Enough of the planning, enough of the study I decided. Time to practice! I was inspired by the "Prepared to Survive" DVD I just got done watching, and decided it was time to practice starting fires. I grabbed some dried grass from the last lawn clippings as well as some dried leaves and my Magfire. I used an old paving stone that wasn't doing anything to put my tinder on, since I didn't want to build a fire, just start it. It was a little windy, so I took a split piece of firewood and used it to block the wind. Brand new Magfire, so I had to scrape a little to get the sparks going. The tinder must not have been dry enough because it wouldn't catch. I went in the house and grabbed a Tinderquik, and tried again. I was amazed at how quickly the Tinderquik caught (and how quickly it burned out!). Some of the surrounding grass and leaves caught too when I feed them in. My wife, who was sitting next to me not paying attention to what I was doing got very anxious when she saw the small flame. She kept saying, "Okay, your ego is high, now put it out!" I'm not sure what that meant, but I can tell she won't want to learn firemaking anytime soon.

Now, after a few dozen times starting them on a nice clear (albeit breezy) day, I'll try the cold, wet days to start fires <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />