Are you sleeping in this Sunday? Not me I've got things to do. I made some breakfast out of my depleted supply of fish hoping it gives me enough energy to get through 2 softball games. I also brought along a tin of Honey Bits so that I would have a sweet pick-me-up if needed. Vegetables are scarce right now but I will continue to get whatever I can from the garden and backyard. We're about a month late this season for many crops and that will make it difficult for me in the weeks to come.
I made it through my games surprisingly well. I hit with a lot of power getting 2 home runs, 2 triples, a double and a few singles through both games. My legs didn't do as well though. Toward the middle of the second game I started feeling pain in my right knee - a nagging injury that doesn't seem to want to get better. I'm not even sure what type of treatment I would need but the fact remains that I never really give it enough time to heal - going from one sport to the next without much of a break in between. I'm going to need to take some time off from sports if I plan to be well enough to play football next year.
I ran out of salt today. That's the first time that has happened to me during a Survivor Diet. I used up a lot of it in the brining liquid for smoked fish. For now I will get by using some of the other spices I have but someday soon I am going to have to get another bucket of sea water to make some more salt. This is especially true if I am going to do any more smoking. I haven't caught a bluefish yet (surprisingly) but if I do, that will get smoked.
I've been working on creating a new 'modern' primitive fire making tool. The punishment to my hands from the hand drill yesterday was just too much. I will have a huge open wound on my right hand for the next week or two before that gets much better. I can't afford to do that again.
A fire piston is another fire making device that may prevent stress to my body. It has several components to it but I think I can take some of the items from my hand drill and cannibalize them for the fire piston. Again, I will be using some PVC components but as I've said before, this doesn't necessarily make it any easier to get an ember. In fact, I found out the last time that the super smooth sides of the PVC made it difficult to get enough friction. As a result I used honey to make it more tacky and ended up tearing my hands apart. I'll try to be smarter this time around.
I will be working on the design in the next few days so that I can try out the prototype. Meanwhile, I am also thinking of other primitive survival skills that I can attempt in order to unlock the week 3 rewards. Either I'm not being creative enough or these skills are just that difficult. It's also tough to focus on projects like this when I have a life to lead (work, family, sports, etc.). I have to find just the right balance of my usage of time.
Later in the afternoon I took the boat out to scout out some possible fishing opportunities. There were some fluke around but no signs of other (in-season) species. It's kind of stupid to put a season on our ability to catch wild fish. I believe the reason is because of over-commercial fishing for certain species. The recreational angler gets penalized while the commercial fishing fleet decimates certain food fish to the brink of extinction. This subject irks me to no end. If a particular fish is showing signs of scarcity, just close down the commercial fishing season for it. I know that's easy for me to say because I don't make my livelihood catching these fish but people think that a natural resource is never ending - until it suddenly ends. Then people will wonder what happened to all the fluke. It will be too late. Anyway, don't get me started on that subject. I will most likely be eating tons of fluke next week and for several weeks after. As long as they remain plentiful in my backyard bay.
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