Miami Woods Revisited

I went back to Miami Woods first to find out what animal made that scat (refer to my previous blog post) and second to test my new hobo stove.

While walking on the trail, I saw this.



And this.


So I guess this is the animal who made that scat. Do you agree?


I brought with me (from top left clockwise) my water bottle and a stainless cup, hobo stove, Gatorade, pear, 3-in-1 coffee in plastic container, shopping bag, knife, plastic spoon, macaroons, a slice of cake. Dried twigs on the bottom left are fuel for the hobo stove. I just pick them up from the grounds, some I broke off from the trees.


Boiling water for my coffee using the hobo stove. It took 8 minutes for the water to come to a boil. The hobo stove performed satisfactorily but I guess I need to make a cover for the cup to speed up the boiling process.


Coffee ready to drink.


A nice sip of coffee on a cool morning to unwind after an overnight shift.


The KA-BAR Adventure Piggyback with the handle wrap in paracord. The knife is now more comfortable in my hands.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

Miami Woods and KA-BAR Adventure Piggyback

My first stroll into the woods for the year 2012.


Miami Woods is part of North Branch Trail and is located along Caldwell Avenue. I pass this on my way and going home from work. And today, I decided to stop and take a short walk.


Trees are beginning to look green with leaves but many are still bare.


This is part of the North Branch of the Chicago River.


I wonder what this is but I sure could use it to test my hobo stove next time I visit.


Another strange object to me. A scat of an unknown animal. Anybody could tell me what animal?


And here's the KA-BAR Adventure Piggyback.



That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

KA-BAR Adventure Piggyback

Here's another cheap but good quality knife that is made in China. It cost $9.99 and free shipping available from seller bladeshop at Amazon.com.


0.165" thick 5Cr13 stainless steel with hard plastic sheath. Sheath has very good retention. There is no way the knife will fall of by itself. No rattle too.


Drop point 2.63" blade, 6" OAL, weighs 0.05 lbs.


Very sharp out of the box but I have to sharpen and strop it to make it shaving sharp. Great value for the money.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

Hip Bag By Swiss Travel Products

I carry most of my EDC in my pocket, like the stuff I have on a carabiner, my cellphone, wallet and car keys. But sometimes my pant's pockets are shallow I have a feeling I might lose some of my stuff specially when I go for a stroll in the woods. So I decided to buy a hip bag.


6" width, 4" height. Main pocket measures 5.5" wide, 3.5" tall and 1.5" deep.


Main pocket contains my EDC on a carabiner ...


and Svord Peasant knife.


Outside pocket are for loose change. There is another inside pocket which contains my cellphone but I forgot to take pictures. You can see the pocket in the second photo. Very convenient method of carrying all your stuff in one bag. I hope I dont't lose the hip bag though.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

First Knife I lost: Meyerco Guppy

I lost one of my EDC knife. It's one of the favorite knife I use at work as utility knife mostly as box cutter. The sheath has very good retention so I just had the sheath attached on my belt loop. I guess I lost it when I tried to squeezed in a tight spot while trying to get in one of the machine I use at work.


Meyerco Guppy Utility knife.


It does have a bottle opener and a screwdriver too.


All I have now is the sheath. Well, lesson learned. I sure gonna miss this little guy though.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

Work, work work!

Whew! Posting got derailed again by too much work. I got a part time job, aside from my regular job but its just too much. I had to quit because I fell asleep for a split second while driving coming home from working 16 hours. When I opened my eyes, I was straddling the yellow dividing lane. Its good not much car were on the road that morning. I could have had an accident.


Alden Estate of Skokie. This is where I worked part time for 1 week.

So good bye part time job and back to posting again.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

Small Hobo Stove

The first hobo stove I made was too big to carry around so now I just use it at home. For hiking, I made a small hobo stove.


This is made from a Chunky container and is quite the right size I wanted. Eight holes punched at the bottom using a church key.


Testing the hobo stove in the backyard using dried twigs. I used petroleum jelly coated cotton balls as fire starter.


Quite a fire going on there. Will be testing it in the woods soon.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.