Welcome to "Backyard Wilderness Survival"! As I begin this survival journey down the road of the unknown, I would like to introduce myself as an amateur. I'm an amateur camper, hunter, fisherman, hiker, and outdoors-man. I've learned many amateur wilderness skills over the years from reading, Boy Scouts, hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, advice from my father, and like many of us, from trial and error.
Nowadays I'm a professional husband and a father of 5 boys. My day job includes looking at a computer. I'm not much different than most of you. The daily grind nearly drives us crazy, yet we plow forward, working, cleaning, paying bills, grocery shopping, watching "Late Night", mowing the lawn, changing the oil (usually at 10,000 miles between changes, right?).
Among so many "chores", we find a little R&R. There are many choices for R&R; amusement parks, beaches, cruises, European tours. For many, however, R&R means braving the great outdoors! Many outdoor activities are cheap (or can be cheap) and close to home. For many millions of Americans wilderness activities are usually the only choice for a weekend getaway. You know, the "Weekend Warriors" (also a term used for those that think they can improve their homes and property between 5pm Friday afternoon and 8 am Monday morning). I fall into this category. Going out on a limb here, but if you're reading this, you probably do as well.
Therefore I bring to you this little ditty of a blog. Even as I sit here writing this, I have "Dual Survival" on the ol' boob-tube. Cody and Dave are two professional survivalists. They immerse themselves in survival situations, so that I, the armchair survivalist, will absorb their wisdom and knowledge of intense survival situations. I watch them, intently, between sipping my Mt. Dew, mopping the floor, and removing small foreign objects from my two-year-old's mouth (sometimes the nose). I catch snippets of Cody and Dave starting a fire with something other than matches and eating exotic plants and animals. Quite frankly, I never catch the name of the edible plant that neither grows anywhere near where I live nor looks much like a plant in many cases. And, why don't they ever have matches!?
Dual Survival is only one of several "Survivalist" shows on TV. Others include SurvivorMan, Man vs. Wild (Bear Grylls), Man Woman Wild, and Love in the Wild (HA!). They are entertaining. They evoke a small inner "wild-man" (or woman) in all of us. We imagine ourselves in the same situation, then, the microwave beeps, bringing us back to reality. That reality? Most of us, after parachuting onto the arctic tundra, would be dead within about 3 minutes after dropping into the the middle of a musk ox stampede.
However, true reality exists for all of us outdoor enthusiasts. Either you, or someone you know, will someday become lost outdoors; a friend, a child, a sibling, a Boy Scout, an acquaintance, or friend of a friend. News stories abound about experiences of those who have ventured into "familiar" wilderness and have lost their way. Just recently in Utah, a young autistic man was lost for over 3 weeks in the unforgiving Southern Utah desert. He survived! His survival was miraculous. Stories like this are the real stories of wilderness survival, not artificial survival.
Situations like the one experienced by the autistic man can happen to anyone, at any time. We should recognize and learn from real amazing situations of wilderness survival for ourselves and our families. Therefore, I begin this blog, for my children and their safety in the great outdoors. I hope to make it an entertaining and informative blog for all adventurous families. And it all begins in our own backyards! Now, excuse me until next week, my chicken nuggets await me for now... 