Blather
Cooking for Guys
Live to Camp
Camp to Live
Poetry
and Other Lies
Grandma Wade’s Mince Meat
Grandma Wade used to make mince meat pies for the holidays. She shared the recipe with Mom,and this delightfully sweet pie has been a treasured memory of mine for decades. The recipe is pretty labor intensive and contains your entire annual dietary allowance of fat in...
Chili and Corn-sticks
Chili and Corn-sticks I had Friday off. I intended to make dinner, but that required an amount of preparation I didn't manage to get around to. I spent the day changing the tire on the Triumph, staring off into space and generally procrastinating. Go figure. Amy got...
Chuck Roast and Mushroom Gravy
With the weather gone to cold drizzle I find myself using the Crock Pot more and more. Once the food is in the slow cooker, it can be turned on low and ignored for a few hours. Well, it could be ignored if it didn't fill the entire house with savory aromas. Slow...
The Bombardier
The Bombardier is a drink inspired by the early days of military aviation, when the British airforce was still part of the Royal Navy. Pilots and their crew were issued a daily tot of rum, just like the sailors were. To stave off the cold on long sorties over No Man’s...
Pie Day: Mom’s Pies
Mom bakes all sorts of pies. Two of my favorites are her apple pie and her rhubarb pie. These are pretty straight forward fruit pie recipes, but they are consistently the best pies to be had. Tarting them up would only detract from their wholesome...
A Bear Et My Kayak – Part 2
An Empty Camp ...
Zodi Shower
I've used solar camp showers and never been happy with trying to wash myself under the dribble of tepid water they provide. The water doesn't get hot enough, there isn't enough of it and there isn't enough pressure for a satisfying shower experience. The Zodi propane...
Halloween at Chanty Camp
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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...
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...
Good Morning
2/15/26 6:00 38F (3.3C) Cloudy and raining. Walter Dawg is always happy but Sheila Kitty is not a morning person Earlier an owl was calling through the darkness from over near the creek. As light seeped into the gloom birds began to wake. I eaves-dropped...
Good Morning
2/14/26 5:30 34F (1.1C) It's a dark morning. No wind, a few clouds, a great many stars. If things go as...
Good Morning
Friday the thirteenth, February, 2026 5:45 33F (0.5C) It is dark and quiet. A single star pierces the overcast. On the back deck Walter naps with one eye open, vigilant even while sleeping. A car rolls by, headlights slashing through the morning...
Good Morning
2/12/26 6:00 29F (-1.6C) Cold and clear. Everything is frosted white. Stars dot the morning sky. The waning moon is a bright sliver rising above the ridge. Cold nips at my fingers so I wrap my hands around my still warm mug of tea. Good morning. ...
Good Morning
2/11/26 6:00 26F (-3.3C) No wind. It is cold, clear and frosty. There are a few stars out. The waning crescent moon is mid-transit, low in the south, hovering just above the head of the canyon. Walter was in a playful mood last night, barking to be let...
