Uncategorized – Page 2 – Modern Anachronist

The Son of Fessick

So now I need a vehicle to replace the Excursion.

I need something smaller to navigate city streets.

I need something big enough to fit the family. My kids are about to be teenagers, so I need a reasonable back seat. My brother’s boys are older than my kids, and they don’t really fit in the back of his Nissan Titan.

I need something that will tow my utility trailer. It has a weight rating of 3,500 pounds, so I don’t really need a tow monster.

The Ford Maverick actually does most of what I need, but the back seat isn’t big enough for the kids. I actually recommended that my brother buy a Maverick for his boys to share, the oldest just got his license.

I cycled through the midsized trucks and really none of them had a backseat that was useable.

I started looking at the full sized trucks, and the prices for new trucks are just stupid.

But then I stumbled across a dark horse – the Honda Ridgeline.

It’s mocked as NART (Not A Real Truck), but the capabilities of the Ridgeline meet my needs.

Test drive is scheduled.

Food Forest (pt. 1)

I love the idea of foraging for food. Ever since my friends and I used to gorge ourselves on blackberries & raspberries in the woods as kids.

And there’s a little bit of woods behind my house.

This weekend my wife went to an event to collect seeds from native plants and she came home with some Paw Paw seeds.

If you’ve never heard of it, the paw paw is the largest fruit native to North America. I’ve heard of them, held them, but never tasted them.

So I planted 13 paw paw seeds in the woods behind my house.

Hopefully some of the seeds germinate and survive long enough to grow fruit.

I learned after I planted them that I’m going to have to wait five to ten years before they yield fruit.

Poler tent review

Slept in the Poler for two separate nights now. Both cold nights, one in heavy winds, one still.

The Power of Iterative Engineering

Or, don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

I’m an over planner. There’s no arguing it.

My very first boss drilled into my head “We never have time to do it right, but we always have time to do it again.”

Tarp review

This is my first tarp, but I’m confident it won’t be my last. I purchased the REI Trailbreak Tarp. After playing with it in the yard for a few days and sleeping under it one night, here are my first impressions.

Fail to plan, plan to fail

So yeah, what exactly is the plan here?

Given the number of roles that Fessick has to fill, and my thin wallet, I need to be careful with how I go about the build. I don’t want to install something and learn later that I need to remove it because it interferes with another thing, or because I started cheap and later find I need a capability that I hadn’t prepared for.