I just happened to catch "Alone In the Wilderness" on PBS last week.
It's about Dick Proenekke, who at 51, got himself dropped off on a
remote lake in Alaska to see if he could survive for a year. This was
1968.
He brought with him an axe, couple handsaws, spoke shave, auger bit,
etc. First job was to make a mallet and fashion handles for the tools
(brought handle-less to save room on the trip in).
In short order he built a log cabin and made all sorts of furniture
for himself. Even made hinges and a door latch. He used a 3-foot
handsaw to do the sort of resawing you guys buy them fancy 18"
bandsaws for!
All that handsawing--he's not a big guy, but one shot of him (and he
documented his progress by himself, with his own cameras) shows a
bicep that bulges like a grapefruit! (My own leetle biceps started
tremoring just watching him resawing a 2-foot diameter log!)
Guess he liked it--stayed there for over 30 years.
Although the film covers other aspects of his life there, the main
focus is on his incredible woodworking.
--John W. Wells
for more info, Google "alone in the wilderness"
On Mon, 20 Sep 2004 16:13:33 -0500, "Kevin" <[email protected]>
wrote:
>yeah, but the skeeters!
Yeah, wusses (like me!) need not apply. In one close-up scene Dick
Proenekke is vigorously makin' chips, he leans forward a bit and you
can see some sort of bag (net?) covering his head!
--JWW
>"John W. Wells" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>> I just happened to catch "Alone In the Wilderness" on PBS last week.
>>
>> It's about Dick Proenekke, who at 51, got himself dropped off on a
>> remote lake in Alaska to see if he could survive for a year. This was
>> 1968.
>>
>> He brought with him an axe, couple handsaws, spoke shave, auger bit,
>> etc. First job was to make a mallet and fashion handles for the tools
>> (brought handle-less to save room on the trip in).
>>
>> In short order he built a log cabin and made all sorts of furniture
>> for himself. Even made hinges and a door latch. He used a 3-foot
>> handsaw to do the sort of resawing you guys buy them fancy 18"
>> bandsaws for!
>>
>> All that handsawing--he's not a big guy, but one shot of him (and he
>> documented his progress by himself, with his own cameras) shows a
>> bicep that bulges like a grapefruit! (My own leetle biceps started
>> tremoring just watching him resawing a 2-foot diameter log!)
>>
>> Guess he liked it--stayed there for over 30 years.
>>
>> Although the film covers other aspects of his life there, the main
>> focus is on his incredible woodworking.
>>
>> --John W. Wells
>> for more info, Google "alone in the wilderness"
>
On Wed, 22 Sep 2004 16:14:23 -0700, Wolf Lahti <[email protected]>
wrote:
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>> From the Bloomington area myself. Last night was hit by a swarm. Very small
>> nasty little ba$tards. The worst skeeters I've ever seen were at Moses Lake
>> in central (?) Washington in August.
>>
>
>Right nearby is, ya know, Mosquito Lake. Tell syou somethin'.
sounds like somebody oughta tinker with the local ecology a bit.
there are such things as fish that eat skeeters, ya know....
"Kevin" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> yeah, but the skeeters!
Spent most of the month of July in Alaska. While
the stories of the numbers of mosquitoes are true they
don't tell the whole story: mosquitoes around here in
southern Indiana *hurt* when they bite, I don't think
I ever *felt* the first bite in Alaska.
Sure the clouds of the little blood suckers swarming
around your head can be maddening but it is possible
to just tune them out for short periods and I'm sure with
prolonged exposure you'ld quit noticing'em.
> "John W. Wells" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > I just happened to catch "Alone In the Wilderness" on PBS last week.
> >
> > It's about Dick Proenekke, who at 51, got himself dropped off on a
> > remote lake in Alaska to see if he could survive for a year. This was
> > 1968.
> >
> > He brought with him an axe, couple handsaws, spoke shave, auger bit,
> > etc. First job was to make a mallet and fashion handles for the tools
> > (brought handle-less to save room on the trip in).
> >
> > In short order he built a log cabin and made all sorts of furniture
> > for himself. Even made hinges and a door latch. He used a 3-foot
> > handsaw to do the sort of resawing you guys buy them fancy 18"
> > bandsaws for!
> >
> > All that handsawing--he's not a big guy, but one shot of him (and he
> > documented his progress by himself, with his own cameras) shows a
> > bicep that bulges like a grapefruit! (My own leetle biceps started
> > tremoring just watching him resawing a 2-foot diameter log!)
> >
> > Guess he liked it--stayed there for over 30 years.
> >
> > Although the film covers other aspects of his life there, the main
> > focus is on his incredible woodworking.
> >
> > --John W. Wells
> > for more info, Google "alone in the wilderness"
>
>
yeah, but the skeeters!
"John W. Wells" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I just happened to catch "Alone In the Wilderness" on PBS last week.
>
> It's about Dick Proenekke, who at 51, got himself dropped off on a
> remote lake in Alaska to see if he could survive for a year. This was
> 1968.
>
> He brought with him an axe, couple handsaws, spoke shave, auger bit,
> etc. First job was to make a mallet and fashion handles for the tools
> (brought handle-less to save room on the trip in).
>
> In short order he built a log cabin and made all sorts of furniture
> for himself. Even made hinges and a door latch. He used a 3-foot
> handsaw to do the sort of resawing you guys buy them fancy 18"
> bandsaws for!
>
> All that handsawing--he's not a big guy, but one shot of him (and he
> documented his progress by himself, with his own cameras) shows a
> bicep that bulges like a grapefruit! (My own leetle biceps started
> tremoring just watching him resawing a 2-foot diameter log!)
>
> Guess he liked it--stayed there for over 30 years.
>
> Although the film covers other aspects of his life there, the main
> focus is on his incredible woodworking.
>
> --John W. Wells
> for more info, Google "alone in the wilderness"
From the Bloomington area myself. Last night was hit by a swarm. Very small
nasty little ba$tards. The worst skeeters I've ever seen were at Moses Lake
in central (?) Washington in August.
"John Keeney" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "Kevin" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > yeah, but the skeeters!
>
> Spent most of the month of July in Alaska. While
> the stories of the numbers of mosquitoes are true they
> don't tell the whole story: mosquitoes around here in
> southern Indiana *hurt* when they bite, I don't think
> I ever *felt* the first bite in Alaska.
> Sure the clouds of the little blood suckers swarming
> around your head can be maddening but it is possible
> to just tune them out for short periods and I'm sure with
> prolonged exposure you'ld quit noticing'em.
>
> > "John W. Wells" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> > news:[email protected]...
> > > I just happened to catch "Alone In the Wilderness" on PBS last week.
> > >
> > > It's about Dick Proenekke, who at 51, got himself dropped off on a
> > > remote lake in Alaska to see if he could survive for a year. This was
> > > 1968.
> > >
> > > He brought with him an axe, couple handsaws, spoke shave, auger bit,
> > > etc. First job was to make a mallet and fashion handles for the tools
> > > (brought handle-less to save room on the trip in).
> > >
> > > In short order he built a log cabin and made all sorts of furniture
> > > for himself. Even made hinges and a door latch. He used a 3-foot
> > > handsaw to do the sort of resawing you guys buy them fancy 18"
> > > bandsaws for!
> > >
> > > All that handsawing--he's not a big guy, but one shot of him (and he
> > > documented his progress by himself, with his own cameras) shows a
> > > bicep that bulges like a grapefruit! (My own leetle biceps started
> > > tremoring just watching him resawing a 2-foot diameter log!)
> > >
> > > Guess he liked it--stayed there for over 30 years.
> > >
> > > Although the film covers other aspects of his life there, the main
> > > focus is on his incredible woodworking.
> > >
> > > --John W. Wells
> > > for more info, Google "alone in the wilderness"
> >
> >
>
>
<[email protected]> wrote:
>
> From the Bloomington area myself. Last night was hit by a swarm. Very small
> nasty little ba$tards. The worst skeeters I've ever seen were at Moses Lake
> in central (?) Washington in August.
>
Right nearby is, ya know, Mosquito Lake. Tell syou somethin'.