Outdoor Gear

One of my favorite activities during the spring and summer months is to go hiking.  I don’t mean just for a afternoon hike, but all day.  Just pack a lunch, thermos full of coffee and a bagel and head out the door for a long hike in the woods.  Of course you have to make sure that you have a jacket, some raingear, sun block, a hat, water and maybe even a tent and bedroll for a quick overnight in the woods.  Some daypacks barely have enough room for this kind of activity and  if you are a scout leader…

As a firefighter, I’m always looking for “gear” that keeps me safe.  It’s especially nice to find a piece of equipment that I can carry both at work and at home.  My rescue tool, for example, never leaves my pocket.  It’s a versatile piece of hardware that I use almost every day, sometime to free an injured patient from their seat belt, other times to cut the blister pack off of one of my daughter’s newest toys. When I saw the SurvivalStraps web site I immediate thought, “now there’s something that might come in handy no matter where I am.”…

From the days of the cave man, starting fires has long been something man has struggled with.  The Coghlan’s Flint Striker which is a twist  on a fire-starting technology that is almost as old as time.  Even with today’s more modern technology, you  still might want to use one of these instead of matches or butane lighters. Coghlan’s Flint Striker is a rod made of magnesium with a striker attached with a piece of cord.  It is simple to operate.  You just take the striker and hold it in one hand with the word UP facing the top of the…