Posted on 12/01/2014 8:02:25 AM PST by lulu16
PEST FREE During a family vacation and faced with an unexpected storm, we decided to rent a small unfurnished cabin at a state park. As soon as we had our sleeping bags spread on the floor, our pillows fluffed, and the room dark, a million feet started crawling over our faces and legs. Oh, the horror when we switched on the lights.
Every conceivable, imaginable creature had crawled out of the woodwork. I had never seen so many bugs in one place. On top of that, we had several raccoons circling around the cabin.
Then I remembered our tent. Not wanting to sleep indoors or outdoors for that matter, we decided to set the tent up inside. Thankfully, it was one of those easy pop up dome tents that didn’t require stakes.
After zipping ourselves inside the tent, we were finally comfortable.
(Excerpt) Read more at thesurvivalmom.com ...
Heard about some guys (’not from around here,’ as they say) hunting up near Yellowstone this year who set up a really big tipi right in the parking area near the trailhead to use as their base camp.
All good and fine though you are going to have a lot of traffic in such a spot.
But they also put up some small t-posts and stretched a wire around the tipi with a solar generator attached to give their wire a bit of an electric charge, the kind you might use to to top your garden fence to discourage racoons.
My buddy asked them what was up with the fence. “We’ve got our food and stuff in there,” said the out-of-stater. “That’s to keep the grizzlies away.”
If you live alone, which I once did, and you camp alone, which I would do, you have to get a tent that one person can set up by themselves. The tension rods, need someone else on the other side, keeping it in place. The old girl scout tents that need you to drive stakes into the ground, not a good idea with my think raspberry plush carpeting I had during the day.
Chuckling on this side of the monitor.
That must be a pretty hard cider - or a lot of it - for it to be wearing your shorts.
Preppars PING!!
Hat tip to wyokostur for the heads up!
we have done a lot of camping throughout the years... my sons know the ins and outs of setting up and tearing down... a few years ago, we had a really big celebration at our home... several out of town guests--a full house... a family friend decided he would camp out in our yard... he offered my sons $20 to set up his tent... he thought it would take them a good amount of time... they were finished in five minutes tops... haha!
Wish I’d thought of that back when I was a kid. From about ages 12-16 my room was so infested with earwigs that I couldn’t sleep there. Even now I sleep better in a hammock than on a mattress, partly because of medical issues but partly because bugs can’t hide in it.
(And if they try, I can chuck the whole thing in the washing machine!)
Ha, ha. Hard cider goes down easy.
Oh, my gosh Ellendra. And I thought sleeping on a mattress that sagged in the middle was torture when I was a teen. Are you sleeping outside on the patio with your hammock? Or do you have trees growing out of your family room floor?;)
Thanks, Kartographer.
I had originally became a prepper, when I was a single woman with dogs and Hurricane Andrew struck. I saw those poor people in the shelters and I heard that dogs were not allowed to stay. So, as God was my witness, I would always provide for me and mine, I took up camping again as an adult. I traded in the Audi 5000 for a new roomy Isuzu Trooper (which I still own and use regularly) and me and the dogs practiced roughing it.
I use a metal frame for the hammock. My only indoor tree is 2 feet tall :)
I love to see how people have converted their vehicles for camping. Spent the other weekend at an RV expo in town. I don’t quite understand that at RV with room for a rock band is the same price, $79,000, as a converted Ford truck.
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Because the rock band is included.
Yeah, buddy! Make it one from the 70’s when music was varied and great.
Back in the day I did field research in Namib and Kalahari Deserts and in the Etosha Pan and would live for months in a tent inside a chain-link enclosure really out in the middle of nowhere. I grew up camping in the Cascades and Rockies and I guess I always figured most people had at least slept outdoors before - not so. Anyway, I’d start out telling the new students my two rules: always wear shoes, and NO FOOD IN THE TENT! Not even a candy wrapper, cause you see that 12 foot chain-link fence? A lion can jump over that. And you hear that sound? That’s a lion. Oh - and don’t “f” with the honey badgers and stay away from busted up termite mounds - mambas live in them and they are aggressive and can move faster than you can run. The boys were always more freaked than the girls. When hiking I liked keeping people close together so if someone strayed to far I say, “Good work, Bill - that looks like great snake habitat! Tell me if you find anything!” That makes them just about levitate. Seriously though, a cohort and I were following some critters and lost track of the time and really had to hightail to get back into camp by sundown. It was pretty freakin scary.
Yeah, buddy! Make it one from the 70’s when music was varied and great.
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Sorry the ninties and oughts it is. With a lot of rap thrown in. That is why you get the discount.
I remember precisely the sound of the death knell of music: Nirvana and Dr. Dre.
They’re obnoxious around a camp site. Nothing like having raccoons raiding your coolers, etc.
But hiding inside a tent inside a cabin is not going to help much.
I researched tents for a few hours just now and have settled on the one below for inside the house should power go off. I noticed as I read the dimensions of tents and the customer comments that the companies are stretching the number of people they say are appropriate for a tent. Evidently, you are supposed to stack people on top of each other to get that many in.
The one I chose is 9’x7’ with height of 50 inches. I can easily accommodate a 9x7 tent in the house. It says this tent will accommodate 4 people. Well, I would only use it for two so there should be adequate room in the tent to move around a bit. This tent will help keep people warm.
This is from Walmart on line ($39) Fast setup:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/36779515
Now, I'm deciding on two fold up single cots to be used inside the tent and two single size inflatable mattresses. If you are older, don't think you will be comfy on your house floor to sleep. I want to be off the floor and have some cushion underneath me. With a cot, I have a seat and could stay there during the day without much discomfort, only leaving for food and bathroom.
Thanks for the ping. I’ve been looking at various designs for a small carriage house with a root cellar/basement area and an outdoor kitchen for BBQ get togathers. Very interesting links and information here.
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