[at-l] How to cook beans & follow-up on fatbacking your feet

[nealb@midlandstech.com (William Neal)]

1) I love beans but hate lentils.  Guess they remind me too much of "beggar
lice" -- a weed & not an insect, but still a pest.  But I've never really
tried them on a backpacking trip -- except for the freeze-dried or
dehydrated versions.  Has anyone taken plain old dried beans and cooked them
on the trail?  And if so, how long did it take to "hydrate" them to the
point where you could cook them?

2) Someone suggested that I try my "suggestion" about fatback as a "help"
for feet.  Actually I did one time, but I was day-hiking and not really
staying out on a long hike.  It did a good job of "greasing" the feet and
soothing them: I had on my steel toe work boots -- DUMB IDEA 234  Makes
sense that fatback would work since Lanoline is basically sheep fat or oil.
The left over fatback made good catfish bait, but I didn't use it to fry up
the cats or the hushpuppies.  But I don't think I want to grease my feet on
the AT; especially in the Smokies.  Of course "bobby-qued" bear tastes good.
It'd all be a question of who smelled who first and who was the hungriest.

William, the Slick Turtle