Gifts for outdoorsmen

Santa Clause is coming to town, and he's packing a large bag filled with goodies, but... has he remembered the outdoorsmen on your holiday list? Check out some of the best sellers that they have over at Optics Planet for some great holiday ideas for anyone that loves the great outdoors - and get free ground shipping on orders over $29.95!

Optics Planet is huge and stocked with everything from sunglasses to the latest Celestron professional computerized telescope with XLT StarBright coating, they have everything you need to make any outdoorsman yelp with delight this holiday season.

Visit their Gift Guide and check out the great suggestions that have been sorted by category, price, even holiday. Optics Planet can help you find the gifts that are just right rather you are encouraging a child to develop a love of the night sky and searching for other worlds, or you want to buy items for a the head of your neighborhood watch group to say thanks for their efforts to keep the neighborhood safe. Maybe you're looking for a pair of binoculars for under $50 that can be used for taking that glacier cruise? Check out the gifts from $30 to $50 category for Barska Deep Sea waterproof binoculars that are both waterproof and fogproof.

Working on cargo box for back rack of ATV

I've been out taking measurements for the size of the rack on the back of my ATV, since I can't find the ones I made last year, and I am using a large sheet of freezer paper to create a rough size comparison for how large the base size on the ATV rack is. That way I can start laying out how big I want the base of the box I am building to be and start working on sketching up designs based on that size.

I have a good idea what I want the box to look like, so I just have to build the designs for how to cut the wood and get those measurements all figured out, then I can get some wood for building the box and start building it up.

Hmmm... I wonder if my nephew still has that old remote controlled ATV we got him several years back. I could create a scale mock up using balsa wood. Need to find out about what ever happened to that thing, if it's kicking around somewhere still or was thrown out over the years.

Looking for stocking stuffers for the outdoorsman in your life?

Looking for great ideas for what to get the outdoorsmen and outdoorswomen on your list? How about looking into the deals that CouponChief.com has? Check out merchants for great savings on outdoor stuff like Swiss Outpost coupons to help you find a great savings on genuine Swiss Army knives and more. How about checking out the Tiger GPS deals on things such as refurbished GPS units for a great price?

Carry box for ATV

I've determined that it is time to get back to work on the carrying box that I had wanted to build for my ATV. You might recall I had talked about this before, about making one out of fabric and even having my brother weld me up a framework for it to go over. Well, I never got around to that because I spent the summer instead toying with ideas for making a wooden box for the ATV.

I have decided that I like the way a wood box would look, and I have a nice router I can use to make it look really nice and a table saw and everything else I need (except the wood) so I am going to make myself a wooden crate to go on the back of my ATV rather than a canvas one. It won't be adding too much more weight to the machine and I never carry a lot anyway, so I think it should work really good on the ATV and I will take lots of notes on what I do to create it and share it with everyone when I get it finished.

Just try to find a women's snow suit at Amazon, I dare ya

Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a woman's snow suit at Amazon? lol I just went looking and found a couple of men's suits and a LOT of infant and boy's and girl's suits, no women's suits. These are a nice set of suits...

And then there is the one for the serious outdoorsman....

But the only women's suit I have found is...

That's not out of everyone's holiday present budget... is it?

I want to go ride my ATV

This is going to drive me insane. It is a nice day out there today, very low snow level because the snow has not yet recovered the ground from when the winds blew it all away back at Thanksgiving, and here I sit without a proper snowsuit to allow me to go for a nice long ATV ride and enjoy the perfect winter riding conditions. :::sighs and slumps in chair:: I don't wanna stay indoors and catch up on work. ::whines and stares out at forlorn looking ATV:::

Garage Floors

I want to get something done about the floor in the log garage next year. I had wanted to get something done this year, but it just did not get into the budget. You see, the floor in the log garage is still dirt, and I want to put in a concrete floor like my brother has in his garage. I'd like to create a look of natural slate in there rather than have it just look like a concrete floor though, so I need to see if that's doable when I get to have my brother help me with putting a floor in the log garage. I think it would go really nice with the log walls to have a floor that looks like it was built on either a solid slab of dark slate or granite.

Of course, I know I'll be working on cars in there, and I don't want the oil stains that he had in his garage. He got some stuff in town the other day that he painted on the floor then scattered this speckled stuff on it. His garage floor really looks good now, no more oil stains or other stains (I don't know what the other stuff was, but I assume paint and sealants from painting cars in there). The only problem is that the stuff he got was just a paint.

I was looking at epoxy sealer for garage floors at Car Guy Garage and talking to my brother about the stuff he had put in his garage, and my brother pointed out the difference to me stating that if I look at his garage floor, every time he drives across it some of the paint peels off, where the stuff I was looking at online was the high grade epoxy stuff that they put in showrooms... hmmm... wonder if that stuff resists paint spray staining it? And how my budget is going to be looking for Christmas... (I hope my brother's not reading this blog LOL)

Storage for the ATV and tractor

I was outside yesterday looking at the shed and pondering rather to store my ATV in there or stuff it full of more boxed in need of storing from the house. I think I'll go with clearing out the house some more and see if I can't clean up the old log garage enough to tuck my ATV and mom's tractor in there for the winter. I would like to tuck them into my brother's garage, but he's using it again for restoring cars so I can't make use of it like I had last winter. Ah well, get out there tomorrow and move things int eh log garage and there should be more than enough room for the ATV and tractor and even the tractor's snow blower attachment.

Winter riding

Seems like it has been forever since I have made it back around to Alaska ATV, but trust me, it seems like a lot longer since I have had a chance to take my ATV out for a ride. I wanted to go up to the library the other day, but decided that at 10 degrees it was a little colder than I wanted to be riding in jeans and a lightweight winter jacket. I need to get me a good snow suit, then I can think about that kind of riding again. Winter riding on the ATV should be fun though, so I definitely want to see if I can get a good snow suit this year. Don't think I have owned a snow suit since I was about 14 years old.

5.11 Tactical gear

I have loved cops since I was a very young girl, spent a long time daydreaming about growing up and being a cop. Until at about 15 I determined I did not have what it took to not shoot someone that had hurt a child, so I decided I better change my career path. I still love cops, though, and have the highest respect for any man or woman that would step up to protect others.

I guess that was what had me spending the last half an hour sitting here just browsing the 511 Tactical Outdoors website at 511TacticalOutdoors.com. A subsidiary of LA Police Gear, Inc, the 511 Tactical Outdoors website is dedicated to serving the needs of the 5.11 Tactical customer, and they carry a wide range of products that are fascinating rather you are involved in 5.11 Tactical or not.

For example, check out the Galco range, sport and field bags, these are rugged leather constructed bags that are intended to stand up to the demands of 5.11 Tactical with rolled leather handles and bottom reinforcement to increase the bag's load bearing capability.

Also be sure you check out the VTAC RUSH72 and RUSH24 backpacks. They are constructed from water-resistant, 1,050-denier nylon and are available in either black or deep flat earth colors. There is a tab on the left that takes you to most of the bags, but to find the Galco bags you want to look under the entry for Galco Holsters on the left hand column.

I'm looking at the 5.11 Tactical Mission Rolling Duffle Bag at the moment and thinking how much nicer that looks than my beaten up old flight bag for business travel.

Tread Lightly

I was over messing around on YouTube and found this - I decided that it was something that was well worth sharing here. Enjoy, and remember, tread lightly, because we want to prove ourselves responsible out there and get more trails for ATVs - the dog mushers have more than enough already.