Blather
Cooking for Guys
Live to Camp
Camp to Live
Poetry
and Other Lies
Lentil Soup
I made this soup in the Crockpot. You could simmer this stovetop or over the fire or cook it in a Dutch oven. No matter how you choose to do it, you will end up with a thick, hearty soup.Ingredients bones and fat trimmed from a cut of lamb shoulder or chop 2 cups...
Humus
My wife showed me how to make humus. She is extremely camera shy, so there aren't any photos of her, but take my word for it, she's just as cute as a bug's ass. It was nice of her to let me take any pictures at all; she doesn't get the whole taking photographs of what...
Slow Cooker Beef Stew
Stew is one of the easiest, most comforting foods to make. With slightly more attention this slow cooker recipe would work just as well in a Dutch oven or even in a kettle on the stove-top or over a fire. You hardly need a recipe, but the dredging the meat in flour...
Dutch Oven Shepherd’s Pie
I love Shepherd's Pie. The thick filling of meat and vegetables, topped with mounds of mashed potatoes, makes the perfect comfort food. The sound of it bubbling, the tantalizing aroma, mixing with the smoke from the coals as it leaks out from under the heavy lid of a...
Mashed Potatoes
There’s not much to making mashed potatoes. They are tasty, filling and inexpensive. If you don’t finish them at dinner, you can fry them in butter for breakfast. Ingredients 1/3rd cup of buttermilk, more or less 4-6 baking potatoes, peeled and cut up 2 cloves...
Down the Rabbit Hole
When we camped at Peter’s place up above Lyle, I found some pretty, red rocks that fractured with a sharp edge and threw good sparks when struck against steel. They were granular, not glassy where they were broken, so the edge didn’t stay sharp very...
The Barge
Walter has been out in the canoe with me several times. He does well - doesn't seem to be very enthusiastic about it, but it beats being left home. The canoe isn't as much fun as my kayak but the kayak isn't big enough for the both of us, so I had...
Good Afternoon
7/1/25 2:00 91f (32.7c) Sunny, hot, and windless. Walter, Mike and I went up into the Gifford Pinchot to seek relief from the hot weather in the tall trees. We did a couple of short walks (no mushrooms, no surprise), then sat down had a whiskey and...
Thanks, Joe!
Thanks for taking me sailing, Joe. It's a beautiful, sweet handling boat and it was a lovely day on the water. ...
Good Evening
6/22/25 8:30 68f (19.4c) Clear blue sky, light wind, the sun has ducked behind the west ridge. Got home from four days of grubbing in...
Good Morning
1/31/26 6:00 40F (4.4C) Calm, cloudy, dry. It is a dark morning. Niether moon nor stars can pierce the cloud cover. The only light comes from the glare of the neighbor's paranoid light. Walter has returned from his tour of the perimeter. The rooster crowing...
Good Morning
1/30/26 7:30 40F (4.4C) Calm air, fog, not raining. Yesterday it rained all day. Not hard, but persistently. Wood smoke hung on the ground, clinging to the trees and pooling in the low spots and swales in the orchards, mixing with the light fog....
Good Morning
1/29/26 6:30 34F (1C) Cloudy and raining. It is a sodden, drizzly morning. Even the owl, calling through the darkness, sounds wet.
Good Morning
1/28/26 6:15 28F (-2.2C) Dark, silent, cold, with a thin overcast and light freezing rain. The deck is pimpled with ice. Only a couple stars pierce the gloom. I am anticipating a trip to the dentist with some trepidation. Good morning. ...
Good Morning
1/27/26 6:30 24F (-5.5C) Dim, thin overcast, no wind. It is a quiet morning. Frozen and icy. If there were more light, it would sparkle. I can smell the cold ash of last night's fire. Walter Dawg is on watch. A silent sentry, his shadowed form backlit by the...
