Got up late but temperature is about the same as yesterday.
Not a cloud in the sky.
Not going bowling today as "Cousin" K is here waiting for Barry to fly in.

He lay there thinking and reviewing what items he had that could help in moving the fire to the pond.

  As he remembered storing the piece of lamp wick he snapped his fingers, “That’s it I’ll use one of the coke bottles with kerosene and the wick!”  He opened his pack found the wick rolled in the oilcloth, emptied one of the coke bottles and filled it half full with kerosene, he twisted the wick into the top of the bottle leaving about an inch sticking out.

  By the time he was finished the egg water was boiling.  He gave them a few minutes then poured the water off and packed the eggs into his pack.  The rain was still falling so he decided to wait, fearing that the make shift lamp wouldn’t stay lit on the walk to the pond.

  He took out and ate a couple of the eggs and was tempted to eat more but resolutely decided to wait until later.  The swishing and murmuring of the river rushing by lulled his senses and in a short while he fell asleep.

  When he reawakened he had lost all sense of time.  The rain had stopped but the clouds were down to almost the tree tops.  He rolled out from under the shelter, panicking until he saw that there was still smoldering embers in the fire pit.  Hurrying, Nat soon had the fire blazing again.  He took down the plastic sheet and prepared his pack for the move.  As he started to extend the wick in the coke bottle to the flames he stopped then taking his ‘can of many uses’ he scraped some embers into the bottom added some small dry twigs then crammed in as many small chunks of cottonwood bark as it would hold.  Using the snare wire and pole he fastened the can to the pole.  When he was ready to go he held the coke bottle wick to the fire. It lit easily and he started off, ‘coke bottle lamp’ in one hand and ‘portable stove’ in the other.

  When he reached the pond he carefully set down the tin and the bottle, unloaded his pack and set about gathering fire wood once again.  He had decided he would prepare a small fire for cooking and then later get larger wood for a signal fire.  Just to one side of where the creek ran out from the pond there was a large heap of wood from log size to small twigs, no doubt jammed there when the river had receded after flood stage.  Nat dug under some of the larger pieces and found a plentiful supply of dry wood of assorted sizes.  He carried several armfuls to the spot he decided his permanent camp would be and quickly laid a fire leaving a hollow in the middle.  He then dumped the embers from the can into the hollow, added some fine wood chips, blew into the embers and was quickly rewarded with flames, satisfied that the fire would burn he extinguished the burning wick.  He spent a few more minutes building the fire larger then piled some larger wood chunks against it then set about preparing a bed and shelter for the night.

  There was no large log to utilize so with a great deal of effort he pried and rolled two small logs into a parallel position leaving enough room between them for a bed.  Once more he gathered spruce bows and arranged them between the two logs.  He found two small logs and laid them across the two that formed the sides of his bed, then went into the bush and found a small spruce which he cut down. This he trimmed then positioned as a ridgepole finally using sharpened sticks as nails spread and fastened the plastic sheet over the primitive frame.