Camping Season is Just Around the Corner

https://www.rvingwithdoghousegypsies.comCamping season “is” just around the corner so I thought I’d wrap up this month with a few of my camping tips for the gear you will need on your next camping trip.  This is just one of those lists that keep you from making another list.

If you are an avid camper, then you probably have everything set in stone as far as equipment goes. And better yet, you probably have a routine down pat. However, for those of you who are new to camping, here are some of the essentials and some things that you simply may not have thought of or remembered.

Shelter

The most important thing to have for your camping adventure is shelter. Shelter from the possible extremes is essential. Even if you are not surrounded by inclement weather, things such as spiders and snakes do exist and the need to protect yourself from them is all-important.

Of course, a little research goes a long way when first purchasing your tent. Ask your friends and family who have camping experience which brand they use and prefer. Go to many of the different sporting goods stores and even shop around online a little bit before settling into any one choice.

Camping tents come in various shapes and sizes:

* 2-person tent

* Family tent

* Dome tents

* Stand up tents

A great idea is to look into food tents once you have made up your mind which sleeping tent you want. Food tents can protect and preserve food against weather and animals as well. Keeping your food safely tucked away and far away from your sleeping quarters is an excellent idea.

Bedding

Once you have selected what size and style tent you desire, it is a good idea to purchase sleeping bags that are warm and waterproof. Also, think about buying a blow-up single mattress for those in your party who do not like “roughing it” as much. Pillows are another thought for comfortable sleeping.

Make certain to take along extra thermal blankets and sleeping bags to cover up in. It can get extremely cold up in many campsites, especially those surrounded by mountains.

Cookware

The location of your campsite will dictate how much and what to bring. If you are close to a food supply store, you can pack a little lighter. However, if you are really roughing it, you can always bring along canned and dehydrated food just in case.

* Camping stove with fuel and lighter or if you are bringing your barbeque, then charcoal, matches, and lighter fluid

* Frying pan with a lid

* Pot with a lid

* Cooking skewers

* Can opener

* Tongs for turning sausages and hot dogs

* Spatula for flipping burgers

Of course, paper plates, napkins, and utensils and cooking foil are a must, along with plastic cups. Don’t forget to bring tons of water.

Extras

You will also need to bring some extra miscellaneous items with you that you may not have thought of originally:

* Lanterns

* Flashlights

* Batteries

* Bug spray

* Sunscreen

* Flyswatters

* Garbage bags

* Soap, sponges, and scrubbers for dishes and a basin to wash stuff in

* Camping chairs

* A sewing kit

* Toiletries including toilet paper

* A car battery charger for your cell phone

These are just the basics to get you started on your camping adventure.

We camp from an RV, see our new site about camping coming soon to a page near you 🙂 https://www.rvingwithdoghousegypsies.com/

 

Some Thoughts on Meditation

Gold Frog meditatingDifferent Forms of Meditation

There are no special tricks to meditating; no special posture or breathing rhythm is required. Once you have gotten the knack of it you can meditate anywhere during any activity. Some readers have succeeded in reaching this altered state of consciousness while reading about my sand meditation, and perhaps you too may realize this transformational state of consciousness as you read on…

Sometimes meditation opens a door into the mysteries of creation. If we allow ourselves to pass through this door, there is no telling what we may encounter on the other side. Do not become discouraged if you have tried to meditate in the past and not gotten any remarkable results. Meditation is a mystical process and it may take a while to learn how to quiet your mind and open yourself to all the present moment has to offer you.

My meditation began while sitting on a beach. My hands were sandy. I rubbed my thumb and forefinger together, feeling the grains of sand between them slipping away until only a single grain of sand remained.

I could feel the shape of the grain of sand distinctly as I rolled it back and forth between my thumb and forefinger.

The longer I rolled the grain of sand about the more defined my awareness of the grain of sand became. The more detailed my experience of the grain of sand became, the larger it appeared to be.

While I could clearly feel the tiny grain of sand trapped between my thumb and finger roll about across the grooves and ridges of my fingerprints, the grain of sand appeared to be growing larger and larger as I contemplated it.

The grain of sand continued to grow, encompassing the beach and then the world. Before long, the grain of sand had grown to an infinite size and it now encompassed all of creation, yet I still held the tiny grain of sand between my thumb and forefinger, rolling it about across the grooves and ridges of my fingerprints.

The tiny grain of sand was intimately connected to every part of creation and all of creation existed within it, even as it existed within my grasp. I communed with the grain of sand, aware of its infinite connectedness to everything else; through the medium of the grain of sand, I became aware of my own infinite connectedness with all of creation.

The sand spoke to me of eternity. It told me tales about creation and the infinite nature of our existence in creation. From the grain of sand, I learned that every tiniest part of creation is a living being experiencing creation and sharing in the process whereby creation makes everything manifest.

My meditation with a grain of sand always produced a feeling of intense bliss. It was an eternal meditation that transcended the time and place where it began to continue throughout all of creation. From time to time, I would return to this meditation, engrossed by the wisdom and experience of a single tiny grain of sand.

Can 8-Minute Meditation Give You a Quiet Mind and Change Your Life Forever?

What exactly is meditation? It seems that so many people nowadays are hooked up with this form of activity. By definition, meditation is often used to describe the individual’s state of intense attention on an object of awareness or thought. The individual tries to turn his or her attention inward. Meditation is said to be of Vedic Hinduism origin. This is usually practiced in the eastern religions, but now even the western culture is already involved in such activity.

People want to practice meditation so that they can focus their mind to God for their personal development, to attain peace of mind, and to be healthier.

Many Americans are now involved in some form of meditation. According to Time Magazine, there is one meditation practice that can be used by almost anyone. Mor available information can be considered as the basic primer of Americans wanting to begin meditation but have no idea where to start.

There was a book published last November 2005 authored by Victor Davich that is all about the 8-minute meditation. If you purchase the book and study it carefully, you will learn a lot of things about meditation, and you can do it in just 8 minutes.

Almost every individual who starts with anything new to him or her will often have lingering questions, hopes, and doubts about it. There are even people who hope that when they begin to meditate, they will be enlightened. Or perhaps you’re one of those individuals who think that meditation is just like an exercise or diet that you’ve been trying to do for the past few months. But these things are normal; so don’t be surprised if you’re also like that.

The best thing to do is to face all the positive and/or negative expectations, and after doing so, forget about them and start with a clean slate. If you want to try the 8-minute program of meditation, you should learn how to approach it one minute at a time.

While many people think that meditation is a simple practice, then you’d better think twice. You might not notice it, but your mind is always racing from here to there. You can’t concentrate. According to the book’s author, you must watch your breath. This is the very first step to meditation. Do your inhalation and exhalation by breathing deeply. If you always do this and keep on practicing, you can become good at meditation.

As a word of reminder, if you catch yourself thinking about other things, or in other words, your mind strays off, focus again on your breathing. After all, meditation is all about concentrating and if you realize that you’re not on the right track, you can always return to that state of mind gently. Don’t get discouraged easily and keep on practicing. There is a famous saying that says practice makes perfect, so always keep that in mind. If you quit easily, then you will remain a quitter.

Meditation can help you in achieving peace of mind. With all your problems at work, in your family, and the entire world, you should at least experience a few minutes of peace. Don’t miss this chance to attain personal development at no cost at all.

Stack of StonesMeditation and its benefits

One of the most important benefits of meditation is that it dramatically helps a person’s physical state. Among the physical benefits of meditation involve the heart through a deep rest because it decreases the person’s metabolic rate as well as the heart rate, which leads to the reduction of workload for the heart. Aside from that, it is also known to lower the levels of a person’s cortisol as well as dissolving the chemicals that are closely associated with everyday stress.

Other physical benefits of meditation also include reduced free radicals in the body by eliminating unstable oxygen molecules, decreases a person’s high blood pressure, develops the ability to have more resistant skin, lowering or dropping the person’s level of cholesterol, improve airflow to the lungs to aid easy breathing, delays biological aging and increases the levels of DHEAS in older people.

When it comes to psychological factor, meditation aids in increasing the person’s brain wave coherence, decreasing anxiety levels, often irritability, deep-set depression, and swing of moods, improves the person’s memory as well as his or her learning ability, increases the person’s capacity for self-actualization, increases the person’s feeling of youthfulness and rejuvenation as well as vitality, leads to positive outlook in life and joyfulness, and increases a person’s emotional status and stability.

Other noted benefits of meditation for an individual and his or her community include:

– Relaxation to the person’s body, mind, and soul.

– Rejuvenation of energy to face huge challenges and stress ahead.

– Healing of various illnesses that are closely associated with the mind and the body.

– Making a more stable person in terms of emotions.

– Developments of relaxed family life and instilling positive outlooks in life to younger people.

– Enhances the person’s ability to make his or her mind function properly.

– Letting a person discover his or her inner self, this, in turn, releases the creativity in them.

– It helps people to free themselves from various vices and addictions such as alcohol and cigarettes as well as in multiple medications such as tranquilizers and narcotics.

– It also helps a person to gain higher self-confidence, thus, resulting in stronger power of the will.

– It can be an effective and safe way of discovering one’s self instead of focusing the attention to other unhealthy practices.- It aids in the development of the power of the mind.

The list goes on about the benefits of meditation in an individual and to his or her community. In so many cases, these are positive benefits.

With the new year, we all want to get Organized!

Picture of closet Get that Closet Organized

Most of us have a relatively large closet, but lots of wasted space in its original design. It is no wonder things end up piled up and lost in there. To get organized, you are going to need to transform that space into areas you can work with. Once you have decided on the items that will go back into your closet, you are going to have to choose how you want it in there. Do you want to hang it? Put it on the floor? Have a few shelves? Or store some items on the floor? This information will help you take the proper steps to get your closet organized.

Multi-tier hanging clothes rods are very useful. You can install half rods in various locations as well. This is an excellent choice if you need a full-length rod area for dresses and want a shorter hanging space for shirts. Most of us have a standard closet with one hanging clothes rod all the way across. Even simply adding a second one down below will double your storage space!

Use bins, dividers, small shelves, or baskets to separate and organize your smaller closet items. You can even put your sweaters in a basket or on a shelf since hangers can cause them to lose their shape. Cubbies are great for shoes, belts, scarfs, and other similar items. Carousals are excellent for hats, ties, and purses. If you are creative, you may want to use a particular closet organization product for an entirely different purpose. Do it! This is your project so make it work for you.

This is your chance to customize your closet storage space. Make it accessible and convenient for what you need. Some of us have tons of clothes and only a few pairs of shoes. Some of us have a pair of shoes to go with each outfit. Therefore no custom closet organization design is perfect for everyone. For the best results, take a complete inventory of the items you plan on to return to your closet and devise a plan that will give the right amount of space for the items you need it for.

Do you plan to live in your current residence for a long time? If so, a permanent closet organization system is something you will be interested in. For those of you who move often or who rent, consider using removable closet organization products that install and remove easily. Otherwise, you will find yourself in the same predicament each time you have to move. You will also want to consider the cost of each type of closet organization system before making any decisions.

Many people don’t realize the amount of space they have on the inside of their closet doors. You can hang a bag for hats, purses, belts, umbrellas, gloves, etc. here. It is also a perfect location for a hanging or attached shoe organizer. Make sure you consider this area while devising your custom closet organization layout.

Don’t spend money on items to design your closet until you are absolutely sure that they are going to fit well in your closet area. Most closet organizing products can’t be returned or exchanged if you have already started putting them together unless they are defective. It is a good idea to take your measurements twice in the closet as well as when you are looking for products to purchase.  Remember measure twice cut once!

Don’t forget to leave room for favorite friends!

Cat in a bin

The History of Candle Making

Candles on a tableThe History of Candle Making

The art of making candles has been around since primitive times. Of course, as time went by they become much different in design than what they were back then. In the early days, candles were a necessity for heat and light. Today they serve as decorations, wonderfully smelling mechanisms in our homes, and offer light for romantic dinners and baths.

The first known use of candles is not completely known. The remains of clay candle holders that date back to 4 BC have given us the knowledge that they have been in use for a very long time. Those clay candleholders were found in Egypt.

Candles were also used in ancient times in both China and Japan. These candles were made of wax extracted from insects and seeds. The taper candles of India were made from the wax extracted from boiled cinnamon. Candles are not known to exist in American until 1 AD. It is believed Native American’s burned oily fish and the back of the Cerio tree. When settlers came to New England, they used similar techniques to extract wax from bayberries. Many modern candle makers still use that process to make bayberry candles. However, it is quite expensive to do so.

Tallow was the product used to make candles in the 1600s and 1700s. This is a byproduct of animal fat. The product worked well but had a foul odor, especially when it was burning. Beeswax and paraffin wax both were introduced in the early 1800s, and tallow stopped being used.

The dipping process for taper candles as we know it today began in 13 AD. Traveler merchants went door to door from town to town. While there, they made taper candles for individuals in their homes. Around 15 AD the idea to use molds for various types of candles was introduced in Paris. While this greatly improved the candle making process, there were still issues with getting the candles to burn properly.

In the 1800s, candle makers felt the wick was the weakest area of the candle as well as the cause for defective burning patterns. A braided wick was developed in 1825 that seemed to greatly improve the burning of several types of candles. By 1830, a process was in place to make candles using paraffin wax and molds. These candles were of good quality and burned well.

As gas and electricity were introduced, the candle making process continued to evolve. It became much easier and faster to melt the paraffin wax. It is believed that the reason so many of the elements of candle making stayed the same, including the hand dipping process is that the popularity of candles diminished with the introduction of electricity.

Today, candle making is a well-known art form. There are many companies that manufacture wonderful candles with some very unique fragrances. There are also small businesses that still make their candles by hand (at home) in their kitchen. Candle making is a great hobby and fun activity for the whole family to be involved in.

Candles are now used more for luxury and pleasure than for light or heat. The candle industry continues to grow with new types of candles being introduced all the time. The amount of colors, fragrances, and types of candles to choose from in the marketplace is absolutely amazing.

Candles are a common home decorating item. They are used to accent any room in your house. They are common centerpieces for dinner parties and formal occasions. The unity candles that are presided over at many weddings hold a deep sense of tradition in the American culture.

The art of making candles has definitely changed over time. If you are interested in trying your hand at it, choose a candle that is fairly easy to make such as the container candle or the votive. This will allow you the chance to get used to the process. There are several good candle making kits available for a low price as well as books to give you tips and assistance along the way.

Enjoy, 

I will be doing a couple more articles on “actually” making candles