A Misty Fall Afternoon
Installing Wrayal’s Sidecar
This article first appeared in Sidecar Traveller Nr.46 October 2019 I recently spent a couple days helping a friend swap his sidecar from a BMW G650 GS to a F800 GS. The 650 was his first sidecar rig; he’d gotten a smoking deal on it and it had served its purpose...
Walter’s Game Cart
I bought an inexpensive game cart from Sportsman's Guide and modified it so my dog can haul it. https://vimeo.com/user371939/download/463445444/a50d0446dd https://vimeo.com/user371939/download/463445444/a50d0446dd...
First Fall Foray
Summer 2020 in Oregon featured plague, drought, and catastrophic forest fires, but it had been raining hard the first few days of fall. Mike and I went up in the woods Friday to see if we could find any mushrooms. Walter Dawg and I arrived before Mike. Once parked, I...
Birthday Furlough Camp
My corporate overlords asked for volunteers for a one-week furlough as part of their pandemic austerity measures. I was not sure I was in a better place financially to take the hit than they were, but I was certain I could put the time off to good use, so I...
Lit 101
I had a professor in my freshman literature course who was obsessed with Christian symbolism. Scarred by a Catholic education, he looked for it in everything, from Franz Kafka to used car advertisements. Raised in the Episcopal Church, I sympathized with his biases. ...
Chanterelles
The sun filters through the tall trees Like light through a loosely woven tapestry The woods are damp with recent rain Filled with the earthy, spicy smell Of fresh mushrooms emerging from the moss
The Vastness
Wide awake Staring into the vastness The firmament filled with flickering lights Clouds roll in from the west Extinguishing the stars Each in turn Like the candles on the alter At the close of service I am left Alone in the dark Waiting for the...
Denial
I like my job. It is work that needs doing and I enjoy doing it. I have worked through several public health crises; I was a lab tech and phlebotomist through more than one hepatitis outbreak. I was working when AIDS first began to blossom, before we really knew...
Still Living My Best Life
Amy has been gone for three weeks, gone south to California to take care of her mother who is recovering from hip surgery. Our niece, Tessa, remarked to her: "Uncle Vernon must be living his best life, up there unsupervised." "Vernon lives his best life every day, "...
Dutch Oven Cornbread
This is a variation of the cornstick recipe I posted earlier. Cornbread recipes are pretty flexible. You can start with equal parts cornmeal, flour, and sugar Use more cornmeal and less flour for more texture; proportionally more flour than meal yields...
Campfire Chili Dinner
Until recently, I seldom used a tripod for anything more than boiling water. Why go to the effort to make a tripod when you can cook directly over the coals? But I have come to appreciate the heat control a tripod affords. You can hang your pot high over a flaming...
Beer Bandoleer
Carhartt 276100 - 6 Pack Beverage Sling - essential summer equipment. Brown polyester exterior, with an adjustable web carry strap and silver insulated inside, the bandoleer fits six cans of beer. We were out for 4 hours in 95 degree(35c) heat. The beer was cool, but...
Cornbread and Blackberries
I enjoyed a relaxing morning, another day off, due to The Contagion, with Dutch oven cornbread and fresh blackberries for breakfast. The cornbread was left over from a recent camping trip; the blackberries were picked this morning. I tarted it up with butter,...
Stuffed Zucchini
It is that time of year. The zucchini is coming on and gardeners are hiding the stuff in everything trying to foist it off on their friends and neighbors. I don’t go in for the subterfuge – none of that zucchini bread, zucchini cookies, zucchini fudge, or zucchini...
