Monday Morning Edition - 2456726

Good Monday Morning!  The first trimester of March has marched on.  Our time here in Arizona now feels as if it is running short.  That's a feeling we get twice a year when our semi-annual migration seems to loom closer ahead.  Even though we won't be leaving here until after mid-April, that date feels like it is right around the corner.  As fast as time seems to pass these day, the last few weeks in either Idaho or Arizona always seem to fly by at twice the normal speed.

Our first backpack overnight jaunt in 18 years was fun Saturday night.  We enjoyed some success with our gear and also some failures, as is to be expected when one engages in a long-forgotten activity.  Perhaps the most hilarious "fail" was with our matches.  Matches are an unsung but absolutely vital component of ANY camping trip and most especially a backpack trip.

We picked a destination that would allow us to easily hang our pack with a minimum amount of cordage.
Why hang a pack?  Critters--Especially rodents but also raccoons, skunks and who knows what else.
Many of our Dear Readers have had their pack food destroyed or robbed by critters.  We know one Dear Reader who almost had their actual pack destroyed by rodents chewing into it to get to the food.

If we are going to become born-again backpackers and engage in this weighty activity more often, we must take adequate protection from the critters.  "Back in the day" there was no real protection from the critters.  Luckily, now we have Rat Sacks and that brings us to our first story for this Monday Morning Edition:

The Rat Sack Cache Bag "proudly made in Flagstaff, Arizona."

Here is a link to the company's history.  You can navigate their links to learn more.  Reading the testimonials is quite fun, especially the one about the drunk monkeys.

http://www.armoredoutdoorgear.com/HistoryoftheRatsack.htm

Ironically, the Rat Sacks were "born" the same year we last did a backpack--1996.

Each generation always seems to spawn a new crop of what were once called "Whiz Kids."  Here is an excellent article about the latest versions of today's smart, savvy young people.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/09/technology/the-youngest-technorati.html?hp&_r=0

Growing up in Lafayette, Indiana, provided all sorts of arcane amusements for a young imagination.  One such "arcane" thing about the city was the Schwab Safe Company.  We drove past it practically every day.  There were lots of stories about the place and my parents had actually been inside the building watching safes being made safe.  Somehow, even though I never once got to see safe production, I have been forever fascinated by safes.  There is actually an old Schwab Safe sitting in a roofing company warehouse in Idaho Falls and I stop by occasionally just to look admiringly at it.  Perhaps that's why I enjoyed this story:

http://blog.sfgate.com/cityexposed/2014/03/09/safecracker-wanted-for-25-percent-of-treasure/#21380101=0

How cold has it been this winter back in the Midwest?  Cold enough for Lake Michigan ice to set a new record!

http://www.jsonline.com/weather/lake-michigans-ice-cover-sets-record-flooding-feared-b99221775z1-249224351.html

We have a lot of Dear Friends who are Animal Lovers, Especially Lovers of Dogs.  My Mom was a Cat Lady who loved all Animals, even the mice.  Every time the weather turned bad, Mom would always worry about those poor animals that had no place to go to get warm.  Mom would have dearly loved this story and we know our Dear Friends here will, too.  Compassion and care are alive and well in my Home Town!

http://www.jconline.com/article/20140309/NEWS/303090020/Act-of-compassion-gives-miracle-dog-2nd-chance

You've all probably heard about the Tiny House movement.  It wasn't all that long ago that small structures were simply called "Sheds."  Now, somehow, they have morphed in "Tiny Houses" and they are all the rage.

We were reading a Forbes article about Tiny Houses this morning and that led us to another website which led us to a forum which lead us to a video which led us to another website in Portland, Oregon, called "The Tiny House Hotel.  Here is the sequence of links in reverse order, showing the latest "find" first and working back to what started the "process of discovery."

• https://tinyhousehotel.com
• 
  
• http://faircompanies.com/forum/discussion/185/traditional-caravans-as-a-model-for-tiny-homes
• 
  
• http://faircompanies.com/forum/
• 
  
• http://faircompanies.com/
• 
  
• http://www.forbes.com/sites/northwesternmutual/2014/03/04/would-you-live-in-a-150-square-foot-home/
• 
  
• http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Name-the-SLU-mammoth-5297911.php

And so it goes....for The Morning Edition...

And, finally, we close out this Morning Edition with a fun story from back east:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/10/sports/college-lacrosse-upended-by-albanys-native-american-stars.html?hp&_r=0