Limp Cobra on Eye/Hand Protection from the Hook

This will be a bit graphic and make you definitely blink a time or two: Limp Cobra on Eye Protection. Flatten the barb on a hook, be it a fly, spinner, bait, jig. Always wear eye protection while fishing, even in the Winter if you can. Have pliers/forceps handy. If the most terrible happens in yours or someone else’s eye have a plan and stay calm and practice psychological first aid. Think of shock. Panic. 

Image via Field & Stream 2011

I have remarked about this before. Where ever you are in the wilds; what is the plan for an emergency response. If nothing more momentarily think: I have the emergency numbers…I know where I am…I have phone service or no phone service…do I have an idea where/when I will have service and stage there for a response…how far is the nearest hospital in a town or area you may not be overly familiar with on an outing??? Just a few questions to run through the mind before and after you traipse off care free to the water’s edge.

Even at a minimum those flattened barbs or barbless hooks will back out of fabrics/materials so much easier…whether yours or the person standing too close to you.

Let the ‘process’ work, for once!

Graphic via Chi Wulff (check out the link please for details)

Health & Safety: Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

Our family calls this propane heater…the “nuclear heater” so powerful is the output in an enclosed space…a well vented, enclosed space. Obviously a dangerous device that we have used for years but perhaps take for granted and ignore the potential dangers.

“Carbon monoxide is harmful when breathed because it displaces oxygen in the blood and deprives the heart, brain, and other vital organs of oxygen. Large amounts of CO can overcome you in minutes without warning—causing you to lose consciousness and suffocate.”  (X)

COMMON SENSE REVIEW

Power Loss, Portable Generator Safety & Planning

Popular Mechanics’ Safety Considerations for a Portable Generator

Heat Loss Through Head

I have joked with my family and friends for years through outdoor activities about wearing a warm hat in inclement weather…”Do you know you can lose 75% of your heat through your head?”

Well, of course, some wise ass, smarty pants (WASP) had to do the research to debunk my admonition and my credibility. Here is a small piece re heat loss via the head in different situations. In a worse case scenario of hypothermia, you may want to heed my advice….or theirs.

Here is my daughter, today in Seattle (UW), blatantly taunting me!

Bungee Cord Snaps…Eek!!!

Aussie Girl Survives African Bungee Disaster

Utah Family Rescue: Ice Waters & Heroes

Roger Anderson and 3 Children Rescued By Heroic Efforts

“Car plunged down a 10-foot embankment and flipped over into the icy river 10 bystanders brave the freezing water and turn the car over using their hands…”

“As many as 10 heroic people jumped into an icy Utah river to help save three trapped children after a car plunged down a 10-foot embankment and flipped over.  The rescuers helped turn the Honda Accord upright in the Logan River, and one man shot out the car’s window with a handgun and cut a seat belt to help free the children after Saturday afternoon accident….” (more)

For the Anderson’s, the car is in the river, upside down, and but for nearby citizens they would have died. But, what about your preparations  to survive a roadside or worse stay in inhospitable conditions? Is your car or rig outfitted to sustain you and others until help arrives?

And, are you mentally prepared (have you mentally rehearsed/envisioned what would happen and how you would respond? is your life currently in chaos and you are distracted and mentally ill prepared?) to meet a challenge for yourself, loved ones or someone like the Anderson’s, upside down in a stream?

Plan, Envision, Respond. 

Seismic Activity Map (Interesting)

Global Seismic Map Here, Not Above…Open/Click on a Region for details

NW Back Country Travel: Study Recent Conditions!

STUDY RECENT WEATHER AND AVALANCHE FORECASTS  

If you snow shoe or cross country ski in the Pacific NW back country grab this site and study, study! Uncover the person in 15 minutes=90% chance of survival;   35 minutes=50% chance of survival; 60 minutes under snow?=10% chance of survival. Plan by studying weather patters and take classes.

The Penis & The Thumb (Separate & Not Equal)

No, not much to do with fly fishing…well, I suppose the thumb factors in here and there. I was seated in a doctor’s office today for a followup visit, post op. Muscles repairing and nerves tweaking have made for some difficult times of late. ‘Difficult’? 

In the doctor’s lobby, I came upon the November 2011 issue of Men’s Health and perused the insides. Lead story, with a promo from the Editor, our wounded warriors are suffering ever increasing losses of their genitals because of the greater use of IED’s in the Afghan theater. More profound is the VA has a traumatic injury protection program, an insurance policy, that attaches a value to lost body parts: thumb $50K each, foot $50K, hand $50K each, eyes $50K each eye, lips $75K for two lips……the list goes on and on, but according to the author, Bob Drury, there is currently no compensation for the loss of a penis, or testicles. Of course, compounding all this is the probable loss of lower limbs. The Afghan War has become notorious for multiple limb loss per wounded combatant. I am not certain if all combat soldiers automatically qualify for the insurance policy. I hope they do, as seemingly inadequate as it seems.

British Developed Tier II Body Armor Codpiece

Some soldiers have had the forethought to store their sperm prior to heading over seas. Obviously, there is horrendous mental adjustments for the wounded warrior on so many levels. I will simply offer that the VA must develop some form of compensation for the loss of a genital component (regardless of sex). Further research will evolve with genital reconstruction and hormone replacement therapy because of these ever increasing injuries from IED’s.

Yes, I have some pain, but I will get better in time. I am lucky. I am trying to figure out if I will be able to fish this Winter. Others with all manner of traumas are mustering the will to live and somehow adapt.   Attached is a very graphic/violent video…you don’t have to watch it to grasp the reality.