Beyond Know How

photo credit: astrogrl

Each year I hear how my kids have struggled coming up with ideas for things to do for me on Father’s day.  This year I took the initiative and told them what I wanted.  I want to take the day and go fishing with my family.   I usually make my trips to the local pond by myself as most of my kids really don’t care to spend time waiting for a bass or bluegill to take the bait.  I figured this year I’ll spend the time with them on Father’s day not fishing but rather teaching these bass fishing beginners the finer points of casting, lure presentation and other techniques that will hopefully make it more enjoyable for them to join me on a regular basis on my fishing trips.  There is nothing more discouraging that taking a kids fishing and not catching a thing so if your kids are up for the challenge teach them what it takes to become better fishermen.  Happy Fathers Day all.

photo credit: vieux bandit

Are you looking for ideas to decrease your carbon footprint? Have you considered how much impact your landscaping can have on the environment.  Everytime you run to the local nursery and buy new landscape timbers, plastic edging, garden hoses and other products commonly found in the garden shed you are having an impact on the envrironment wether you like it or not.  There are many new products on the market today that can help you reduce the amount of impact your decisions will have.  Most larger cities now have a place that recycle tree trimmings and old christmas trees into mulch that if free for the taking.  No it doesnt come in your handy plastic bag and it may not be as pretty as process and dyed mulch you get from the store but it is far more eco-friendly.  This is just one example of how you can use recycled landscape materials
in your backyard projects, I bet you can come up with many more if you just take the time to look into it.

Using the correct pack for a long trek is very important. Hiking the Annapurna Trek is very different than backpacking Europe for a while. A good, technical pack is important to have. Companies like Gregory, The North Face, Arcteryx, Osprey, and REI all offer good packs at a variety of prices. Their packs can double as travel backpacks if need be, while also having the features any serious trekker would want.

A travel backpack should be comfortable across the back, and distribute the weight across the hips. There are both external and internal frame backpacks, and the externals will stand up to more wear and tear but can be a lot heavier. Features such as front and side access should be considered if you will need quick access to your stuff, and compartments and pockets for small items come on most models nowadays. Find a local outdoor outfitter that has most of the above brands in stock, try them on, and find the one that has the best balance of comfort and features for what you need.

Although there is less maintenance required when you install synthetic grass, either in your backyard or front yard, this doesn’t mean that it is completely maintenance free. When buying the grass you will be given some instructions on what you have to do to keep it maintained which will prolong its life. It may mean treating the artificial grass with a herbicide if weeds happen to take hold or washing it down every few months if there is moss build up. The point to remember, I suppose, is that although there will be a reduced level of work involved, it will be nothing like what you would otherwise be up for. It will give you a lot more time to sit back and enjoy your weekend reading the paper, being with the kids or lazing by the pool.

Taking your 5th wheel camper on a camping trip can be a great adventure.  Not only will you have an amazing time on vacation, but you will also have a comfortable trip.  Towing a 5th wheel camper along with you will provide you with all the amenities of home.  You can stop at any campsite and have a comfortable bed for the night.  Most 5th wheel campers are large enough to contain a full bathroom with either a shower or small tub as well.  They will also have a kitchen area and dining or seating area.  As well as a bedroom, there will be a comfortable living area such as a couch and chairs and perhaps even a t.v. and dvd player will be included for those rainy days that you’d like to spend indoors. Bring along a selection of books to stock up a mini library for those rainy days as well.  Many campgrounds have a trading book library where you can get new books by simply exchanging in a few of those of your own you are finished with.

Camping lanterns are an essential piece of camping equipment. There are many different styles and types to choose from, however in recent times the most popular design is the battery powered camping lantern. There are more advantages than disadvantages to this model and there is a reason it has become the favorite.

• They are extremely safe to use as opposed to some of its competitors. Kids often come camping with the family, and this style lamp is definitely much safer. There is no open flame, and the heat it generates is not enough to be a burn risk.
• They are cheaper than most other types of camping lanterns, for various reasons. They are cheaper to buy, and batteries are very easy and cheap to replace. You can even get rechargable ones so that you don’t always have to buy new batteries.
• Battery powered camping lanterns are very quiet to run. Other models are often loud because of fuel burning, and if you have one on when you are sleeping, it can cause a disturbance.

There is however a negative to this popular style camping lantern. The light that it produces, depends a lot on the power left in the battery, which means if you have low life in your battery, then you won’t get much light. This is a problem if you don’t have replacement batteries with you, you will not get the light that you need. Other models of camping lanterns produce much more light, and if this is the most important point for oyu, then a battery powered camping lantern is not what you should be looking for.

photo credit: freeloosedirt

Nothing accents the beauty of a garden like a fountain or koi pond. But if we don’t properly light our water features, they become nothing more than noise in the dark once the sun goes down. Thankfully ,installing garden lighting into your pond or fountain is easy if you keep a few things in mind:

• The most important thing to remember when lighitng your fountain or pond is to install the lighting when you install the feature. retrofitting is always more difficult, and often leads to leaks.
• For the best effect, make sure that the light source is not visible.
• Make sure your water feature is appropriate for lighting – if the water is usually cloudy, all you are going to do is light up a bunch of mud and tadpole poop.
• Take into account the direction from which most of your visitors will be looking at the feature. This can lead to simple solutions for concealing your fixtures.
• Maybe you don’t want to light up the feature at all….

If you have a small pond, and there is a large tree on the far side from where you normally stand, consider actually removing the lighting from that section of the pond and its surroundings. Instead, light the tree, with the lamp firing upwards from the ground near the base.  What you will get is a dramatic effect – the lit tree will be reflected in the surface of the pond, while the surrounding water will look black as night.

This is a great solution as well if the water is murky. If you don’t have a tree to highlight, consider doing a planting, or use your garden lights to highlight an interesting piece of sculpture.

photo credit: rhastings

I was trying to find a outdoor dining furniture set I liked around $500 but couldn’t so I went up to $600 instead. You don’t need to pay a fortune to find something of high quality as long as you take the time and search thoroughly around. The set only came with four seast but I felt that was enough. It’s my husband, me, and our little daughter and we are not planning to have any kids so four seats is good for now. It’s an iron make so it will last a good while with little maintenance. We didn’t like the color and style of the  umbrella so we bought a different one but the chairs and table was our style. We have a high fence in our backyard so that gives us the privacy to have an outdoor dining furniture set.

The following post is going to be about some advantages of shore fishing.

Although it may seem that boat fishing is the ideal way to fish, there are many perfectly good reasons why you don’t neccesasirly need to have fun fishing this way. You can have just as much fun fishing from the shore. Here are a few ways that shore fishing can be a better choice for you as a fisherman

Budget

It costs a lot of money to buy a boat and haul it out to the lake. Chances are you will also need to buy a trailor for your boat at the same time. This will end up costing you a fair bit of money.

If you don’t have the budget then shore fishing may be a good choice for you. It is cheap and in the long run will save you a lot of money.

Time

Setting up for a fishing trip can be a bit of a pain, so it is best to limit the amount of time that is required to get things going. You will want to spend more time fishing and less time packing. If you have a boat and other things it can take you a whole morning before you are able to take off on the lake and enjoy a fishing trip.

If you don’t have all this stuff to pack then it won’t take you that long to pack at all.

Relaxing

My last and final point is that fishing from the shore is loads of fun and can be very relaxing at the same time. You don’t have to spend your time driving up and down a lake, all you have to do is sit back and wait for the fish to come to you.

These reasons are why I think that shore fishing has any advantages over other types of fishing.