PEARLS OF GEEZER WISDOM

Take a few minutes out from trying out all these recipes and read these camping tips gleaned from the collective brains of the GEEZERS

When camping in one spot for a few days, Dig a hole for your coolers. Line the hole with plastic or foil shiny side in. Place your cooler in the hole and cover with a blanket or extra sleeping bag. The ice you came with may go home with you. Before you leave, cover .the hole, replace the sod, and leave no trace.

Face your tents to the east. The early morning sun quickly dries out dampness and drives out the chill. Besides, what better way to greet the morning than to watch the sunrise,

 Cut both ends from tin cans and step on them to flatten before storing them in trash bags. Critters have been known to stick their noses in, get their heads stuck, and die. Better yet, open your cans at home, pour into double zip-lock bags and take these along instead.

When broiling bacon over an open grill, try cooking it on foil. It will prevent charring, which often happens when you cook bacon on a grill.

Racks from an old oven make good lightweight grills. Spray with Teflon spray for easier cleaning. Don't use racks from old refrigerators. Some were made with cadmium plating, which when heated can give off toxic fumes or spill its way into your food. Cadmium is a 3heavy metal that is toxic when ingested or inhaled.

To prevent pasta from boiling over, add one teaspoon of olive oil to the cooking water before adding pasta.

4 ounces of cheese will yield 1 cup of grated or cubed cheese.

For a fun and extremely messy break in a long term camp, order a couple of chilled watermelons from the commissary. Spread out a large clean poly tarp. Have each patrol hold the melons above their heads and then on a signal drop them onto the tarp. Yes, we said BUST them and let them eat the melon with their fingers.

If you want to save room in your cooler and still have to keep eggs fresh, make a mixture of one pound of lime to one gallon of water in a plastic one gallon jug, put your eggs in the jug, and add the lime water. The eggs will keep without refrigeration for some time.

Tents and dining flies tend to get a might funky toward the middle of a long term camp. Get a large red apple and poke several small holes through the skin. Plug every hole with a whole clove and hang in the tent or dining fly. Stories have it that it will also cut down on the flying critters in the daytime.

When pitching tents or putting up dining flies, drive your stakes in at an angle toward the tent at about a 30 degree angle. There is less chance of the stake pulling out on its own in a wind and you will have less effort to pull them out when it is time to break camp.

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If you're dehydrated, a hot drink may hit the spot faster than a cold one. Recent studies have shown that water gets into your bloodstream faster from drinking hot liquids. Try heating that Gatorade and watch what happens.

Anterior nosebleeds can be stopped by pinching the nostrils together for 10-15 minutes. If that doesn't work, try moistening some cotton with Afrin nasal spray. Twist the cotton into a cone and insert into the offending nostril. Leave enough out to remove later. Reapply pressure for another 10 minutes.

Tea in high concentrations, thanks to the tannins it contains, has a pain easing effect on sunburn. Take a teabag, soak it in cool or tepid water, then dab it on the area. Let it dry, then repeat.

Pulling is different than lifting. Pull a heavy load with your waist so that your legs do the manual labor and your back comes along for the ride. Pulling a heavy load is preferable to lifting one.

Powdered ginger may be more effective than over the counter medications for motion sickness. Ginger is safe. You can take two 450mg capsules about 10 minutes before travel, and two more again if you feel queasy.

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