Easy Fire starters
So - I have three pieces of wood in the firebox. They aren't seasoned - but they are dry. I tossed on a cup of Gasoline - no dice; fire went out quickly.
Because I'm cold, I wanted something to eat. I grabbed a bag of tortilla chips and - yuk. Stale. About 1/4 bag worth.
Because I'm pretty smart for a boy, and I can't watch ENOUGH shows like 'survivorman' - I think "I think SurvivorMan used a corn chip to start a fire!"
The logs were laying curved side down, with their peaks pointing up (sorta like a 'W' shape). I crunched the chips a bit and poured them over the logs - filling as much as I could the 'valley' portions (think: filled the V portions of the 'W' shape).
I lit two chips with a stick-lighter - took only a few seconds to light. I closed the firebox door nearly-tight. Not more than a couple minutes later the fire was ROARING!
That got me thinking...
Using a toilet paper roll, I shoved a wad of dryer lint in one side. Next I poured in more Tortilla Chips, and capped it with more lint. Using left-over Tealight candles (left over from when I was romantic - instead of this jaded, woman-hating man I've become; because women are evil and they lie to their family as if THEY were the 'tortured' ones in the marriage...as if THEY had to put up with ME; not the other way around...as if THEY weren't the hurtful nasty ugly emotionally-abusive and distant partner), I melted wax atop each dryer-lint-plug to help it stay in the roll.
Next time I wanted a fire I used three logs - two round-side-down, one across the top (little pyramid? shape. sorta). I put my lint-chip roll in the valley tween the two on the bottom, and under the one on the top. I lit it...
WOW! Took off brilliantly
“… the greatest detractor from high performance is fear: fear that you are not prepared, fear that you are in over your head, fear that you are not worthy, and ultimately, fear of failure. If you can eliminate that fear—not through arrogance or just wishing difficulties away, but through hard work and preparation—you will put yourself in an incredibly powerful position to take on the challenges you face" - Pete Carroll.