Subject: Re: MtMan-List: Weather - this time of the year.
Poor Gobel,
Pete's wife is expecting a baby just shortley and now this, I'd move out of that location after getting hit two times in three years.
Thanks Buck for the interesting history lesson on weather.
Turtle.
_____________________________
> On Thu, 08 July 1999, buck.conner@uswestmail.net wrote:
> Hello Camp
>
> Just got off the phone with old friend Peter Gobel of "Goose Bay Workshops", seems he has had bad luck again in VA. He had his house "nailed" by a thunder strom a few years ago, did much damage. On July 3rd of this year his shop had the same experience, blow a 2' hole in the roof, split the back of the building, knocked bricks out of the fireplace and fried most of the electrical equipment. While we were talking the insurance people showed up, will let you know the results later.
>
> While thinking of Peter's problem, we should think about bad weather when out and about doing our historical events, this could be seriuos if in the wrong place at the right time.
>
> The members of this list may enjoy what the weather brought to our forefathers living in St. Louis and surrounding area at the time of the Fur Trade.
>
> BAD WEATHER
> ôSuddenly the weather turns bad! Thundershowers, lighting, the sun is
> blotted out! And there is nothing we can do to warn or prevent this act of mother nature.ö These headlines appeared in the St. Louis Messenger on July
> 27,1837.
>
> Then the article goes on about, ôthe terrible heat wave and drought of
> 1833-1834 and how the earth was parched, creeks turned into dry rock beds and crops burned in the fields. During the drought the temperature hovered near 100-degrees for the entire growing season and questioned how some families made it with available food supplies! ö
>
> This was of coarse, extreme weather seldom seen in the Illinois country, but the threat of changes like this and an earlier period in 1816 had people talking of building food supplies like natures animals do every year. The start of storing grain and other field products was born.
>
> Lets get back to the 1816 weather change, reported in HarperÆs Magazine, of that following year, ô Both January and February of 1816 were warm and springlike, so much so that settlers let their fireplaces die. The cold started in March, with each day windy and blustery. Despite the weather, spring crops were planted, with vegetation well under way by April when unusual cold moved in. Snow or sleet fell for 17 different days in May, killing the fruit trees. June saw frost and snow for all but 3 days, it lasted through July.
> August was worse, with ice coating the fields, vegetation was gone, wildlife had moved to distant lands and panic felled upon the people.ö This strange change in the weather was caused by a volanco thousands of miles away, that sent so much ash into the heavens it changed lives around the world and was not found out until a few years later.
>
> (Several others have written of this unusual condition in North America in later years, Sunshine and Life magazines did several articles in the early 1900Æs.)
>
> The oldtimers had several weather signs they used, ôwhen cows lie down in the pasture - expect rainö, ôspiderwebs on the morning grass with dew - expect rainö, ôif birds build their nests close to the trunk - expect a rainy summer - if nests are built low - expect high windsö or ôfrogs croaking in early spring - expect rainö.
>
> Ben Franklin had several similar sayings, as did Thomas Jefferson both interested in growing edibles. These pioneers, as others that followed had weather saying for each cloud formation, wind from different compass points or anything of unsual conditions.
>
> In 1839 the Messenger reported, ô WeÆre predicting the weather more
> accurately than in the past, but its not harnessed and earthquakes,
> hurricanes and tornado could happen at anytime.ö
>
> Dwelling on such predictions, was considered in bad taste, it could raise our blood level far too high!
>
> With the changes in the weather, in the same area in the last few years, things havenÆt improved that much with some of the experts reportings!
In a message dated 99-07-08 22:38:24 EDT, you write:
<< Any reason why they're not case hardened [i.e., carburized] to 10-20
thousandths ? Not possible with primitive methods ?
Striker thickness (or lack of sufficient material) prevents it ? >>
Case hardning would work, but the steel would "wear out" -- i.e. the "case"
would wear through or get gouged out & quit sparking. The best steels are
made of good high carbon steel like files, springs, drill rod, but there you
have to watch it -- the new "M2" alloy doesn't work as well as the older
"water hardning" drill rod. You could even use car axels, gears, & king
pins from the older or big trucks, but it'd take a lot of hammering!!
Also -- I've noticen in the various posts on the "flint & steel thread", most
of us hit the "rock" with the steel & (oh rats, can't remember who started
this) the "new fire starter" said he hit the steel with the rock. BOTH ways
work. I sometimes think it's easier to "aim" the sparks by striking the
steel with the flint, but I seem to have my best luck with striking the flint
with the steel. Gotta watch the knuckles though. Which ever way you get
used to will work. John mentioned "fire rocks" & someone else mentioned a
piece of granite that sparked on his flint. Around here, we sometimes find
iron pyrite ("fool's gold") & some of that will spark.
NM
------------------------------
Date: 9 Jul 1999 16:23:03 -0700
From: <buck.conner@uswestmail.net>
Subject: Re: MtMan-List: MtMan-List - Joining the AMM
We had the same problem for years with the Colorado State Muzzle Loading Association, I was editor and we did bi-monthly publications, one member worked for a big company and would do the printing at night on the "qt" and I would pay for the mailing of up to 1000 bulk rate mailings. Then wait until we had our yearly "State Shoot" to collect the owed funds, the next two issues where covered then back to the old game plan - it took 3-4 years of under the table publishing before we got on our feet.
Granted additional sales in over the counter and subscriptions, along with paid advertising would be of great help. Several that I have talked to are interested in advertising if the journal is available to the public - thats good business for everyone.
> in the early stages of the publication I remember when the guy that > was publishing it didnt have enough money to pay theprinting and
> postage to ship it and would send notes to the brothers requesting > donations in order to keep it afloat---and they have done a hell of > a fine job ---always have good info glad to see that it is going
> out to others that are not members--this additional number will
> will help with the costs of printing and publication.
> "Hawk"
> Michael Pierce
Signup for your free USWEST.mail Email account http://www.uswestmail.net
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 9 Jul 1999 23:28:23 -0400 (EDT)
From: JONDMARINETTI@webtv.net (JON MARINETTI)
Subject: MtMan-List: Mtman-List: Black Bear Confrontation
There was one in Michigan about a year ago - made the local outdoors
programs on channel 56. The guy that went eyeball to eyeball with the
animal (for about one agonizing hour) also happened to have a video
camera with him at the time. Several times the bear would try to work
his way in on him and each time he would shout out of the blood of his
heart !!!GET OUT A HERE BEAR!!! - !!!BEAR GET OUT A HERE!!! Needless to
say, the guy was scared s---less (who wouldn't be?), but to his credit
he didn't panic and kept his head (didn't run). He eventually joined up
with his fishing buddy (also his brother, if remember it correctly).
Coincidentally, a wild cougar (confirmed sighting) is currenly loose in
upper Macomb County.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 9 Jul 1999 22:43:19 -0500
From: "Ratcliff" <rat@htcomp.net>
Subject: Re: MtMan-List: Mtman-List: Black Bear Confrontation
The encounter with that bear probably aged that fellow plumb to social =
security age. Jee-Zus!! =20
Cougars are making a comeback where they have been absent for decades. =
A friend of mine shot a big one in Bosque county, Texas about 4 years =
ago. Bosque county is only two counties south of Ft Worth and is the =
adjacent county to mine. The cat was taken maybe 60 miles southwest of =
a metropolitian area of 4 million. A medium sized cougar (presumably a =
released or escaped pet) was captured in the alley about two blocks from =
my house about 5 years ago. The neighbors said that they couldn't kick =
their dogs out of the house at night for weeks before the dog pound guys =
caught it. Above and beyond the call of duty if you ask me.
However, the most dangereous critters in most woods are the ones that =
walk on two legs. Be careful...always.
YMOS
Lanney Ratcliff
- ----- Original Message -----=20
From: JON MARINETTI <JONDMARINETTI@webtv.net>
To: <hist_text@xmission.com>
Sent: Friday, July 09, 1999 10:28 PM
Subject: MtMan-List: Mtman-List: Black Bear Confrontation
> There was one in Michigan about a year ago - made the local outdoors
> programs on channel 56. The guy that went eyeball to eyeball with the
> animal (for about one agonizing hour) also happened to have a video
> camera with him at the time. Several times the bear would try to work
> his way in on him and each time he would shout out of the blood of his
> heart !!!GET OUT A HERE BEAR!!! - !!!BEAR GET OUT A HERE!!! Needless =
to
> say, the guy was scared s---less (who wouldn't be?), but to his credit
> he didn't panic and kept his head (didn't run). He eventually joined =
up
> with his fishing buddy (also his brother, if remember it correctly).
> Coincidentally, a wild cougar (confirmed sighting) is currenly loose =
in
> upper Macomb County.
>=20
>=20
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 10 Jul 1999 11:41:51 EDT
From: ThisOldFox@aol.com
Subject: Re: MtMan-List: Mtman-List: Black Bear Confrontation
> There was one in Michigan about a year ago. The guy that went eyeball to
eyeball with the
> animal (for about one agonizing hour). Several times the bear would try to
work
> his way in on him and each time
I'm sure everyone has their bear stories, but while you have to remain
vigilant, they usually don't amount to anything.
I used to canoe trek in Quetico for many years back in the early 70's.
Always in the early spring just after ice-out. We invariably ran into bears
every year. They were hungry, were drawn to campfires like a magnet, and
often had cubs.
One year, after 40 miles of hard paddling and portaging, we cooked supper on
a sand bar, and just flipped the canoe over and crawled under it instead of
setting up camp. Two cubs got around us, so that the cubs were on the
sandbar, then us, then the sow in the treeline. No guns allowed in Quetico.
We threw the canoe straight up and against the trees. The noise scared the
bejesus out of the cubs and they went squalling to Mom. We were prepared to
swim for it though and had our hatchets ready.
Another time, we pulled into shore for the evening and were just unloading
the canoe. A bear snuck in behind our backs and made off with our food pack.
I happened to see it about 40 yards away snarfing down all our food. I went
after it with a canoe paddle, scared it off, and got the slimy, smelly pack
back. There was very little to salvage, and we lived off the land for the
next three days. Out of 6, 14 day treks, we ran into bears every time. In
all the others, we had the time to stow our food up a bear line, and they
passed uneventfully.
These were all free range bears, not garbage dump bears, so they were
probably more skittish.
Dave Kanger
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 10 Jul 1999 19:14:27 -0500
From: bvannoy <bvannoy@mciworld.com>
Subject: MtMan-List: Thank you(s)
To all involved with the Eagle Scout Badge:
In case my husband (Chases Hawks) didn't say so himself, here is a
heartfelt "thank you right back" for all the heartwarming letters we
received from Barney's family and relatives. It was wonderful to be
included; glad to have been of help. If C.H. were to meet any of you in
person, I'm sure he'd just say "Aw shucks", or something the equivalant
thereof.
Yours Truly, Badger Woman
------------------------------
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