Old Ranch Camp Out May 2012 Page One

Did You Know? - Hay is grass, legumes or other herbaceous plants that have been cut, dried, and stored for use as animal fodder, particularly for grazing livestock such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep. Hay is also fed to pets such as rabbits and guinea pigs. Pigs may be fed hay, but they do not digest it as efficiently as more fully herbivorous animals.

Hay is fed when or where there is not enough pasture or rangeland on which to graze an animal, when grazing is unavailable due to weather (such as during the winter) or when lush pasture by itself is too rich for the health of the animal. It is also fed during times when an animal is unable to access pasture, such as when animals are kept in a stable or barn

Did You Know? - Camping is an outdoor recreational activity. The participants (known as campers) leave urban areas, their home region, or civilization and enjoy nature while spending one or several nights outdoors, usually at a campsite. Camping may involve the use of a tent, caravan, motorhome, cabin, a primitive structure, or no shelter at all. In many parts of the world[where?], 'camping' refers exclusively to the use of tents or similar portable structures

Did You Know? - Coleman Company, Inc., is an American company that specializes in outdoor recreation products. Historically, Coleman is known for camping gear. It was founded by William Coffin Coleman (born May 21, 1870 and died November 2, 1957), who began selling lamps in 1900 in Kingfisher, Oklahoma, and moved to Wichita, Kansas, in 1902. The Coleman Company's headquarters are in Wichita, and it also has facilities in Texas. There are approximately 3,500 employees.

Did You Know? - A tent is a shelter consisting of sheets of fabric or other material draped over, attached to a frame of poles or attached to a supporting rope. While smaller tents may be free-standing or attached to the ground, large tents are usually anchored using guy ropes tied to stakes or tent pegs.

First used as portable homes by nomadic peoples, tents are now more often used for recreational camping and temporary shelters. Tents range in size from "bivouac" structures, just big enough for one person to sleep in up to huge circus tents capable of seating thousands of people.

Did You Know? - While some form of mobile kitchens had existed for generations, the invention of the chuckwagon is attributed to Charles Goodnight, a Texas rancher who introduced the concept in 1866. Goodnight modified the Studebaker wagon, a durable army-surplus wagon, to suit the needs of cowboys driving cattle from Texas to sell in New Mexico.

He added a "chuck box" to the back of the wagon with drawers and shelves for storage space and a hinged lid to provide a flat cooking surface. A water barrel was also attached to the wagon and canvas was hung underneath to carry firewood. A wagon box was used to store cooking supplies and cowboys' personal items.

Did You Know? - The first powered farm implements in the early 19th century were portable engines – steam engines on wheels that could be used to drive mechanical farm machinery by way of a flexible belt. Around 1850, the first traction engines were developed from these, and were widely adopted for agricultural use. The first tractors were steam-powered plowing engines.

They were used in pairs, placed on either side of a field to haul a plow back and forth between them using a wire cable. Where soil conditions permitted (as in the United States), steam tractors were used to direct-haul plows, but in the UK and elsewhere, plowing engines were used for cable-hauled plowing, instead. Steam-powered agricultural engines remained in use well into the 20th century until reliable internal combustion engines had been developed.

In 1892, John Froelich invented and built the first gasoline/petrol-powered tractor in Clayton County, Iowa, USA

Did You Know? - Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and southeastern American folk music. Country music often consists of ballads and dance tunes with generally simple forms and harmonies accompanied by mostly string instruments such as banjoes, electric and acoustic guitars, fiddles, and harmonicas.

The term country music gained popularity in the 1940s in preference to the earlier term hillbilly music. The term country music is used today to describe many styles and subgenres. In 2009 Country music was the most listened to rush hour radio genre during the evening commute, and second most popular in the morning commute.

Did You Know? - Firewood can either be seasoned (dry) or unseasoned (green). It can be classed as hardwood or softwood. In most of the United States, the standard measure of firewood is a cord or 128 cubic feet (3.6 m3), however, firewood can also be sold by weight. The BTU value can have an impact upon the price.

Did You Know? - Grilling existed in the Americas since pre-colonial times. The Arawak people used a wooden structure to roast meat on, which was called barbacoa in Spanish. For some time, the word referred to the wooden structure and not the act of grilling, but this word was eventually applied to the pit style cooking techniques used in the Southeastern United States. Originally used to slow cook hogs, different ways of preparing the food lead to regional variations. In time, other food were cooked in a similar fashion, with hamburgers and hot dogs being recent additions.

E.G. Kingsford is the inventor of the modern charcoal briquette. Kingsford was a relative of Henry Ford who saw that Ford's Model T production lines were producing a large amount of wood scraps that were just being discarded. Kingsford suggested to Ford that a charcoal manufacturing facility be established next to the assembly line and sell the charcoal, with the Ford name, in Ford dealerships. After Kingsford's death, the company was renamed Kingsford Charcoal Co. in his honor.

Did You Know? - A wagon ('waggon' in British and Commonwealth English) is a heavy four-wheeled vehicle pulled by draught animals; it was formerly often called a wain, and if low and sideless may be called a dray, trolley or float. Wagons are used for transporting goods, agricultural materials or sometimes people.

Did You Know? - A zip-line (also known as a flying fox, foefie slide, zip wire, aerial runway, aerial ropeslide, death slide or Tyrolean crossing) consists of a pulley suspended on a cable, usually made of stainless steel, mounted on an incline.

It is designed to enable a user propelled by gravity to travel from the top to the bottom of the inclined cable by holding onto, or attaching to, the freely moving pulley. Zip-lines come in many forms, most often used as a means of entertainment.

They may be short and low, intended for child's play and found on some playgrounds. Longer and higher rides are often used as a means of accessing remote areas, such as a rainforest canopy. Zip-line tours are becoming popular vacation activities, found at outdoor adventure camps or upscale resorts, where they may be an element on a larger challenge or ropes course.

Did You Know? - The first inflatable structure was designed in 1959 by John Scurlock in Shreveport, Louisiana who was experimenting with inflatable covers for tennis courts when he noticed his employees enjoyed jumping on the covers.

He was a mechanical engineer and liked physics. John was a pioneer of inflatable domes, inflatable tents, inflatable signs and his greatest achievement was the invention of the safety air cushion that is used by fire and rescue departments to catch people jumping from buildings or heights.

Did You Know? - The concept of the artificial climbing wall began in the UK. The first wall was created in 1964 by Don Robinson, a lecturer in Physical Education by inserting pieces of rock into a corridor wall. The first commercial wall was built in Sheffield, traditionally England's centre for climbing due to its proximity to the Peak District.