Pet Talk with Vicki Davis

Learning to uses the small boat for me was like a duck taking to water. Stable craft and stealthy in the respect that I could float up on waterfowl when hunting or nestle up to a sunken log when fishing. You need to be on more stable substrate when disembarking. Boarding is nothing more than lowering you, inside the hold...

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I'm a big fan of the months with the letter “o” included. I also think it’s neat that they are right next to each other in the yearly calendar. This is one example of the many brilliant thoughts I have when I’m splitting firewood...

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The storm started miles from here along the western border of Minnesota. it was outside the treeline with nothing in its way to slow it down so it roared across the state. when it slammed into woods it started things swaying. the frail fell moments later in branches or aging trees...

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Complete cessation of wind. No hissing or popping, the fire has died to ashes. Water so calm its not lapping against the shore. I think everything outdoors is tired and I know I am. All of this northern most Minnesota nature is shutting down...

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You know the folks that jog; I’m not one of them. Or one of those people who mountain bike. I’m not into impact aerobics. Pounding feet or pounding down the hill and vale will take something out of me and it must for those folks as well. We all have our own way of getting it out, hopefully to getting it back...

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For me there is a direct correlation between the flames of the campfire and  my sleeping bag. They both take the chill off eventually, but not completely. As  my front or backside reflects the fire it warms either my face or my posterior. My mummy bag encases almost all of me, to the exclusion of...

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Some of the best Saturday shore lunches I have eaten have started with a Tuesday. Tuesdays my butcher told me is thee day to shop at the local market. All lasts weeks old stuff has been bought and the new stuff is being put on the shelf. So On Monday I...

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As we wind down from our six month winter here in Nebraska, and things begin to green up.....you hear the whispers in the air...

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Somewhere in those trees is more than a portage trail. The very path is the absence of trees. One foot fall at a time, in an incessant pounding of mine and yours, trod by our favorite foot gear creates and maintains the portal to which I will pass through. Me and my mind must hike this hall...

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With the right equipment and clothes winter can be a great time for camping. There are no crowds or bugs, and there's the fun of cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, animal tracking, bird watching, and ice fishing. Preparing to winter camp starts with the shelter...

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Friday night, the tents are all set up. We’ve moved civilization to the pucker brush. Lanterns hiss and the campfire smoke is drifting to whom ever it bothers the most. Campfires sense that...

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You can’t get the birch bark smell from a crisp photo, or the warmth that the flames send forth. You have to go build the fire, and sit by it. Breathe it, tend it, and follow the lofted sparks until the night sky just turn’s them into stars...

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At 9:45 pm the timber wolves cut loose. We put some more wood on the fire and toasted our feet and the health of the timbies. They rose to full chorus as if trying to throw their lungs out of body. That howling was...

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It’s been all afternoon and not one other bite. I have heard the kids being called to dinner and one bout of crying from the other camp site. Daylight’s curtain is being drawn and the hint of pink from the rainbow trout is vaguely familiar in the western horizon...

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What is the difference between a bean pot and a Dutch oven? The bean pot is missing the trio of legs commonly found supporting the Dutch oven. The bean pot is more suited for stove top cookin' with its flat or slightly rounded bottom. Both should have a very tight fitting lid with a lip curl to corral coals and be constructed of heavy cast iron. No coals in the house. (From personal experience)...

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