I Miss My Country

I have been in the US for quite a while. What supposed to be a short visit to my newly born grandson turned into a baby sitting stint for more than 2 years. Oh well, that's what grandparents are for isn't it. But I really miss my country, especially when I saw Gerry D. Ruiz's photos . The photos below are from his website.


A village along the seashore. The Philippines is an archipelago comprising of 7,107 islands.




Ricefield. As with other neighboring Asian countries, rice is Philippine's staple food. Being a tropical country with wet and dry season made it suitable for rice farming.


The nipa hut also known as bahay kubo, is an indigenous house used in rural areas. The native house is constructed out of bamboo tied together, with a thatched roof using nipa or anahaw leaves.


A small river. Often the source of water supply in remote areas where artesian wells or piped in water are not available.


As a youngster, I used to drink water from a stream like this - no need for filtering or boiling.


And of course, I miss fish balls. Fishball is an edible, ball-shaped patty made of pulverized fish, deep fried and sold by mendicant street vendors. The balls are served skewered, offered with a choice of three kinds of dipping sauces.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

Another Flint & Steel Kit

When I was having a problem with the Black Bear Haversack Trading Post flint & steel kit, I ordered another one from eBay. This time I chose the Hudson Bay Flint & Steel kit from Primal Connection.


Just like the Bear Haversack kit, this one also contains a jute twine, char cloth, flint and steel.


The steel has more striking area than the Black Bear steel.


The flint is about the same as that of the Black Bear kit.

The similarities end there. The Hudson Bay steel throws more sparks than the Black Bear steel. The steel almost never miss to produce sparks when stroked against the flint. Definitely an excellent flint & steel kit. Highly recommended. By the way, its almost 5 times more expensive though.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

Flint & Steel

I have been wanting to assemble a fire making kit that includes a flint and steel. Although I always carry a Bic lighter and a firesteel with me, I thought it would be cool to have a flint and steel in my fire making kit. As always I searched online and I found a flint and steel kit sold by Black Bear Haversack Trading Post for $6.99 + $2.76 S/H.


The kit contains a jute twine, char cloth, flint and steel.


The steel measures 3" by 1 1/4".


The flint is 2 1/2" by 1 1/4"

I tested the flint and steel several times but it failed to produce spark good enough to create an ember on the char cloth. In fact, I didn't get any spark at all on several occasions. I don't know why, maybe its the steel not having sufficient carbon content, the flint is too soft or both. Well serves me right, what you get for what you pay.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

Small Tiger Knapp

The first expensive custom made neck knife (for me it's expensive) I bought from BHK. A gift to myself from my first salary working at Walmart. It cost me $40.00 + $8.00 shipping charges.




It's a little bit smaller than I expected. Size 5 3/4" OAL, cutting edge 2 1/2"


This is a hand made knife from 01 steel, hollow grind.


Kydex sheath with slide tension lock. The knife looks different compared with the picture below from their website.


This is how the knife looks in their website. I'm not so happy with what I got.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.