A fellow by the name of Oliver Cromwell, the leader of the Parliamentarian Forces in the English Civil War of 1642 to 1651, once [allegedly] said, "Put your trust in God, my boys, but mind to keep your powder dry." He spoke the words at the Battle of Edgehill in 1642. I don't know about the, having faith in God, part but for sure, keeping one's powder dry, is valuable advice.
The reference to powder is about gunpowder which doesn't work well if wet. Even small amounts of moisture can affect the burn-rate of gunpowder making it unsuitable to use in a firearm; it may still be explosive, but the temperature of each granule will rise at an unpredictable rate making the overall explosion slower...that causes issues with sending the projectile down the barrel. So, dry powder is essential to correct firearm operation to this day and especially back in 1642 when firearms were completely different to modern ones.
Of course, that was only part of the message.
It means, be prepared, and to make sure one is in a position to act when action is required, and in the case of a military situation, more specifically, be prepared to fire one's weapon, to attack or defend. It works for general life though, being prepared for things is simply smart.
But sometimes dry isn't good
Dry powder is a good thing, but dry grass is completely a whole other thing and one that in some situations brings problems.
It's summer here and that means things dry out - South Australia is a very dry State of Australia with only about 232 millimetres falling annually, that's 9.1 inches a year, and much of the State receives none at all.
Things remain green still, ground water [lakes and rivers] helps with that, the human habit of watering things also, and there's a massive amount of artesian water below Australia to help things along as well. The Australian Artesian Basin is the largest and deepest source of fresh (underground) water in the world. It spreads out over below one fifth of the Australian Continent, that's over 170 million square kilometres. So, things can be green, even in the heart of summer, but not everything remains so.
I've written about being a shooter a lot in the past and also about the culling duties I perform on a cattle farm east of the capital city, up in the hills. I do so almost weekly, sometimes twice-weekly but at the moment things are decidedly dry and, like dry gunpowder, dry grass has a way of igniting quickly. That makes shooting in it very dangerous.
Some of you may recall the devastating wildfires Australia suffered in the latter part of 2019 through to 2020 in which much property and many lives were lost...It happens a lot, most years, and I don't want to be responsible for starting a fire by shooting in long, dry grass.
It may seem overly cautious of me, but as someone who has seen how rapidly a spark can ignite dry grass and how quickly a small fire can become a bushfire in hot and dry conditions, I'm not willing to risk it. Firearms spit fire and sparks you see, some more than others; my guns tend to have a lot of muzzle flash, it's rather impressive at night actually, so care must be taken.
With this in mind, I scouted out some spots from which I could shoot safely with little risk of starting a fire in the dry grasses. There's a few rocky outcrops perfect for this purpose, they look down over the terrain below and once I cleared away the grasses below (I found no snakes fortunately) I deemed it safe to resume shooting operations.
I'm a huge advocate of being prepared so phrases like keep your powder dry resonate with me; I'm a prepared guy, think laterally, consider options and what may occur before those things actually happen and work towards being ready to act when action is required, it's no different in the case of shooting on the farm. Should I to be responsible for starting a bush fire, not only would I be prosecuted, but I don't think I'd feel good about it, you know, destroying property and possibly lives.
So, I keep my powder dry, stay prepared and consider the implications of shooting in dry grass and the extremely hot Australian conditions.
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised so be humble and kind
The images in this post are both my own