by Ron Foster
“A bit of both.” Sam said after a momentary pause.
“I have no idea if that smell would permeate a cork but they did have some foil wrapped types.” Sam said trying to remember what he had seen before the smell made him close the door and make his exit towards Lori as soon as he could.
“What happens if you dunk a cork in the ocean?” Lori asked with a smile.
“ I don’t know that one either, I guess we find out when I start soaking a bunch of beer cans in the ocean to see if they cool any and get de-funked.” Sam said laughing.
“Well let’s get to it.” Lori said rising.
“Yea I guess it’s about that time. You know what disappoints me about this place though?” Sam said to Lori who looked at him incredulous that anything could be wrong with the location they had lucked up on and find themselves no squatting in.
“What is that?” Lori questioned.
“Did you see the size of that bar they had in there and not one bottle of hooch anywhere!” Sam said with a loud guffaw that had both of them hugging each other and laughing at the absurdity of it all.
“Tell you another thing; we are not on scalloping and oystering grounds yet!” Lori said with a “OH NO!” look on her face wishing to possibly remain here and find out what the folks back in Destin might be doing eventually.
“One day to the next Darling but we are going to hang out here for awhile.” Sam said hugging her.
“Well, Lets Lock up the Tetra Pod like a clamshell on the beach before we take it out again and chain the trailer to it. Now who can lock up a Jon boat by folding it in half and locking it up?! Nobody can mess with it much, then I don’t imagine. How about we let that beer and wine soak and do a bit of surf fishing? I will go get the drinks out of that stinky refrigerator if you find some wood around here to cook dinner on.” Sam said.
“I can do that.” Lori agreed.
THE END!
Tetra-POD
The only enclosed trailer that flips into a boat.
The Off Road and On Road versions of the Tetra-POD are the only enclosed trailer in North America that turns into a boat. Their intended purpose is first and foremost, a tub trailer and a Jon boat secondly. They’re designed for pretty much anyone, and can do any job. If you are an outdoor enthusiast and you love getting into those backwoods or that lake the Off Road Tetra-POD is perfect for you. If you are more of a city person, but you like being outdoors but still want to get all of your work done at home the On Road Tetra-POD is the better choice for you. The Off and On Road Tetra-POD’s are the exact same in every way, except for the axel. The Off Road has a 2000 lbs Walking Beam Axle, where as the On Road Tetra-POD has a Dexter Torsion Axle which is better suited for those longer drives with your car.
Perfect for small lake fishing, off-road excursions, trips to the dump, or just general house hold hauling chores, the Tetra-POD can help you get to where you want to go. The small yet robust rotomolded plastic tub trailer and 11′ Jon boat is the ideal for you and your family.
RIVER FIRST AID
Below is an image of a venomous snake bite (upper) and the bite pattern of a typical non-venomous snake below it.
This is his article on snake bite in austere settings; below it is an article from the Wall Street Journal on the current thinking on snake bite kits.
SNAKE BITE
By Joe Alton, MD
In a grid-down scenario, you’ll find yourself out in the woods a lot more frequently, gathering firewood, hunting, and foraging for edible wild plants. As such, you’ll probably encounter a snake or two. Most snakes aren’t poisonous, but even non-venomous snake bites have potential for infection.
Venoms and poisons are not the same thing. Poisons are absorbed by the skin or digestive system, but venoms must enter the tissues or blood directly. Therefore, it is usually not dangerous to drink snake venom unless you have, say, a cut in your mouth (don’t try it, though).
North America has two kinds of venomous snakes: The pit vipers (rattlesnakes and others) and Elapids (coral snakes). One or more of these snakes can be found almost everywhere in the continental U.S. A member of another viper family, the common adder, is the only venomous snake in Britain, but it and other adders are common throughout Europe (except for Ireland, thanks to St. Patrick or so the legend goes).
Venomous snakes generally have hollow fangs through which they deliver venom. Snakes are most active during the warmer months and, therefore, most bite injuries are seen then. Not every bite from a venomous snake transfers its poison to the victim; 25-30% of bites are “dry”. This probably has to do with the duration of time the snake has its fangs in its victim.
An ounce of prevention, they say, is worth a pound of cure. Be sure to wear good solid high-top boots and long pants when hiking in the wilderness. Treading heavily creates ground vibrations and noise, which will often cause snakes to hit the road. Snakes have no outer ear, so they “hear” ground vibrations better than those in the air caused by shouting.
Many snakes are active at night, especially in warm weather. Therefore, some activities of daily survival, such as gathering firewood, are a bad idea at night without a good light source.
In the wilderness or even in your own backyard, it’s important to look where you’re putting your hands and feet. Be especially careful around areas where snakes might like to hide, such as hollow logs, under rocks, or in old shelters. Wear heavy gloves if you’re reaching into areas like these.
A snake doesn’t always slither away after it bites you. It’s likely that it still has more venom that it can inject, so move out of its territory or abolish the threat in any way you can. Killing the snake, however, may not render it harmless: it can reflexively bite for a period of time, even if its head has been severed from its body.
Snake bites that cause a burning pain immediately are likely to have venom in them. Swelling at the site may begin as soon as five minutes afterwards, and may travel up the affected area. Pit viper bites tend to cause bruising and blisters at the site of the wound. Numbness may be noted in the area bitten, or perhaps on the lips or face. Some victims describe a metallic or other strange taste in their mouths.
With pit vipers, bruising is not uncommon and a serious bite might start to cause spontaneous bleeding from the nose or gums. Coral snake bites, however, will cause mental and nerve issues such as twitching, confusion and slurred speech. Later, nerve damage may cause difficulty with swallowing and breathing, followed by total paralysis.
Coral snakes appear very similar to their look-alike, the non-venomous king snake. They both have red, yellow and black bands and are commonly confused with each other. The old saying goes:”red touches yellow, kill a fellow; red touches black, venom it lacks”. This adage only applies to coral snakes in North America, however.
Coral snakes are not as aggressive as pit vipers and will prefer fleeing to attacking. Once they bite you, however, they tend to hold on; Pit vipers prefer to bite and let go quickly. Unlike coral snakes, though, pit vipers may not relinquish their territory to you, so prepare to possibly be bitten again.
The treatment for a venomous snake bite is called “Anti-venin”, an animal or human serum capable of neutralizing a specific biological toxin. This product will, however, probably be unavailable in a long-term survival situation.
If you encounter someone with a snake bite:
Keep the victim calm. Stress increases blood flow, thereby endangering the patient by speeding the venom into the system.
Stop all movement of the injured extremity. Movement will move the venom into the circulation faster, so keep the limb still.
Clean the wound thoroughly to remove any venom that isn’t deep in the wound
Remove rings and bracelets from an affected extremity. Swelling is likely to occur.
Position the extremity below the level of the heart; this slows the transport of venom.
Wrap with compression bandages as you would an orthopedic injury, but continue it further up the limb than
usual. Bandaging begins two to four inches above the bite (towards the heart), winding around and moving up, then back down over the bite and past it towards the hand or foot.
Keep the wrapping about as tight as when dressing a sprained ankle. If it is too tight, the patient will reflexively move the limb, and spread the venom.
Do not use tourniquets, moist compresses, or drugs; you may do more harm than good.
Draw a circle, if possible, around the affected area. As time progresses, you will see improvement or worsening at the site more clearly. This is a useful strategy to follow any local reaction or infection.
The limb should then be rested, and perhaps immobilized with a splint or sling. The less movement there is the better. Keep the patient on bed rest, with the bite site lower than the heart for 24-48 hours. This strategy also works for bites from venomous lizards, like Gila monsters.
It is no longer recommended to make an incision and try to suck out the venom with your mouth. If done more than 3 minutes after the actual bite, it would remove perhaps 1/1000 of the venom and could cause damage or infection to the bitten area. A Sawyer Extractor (a syringe with a suction cup) is more modern, but is also fairly ineffective in eliminating more than a small amount of the venom. These methods fail, mostly, due to the speed at which the venom is absorbed.
Of course, in normal times make sure to get the victim to the nearest medical facility.
Interestingly, snake bites cause less infections than bites from, say, cats, dogs, or humans. As such, antibiotics are used less often in these cases.
So, look before you leap, you might just leap into a snake pit.
ABOUT SNAKE BITE KITS (FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL)
Wilderness enthusiasts often carry snake-bite kits, which makers say can treat a wound until help arrives. Scientists say the kits, which typically include suction devices and sometimes scalpels to drain the wound, may do more harm than good.
* * *
The American Association of Poison Control Centers, a nonprofit trade group, logged 6,550 snake bites in 2007, of which about half were poisonous -- most commonly involving the pit viper family, including the rattlesnake. Since not everyone reports snake bites, the actual number of bites is significantly higher -- tens of thousands of bites overall, of which likely 7,000 to 8,000 a year are venomous, according to estimates in scientific literature. Pit viper venom can cause severe swelling, bruising pain at the bite site, internal bleeding and sometimes problems breathing. Snake bites, treated in a hospital by antivenom, are rarely fatal.
Snake-bite kits, which cost $4 to $15 and are sold in sporting-goods and camping stores, are intended to be used before antivenom can be administered. Kit contents vary, but often include a scalpel, a suction device and a constriction band to be tied around the limb to slow spread of the venom.
Doctors say the kits are, for the most part, based on outmoded ideas. The best thing to do is call 911 or get the patient to a hospital as soon as possible, says Lori Weichenthal, a wilderness-medicine expert at the University of California-San Francisco in Fresno. If possible, Dr. Weichenthal adds, immobilize the bitten limb and keep it below the level of the heart -- but more important, get to help fast.
Never use the scalpel in the snake kits, Dr. Weichenthal and others say, as it could damage the skin further. Some physicians say the constriction band may help, but make sure it is loose enough to slip in a finger. Cutting off circulation could damage a limb.
The suction devices are still under debate. One of the most popular devices, the Sawyer Extractor, sold by Sawyer Products Inc. of Safety Harbor, Fla., consists of a syringe-shaped chamber with a plunger that creates a vacuum. The company suggests leaving it on 10 to 15 minutes to extract the venom.
However, a study in pigs and one using radioactively labeled simulated venom injected into the thighs of eight human volunteers found the Sawyer Extractor ineffective. "It removes just a minute quantity of venom," says pig-study author Sean P. Bush, a professor of emergency medicine at California's Loma Linda University School of Medicine. Some doctors fear the deep suction could even worsen outcomes by killing skin at the wound site. The human study, published in 2004 by researchers at the University of California in Fresno, found that the device removed no more than 1% to 2% of mock venom from the leg.
Sawyer Products owner Kurt Avery says he believes the studies show only that the product doesn't work well in large muscle areas, such as thighs and calves. Based on the results, the company changed its label about two years ago to warn that the pump is "not as effective" at removing venom from large muscle areas. Mr. Avery maintains the product is effective when the bite is under the skin in hands, feet and other nonmuscled areas.
That argument doesn't sound plausible to Stanford University's Paul S. Auerbach. Dr. Auerbach, who had advocated use of the Sawyer pump in his 2003 book "Medicine for the Outdoors" and is listed on Sawyer's Web site as supporting the product, says the new edition of his book, expected out next month from Elsevier Inc., will recommend against its use based on newer research.
Other doctors say the scientific evidence against the Sawyer pump is inconclusive. "The jury is still out" on the pump, says Robert S. Hoffman, director of the New York City Poison Control Center. He carries one in his backpack when he goes hiking in snake territory.
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Fishhooks
Even if you’re an accomplished fisherman, you will eventually wind up with a fishhook embedded in you somewhere, probably your hand. Since the hook probably has worm guts on it, start off by cleaning the area thoroughly with an antiseptic.
Your hook probably has a barbed end. If you can’t easily slide it out, the barb is probably the issue. Press down on the skin over where the barb is and then attempt to remove the hook along the curve of the shank. If this doesn’t work, you may have to advance the fishhook further along the skin until the barbed end comes out again. At this point, you can take a wire cutter and separate the barbed end from the shank. Then, pull the shank out from whence it came.
Wash the area again and cover with a bandage. Observe carefully over time for signs of infection, which manifests as spreading redness, swelling, and warmth in the area. Antibiotics like cephalexin (fish-flex) or amoxicillin (fish-mox) will be useful to treat the infection before it gets out of hand
REVITALIZING A BATTERY
This is one of but many creative common descriptions on how to do this. There are also many YouTube videos on the subject.
That dead battery found in your car, motorcycle, tractor, boat, golf cart or EV is called a Lead Acid Battery. Lead Acid batteries are the most economical battery. Their construction is simple compared to the construction of say a Lithium Ion battery. The down side of lead acid batteries is the weight and the fact that they go dead when they are left discharged for even short periods of time. The maintenance of a lead acid battery is just the opposite of a cordless drill battery because the technology is different. Lead acids do best when left with a full charge.
When you go out to start your riding lawn mower or motorcycle in the spring you quickly find out that these types of batteries don’t hold a charge well when left unattended for several months. You also find that even after you jump start your mower or motorcycle that the battery just isn’t the same as it once was if it even charges at all. The reason for this is because the lead in the battery is exposed to uncharged raw acid when the battery slowly discharges over time. The lead in the battery simply rusts, thus blocking the flow of electricity and ability to charge properly. Luckily there is an affordable, readily available household compound that will reverse this.
To breathe new life into your lead acid battery you will need to first purchase the chemical Magnesium Sulfate. You probably just asked yourself “where in the WORLD do I get THAT!” This is actually a very easily found substance. However you won’t find it on the shelf of a store if you are looking for magnesium sulfate but you will find it on the shelf of almost every department
store and pharmacy if you are looking for EPSOM SALT. I recently purchased 2 gallons of distilled water for $1.46 along with 4 lbs of Epsom salt for $2.39 at Wal-Mart. That’s enough to treat all eight batteries in a comuta-car for less than 50 cents each!
To recondition your lead acid battery you will need Epsom Salt and a quart of distilled or rain water. Do not use tap or well water! Warm up the distilled water to about 150 degrees (very hot but not boiling). The temperature doesn’t need to be exact and will still work even if the water is at room temperature, it just won’t work as well. Mix 10 heaping table spoons full of Epsom Salt into the quart of water and stir until most or all is dissolved. Then simply pour this warm solution into the individual cells of your dead battery just as you would normally put water to maintain the acid levels. Then charge your battery over night. Do not attempt to put Epsom Salt directly into your battery because it will not dissolve properly into the battery acid, only water will dissolve Epsom Salt. Most dead batteries will be low enough on fluid that adding this solution will not over flow the battery. It is only recommended to add ½ quart of solution to an average size battery or one quart for a golf cart size battery. If your battery is already full of fluid then you will need to drain some of the acid to allow for the Epsom Salt solution. After adding the solution put the caps back on and shake the battery a bit to mix all the chemicals. Then charge battery overnight. If battery does not appear to have good capacity after the overnight charge, don’t give up. Sometimes it takes a week to 10 days for the Epsom Salt solution to “work” on the battery plates. Agitation is important. It is difficult to get the Epsom Salt solution to thoroughly mix with the acid in your battery because of the battery plates and baffles. One of the best mixing methods is to simply drive the vehicle (if the battery works at all) Some batteries have caps that come off the top to maintain the acid levels easily but low maintenance batteries require a bit more work to recondition. A low maintenance battery has its top sealed shut to prevent evaporation but it also prevents easy reconditioning. These batteries can still be reconditioned but you will have to look for the “shadow” marks on the top plastic that shows the holes into the cells. Simply drill holes in the plastic to get access to the cells then pour in your warm solution. You will then want to plug these holes with plastic plugs that can be found at most hardware stores. When purchasing a new battery it is recommended to look for the batteries that you can easily repair in the future should the need arise. It is also recommended to purchase a small solar or battery maintenance charger to keep your unused batteries charged over the winter to prevent this problem from happening in the future. This method works most of the time but not all the time. It depends on how bad the cells are decayed. This process can also only be done 3 to 5 times before the cells are worn out, prevent battery damage with a maintenance or solar charger!