2017 New Skill / Ranger Goal Challenge!

[Elleth]

It’s almost 2017!

First off, looking back at 2016 - I got a LOT of niggling little details done - purses and pouches and a nice knife sheath and need wallet and not a little digital work. I’m really happy with what I did get done this year, but the fact remains I’m still walking the woods in modern jeans and blouse. That is going to change this year. This isn't a new skill per se, but more an item that desperately needs to come off my plate.
Goal One: complete a rudimentary kit

Secondly, the big ball I dropped last year was my archery goal - and frankly I need to get out and exercise more anyhow. So fitness generally and WMA-ish specifically is my other big goal next year. I don’t need to be a Ranger: but I want to be reasonably “survival competent” with bow and blade.
Goal Two: Fitness/WMA

There’s lots of other goals I’d like to add - music and art and language - but diffusion is the enemy of completion, so I’m sticking with just those two in 2017. Plus, I suspect life is gonna get kinda full this year, so I’m limiting my plate.


DETAILS
============================

Nothing helps real progress like nailing down exactly what a goal means, so -

Kit goal
By trekking season this fall, have at LEAST trousers, tunic, cloak, belt, and boots.
My stretch goal is a completed quiver, proper bow and arrows, waterskin, sidearm blade and completed Greg-style bedroll/snapsack setup with carry strap, blanket, and ground cloth.

Most of the clothes and some of the hard kit is already somewhat far along, so I think completing them all by early fall is doable. New bow maybe not, but the rest I think I can make happen.


Fitness/WMA goal
Part 1 (most important): By the first day of fall, be able to make it to the top of the giant behind our farm without stopping for breath.

Part 2: By the first day of fall, be able to get 8 / 10 arrows in an 18” circle from 15 paces.
Forget waiting on perfect period kit - just practice with the darn bow more.

Part 3: … some metric for handling a largish blade with rudimentary competence. I really don’t know how to judge this, and would welcome some advice. Some kind of cutting test?


Finally -
“Achievement Unlocked!” as our godson would say.
These are five things I *can* do already, but want to put in writing so I’ll get off my butt and make time for at least once in the following year:

* cook one family meal on the hearth inside
* cook one family meal “camp style” outside
* do one little drawing or piece of tengwar calligraphy on a scrap of vellum in period materials as an “in character” memento piece.
* listen to that audiobook reading of the silmarillion all the way through
* make the walking trip to our neighbor’s pond he’s told us about but I’ve never seen. This will take a bit of orienteering from satellite pictures, but it should be a fairly easy day trip.


Whew! That’s enough.




What are y'all up to?

[Greg]

Last year's list has helped me take a closer look at what I can and can't do within a year. Knowing where I am, with my current "snowball effect" of kit completion already rolling, I'm proposing the following for myself:

1) Complete (functional) kit post and writeup. This doesn't mean it'll be where I want it to eventually be, necessarily, but I've been on the boards now for eight years, and have never done this. I have a few distinct landmarks (about seven, and ALL are in-process) to hit to complete this project, and then it'll be in "close-enough" context to be put up together. Tweaking be darned...I can do that anytime. I'd like to have this done before the last snow melts (I'm THAT close!)

What this also means is, side goal: If I force myself to reach a "good enough" point on my kit and leave some details for later, that should free me up a little so that I can leave the concept/design phase of my wife and kid's kits, and actually start working on some of that. Food for thought.

2) Meet at least one more forum member for the first time. I've done it six times; I can do it again.

3) Do at least one solo camp. The past few years, I've only done long-planned trips with several of my fellows, because of kids and other circumstances. I know, if I tried, I could get away for an afternoon and a morning without much trouble, and the solo trips are the ones that test you.

[Kortoso]

A. Make my own tall mocs and give the Minnetonkas the old heave-ho.
B. Make a decent shoulder quiver.
C. Finish a 5K run again. Celebrating my 60th in such manner.
D. Getting some content onto my Youtube channel and starting to get subscribers.
I may put together a smithy in the backyard and craft a knife of my own. Somebody please talk me out of it.

[SierraStrider]

This is the year I want to run the race of the Three Hunters. I've been training recently and feeling it take effect, but I've got a long way to go.

I'd also like to get better at starting a fire with flint, maybe learn to do it without charcloth, and start learning how to do it with a hand drill.

I'm planning to slaughter a sheep fairly early in the year and want to look into brain tanning the hide.

And of course, acquiring the big three things I'll need for my trek: Cloak, boots, and sword.

[Mirimaran]

Well, another year. I'd like to do more with my kit, and acutally do somethng with it also, getting into making sheaths, so want to get better at that, and start back to writing and perhaps try to sell something, and find a way to meet up with more of my Ranger brothers and sisters. 2017 is our year!

Ken

[Greg]

2017 is our year!
Ken

I firmly believe 2017's going to be the best year the forum's had in a long while.

[Taurinor]

Late again, but here are this year's goals -

1) Kit write-up (from last year) - Remake the costrel, maybe get some 18th century-style eyeglasses (not necessarily justified by the text, but I like the look better than my medieval frames and need some glasses), and write the darn thing up. Will I continue to tweak it? Of course. Will it be good enough to get on the wiki? I think (hope) so. I've got an overnighter with my local crew scheduled for the first weekend in March, so I'm going to aim to remake the costrel and get the glasses for that trip, which should help me get it done.

2) Dispersed camping trip (from last year) - I want to go out into the woods and pick a site to set up camp, as opposed to having a specific campground I'm hiking to. The March overnighter is at a local WMA, so that should check this one off.

3) Archery - I want to try to get out and shoot at least once a week. Might be a little iffy this winter, but Virginia doesn't usually stay super cold. Not really going to try to hit a certain target by a certain date; I just want to put more arrows down range.

[Greg]

Great goals, everyone. Looking forward to seeing this stuff happen!

I'm gonna tack one more onto mine: Finish that dang bow. It's a gorgeous piece of Yew, and I just need to grab it by the horns and get to it. Doesn't count in my "Finish my functional kit and post a writeup" one, because I already have functioning bows, and could easily post before the new bow is done...but it's a project that's been ignored for far too long (probably out of fear of breaking it, lol) so it's time.

[Udwin]

Looking forward to the year ahead, I think these are mostly pretty attainable!
Kit needs:
1- Finally forge either a spearhead or socketed axehead. I have the furniture for both ready...though last year's knife took until July to actually get made, so I should probably start campaigning now.
2- Anduin valley map. If it doesn't wind up in my pack, it would always look nice on the wall! Just have to make a trip to the art-supply store for a nice bit of something parchment-y.
3- Honey container (my holy grail). I have a plan, and a market fair in a few weeks that should have the materials. Then it's all in the execution.

Skill stuff:
4- Use some of the plant parts I've gathered over the year. Practice making tinctures, decoctions, &c.
5- Grow some Yarrow. I have the seeds, I just need the growing season!
6- Outdoor fitness. I have limited opportunities (besides road-running) for exercise around my apartment, but there's a new unpaved trail-running trail that just opened a few miles away...no reason I can't swing by after school when I'm in town. I also want to work on upper-body strength...with no plans to build another dugout, I'll have to go with firewood chopping, sawing, and splitting.
7- Sleep/camp outdoors in a period fashion at least once a month.

'Inner persona' stuff:
8- This video from J. Townsend's channel inspired me to develop both a persona-specific speaking style and a few basic stories to tell 'in-character' (as if I had the opportunity to do so at a public event, ha!).

[Greg]

8- This video from J. Townsend's channel inspired me to develop both a persona-specific speaking style and a few basic stories to tell 'in-character' (as if I had the opportunity to do so at a public event, ha!).

Just saw that one the other day. Blew my mind!
As for doing it at a public event...you know that day's coming. Somewhere, somehow, that day is coming.

[Straelbora]

Kind of unplanned, we're moving this spring (local move), which means time I meant to spend on fixing up the Dragons Wood Inn will be spent fixing up our old house to sell.

Nonetheless, my main "Rangery" focus this year is to get the Inn to the point where it is usable, even if the outside and outbuildings, etc. still need work. One of my nephews is getting married in October, and his younger brother decided the most appropriate 'bachelor's party' for him was to have a 'Hobbit weekend' at the Inn in late September. Why, yes, I did introduce my nephews to the writings of Tolkien, D&D, etc. , thank you.

I've decided that my skills, time, and disposable income mean that any new clothing I get for my kit will be made my my friend who is a tailor and historical costume maker. Up to now, I've had some decent wool pieces and the rest of my Ranger clothing is left-over SCA tunics and breeks made from lightweight cotton. I don't tolerate heat well, and am thinking of having a sleeveless linen tunic made for the summer. Maybe I'll just go 'Bakshi Aragorn' and wear the tunic and no pants!

I really want to practice my archery. As I mentioned earlier, I bought some squirrel-sized teddy bears from the Goodwill store to place for practice. I also promised my son to construct his idea as well- life sized Orcs, with wooden frames, old furniture foam for 'muscle,' and again, Goodwill clothes, so that we have 3-D arrow targets to place in the woods.

[Ursus]

My first and biggest goal is to make more time for the forum in the way of articles and sharing pics from treks to hopefully inspire others to get out in kit.

My second is to revamp my kit write up and persona on the wiki as much has changed and needs updated. I wasn't on the forum much in 2016, I was however doing a lot in regards to ranging.

Third: Host or attend a moot.

Personal goals for me change little. Train harder both on the trail and in the drill yard. There is always room for improvment.


Lastly I've got two fellas that train with me that have been swayed by the rangers way. Already being above average fighters my goal is to aid them in developing solid gear, competent woodcraft, and to bring them into the community.

[Greg]

It'll be good to have you back.

[Elleth]

Absolutely! I can't wait to see what you've been up to!

[Elleth]

Speaking of goals, I've been spanking this one!

Part 1 (most important): By the first day of fall, be able to make it to the top of the giant behind our farm without stopping for breath.

Done it twice already: my almost-every-workday workout of "up 20 flights of stairs carrying a heavy thing" turns out to be about twice as hard, so the first time enough snow melted I could tackle the hill again I made it!

Now to just keep it up and get back to that archery...


How are you guys progressing? We're almost 1/4 of the way there. eek!