NTSOG wrote:G'day,
Today I'm back in the tractor working up a small horse paddock that's very compacted. Yesterday I was flat on my back courtesy of No. 3 booster [Pfizer] injection on Sunday: moderate headache, aching joints and likely a mild fever until I took a Nurofen late afternoon. It's still better than getting crook with the Chinese bug and then getting buried since I'm 1. old, and 2. have a stuffed immune system due to leukaemia.
At least it's much cooler and the humidity is less today. I much prefer the snowy cold being experienced by wanneroo in the US winter.
Jim
NTSOG wrote:Here's another random 'fact' - sort of: I get terrible chilblains on my toes in winter and have since I was a lad growing up in Melbourne. When living in the USA for 5 years and spending as much time as I could cross country skiing in the winter cold I never got a chilblain. I think it was because there was less humidity in the air, whereas living in Melbourne near Port Phillip Bay it was always a 'damp' cold. My in-laws in Wisconsin always had a humidifier running in the house as the quite severe cold drew the moisture out of the air causing furniture to shrink [dehydrate].
Jim
bladeracer wrote:
I got chilblains last year for the first time ever. I used an IR thermometer to discover that if my toes got down below 14C on the skin surface, chilblains would be happening. Keeping them above that temp solved it, but keeping the temperature up under field conditions can be very difficult. Even wearing three pairs of socks my feet just don't generate enough heat to keep themselves warm.
Don_Stevenson wrote:bladeracer wrote:
I got chilblains last year for the first time ever. I used an IR thermometer to discover that if my toes got down below 14C on the skin surface, chilblains would be happening. Keeping them above that temp solved it, but keeping the temperature up under field conditions can be very difficult. Even wearing three pairs of socks my feet just don't generate enough heat to keep themselves warm.
Blade, have you ever tried gore-tex socks? Years ago I had a pair when I was in the Army and when it got cold and wet and everyone else had freezing feet I was always (relatively) comfortable. If you wear them over a pair of regular wool socks they keep the heat in pretty well.
The ones I had were called Seal Skinz, might be worth a try.
NTSOG wrote:G'day,
In winter I bring my work boots/gum boots inside so as to be sure that they will be dry next morning. I'm convinced that it is the damp plus the cold that leads to those itchy, painful chilblains after my experience in the USA's dry cold. I don't cross country ski any more but still cycle daily which means my feet [in cycling shoes] are exposed to the wet and the wind. Even over-boots aren't enough to protect my toes fully in winter when cycling. There is an ointment for chilblains called Mcgloin's Chilblain Ointment which can help. I've also taken to smearing Vicks Vapour Rub on my toes before going outside in winter. The ointment contains camphor which, my wife tells me, should help stimulate local blood circulation. Overall fresh dry socks and dry boots is the best preventative measure I know.
Jim
NTSOG wrote:G'day wanneroo,
I lived through an extreme winter storm when living on-campus at George Williams College in Downers Grove, Illinois in early 1979. The storm shut down the whole of Chicago for the best part of a week and temperatures got down to - 34F. I loved it as the College was on about 200 acres and I and others cross country skied everywhere around campus, whereas when I lived on campus at IU Bloomington, In. there wasn't that much snow and the summer heat and humidity was terrible. I can't take the humidity. My wife is from northern Wisconsin [Eagle River area] and I loved the Northwoods. We once skied in -60F [with the wind-chill] - it was alright if you didn't stop moving. I love crisp powder snow.
Jim
bladeracer wrote:
Why doesn't the military issue them if they're good? Is it left to the individuals to sort out? If I were in trouble I'd like to know that the blokes covering my back are concentrating on the job rather than their cold toes
bladeracer wrote:
I don't wear gum boots except in extraordinary situations, maybe a couple times a year if we're working with cattle in the yards. I did wear Otway's long boots for a year or more when I moved here trying to beat the cold, but wore through the neoprene upper very quickly, and they have poor ankle support. I rolled my ankle very badly one night. They do a new Storm Long that appears to address the wear issue. I prefer fully-laced tall leather combat boots for the ankle support.
My boots stay in the house, I have never left my boots outside. Though Rose and her family grew up here leaving their muddy boots out on the verandah I can't bring myself to do the same. I'll take them off at the door but they still come inside with me.
I'll keep note of those treatments though, just in case I have issues again this winter
Never even heard of bloody chilblains until moving here!
wanneroo wrote:Do you have boot warmers? Once you go to boot warmers you'll never go back to sticking your foot in damp or cold boots in the morning again.
A lot of hunters here in the USA swear by battery powered heated socks.
Don_Stevenson wrote:20 years ago a lot of the gear was pretty poor.
The Army seemed to operate on the assumption that all fighting would take place in warm climates so cold weather kit was almost non existent. The standard sleeping bag for example was bulky, heavy and only good down to about 8 degrees. Fine for Darwin and Townsville but rubbish at Puckapunyal in Vic. Our field jumpers were still the woollen "Howard green" style that you see in WW2 movies and they weighed a ton and weren't that warm.
Toward the end of my time we were starting to see things like goretex rain gear, gore tex bivvy bags and a few other odds and ends but any gucci kit you had to buy from your own cash or your uniform allowance.
I have seen some of the new gear and things like the new combat shirts and pants look much better. For example the pants have inbuilt knee pads which would have saved me a very annoying career ending injury!
Don_Stevenson wrote:If I could justify them I would buy a pair of the Crye combat pants with the integrated knee pads in a plain colour but they are about $500aud!
bladeracer wrote:
Never even heard of boot warmers
Because my boots stay inside overnight they're usually dry by the morning, and if not I have four pairs I wear. I'm always buying boots in the never-ending hunt to find the perfect pair
In the field I don't take my boots off, I don't make any kind of camp, I just find a spot to lay down and go to sleep. I never have anything to pack when I wake up in the dark. At most I might have to roll up my poncho and strap it back on my harness, otherwise I just clip my rifle on and get going.
I have bought cheap heated socks in the past to see if they were plausible, but they never worked at all well. I would assume more expensive stuff would be better.
wanneroo wrote:bladeracer wrote:
Never even heard of boot warmers
Because my boots stay inside overnight they're usually dry by the morning, and if not I have four pairs I wear. I'm always buying boots in the never-ending hunt to find the perfect pair
In the field I don't take my boots off, I don't make any kind of camp, I just find a spot to lay down and go to sleep. I never have anything to pack when I wake up in the dark. At most I might have to roll up my poncho and strap it back on my harness, otherwise I just clip my rifle on and get going.
I have bought cheap heated socks in the past to see if they were plausible, but they never worked at all well. I would assume more expensive stuff would be better.
Boot warmers are electric, plug into the wall, and once placed in the boots, circulate warm dry air through the boot during the night. In the morning you have a nice warm dry boot to put on.