. In August.

[Gulo gulo]

Appleseed part 2 saw only a 206. Grrr! Technically my goal was just to attend an Appleseed event, but I've always prided myself on marksmanship and this is proving me wrong! Three verifiable expert scores on the army qual and then this? Well, keep at it and it'll only make me better, eh? Next one is in October. There's talk of one in February, I'd like to do that just for the hell of it (gonna be cold enough to freeze the primers!).

Ate some of the broccoli from the garden last night, yum! I'm used to broccoli being bitter yuckiness, this was quite delightful. Sautéed it with garlic and basil, added a lot of flavor.

Gotta finish the frame for the next garden bed, smoke some fish, and go hunting I the next few weeks.

[NCFreedom]

good progress man!  that chicken sounded good enough that i think im gonna hafta try that for dinner tonite.  I doubt i can cook it right, but with prosciutto and mozzarella, i just sounds so good.