If you’re like me you know a few knots that get you through most situations. But then you have to haul home an antique Chippendale from the swap meet and you can’t figure out the best knot for tying your tie-down strap to another strap to keep the load secure in two directions. Fortunately Gear…
Yes here is yet another post in the “X ways to do X that are so simple that you must be a moron if you’re not doing them already” genre. Only these aren’t insights from your typical productivity gurus. Five of my favorite ideas for starting fresh: Opportunities multiply as they are seized. — Sun…
NOTE: This post was written in 2018. Some trails have been reopened. Others are closed because of 2023’s high rainfall. To find out more about trail closures in the Los Padres Forest, visit the Los Padres Forest Trail Association’s News link. Along with the loss of life and property caused by 2017’s Thomas Fire, there…
In 2017 I finished two NaNoWriMo projects that I started (one in 2016) and now have two potential novels. What’s the next step? Chuck Wendig gives a clue – write with intentionality. But in writing this thing, I tried to take it slow, even as I wrote it fast. I tried to pause with scenes…
If you happen to be four inches tall and be named “Hansel” or “Gretel” then this might be the time to start applying for a mortgage. This clever video by Susan Aitken shows every step of making a move-in-ready gingerbread house from initial sketch to final sugar sprinkles. This gingerbread house is based on Marie…
Christ was born on Christmas Day, or so goes the 14th century hymn translated by John Mason Neale. But December 25th hasn’t always been the date when Christ’s birth was celebrated by the church. The questions surrounding the date of Christmas Day are fascinating and involve a great deal more history, tradition and detective work…
A clean sheet of paper contains the set of all possibilities. The blank page can become a picture, a story, a poem. Anything that can be imagined can be represented on this blank sheet of paper. Because there are no limits to the possibilities that can be contained on a single sheet of paper, this…
This week journalist Farhad Manjoo attempted a noble experiment – taking a week away from news about Donald Trump. In his weekly New York Times column Manjoo describes an eye-opening discovery he made during the week – Coverage of Mr. Trump may eclipse that of any single human being ever. That’s a pretty bold statement.…
Business Insider’s title for their urban round-up is a little off – 15 of the most beautiful public spaces in the world, according to urban designers makes you think you’ll be seeing a dozen parks or outdoor malls. In fact what you’re getting is an overview of how insightful urban planning can transform a city…
We’ve gotten to the point where it’s hard to imagine going anywhere without our phones. And it just so happens that there is a great crop of apps to enhance your experience outdoors. But just so we’re clear on this, no app is going to take the place of basic woodcraft skills. Think about it…
Death isn’t something we like to think about much. But in 2016 it feels like death has been all up in our faces. This shouldn’t be surprising. The Baby Boomers are coming of age. As a society we’ve held death at bay for a long while now, but here it is, death is catching up…
Now that we no longer have the Mayan calendar to kick around where can we turn for our year-end doomsday predictions? One place to start is the blood of San Gennaro. Every year the dried blood of Saint Januarius is presented in a ceremony of the Roman Catholic Church in Naples, Italy. And every year…
How did 2016 stack up here at Wild Rye? A lot of the year’s most popular posts were evergreen topics from years gone by, but the dominant theme seems to be “if you’ve got an itch you gotta scratch it.” Use Witch Hazel to Cure Posion Oak Rash – Witch Hazel acts as a mild…
So much of Christmas is supposed to by happy, jolly and filled with thoughts of prancing reindeer that we often overlook the darker side of winter solstice. But if we think about it for a while we start to realize that Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is certainly a ghost story. The Nutcracker, especially E.T.A. Hoffman’s…
I recently had a conversation with my wife, her sister and her brother about the value of a good old fashioned paper map. While GPS systems are convenient they don’t help you get the big picture of your surroundings. National Geographic, known for its amazing maps, serves up the best maps of 2016. Along with…
