Kayak Shack Materials List & Construction Notes

This is the materials list for the kayak storage shed/rack I built.

All lumber is pressure treated. I used the following:

• 2 sheets of 1/2 inch plywood
• 4 ten-foot 2x4s
• 9 eight-foot 2x4s
• 11 ten-foot 5/4x6 deck boards
• Screws or nails rated for outdoor use with treated wood

Chasing Ghosts: Another Hunt Story

A biologist might describe a deer as a hooved ruminant. She'd be wrong.

Deer are ghosts.

They materialize in the forest out of thin air, then disappear in an instant.

They crash loudly through the trees just a few feet away without ever coming into view.

They emerge from unexpected places, offering a fleeting glimpse, leaving you wondering if you really saw anything.

They will haunt you with their absence for days, and then suddenly a gang of them will sneak up behind you.

This year I started hunting on the 19th of October, and for two weeks I sat in the woods every chance I got. An hour hear and there, a few mornings, mostly afternoons. Oftentimes I'd get home from work with just enough daylight left to sit in my stand for 45 minutes or so, keenly alert for the footsteps of a deer. Keenly alert. There was a time or two I nodded off. Several times. But in between naps I was keenly alert.

Building a Small Backup Solar Electric System

When Hurricane Maria hit and caused such hardship in Puerto Rico and other areas, I was inspired to review our disaster preparations. Although we live in a part of the world that is much less susceptible to that type of widespread devastation, we have experienced weather events that caused multi-day power outages, and it's not hard to imagine a scenario that could have more impact. We have a small generator, but gasoline is expensive and perishable, generators are noisy, and I suspect gasoline supply chains are more fragile than we'd like to think.

The answer, obviously, was to install solar panels.

A Retirement Planning Adventure

Retirement planning is, to me, a confusing and daunting endeavor. However, recently I stumbled across an article about retirement financials from the Stanford Center on Longevity. The Center works on issues people face around mobility, financial security and mental ability as they age. There is some evidence that I fall into the category of "people who are aging." Thus, I think it's pretty cool that we have our own Center at Stanford.

In any case, here's a link to the specific article. It suggests a strategy for managing your income stream during retirement. I found it enlightening and it inspired me to embark on a...

[movie announcer voice]
Retirement Planning Adventure
[/movie announcer voice]

In other words, I made a spreadsheet.

The Buck

Almost exactly a year ago, I made a grand pronouncement here that I am not a trophy hunter. It's only fitting that today I report the harvest of my first trophy.

Grand pronouncements notwithstanding, I'm not hating the feeling.

This is my sixth hunting season, and before this year I had only harvested does, save for one small button buck (i.e. a buck whose antlers were mere buttons on top of his head).

Many deer hunters sit in tall tree stands, or even what could be described as miniature cabins, well out of the sight line of their quarry, and with high powered rifles that can take a deer from some distance. I, on the other hand, prefer to be no more than six or eight feet off the ground, fully exposed, and with a gun that could be described as "distance challenged". I do this because I seek a more pure experience, truer to the concept of fair chase, giving my prey more equal footing in the epic struggle between hunter and hunted.

Plywood Boat Build FAQ

In this post, I will attempt to answer some of the Frequently Asked Questions about my homemade plywood boat (view the video here or read about it here). For the purposes of this post, the term "frequently" is defined as any number greater than or equal to zero.

1. Why didn't you add a keel?

Initially I decided not to add a keel as I had no plans to do any keel hauling. Later, I discovered that a keel could be used for other purposes, like making the boat go through the water more efficiently, i.e. with less swaying back and forth as I paddle. I did add a skeg, which helped some, but upon reflection I do believe a keel would help more. I may add one in the future, or I may just build another boat and use a keel on that one.

Plywood Boat Build

This is the story of how I built a small wooden boat.

[diagram showing rough dimensions]**

I have been wanting a one-person hard-shell kayak for a long time, but decided the perfectly suitable used examples I saw on Craigslist for less than a couple hundred bucks exceeded my arbitrary budget. I therefore decided it made sense to spend almost the same amount plus an embarrassingly large number of hours building my own out of mostly scrap plywood, because when you're building something whose sole function is to keep you floating and alive in potentially precarious situations, scrap plywood is the obvious choice.