7 Tips for Building a Campfire

While you're enjoying the outdoors, we want you to be prepared when the time arises to build that great campfire. We've got 7 simple steps to get you started.

1) Like any project, determine your purpose before you begin and assemble everything you need. For example, are you just cooking lunch over the fire or do you plan on building a fire for heat through out the night?

2) View your surroundings and choose proper placement of the fire before you begin. Be aware of flammables, items downwind, overhanging branches and clear ground.

3) Be prepared - waterproof matches are always a great tool, as are fire starters, joke candles and dryer lent.

4) Keep things DRY!

5) More planning and lots of patience. Allow for air circulation but start small and add larger pieces, only lighting your fire from the bottom and not the top.

6) Learn from every fire you make...a strong wind will make the fire burn hotter and faster. When possible, use softwood to start your fire and then maintain it with hardwood.

7) Have an exit strategy. As useful as your fire maybe, it can quickly get out of hand. You should have a plan on how to put your fire out before you ever light it and be sure it is out before you ever leave it.

The Rewards and Reasons to Geocaching

A year ago this week I discovered a hobby that would take me to so many interesting locations, I can't begin to describe them all here. I upgraded my pre Vietnam-era cell phone to a brand new smart phone with GPS capabilities and an application known as c:geo. After I set up my free account on the Ground Speak website, I was able to log in, on my phone and began seeing geocaches all around me!

I ventured out to a small roadside park The Hills of Hyland in a foot of snow and walked around staring at my phone until I came upon a knot hole in a small tree... bingo! A small plastic container wrapped in camouflaged duct tape contained many small trinkets that users trade out, as well as a log to sign. It was so interesting to think how many other people had taken the same journey and found this hidden treasure. I suddenly became part of a secret society of "geocachers". Thus became the addictive treasure. Suddenly I found myself walking through every nearby park looking in knot holes, under bridges and every other nook and cranny of public spaces. I soon found myself having to travel further to find new caches and discovering all kinds of hidden natural wonders.

One of the first such that our entire family took part in was Tree House, a very fun/unexpected discovery in a nearby state park. Many of these "hidden" treasures we have driven by 100 times and had no idea they were there. One thing that most every geocacher will tell you is that "they would have never discovered this site/location without geocaching". Another great example is an awesome water fall we discovered beside a major highway in Columbus of all places! While the cache itself La Cascada Escondida (The Hidden Waterfall) is pretty boring, the waterfall we discovered while looking for the cache was amazing! What a suprise to hear the roar of a waterfall while walking down a sidewalk in an urban neighborhood. One of Carly's favorite geocaches was Just Desserts Geocache which was a puzzle/multi-cache, where we had to find clues in a cemetery to find the final hiding location. The "cache" had cooking themed prizes, pretty cool! We also found "Freddy Kruger's" head stone! Would we have ever taken the family to see a cemetary in St. Marys, Ohio and see that without geocaching? Of course not!

After discovering my 100th geocache I felt I was ready to hide my very own geocache, and so Lily Pad Leap for Dummies was born. My favorite kind of geocache to find was one that required a long walk in the woods and an easy to spot cache, so I reviewed the local public parks in Google Maps and found the furthest spot from any road way. To date, only a handful of people have made the journey to the cache site, but I have had very good reviews, including this one:

"This. Was. Incredible! Especially doing it with 3-4 inches of snow on the ground. What a fantastic time. Of course when you start trekking in you think this is going to be a piece of cake. Well, let me tell you, after you spend about 15 minutes on the path... there is no path. And, if this was during the summer... well. All I can say is you best come with a football helmet on. You have to protect your noggin. This is one tough bushwhacking experience in the winter and I can only imagine the difficulty going way up in the summer.

Placed my feet in a stream once going through a little ice. No big deal I was ready for it. But then I got whacked in the face several times by small tree limbs. Fortunately none of them were nettles or thorns. I had my share of working my way through thorns and tightly packed trees, branches, downed trees... this was just too much fun.

Then, I arrive at GZ... or what I thought was GZ. Now remember, I have at least 3 inches of snow I am working with. So, the cache is supposed to be on a boulder in clear site in a small clearing... Right heh. I find a clearing and a boulder thinking this is it... and boulders are not that easy to find with the snow. Course I picked the wrong clearing and the wrong boulder. Thinking maybe the cache fell off I started clearing the boulder and looking ... no luck. So I backtrack and start combing the area. More trees, nettles, fun stuff.

I look around and see something that looks like a boulder, and its bigger than the other one. I reach it and slowly start to clear the top and woooohoooo the cache appears out from under the snow! What a relief. I was determined not to log a DNF. Needless to say I start yelling I was so excited. This was a great time, fun hike, and incredible cache. Thanks for the great time today. And I am quite satisfied being Third to Find. TFTC!"

I now have plans for a night cache, a tree climbing cache and an underwater cahce! But I figure I need to find a few more hundred caches before then. I would encourage you to get out in our parks and take advantage, after all, we all pay for them and we could use the exercise, right?!

While geocaching doesn't require a lot of special equipment, you can get some basic geocaching supplies and/or a GPS unit from our friends at Indian Lake Outfitters. They are the only place in Logan County that carries geocaching supplies and they can special order items in for you as well. We here at FastTrack Signs can also produce a variety of geocaching stickers should you need them.

The Ground Speak website tracks all your geocaching statistics, I thought you might be interested to know mine:

• You've found 117 caches (114 distinct) since your first cache find on 02/20/2010.
• You find the most caches in April and usually on Sunday.
• Find Rate 0.3324 caches/day.
• Longest Streak 5 consecutive days with finds from 01/02/2011 to 01/06/2011.
• Longest Slump 73 consecutive days without a find from 08/19/2010 to 10/31/2010.
• Best Day 8 caches in one day on 04/04/2010.
• Best Month 32 caches in April of 2010.
• Best Year 95 caches in 2010.

Happy caching!

This has been a guest blog post by local geocacher dennisschaub. Thanks to Dennis and Carly, of FastTrack Signs for introducing us to the wonderful world of Geocaching one year ago!

Deer Camp Cabin Signs

Looking for a unique gift idea or that perfect rustic piece to finish out the cabin or lake house? Check out these rustic customizable and personable license plate plaques.

Made by a local entrepreneur and outdoorsman, Tom and Max have turned a hobby collection of old license plates and barn siding into a great side business. They've created many rustic cabin style pieces including birdhouses, outhouses and potting sheds. They collect old wooden windows, license plates and barn slats with the vision of furniture in the heaping pile of what others would view as junk.  

We're excited to support other locals with vision and LOVE the new signs! We invite you to stop in and check them out for yourselves - we're taking orders.

Girl Scout Cookies with a Cause

I'm sure you've all heard the line, "Would you like to buy some girl scout cookies?" It's definitely been common conversation in our daily lives and it goes something like this...

 

"Hello, I'm a Girl Scout and my name is Bostyn. My personal goal is to sell 500 boxes of cookies. Our group goal is to sell 1,714 boxes of cookies so we can go on troop outings and overnights. You can also purchase cookies that we will donate to the Military serving overseas for our community service project."

So far this year, Troop 20556 has already taken several day trips with money they raised from last years cookie and fall product sales. Some of their trips have included a local corn maze, an educational day at the Air & Space Museum, two group parties and a visit to the Columbus Cchildren's Theatre and Spaghetti Warehouse. The girls have a few other trips planned this spring to earn more badges that include Archery and service with Relay for Life. All cookie proceeds stay in our community to help build girls of courage, confidence and character who make the world a better place.  

The 2011 selection is provided by Girl Scouts of Western Ohio and Little Brownie Bakers at $3.50 a box. They've teamed up to offer the Lemon Chalet Creme, Trefoil, Do-Si-Do, Samoa, Tagalong and Thin Mints. If you're interested in supporting a local troop, we'd love to take your order or ship some boxes overseas on your behalf. Just choose from the list below and message us the details!

Lemon Chalet Cremes uniquely designed to feature Our Chalet, this delicious vanilla sandwich has a hint of cinnamon-ginger spice and a refreshing zesty lemon creme filling.

Trefoils are light and delicious with a delicate tasting shortbread that is delightfully simple and satisfying.

Do-Si-Dos are a  peanutty excitement and "naturally good"! Crisp and crunchy oatmeal cookies with cream peanut butter filling and no artificial color or flavor.

Samoas are chewy and rich! A tender vanilla cookie, covered with caramel, rolled in toasted coconut, and striped with a rich, chocolaty coating.

Tagalongs are wildly popular - tasty cookies topped with creamy peanut butter and covered with a luscious chocolaty coating.

Thin Mints are extra thin and extra minty. A thin wafer covered with a smooth chocolaty coating. Made with natural peppermint.

From all of us at Girl Scouts of Western Ohio, Indian Lake Outfitters and Troop 20556, we thank you!

Fish & Game Memberships

Are you looking to get out and enjoy a club or meet new people with the same interests as you? Instead of joining an on-line dating site, or heading to the local pub, consider becoming a member of your local Fish & Game - we can fix you up with a membership at Indian Lake Outfitters.

We are now offering memberships for both the Logan County and Indian Lake Fish & Games as well as the Indoor Archery Range here at Indian Lake Outfitters.  Fish & Game memberships are purchased for the 2011 calendar year and can be purchased for a youth, adult or family.

The Indian Lake Fish and Game is a community organization of over 100 sportsman & conservation conscience locals that assist in fish re-stocking projects, bird release projects, along with habitat & structure projects. This club was responsible for the introduction of Saugeye to Indian Lake which is now one of the major game fish that thousands of anglers seek each year.

In the past years the club has donated funds and equipment to the Ohio Division of Wildlife, offer the facilities to the local 4-H shooting group free of charge, hold Hunter Safety Courses, offer annual scholarships, and money to families in need.

Indian Lake Fish & Game organized and chartered in 1936 as the Indian Lake Community Club and hosted the 1947 Ohio State Trap Shoot in the same facility they use today. They are a very old community involved club focused on giving back to Indian Lake and supporting the future of the lake. They continue to host weekly trap shoots on Wednesdays as well as monthly shooting contest.

The Logan County Fish and Game offers a wide range of shooting ranges and catch and release fishing ponds for the entire family. With one of the few 200-yard rifle ranges in the area, visitors come from Columbus, Dayton, Lima and farther to site-in or to target practice. We also boast a trap range with 25 lanes, a pistol range and archery range.

Each club offers unique qualities making it an easy decision to be a member of both. For more information, contact either group individually or stop in to the shop (ILO) at 8081 State Route 366 in Russells Point to get your membership in person.  For your convenience, memberships for both clubs and the archery range can also be purchased from our web-site and your membership cards mailed to you.

Stick Figure Family Decal People

The craze has hit at Indian Lake Outfitters, Stick Figure Family Decal People are HERE! Not only can you showcase your family on the window of your vehicle, you can add your pets too. Better yet, show off your passion for hunting and "stick" your family next to a deer decal! Designed exclusively by the graphics team of FastTrack Signs, they've made available for you to choose from an adult man or woman, teen boy or girl, youth boy or girl, baby boy or girl, dog, cat or deer. The decals are available in the shop or on-line at www.indianlakeoutfitters.com.

To have your stick figures personalized, contact Dennis or Carly of FastTrack Signs at 937-593-9990 for more information.

Smoke Green with the Electronic Cigarette

Green Smoke...have you heard of it? It's an electronic cigarette, yep, you heard correct. A cigarette that's legal to smoke almost anywhere and runs on a rechargeable lithium ion battery. Like a GPS, cell phone or computer, you plug the battery into the wall when it's low. The battery also has a sensor so it doesn't deplete when not in use.

The best part about an electronic cigarette is the savings - on average, Green smoking enables you to save 60% more money when compared with tobacco cigarettes.  The nicotine cartridge holds enough nicotine solution for you to puff approximately 400 times! That's more than a typical pack of cigarettes. An electronic cigarette is a less harmful nicotine delivery device because there are no tars, carcinogenic substances, ashes, cigarette butts or second-hand smoke. Plus they don't cause fires, smoke or odors that get into clothing, furniture, cars or hair.

So far, so good, right? Well there's more. Green smoke has a large variety of nicotine levels and flavors. Each cartridge contains water, nicotine, propylene glycol (the same stuff that's in smoke machines) and flavoring. Liquid nicotine is vaporized into steam by an atomizer. This allows the user to inhale a vapor that looks and feels just like smoke.

The starter kit pictured above contains (2) electronic cigarette batteries, (5) nicotine cartridges, (1) manual and (1) home USB charger. Contact us for more details.

WARNING: This is intended for use by adults and not pregnant women or those sensitive to nicotine. Nicotine is highly addictive and may be dangerous to your health. This is not intended as a smoking cessation device. Smoking may cause lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema and complications in pregnancy.