Month: April 2017

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A new addition to the family 

On Saturday I bought a new snowmobile because we had so much trouble with the old one. 

The new snowmobile is a Lynx Yeti 550 wide-track

To test the new snowmobile I drove to the cabin to check that everything was OK. 

The girls are very pleased that we have a new snowmobile 

Even my dad wanted to have a ride. 

Spring is very late this year.   It has been very cold and the snow is melting very slowly.   We even had another 10cms of snow fall on Sunday. 

We have up to 9 Hares feeding in the garden every evening at the moment. 

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Easter

It has been cold, with a north wind during most of the Easter weekend, so I set up my tipi on the garden so that we could sit out.

After we had installed our Woodburn Erik in the house we had a stainless steel heat guard left over, so I have made this into a little grill to use in the tipi 

I place it on stones to allow air to flow under 

Fortunately on Monday the sun did appear so that we could sit out. 

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Sleeping mat pump

I have been reading about problems with mould in sleeping mats when you inflate them with your breath; especially in the Neo Xlite which I have.

I tried to find a 3V USB pump on the internet to inflate it with, but there isn’t such a thing, so I contacted Biolite to ask if they were interested in producing one to use in-conjunction with the USB port on the BioLite Campstove, but they were not.

So I have had to come up with an alternative idea……I have a dry liner dab in my rucksack, which has a valve in the bottom.  I fill the bag with air and then close the top.  Using a piece of tube, I connect the two valves from the bag to the mat

drybag_thermarest_pump-3

I then compress the bag and the air flows into the mat

drybag_thermarest_pump-1

The bag holds 50 litres so I only need a couple of bags full of air to inflate the mat.

drybag_thermarest_pump-2

Last weekend I also tried making a tent out of my new Aqua Sil Guide Tarp, and I was very pleased with the result.

The width is 2,5 metres so there is more than enough room for my Thermarest Cot.

We have a pair of Pine Grosbeaks visiting our bird table at the moment, and I managed to get a decent picture of the male.

pine grosbeak_kevin-warrington

Chaffinches, Yellowhammers, Greenfinches and Whooper Swans have also arrived for the summer.

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Aqua Quest Sil Guide Tarp

I hurt my back last Thursday, so wasn’t able to do much over the weekend.  Fortunately after exercising my back is much better today.

I have just purchased an Aqua Quest Sil Guide Tarp.  Aqua Quest is a Canadian company. I have not had chance to set it up yet, but have had it out of the bag.  It is very lightweight, well made and packs down small.

Tarp Specs:

  • 20,000 mm hydrostatic resistance
  • Weight: 1.9 lbs / 860 g
  • Packed Size: 12 x 6 x 2 in / 30 x 15 x 5 cm
  • Total Area: 12.6 x 9.8 ft ( ca. 130 sq. ft) / 3.91 x 2.95 m (ca. 12 sq. m)

Features:

  • 40D RipStop fabric
  • Non-toxic dual Silicone & PU coating
  • Reinforced stitching
  • Heat taped seams
  • 17 reinforced webbing loops
  • Stuff sack included

Here is their website where you can see pictures and find out more information; https://aquaquestwaterproof.com/product/guide-sil-tarp-large/

I bought mine from a site on Amazon UK where they were selling them for under half the recommended price.