Nebraskaland

April 2022 • Nebraskaland 51 Fun for Kids in Wintertime Here's a little game you can do in the wintertime to get the kids out of the house: Take some half-inch plywood and cut out a few big feet like Sasquatch. Then, go out in the timber and lay out a trail in the snow — weave it — and then at the end of the trail, build a nice big bonfi re and have all the materials you need for s'mores. While you're following the trail with the kids, you can show them squirrel, rabbit, deer and turkey tracks … whatever you run onto. This activity provides great outdoor education. Backing Up Trailers Boat ramps and camping pads can be frustrating on a busy Saturday or Sunday because some people have diffi culty backing up a trailer or boat. Let me give those folks some advice: Don't concentrate at the top of the wheel or edges, concentrate on the bottom of the steering wheel because my guarantee is whichever way you turn that steering wheel from the bottom is the way your boat is going. Keep your hand on the bottom of that wheel and that's how you're going to do a better job of backing that trailer in. A Secret Compartment Is there a message from the past or a tiny piece of memorabilia in your gun stock? Your granddad's old gun, for example, may have a hollow place in the stock. They'd put shot in there to keep it from kicking or they might put a note or some little trinket in there, so check that old gun. Keep from Falling on Ice I suff er from ice elbow, like tennis elbow, anytime I slip on the ice and fall. I have cleats and everything else, but here's another addition. I fi ll an old coff ee can with sand, and then when I'm on the ice, I'll scatter this around those areas where I walk a lot to keep me from falling. N Turkey Beard Momento Just as antlers represent the memory of a successful deer hunt, spring turkey hunters enjoy displaying the bird's beard. Here's a little craft idea that preserves that gobbler's growth — a turkey beard momento. Take that casing you shot that bird with and punch the primer out on the top with a long nail and hammer. It leaves you a hole to put your strapping into because that's the next thing you're going to do. Tie a loop knot in it and leave yourself enough loop to make a hanger with it. Then, take a little piece of wire, or a long nail, and shove this loop down into the casing out through the primer hole. Next, get a little dowel plug as a spacer and push it down against the knot. Then fi ll the rest of the shell with fi ve-minute epoxy, and you've got yourself a little piece of memorabilia. I wonder if an old turkey like me could grow a beard that long. Wood plug or sawdust mixed with glue for fi ller Epoxy and beard Fishing Boat Magnets A handy item to have in your fi shing boat is a magnet. I have a 100-pounder. Hook a sturdy line to it — say 25 or 30 feet — and boy, howdy, use these things around a dock and you'd be surprised by the things you'll pick up just dabbing around. I've picked up wrenches, cigarette lighters, fi shing lures, pliers ... just a myriad of things. It's fun, but be careful. I was out once on a lake and hooked onto something that almost felt like fi ghting a fi sh. When I got it up, I had a beautiful mermaid hooked right by the belt buckle. My wife made me throw her back. Starting Fire Two things here — to start a fi re quickly, take the lint out of your dryer and stick it in a small container with a lid. Stick that in your pocket and when you want to build a fi re, jerk about half of that out of there and put it down inside your little wood tipi. Strike that and it'll burn hot for quite a little while but not very long. But this next tip does. Sprinkle a little sawdust in an egg carton and take hot paraffi n and pour that in the egg carton. It saturates the sawdust. Once it starts to set up, I put a little more sawdust on top of it and kind of scrunch it down. Don't burn your fi nger. When that sets up all you have to do when you want to start that fi re is tear a chunk of that off and throw it in your fi replace where you got your stick tipi. Strike that carton and get it going, that wax burns, that sawdust burns, and it burns hot and it burns for a long time. The 5-Gallon Bucket I've lost count, but you can re-use fi ve-gallon buckets for about 400 purposes. Here's one that dog owners and gardeners might fi nd useful. Take a sharp knife and cut the bucket into two parts, about four inches from the bottom. The bottom of these buckets make good dishes to water the hunting dog. Just throw it in the back of your truck, and you'll alway have it. But what are you going to do with the top part? When I put my tomatoes in, I'm going to put the top part of the bucket over one of those plants so it'll keep the bunnies out. They have enough to eat — they don't need to eat my tomatoes. Air Freshener You can freshen up your vehicle by using scented laundry dryer sheets. I place them around on the fl oor and up in the vents. My old truck holds a lot of memories for me and the missus. If I get it smelling good again, I might ask her out for an ice cream cone ... take her for a little ride.

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