| One evening at the fire pit, a young lad offered to give us "old folks" a demonstration of how to start a "one match fire" using no paper products and no flammable liquids. It was a daunting task for a little guy, to say the least. We all eagerly watched as he carefully constructed a pile of kindling on top of some small sticks which he had put on top of some birch bark. He chose the portion of the contruction which was away from the wind, and further shielded it from the wind with his body. He then used his "one match" to light one of the thinner pieces of birch bark, which he tended until it ignited more of the birch bark and the small sticks. Eventually the flames from the small sticks began to lap at the edges of the larger kindling till it too, started to burn. It was at that moment that his dog, Hunter, wandered out of the lake, ran to his side, shook himself off..........and put the fire out. |