My equipment has been moved out of my parents house, gone through, and items I no longer need have been sold, given away or thrown out. I'm trying to organize a small amount of gear to be kept in the care home where my Mom is, but that is still a work in progress.
When I pulled some of my totes out of where they were stored,
I came across some of my old Boy Scout equipment! I found my mess kit, authentic Sierra Club cup, utensils, webbing belt and canteen pouch that was (I believe) Korean War surplus, purchased from a real-deal Army Navy store in the middle 60's.
What's missing is the canteen, the aluminum kind with the nice screw cap and the funky flat link chain retainer. I was using this well into the 1980s and water purification was done with various tablets or boiling. No fancy filters back then! I not-so-fondly remember the taste of those tabs in that metal canteen... I'd like to find it again. It may still be in a corner or a box, but I think it's long gone. I'm keeping the belt and pouch for strictly sentimental reasons, since I've got two newer sets of belts with Nalgene bottles and holders.
I also found the balance of my fishing tackle in a tote. This will need some work to sort out the tangled mess, because I dropped this tackle box off the tailgate of my truck a long time ago, broke the lid, and instead of buying a new tackle box right away I just put the broken mess in a tote to be fixed later. Much later. Don't ask.
In the bottom of the tote I found a genuine, no-kidding Herter's sheath knife along with an early 70's Buck 110 folder. I didn't have time or a decent place to take some pictures of both knives, but I will post them soon. What's a "Herter", you ask? You could find anything you needed or didn't want in there. Just read the short article linked above to get a taste of what this catalog contained. From bear traps and fly-tying supplies to tents, you could order them from Herter's; think of them as the Sears Catalog of outdoor supplies.
Also found inside one of my Buckets of Holding was food that I didn't know was there. I dumped everything in the pail that wasn't relatively inert, like salt, black pepper, cinnamon and sugar. Everything which could be considered 'Food' was seriously out of of date by at least 5 years! There weren't any bulged cans, leaking bottles, or obvious spoiled items, but I wasn't taking any chances. I did take the top off a peanut butter jar just to smell, and it was right on the edge of rancid, confirming my avoidance of any trail mixes containing peanuts no matter where they come from.
Recap And Takeaway
- I really needed to have better access to my gear before. Now that I've cleaned everything out, all my stuff has been relocated to where it can be gone through much, much easier.
- If you break something, replace or fix it right away if you can. You never know when that gear might be needed.
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NOTE: All items tested were purchased by me. No products have been loaned in exchange for a favorable review. Any items sent to me for T&E will be listed as such. Suck it Feds.
I store items like rice and beans in ziplock gallons inside food grade pails. That way when you need to restock the working supply in the kitchen you don’t have to expose the whole bucket to the air.
ReplyDeleteI store items like rice and beans in ziplock gallons inside food grade pails. That way when you need to restock the working supply in the kitchen you don’t have to expose the whole bucket to the air.
ReplyDelete