Re: Happy 5th Anniversary Mr. Evans !

http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page.aspx?c=2&p=43901&cat=2,40733,40996

Yup, that's my beach buddy. Never seen them 'advertised' on this side of the pond. I've got the larger of the two and it holds close to a half gallon of water. And, as advertised, it will heat the water to a rolling boil in about 5 minutes.

Water for two 'cup of soup's,' and enough left for two mugs of tea/coffee. Takes a bit of fiddling to get the fuel 'thing' down; best answer I've run into is a bag of hickory chips you'd use on the Barbie (for wood smoke).

Found (Albertons)a box of 'fire starters' that look like a (very) oversized match. Box even has a striker on the side. Anyway a bit of paper (napkins work well), a couple of handfulls of 'chips,' fire off the 'match' and you're good to go.

Only thing (it's mentioned in the instructions) is to point the air 'hole' into any breeze. This creates a bit of a blast furnace effect in the fire chamber. Over on the Chetco River for a weeks fishing (Bruce-0, Fred 0-2 ...missed hooking both) and made beach lunch with the thing. "Works a treat" as the Brit's would say.

As happened last year, we've gone (river flow/RAIN) from low and clear to dumping rain after a couple of days. River flow is more than twice what it was yesterday. Good day to stay inside, drink a toddy or two (love Egg Nog), tie a few flies, drink another toddy ... or two ... etc.

Neat thing is the AtRiver's Edge now has the whole place wired up for wi-fi internet. So at least you're not staring at a bloody tv as the rain comes down. Ah well, hope this is not a repeat of last years trip. (Same time frame, one year later.) First few days of beautiful weather then BANG!

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