Day 15 - Reward or No Reward? That is the Question.

Monday morning after two full weeks.  I have been trying to catch a resident squirrel or bunny all week to prove proficient in my trapping ability but I seem to get outsmarted at every turn.  I have not yet earned my week 2 reward and I am salivating for some of those figs.  Luckily there is still an ample supply of things to eat but that will not last very long.  The sweetness of dried figs would be a great help to me this week.

For breakfast I treated myself to two soft boiled eggs from the chickens at Dara and Mark's house.  And what a treat this was.  I have slightly mixed feelings about this, considering a future weekly reward involves a dozen eggs.  However - these eggs were straight from live chickens and I happen to have some connections to them.  I took advantage of the situation and didn't purchase anything from the store.  I think we're still within our SDC rules.

On my way to work today I was driving down the road without another car in sight and I see in the distance two full grown Canadian Geese walking directly toward me in the road.  They weren't in the middle, but a bit off to the side.  Before I had time to think, I was driving right past them at about 40 mph.  All I needed to do was swerve to the right for a split second and I would have harvested two geese.  I had mixed feelings after I passed this golden opportunity.  Maybe next time.

Ok - so I put a SERIOUS effort into fire making tonight! Unable to prove my worth at trapping I thought I could resort to fire making again.  Why not?  I did it last week so how hard could it be to do it all over again?  Right? - - - WRONG!  I busted my hump for hours until the sun went down and I could NOT get an ember.  I had to take multiple rests because of my lack of energy but there were several times that I thought I had it.  Lots and lots of smoke - just couldn't get it to ignite.  I must have tried about 15 times.  I tried to video log the entire experience hoping to actually get a fire going.  All I ended up filming was failure upon failure.  It's important to remember that too.  It really is a humbling experience.  Fire is definitely not and easy thing to make.  I think I was a little cocky and overconfident after last week and as a result, the fire kicked my butt tonight.  No fig reward today.  I'll have to try again tomorrow.  Additionally I will try to improve upon my trapping skills.  It's all a learning experience and every day I am hopefully moving forward towards my goal as long as I keep on trying.