A Bear Et My Kayak – Part 1

A Bear Et My Kayak – Part 1

Pistol Creek Longhouse June, 2022 It had been three years since I had set up my first big longhouse – enough time to forget what a pain in the ass it was and for it to sound like a lovely idea. Why not take a couple of weeks off, set up a forty-foot longhouse on...

read more
Making a  12′ Drop Cloth Tipi

Making a 12′ Drop Cloth Tipi

  Making a tipi can be tedious; it involves sewing numerous strips of canvas together until you have a large enough piece to cut your pattern from. Buying a pre-made cover is expensive, for the same reason. For several years, Billy Maxwell has been telling me...

read more
June 3rd, 2022

June 3rd, 2022

                                                                           ...

read more
Easter Longhouse.

Easter Longhouse.

We had family up for an Easter Bunny BBQ Saturday. It was the first gathering we'd hosted since The Contagion cast its shadow across the land. We had all been vaccinated but it still felt weird, invitng people, even family, into our home after two years of isolation....

read more
Atomic Lighter – Rechargeable Plasma lighter

Atomic Lighter – Rechargeable Plasma lighter

I bought this for a fly and camp outing last year. I wanted a reliable ignition source which was safe to carry on an airplane. This is also wind proof and really nice for cold weather, when butane lighters become unreliable. It recharges with a USB charger. I wrapped...

read more
April Freeze

April Freeze

 Thick frost crusts the ground Overhead, countless stars are blinking All around me the orchard fans thunder

read more
Quiet Morning

Quiet Morning

It is a quiet morning so far, but soon it will wake. The birds will start to chatter, a rooster will crow and several more will answer. Somewhere up the canyon a dog will start a conversation which will last for hours and involve most of his neighbors. The frog chorus...

read more
Windless Morning

Windless Morning

5/16/22 530 40f A windless morning the sky laced with clouds and dotted with stars. The moon waxing gibbous casts a blue glow through the oaks. A frog is croaking "good morning"

read more
Mushroom Stuffed Burger

Mushroom Stuffed Burger

I had some fresh chanterelles, a half a pound of ground beef and some grated cheese left over from last night's dinner. It was lunch time, I was hungry. A stuffed burger seemed like the obvious solution.     Ingredients   ½# ground beef 1-2 medium...

read more
K.P.

K.P.

Nothing beats a meal cooked over an open fire and eaten outdoors, but how do you deal with clean-up? Dirty dishes and scraps of food are sure to attract pests if not attended to. Rinsing your cook ware in the creek will leave an unsightly mess on the stream bed and...

read more
Rusty Brogue

Rusty Brogue

            I recently discovered Shanky’s Whip. A dark, sweet liqueur, somewhat analogous to Drambuie, Shanky’s Whip is a  mixture of Irish whiskey, vanilla, caramel, and other ingredients.           I have been mixing equal parts of Tullamore Dew and Shanky’s...

read more
Mountain Man Breakfast

Mountain Man Breakfast

Dutch Oven Mountain Man Breakfast   The Mountain Man Breakfast is a popular Dutch oven recipe which has been around in one form or another for years. If you need to feed a hearty breakfast to a crowd, this is good one. I used a variation from Gary House I found on...

read more
Dutch Oven Rhubarb Cobbler

Dutch Oven Rhubarb Cobbler

Dutch Oven Rhubarb Cobbler   Spring hasn’t officially arrived until the rhubarb is up. One morning a few leaves poke through the frost covered mulch; by the end of the week, giant rosettes of primordial leaves on bright red stalks cover that corner of the garden....

read more