Ruminant Covenant - Adaptability

For life, natural disasters, Y2K and beyond

6 October 1999

Over the last couple of weeks we have looked at four adaptability rules to help God's ruminant covenant people cope with unplanned times on their pilgrimages. This week we will look at Rule 5

Rule 5. Get out of the weather and keep warm (or cool). Clothes, Shelters, Sleeping Bags, Tarps & Tents. As we move into this next area we see a division for rumination. On one hand fossil fuels, are miraculously by means of technology, turned into plastic fibers and clothes. On the other hand God made hair and fur and other natural fibers from plants and animals. Perhaps you never thought of some of the clothes you wear as plastic, I never really did, until one day I happened to meet a manufacturer of socks, he described his socks as either, natural fiber, plastic or a combination of the two. Rayon, nylon, pile, on and on, are really just one form of petroleum based plastic. Wool, cotton, linen, silk are some types of natural fibers. Each of these materials when used in appropriate ways can be used to provide we adaptable humans with the ability to take on any climate this world has to offer and survive quite well, if not comfortably. We have to do it ourselves. God just did it for sheep and goats. It is up to us to determine the appropriate material for the conditions.

The best way to illustrate this is to spin an old goat tale. Three summers ago I felt it fitting to hike around Mt. Rainier on the Wonderland Trail. It was one of those things on the top of my list of things I have always wanted to do, and since none of us are getting any younger, I decided that this was the moment. My clothing for the trip consisted of hiking boots, wool knickers and socks, a light long sleeved plastic undershirt made from recycled milk cartons, with a wool shirt it. In my pack I had a nylon coated pile jacket, some cotton sweat pants, which I wasn't really comfortable with, and a nylon poncho in case of rain. This might seem old-fashioned or eccentric by today's standards, but there was a reason for it. That reason being I was not going to take a tent. The only tent I had weighed close to 7 pounds and that would make the total weight of the pack for the trip over 60 pounds. I didn't think I could carry that amount of stuff, up and down over four miles while walking close to one hundred. Instead of a tent , I took an 9 by 12 blue plastic tarp, that weighed a little over a pound. I also carried my down sleeping bag.

In the Pacific Northwest the summer weather is controled by what is known as the North Pacific High, that keeps out the rain usually from late July and August into sometime into September. When it breaks down, the fall rainy season begins. The 11 day trip was centered over the Labor Day weekend, so there was a risk that if the summer weather did not hold for the whole time, I could get wet. That was the reason for wool and the rest of the gear.

The weather was great for about sixty miles. As I took one of my morning breaks, it looked as if I might get a little rain on that seventh day. I contmepated putting a rain cover over my pack just in case, but decided against it because any serious rain looked hours off. I put on my pack and perhaps walked a quarter of a mile when the skies opened up in buckets. The kind of rain that comes down in the tropics. Virtually instantly everything I had was soaked through. I put my poncho on to protect my gear as best I could, but I could not get to the pack cover without allowing everything to get even more soggy. It continued to rain most of the next two days as I made my way out to Mowich Lake and home. I competed the north side of the mountain last summer.

Those type of things happen in the wilderness. Things you need to be prepared for. My preparations were marginal at best, but during the next few days I felt a closeness to the Lord that was really cool. I had the promise from his Word that nothing would happen that I couldn't handle. The first night was rally the worst. When I got to the camp site everything was wet. Normally anywhere else but Mt. Rainier National Park, the first thing you would do in this situation is to rig or pitch your tarp and start a fire to dry everything out. Then make provisions for the rain and hold up until the weather was more suitable for travel. The problem with the park is open fires are prohibited. Now if I had thought it was really needed for survival, I would have probably started one anyway, but standing there looking at all the wet stuff, I also realized that in order to save weight, normal fire building stuff, such as my saw that I would normally take on a normal hike of this duration , was safe and warm in Seattle.

I rigged my tarp against the rain, put on all my clothes and climbed into my down sleeping bag which really was two layers of nylon with some wet lumps inside. I used my natural body heat to dry most everything out pretty much over the next couple of nights protecting, the gear very carefully during the day. The porch on a ranger cabin and one of the old camp ground shelters also made things much more comfortable.

Changes I've made since, should that situation present itself again. I would never take the cotton sweat pants. I very quickly found a pair of plastic lined and shell cargo pants to wear over what ever, if need be. I also found a small two person tent that weighs 3 pounds something. I've also looked at a lot of plastic sleeping bags which retain much of their insulating effects when wet. Good ones are as costly as down, and every year they keep changing. New and improved, or so says the literature. I read in a book, in a used book store about hiking on the PCT. That is Pacific Crest Trail in that jargon which I was unfamiliar. The author recommended a down bag suitable for about 20 degrees Fahrenheit as the best available option, while making provisions to keep it as dry as possible in the rain. After reading what I felt comfortable with I think that is the right track for we who live in temperate regions. In the tropics, some light weight pile or other means should suffice.

For the overall adaptability concept, the greatest single development that has taken place in the last decade or so, is in the availability of very good, plastic tents for very little money. Walking through Costco in season, you should be amazed with what you can obtain for so little money. Elsewhere you can pay 5 to 10 times more, for comparable shelters, but the incredible thing is they are very comparable. That increase in price buys you very little in most conditions we will ever encounter. These tents are all virtually three season tents , that keep most of the rain off, most of the bugs out, and will stand the winds of most storms. To adapt to tent living in winter conditions, old fashioned cotton duck tents, tipis and the like will be much more practical. One reason for no plastic tents in winter is that they and fires are incompatible. Plastic tents melt. A good ember from an open fire will melt a hole in a plastic tent large enough to make the tent worthless. A properly treated duck tent may not have more than a pin hole and it can be easily repaired on site. Plastic tents are also not very good at trapping in infrared radiation, so in the winter they might become colder than no shelter at all. A cotton duck tent while not being much better insulation, does not have this problem, therefore with enough wood and a fire in small stove you can be quite comfortable even in the arctic.

Canoe travelers in bear country recommend that your sleeping tent be pitched about 100 yards from your cooking area. This makes excellent sense anywhere. Use your plastic tent for sleeping only, and keep it as far away from the food as possible and this includes food storage. Never cook your food in a tent. Period. You may want to do this in the winter, when the bears are asleep but never do this in any other season. For some reason God didn't train these critters on the way to find the door or to open a zipper. So being the impatient lot and with the claws to make it happen, they make a door where ever they please.

Next to plastic tents in the adaptability scheme come plastic tarps. They come in all sizes many weights and are really extremely cheap. They can be rigged as shelters of infinite variety. They could also be used has the final covering for a cabin if need be. Depending upon the usage and exposure they could last for several years in continual usage. I recently bought a used cotton sheet at the Union Gospel Mission Thrift Store. I am in the process of converting it into a small tarp to use as my kitchen. This old goat is using some of the stuff I have read in books about how the old-timers made tents flame retardant and waterproof. Once I get it finished I'll see if it works worth a hoot.

This should give you some ideas about temporary shelter alternatives should that never imagined opportunity be presented to demonstrate God's grace in our lives.

PRAYER PLANTS

I haven't heard anything about the potential job I reported on a couple of weeks ago. It does appear however, that I could do the same sort of thing in an internet niche that has not and will not be exploited for some time. I received some good counsel of the weekend that just might work. But how hard it is just to keep trusting in the Lord, day by day. To make this a reality there would need to be some provisions for computer hardware, software as well as to locate a permanent hosting service.

The delay with some of the work, from last week is in progress this week. So I am thankful for that . This has allowed for the bills to be paid on time (the type that if not they not, things happen). It also looks as if there is be some other follow up stuff that will take care of the remaining overhead.

Now again, as the really old Bible goat (Moses) said in Numbers 6:24-27.

"May the LORD bless you and keep you;
The LORD make his face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you shalom."

"So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them."

Amen.