It's A Different World Up Here

New To The Blog Roll

The collective name for a flock of snipe is Wisp - a wonderfully evocative, melancholic name, ideally suited to the half a dozen or so birds I saw vanish on a cold, starkly beautiful day.

I've received an email from a new blogger, who writes the amateur naturalist blog, great prose and great photography, so i thought i'd invite you all to stop by  and take a look. The blog only started last month so i wouldn't usually mention it until it had a few more posts.However I found something beguiling in the writing style, is it just because its 5.30am ? You decide. 

SBW

Down Among The Variables.

I just got in from a dog walking session with NPM (northern plumbing mate) and noticed a new post from The Gear Junkie about the very puffer jacket brand I'd been raving about to NPM, Canada Goose.

As we walked around the park I was boiling in my puffer jacket- I had to vent three times and ended up taking the hood down and my hat off. On the way back to the house I my arms the were suddenly cold. They were soaked through and the cold had started to bite. I was reminded of a conversation I'd had with Tobermory...... 

To set the scene: your pal the bushwacker is seeking advise before facing 'difficult' clients

Tobermory [who you met here]: (kindly wise eyes a twinkle)

'You're ready, you think you can do it'

SBW: (looking across the yawning chasm between our levels of talent, wisdom and experience)

'I guess so'.

Tobermory: 'What are you doing to buy insurance?'

SBW: 'Reduce the variables, I don't want any surprises. Find consistent capabilities and build from there.'

Tobermory: 'even more useful if you know the operational range of those capabilities'

SBW: 'Ahh I getcha! Like a down jacket is the warmest thing in the world while your stood still, but as the warmth starts to make you sweat, moisture rises into the down which losses its thermal efficacy, and the rising heat makes the snow melt on the outside surface, wetting the down from the outside, further lowering the jackets TOG value ' 

Tobermory 'It's your metaphor. I have no idea what you're talking about but it looks as though it works for you'

SBW: 'its camping gear, for harsh conditions'

Tobermory: Yes I've experienced those, where room service isn't 24 hour, Brrrrr'

Keep warm guys

SBW

Come In Mrs BoB - Your Audience Awaits

Exiting news from the south island. Mrs BoB will be writing a guest post in which she'll interview her brother, Outdoorsman, Wildfowler, Pig Hunter, and Spear Fisherman. I've met the man in question, but before he started hunting. So I'm really looking forward to hearing all about how he got started, what the bars to entry are in NZ, how firearms licenses work there, what he's bagged. Of course it wouldn't be The Suburban Bushwacker if we didn't learn what gear he uses and what gear he would use if money were no object. I can't wait. 

If you're curious too, please leave comments telling Mrs BoB 

A: how much you want to hear what she has to say

B: To get on with it!

Hint Hint

SBW

Clebz - What They Think We Want To Hear?

Outdoor Life have collected together a few choice words about hunting and fishing - all uttered by attention seeking numbskulls.......

Let's start with Macca (Paul McCartney) a man who currently uses his media soapbox to vent his frustrations at his former friend, who had the temerity to die before scores could be settled.

Really, I'm not joking scroll down to controversy.

"Many years ago, I was fishing, and as I was reeling in the poor fish, I realized, 'I am killing him—all for the passing pleasure it brings me.' "And something inside me clicked. I realized as I watched him fight for breath, that his life was as important to him as mine is to me."

Can we believe him?

I would like to draw the courts attention to this interview in the The Sunday Times

He told “the guys, particularly John [Lennon], about this meeting and saying what a bad war this was”. Tariq Ali, [renowned lefty firebrand] who led antiwar demonstrations in London, said:
“This is news to me. We never heard of Paul’s views at the time. “It was John Lennon who was concerned about the war. He never mentioned McCartney and I never thought of asking him to join us.”

Milking cheap sentimentality has its place, song lyrics, being the ideal forum, and he was good at it. But lecturing others on how they should share his views, about the fluffy bunnies playing in the field is inviting mockery.

So Bushwacker, now that you've made your feelings about Mr McCartney known, why the picture of Lilly Allen?

I liked her dress (click the pic for a closer view of the pattern) and, well, what's not to like?

Your pal

Suburban  disgusted of tunbridge-wells BushWacker

Over Night Sensation

A while back I spent a month in the Languedoc region of southern France, and did we do some great eating. Here's the local specialty.

Cassoulet was originally cooked in the ovens of the village bakery with every family having an earthenware dish with their own symbol or crest on it, the first part was done at home and the dish dropped off at the bakery to be picked up on the way home from the fields the next day.

This should be enough for six of you

600g of dried Haricot beans

600g of pork shoulder diced (how a frenchman hunts a pig)

400g of Toulouse sausage

50g of pork rind 

6 confit duck legs (how a wild food hero confits his duck legs)

1 large onion chopped as fine as you have the patience for

1 large onion studded with cloves

1 head of garlic chopped even finer than the onion

1 generous bundle of herbs (AKA bouquet garni -The green part of a leek, some thyme, a couple of bay leaves and some celery tops - tied up with a piece of string)

2 hearty pinches of rock salt

1 spoon of crushed peppercorns (green if you've got them - black at a pinch)

A glass of wine

And as much duck fat as your conscience will allow.

Lets get into it:

Blanch the beans in boiling water, skimming of any foam, 20 minutes should do it.

Change the water, add the studded onion, and bouquet garni, bring it all to the boil and turn it right down to the lowest simmer you can set you hob to. You'll need to cook this part for about 1.5 hours.

Brown the pork in some duck fat, a few pieces at a time and set aside.

Brown the sausages and set them aside.

Brown the duck legs and set them aside too.

Brown the pork rind in some more duck fat, then add and sweat the chopped onion down to mush, adding the garlic when the onion is well under way so as not to burn it.

Put all the browned parts in an oven proof dish, cover with water and simmer until everything is cooked.

Assemble the whole lot in an oven proof dish, making sure there are a good layer of beans on the bottom to avoid sticking. Add the wine and top up with water. 

leave the whole lot to stand, traditionally over night, but I usually just wait until the oven is up to 180c. Cook for about 1.5-2 hours adding more water if you need to.

Serve with proper bread, a big red, and finish with a fat cigar.

bon appetite 

SBW

Only The Good Bit

Hanks comment about being 'Scots-Irish' set me thinking aloud (in the relevant accents) about our own heritage to Bushwacker Jnr.  We're Northern European Heinz 57, and more comically, a mix of Welsh hookers and Russian aristocrats, but that's a story for another day.

Bushwacker Jnr. 'Am I a bit Welsh too dad?'  

SBW (in silly Welsh accent) "Only the good bit, boyo, Only the good bit"

After years of only eating under duress Bushwacker jnr has finally started to show an interest in the sport of his forefathers, face stuffing. I'm an eater, BoBs an eater, our Dad's an eater. 

On the other other side of the river [ex] Mrs SBW's brothers are all eaters, and even the legendarily skinny Mrs SBW can put away huge amounts of grub.

Bushwacker jnr: "What do they eat in wales?"

SBW (still in a comedy welsh accent) "Leeks, Lamb, and that most perfect of foods The Welsh Cake. Bud."

Welsh cakes are very very easy to make, even easier than Bannock and Biscuit. You can make them in a skillet over your campfire, or in an un-greased frying pan at home, but my guess is that they were originally cooked on top of a  range, where they could cook on the residual heat left from other cooking or heating water.

The recipe has only five ingredients

2 parts flour

1 part fat

1 part sugar

some dried fruit (or as I explained it to bushwacker jnr 'anything other than Currants')

1 egg

Blend the dry parts together in a bowl with your fingers as though you were making a crumble, then stir in the egg with a spoon.

Form the whole lot into a sausage shape and slice it into discs. The little people liked shaping the cakes by hand , but you being as sophisticated as you are dear reader, could cut them out using the rim of a Champagne glass.

Cook low and slow in an un-greased pan until pale brown on both sides.

If they seem a little soft in the middle, just turn off the heat and come back in a while.

Great fun to do, and anything that sells the kids on the idea that they could cook for themselves is bound to be labour saving in the long run.

Enjoy

SBW

Let's Not Talk Of Love & Flowers & Things That Don't Explode

Nothing to do with my journey, but its just so great I thought I'd share it with you.
My cousins husband; gun nut, explosives expert, firework designer and all round top chap worked on it. Gun fire and explosions. What's not to love?
SBW

PS which band and which song do the words "Lets not talk of love and flowers and things that don't explode" come from? You never know i might even russell up a prize for the first correct entry.

Swagmas Pt2 - Sheepishness From NewZealand

Well played MoB (mother of Bushwacker). Bad form BoB (brother of Bushwacker).

Just when I'd said BoB would never let you down, this happened, or rather didn't happen. 

Bad BoB.

MoB, fearing that it would be cold up north (a fear that has proved well founded) ordered me a

Phoenix Zip Thru by Icebreaker of New Zealand in early December. Think of an old school 70's tracksuit top in Wool. Merino Wool.

Being a practical person by nature, MoB thought it could travel economy in combined shipping. Being nearly crimbo and expecting/hoping for a gift from her far-flung son, she had it delivered to BoBs house on New Zealand's south island, where it stayed. Bad BoB

Finally BoB has gotten his butt in gear and shipped it - half a world in seven days - BoBs sofa to the post office took nearly seven weeks. Baad BoB.

In October 2008, Icebreaker launched its pioneering traceability program in Europe called "Baacode." The system enables customers to follow their garments through every step of the production process, beginning on the New Zealand South Island sheep stations where the merino is grown and extending throughout its entire supply chain. Icebreaker is one of less than a handful of consumer companies now offering product traceability.

Yeah BoB that's TRACEABILITY.

SBW

Help A Mate Out

Councilor  'You should spend some time thinking about yourself'

SB 'I assure you, I do little else'

Attributed to Sebastian Horsley

Holly BKA (blogginly known as) NorCal Cazadora asks if we could show our appreciation of her fella Hank's efforts and vote for his blog Hunter Angler Gardener Cook in a 'cook off' between food bloggers. 

Heres for why: His blog is way good, I've emailed with him and he's a lovely chap, it only takes a minute, and in all fairness if you're reading this you've clearly not got anything more important to do with your time

Get CLICKIN'

Thanks 

SBW

Rangetastic!!

Ian 'rifle yoda' Spicer points to our handy work at Rangetastic.

I don't know what everybody else heard, but I distinctly heard him say

'Text book shooting here, by the bushwacker of course"

Modesty forbids me from saying more.

Sorry, I really will stop gloating/bringing conversations that readers aren't party to into the blog very soon. 

I've got a few Leeds based posts on the way but camera problems mean they're not ready yet.

For those of you who are interested; plumbing school is going well, I've remembered just how much I love going to see punk bands, it's so cold that I must have shivered off a few more pounds, TNM is in fine fettle and we're hatching plans for another road trip this coming summer.

Thanks for sticking with the blog despite my tardiness.

Your pal

The bushwacker

PS For those of you with an interest in rifle and stalking skills, Ian is holding some one day deer stalker's courses this year, and when you think of what he can achieve with a lummox like me, how good could he make you? Dates TBC contact him at Red-Deer. 

Maybe even see you there. SBW

I Want One - A Not So Occasional Series Pt5

This time it's a rifle. Seeing as the Tikka T3 (£700ish) i shot at Rangetastic was so good strait out of the box, it set me wondering. As Sako and Tikka are both part of Beretta. What are Sako offering for the extra £600 ?

The current offering is the 85 series, a refinement of the highly rated 75 and available in the usual range of calibers, stocked with a choice of wood, laminate or synthetic (£1300ish). The most obvious difference is that the actions are caliber-specific; cartridge length determines the length of the action. Giving new meaning to 'use enough gun'. This looks far nicer, saves a few grams, and means the bolts travel is matched to the effort needed to cycle your cartridge.

Worth the extra cash? Depends how many sewage pipes you had to clear for it, I suppose.

Off up north
Your pal
SBW

Our Friend's In The North

A great picture by James of me sitting at the bench - Rangetastic!
Have all the 'crack shot' jokes been made already?

With the new year begining; the economy sliding, Google soaking up all the advertising budgets, loafer wearing smart arses not being in demand the way we once were, and me and the gorgeous Mrs SBW no longer an item, I've decided give myself a kick up the arse and to go to school.

Psychology and Law both sounded like tempting vocations, but the whole 'poor student' thing just isn't practical. So I'm going to save the world - one house at a time.

As a culture we're at the crossroads where the 'Big Brains and Opposable Thumbs' experiment is about to be tested, possibly to destruction. A deregulated derivatives market has just been tested to destruction and even some of the less imaginative voices are starting to talk about peak oil either having already happened or being more than a 'penciled' appointment. While MCP and quite a few of my off-grid chums see only doom and gloom, I see a massive opportunity. One where we'll re-float the financial system and free ourselves from fossil fuels; by a massive swing to locally generated energy and the responsible/ingenious deployment of the resources we have. I'm prepared to bet the next ten years of my life on it. So its off to trade school in the frozen north, (or "Leeds" as the locals pronounce it) to brush up on my plumbing and electrical skills. While I'm there I plan to get time for some outdoor adventures with TNM. The beautiful county of Yorkshire (Englands Texas) offers plenty of chances for us to get up close and personal with our dinner. Although Ferret Legging isn't and wont be on the agenda.

In honor of my new workplace, under a kitchen sink rather than behind a desk, here's my favorite builders joke - The Intellectual Building Site

There's an English guy living in Eire, has no money, so he thinks 'I'd better get a job' so he goes to a nearby building site to ask the foreman if they have anything for him.

Foreman: "Well thanks for coming down and askin'. I'd like to give you a shout, I really would, because i like to think of myself as a fair man. And that's the reason I'd only be fair if i gave you a warning first. This IS the intellectual building site, and although I'm sure you're a nice fella and all, it'd be only fair if i warned you, I've not been a fan of the education system in your country since they phased out the eleven plus. This is the intellectual building site, we start with the crossword in the London Times with our breakfast, at the first break we do the crossword from the Irish Times and by lunchtime my nephew has faxed us the New York Times crossword. So if you don't get in you mustn't be too hard on yourself, its no reflection on you as a person, it might be that you just weren't smart enough or your education just wasn't good enough. Remember this is the intellectual building site."

English guy: "Sounds fair whats the question?"

Foreman: "What's the difference between a girder and a joist?"

English guy: "That's easy Goethe wrote Faust and Joyce wrote Ulysses!"

A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL

Your pal
The bushwacker.
PS Just think how much weight I've lost to have my pants hang down like that!

I Want One - A Not So Occasional Series Pt4

I haven't done a 'I Want One - A Not So Occasional Series' posts in a while, but you know how it is, one moment your working on your business plan, the next thing you know you've accidentally started surfing British Blades and your head has been turned . I like the rivet placement on the Cocobolo [left] but the Thermorun [right] is more practical.
Perhaps if I got the wooden handled one, and re handled it in G10 I could add a pair of hollow rivets.................Hmmm
The price? Don't ask.
Your pal
SBW

PS The knifes are a Fallkniven TK5 and TK6
PPS My review of the Fallkniven F1 is here

Swagmas Pt1

Got some great swag - Camo PJs and a Raidops Skull-Jr. With more to come!!
Hope you all got what you wanted or at least close enough that the only thing feeling burned is the Christmas pudding. Thanks for stopping by and reading my ramblings.

HAPPY CRIMBO

From SBW [ex]Mrs SBW, SBW Jnr and The Littlest Bushwacker

Once Again - Tis The Season To Be Silly

I received this one in my email yesterday, and having nothing more meaningful to write about, its ended up being today's post.

I am passing this on to you because it definitely worked for me. In these interesting times, we all could probably use more calm or inner peace in our lives. A doctor on breakfast television this morning said that the way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started. So I looked around my house to see things I'd started and hadn't finished and, before leaving the house this morning, I finished off a bottle of Merlot, a bottle of Shhhardonay, a bodle of Baileys, a butle of vocka, a pockage of Prunglies, tha mainder of bot Prozic and Valum scriptins, the res of the Chesescke an a box a chocolets. Yu haf no idr who fkin gud I fel. Peas sen dis orn to dem yu fee AR in ned ov inr pece
Ho Ho Ho

Your Pal
The Bushwacker

Testing His Metal

Finally made it the post office while it was open. So Alistair and the injured Pablo now have jam on the way to them. Sorry about the wait chaps; life, separation and work all got in the way.

On a not-so-happy note I also had cause to post a package to Sweden. Todd's recent post about chipping one of his creations reminded me, I've chipped my Fallkniven F1 !! [and that's got to be worth two exclamation marks] They aren't supposed to break. Ever.

The F1 (Fell-elk-knee-ven (Raven without Ra) "FellKneeven") has been my 'big knife' for over eighteen months now and for many jobs I'm a fan.

Here in the UK the F1 design has long held it's place as 'the Bushcraft knife'. An enthusiasm I'm not really sure I understand as the design brief was for a survival knife. While it's fantastic for the rough jobs, battening and splitting, at 4.5 mm (0.18") the blade lacks a little in the finesse department. For example you can butcher with it but its not ideal.

The cause for concern maybe that I chipped the tip while splitting leylandii (which i think of as pretty crappy wood) for a fire in Mrs SBW's backyard. Now its time to test Fallkniven's metal - in the customer service arena.

Next year I'll be trying the H1, Fallkniven's take on the traditional Nordic hunting knife. Will that become 'one knife to rule them all'? Or will the nagging concern that I may be, in some small way, 'under knifed' once again consume me?

Your pal
SBW

Old School Acuracy

How awesome is this old timer?
SBW

And Modest Too!

6.5x55 on the left and .243 on the right

For any of you who weren't in the Kentish Town region of north London on Saturday, and so haven't been told [boasted to] personally. I would like to draw you attention to the paperwork pictured above. Having not touched a rifle in just under three years i was delighted to print these two out.

On the left i was firing a moderated 6.5x55 and on the right an un-moderated .243, the 'Swedish' belonged to Ian Spicer the Yoda of rifle shooting and the .243 was a Tikka that belongs to the West London Shooting School.

In case you were wondering about the errant third hole on the target, i would like to refer you to rule 5.3.2.2 of the National Small-bore Rifle Association's competition rules.

When a card has on it fewer shot holes than the number specified in the competition, the shots deficient shall be deemed misses, unless the Range Officer and/or a witness certifies that the shot or shots have been placed in error on the card of another competitor. In which case the shooter who has fired on the wrong cards shall receive a hit or hits of the lowest value from the target with the extra shot or shots upon it,(subject to Rule 5.3.2.3) less two points penalty for each shot he placed on the wrong card. The shooter whose card has on it the extra shot or shots shall receive the full value of the remaining shots on his card.

At my party i told Johna (amongst others) about the afternoons fun and showed him the excellent hat the WLSS gave me. "Really! They had one that big in stock?"

Your Pal
Suburban 'sniper' Bushwacker

He's A Handsome Fella That SBW

It's me init with a .270
SBW