Day 9 - The Salt of the Sea

Having that fish to eat is a huge boost.  Now, instead of clams and rice and asparagus, I eat fish and rice and asparagus - Ha!  Seriously though - it's so much better than clams, clams, clams. 

 

 

I worked on my traps a lot today.  Now I have two active varmint traps in my yard.  Still no animals - but this morning I was SO close.  I was on my way to play softball - riding my bike down the street.  I looked over to my trap and there was a squirrel standing right in it!  I thought for sure this was going to be the one.  I quickly ran back inside to get my camera to video the capture.  When I got back outside, the squirrel was not in the trap any longer.  Then in a flash it was gone.  I inspected the trap and sure enough he had taken the bait.  However, the trigger mechanism did not fire.  Damn!  I'm not exactly sure why but while I was visually inspecting it, wouldn't you know - it sprung and the door slammed shut.  It felt like I was on one of those old Road Runner cartoons and I was the coyote who's contraptions never worked - and then blew up in his face.

 

 

Hopefully one of these traps will work soon because I am really ready for that first reward.  I am going to have to think of some other primitive survival skills to accomplish.  When I get enough energy and time I am going to work on making a fire.

 

I almost forgot.  This morning I took a ride to the beach and the ocean was nice and calm.  I scooped up a bucket of sea water so that I can have some salt on my food.  It only took me until Day 9!  Sheesh.  That's because the weather had churned up the sea so badly all last week.  I filled a pot at home and boiled it down for 5 hours until the only thing left was the sea salt.  I filtered it a couple of times during the process to try to get rid of any obvious impurities.  When it was finished boiling down I laid it out on some parchment paper and put it into the toaster oven for about an hour on 200 degrees.  This just helped to dry it out completely.  I should be set for salt for the rest of the challenge.  That is, unless I make up a brine for curing and smoking fish.  I may have to get another bucket for that.

 

 

After 5 hours of boiling sea water

 

 

For dinner tonight I had striped bass carcase.  After cleaning my fish, the only thing left (besides the head) was the carcase - bones and ribs.  However, they were still covered with a substantial amount of meat.  I just put a little salt on it and threw it under the broiler for about 15 minutes.  The bones and fins crisped up nicely.  I sat outside enjoying a nice fire in my new fire pit while eating the remaining meat off the bones.  Nothing to waste here.  It was quite tasty and what I noticed was that the belly area of the fish yielded a significant amount of fat.  I mean it's not like bacon fat but this observation might be useful in the future when I need some oils and fats for other types of cooking.

 

Roasted Fish Carcase

 

Day 8 - Fish for Dinner Tonight!

It was a special day today.  The weather finally broke and Dad came up to do a little river fishing with me this afternoon.  The sun was out and the wind was low.  We got a solid two hours of fishing in mid afternoon.  High tide was around 2:30 pm so we tried to find some moving water from around 11:30 to 2.  There were no visible signs of fish but the water had just started to clear up a bit after the storms earlier in the week. 

 

We casted jigs, plugs and plastic for quite some time.  Finally I got a hit as I was reeling in my new Alabama rig right up to the boat.  Fish on!  Because he grabbed it right at the boat, he was very lively and very close.  I grabbed the net and with a huge sign of relief and a smile on my face I pulled this nice striped bass into the boat.

 

 

This fish was exactly what I needed both mentally and physically.  It will provide meals for several days and I can finally free myself from my dependence on clams for protein.

 

Later in the day I completed my stone fire pit in the back yard.  Not so much a "survival tool" but it's nice to have a big fire pit in the yard. 

 

Day 7 - One Weak Survivor

It rained again last night after I set my trap out.  As a result, my bait (a piece of pretzle stick) got soggy and collaped - triggering the door to close.  It wouldn't have mattered much in the night becuase it was all wet and rainy out - but this morning the sun came out and the birds were chirping.  I got up out of bed before it was time for work and made sure that I had a properly set trap.  Perhaps I could capture a squirrel or bird while I am at work.

 

My goal is to capture something today, release it and get the 'trade in value' at the local market.  By doing this I will also complete a proficiency in a survival skill for week 1 wich will unlock my first weekly reward.  Now that would be something to celebrate.

 

 

Outsmarting the critters in the wild is no small task.  Although we live closely to natures critters, they certainly know how to keep their distance from us.  I found out how hard this was last year while trying to trap.  Either my traps were inadequate or the triggers were faulty or the squirrels chewed their way out before I could get to them. 

Day 6 - The Trap is Set

The sun came out today.  It is Thursday so I have to spend the majority of the day at work.  I packed a nice lunch of clams, asparagus and rice and off I went.  On Thursday's I usually take Jamie out to lunch so as not to break that tradition we went to Fuji.  Jamie ordered a nice sushi lunch with a salad and soup.  It smelled so good.  I sat there and got a water.  But after a few minutes I realized that I have a certain allotment of rice fro myself so I order a bowl of rice that I could enjoy while she ate her delicious meal.  This was followed by a visit to Let's Yo which, surprisingly did not temp me at all.  Junk foods are just not interesting to me right now.  When you're so focused on just getting regular food, you don't really have a craving for junk food.

 

my lunch.  Supplies are getting low

 

Lunch supplement

When I got home from work I spent some time thinking about how I can start changing things up a bit.  I feel like I've been locked into a lull this whole week and it has been stifling my creativity.  I think I came up with a solution - The Small Animal Clause.  If you are unfamiliar with the Small Animal Clause then I suggest you read about it in the sections under Weekly Rewards and Official Guidelines of the SDC.  It was time to build a trap.

 

I searched around the house and garage a bit - looking for an appropriate container to trap a small animal.  Because the animal needs to be kept alive (for a proper release), I needed to build a trap rather than a snare or dead fall capturing device.  In the rafters of my garage I noticed a small cage that was once used to hold my daughter's pet mice.  This looked like a perfect start.  I made a few modifications and then found a good spot in the yard to set it up.  With the use of a old fishing rod and some fishing line, I created a "trigger" mechanism that would close the door of the trap when sprung. 

 

Learning from my experiences last year (hopefully), I did not use a plastic trap.  The squirrels chewed through that and escaped.  I was also able to quickly develop a good triggering mechanism which was a big problem for many of my traps last season.  I was only able to capture a couple small blackbirds in the past.  This year I plan to get much more involved with the trapping.  And I could really use some protein right about now.  We'll see.

Day 5 - Food Alchemy

After cooking some hash browns and eggs for my son (Oh, it smelled so good) this morning and after taking the kids to school and running some errands - I got a bit hungry!  Go figure.  Without anything other than the same ingredients I have been using for days, I was able to concoct a nice big Crab Lunch for myself.

Day 4 - Rainy Daze

On days like these, instead of getting upset that the weather is preventing me from finding food, I appreciate things that I do have - like shelter, temperature control, clothes, running hot water, internet, etc.  The Survivor Diet Challenge is mainly a food challenge but I can't help think about all of the other aspects about surviving in a remote and wild situation.  I have tried to incorporate some primitive survival skills into my challenge over the past few years but I haven't been brave enough to really try to survive outside of my home shelter.

rainy daze

Day 3 - Rough Road Ahead

Well, we've got what's shaping up to be a pretty miserable week for me indeed.  More of the same to eat - just less and less of it.  The weather is going to throw me a nice curve ball with a multi day storm coming soon.  I'm going to have to start getting creative or this challenge is going to be over before it really begins.

packed lunch for work

Day 2 - My Pee Smells Aspara-disgusting

I slept in nursing the remaining headache from yesterday.  It really took me until about 12 noon to start feeling normal again.  Headaches of this magnitude are a real bitch and when you don't take any medication to relieve the symptoms, it takes longer to get through it.  Obviously, I will not be taking medicine during the SDC.  I would normally take Mortin for headaches.  I think there may be something beneficial here - to fight through the pain of the headache and allow the body to eventually neutralize the discomfort. 

Day 1 - What a Headache! already?

Food: Asparagus, water, brown rice, honey

Unsuccessful fishing in the river with Brad and new friend Dave Hochman (beginner spearfisherman).  The stripers shouldn’t be too far from coming up into the river.  They were here this time last year so we’ll try again around the high tides to see if we can get bit.

Survivor Diet Challenge 2014

My 2014 Challenge is set to start on April 26th and end on Jun 4th - 40 days.  This will officially be my 6th year doing the challenge and it looks like I haven't learned a damn thing over the winter after 6 years!  Ha.  That's not true AT ALL.  I mean, yes, I'm still doing the SDC and yes, I still have some winter weight to lose - but each and every year I am learning new and exciting things and I like to think I'm improving my life a little bit at a time.  Maybe I'm even having an effect on others out there who read my posts but I'm not entirely sure because I don't get much in the way of feedback.  Today, however, I did see that someone else in the world at least made a partial effort to take on the challenge.  They set up a website and got all the introductory info posted but there isn't a daily account of the progress. (see here for on person's attempt to copy the SDC).

Using advice from friends, I plan to use the Survivor Diet Facebook page a bit more this year in order to drum up some attention.  I gave this a try in 2012 with limited success and then last year abandoned it all together.  I think it may offer better exposure than blogger.com so I'm going to give it another shot.  I thought about this a bit - the subject of more exposure or looking for attention - and I wondered why exactly I was interested in that?  Ultimately the SDC is for me and my health and weight and a personal quest.  I think the answer may lie in my desire to see if I can start something real that will catch on and become a "thing."  So far it hasn't but maybe if I continue to persevere and continue to demonstrate evidence that the SDC can offer benefits to people's health, perhaps it will become that thing at some point.

There has been much negative attention associated with "starvation dieting" and I think that might be what is preventing this from gaining popularity.  I have addressed this issue within several posts from previous years but there will always be the naysayers who feel like they have to weigh in.  I am going to choose not to repeatedly defend my system of the Survivor Diet other than to continue posting and presenting evidence that I have accumulated through personal experience.  I will let my results do my talking for me.

As for 2014 - I have pushed the start date a bit later with hopes to take advantage of a flourishing summer garden and possibly more fishing opportunities.  The downside to this is the knowledge that seasonal harvesting of clams and blackfish will end on April 30th for recreational fishermen.  That only gives me a few days to get what I can.  On the plus side - I don't really like clams or blackfish so I'm not going to miss them that much.  Ha.