Pretty Not Bad
Amy and I drove up to Disappearing Lake. The water level is dropping fast; I think it will be a short season. We talked about paddling the beaver pond but the shore was teeming with mosquitos so we went back down to South Prairie and put in. ...
A Day Spent on the Water
My friend, Joe Castaldi, built a beautiful, sixteen foot gaff-rigged Melonseed Skiff from the original plans. He sent word he was planning to launch her for a maiden voyage down at the Hood River Marina, so I showed up yesterday, bright and early to...
Well, That Was Dumb.
My last week before I retired, I decided to ride the moto to work. People expected it of me and I enjoy the ride. It was December, with temperatures down around 15f (-9.4c). I suited up and went out to the garage. The bike had been plugged into a tender, so the...
Good Afternoon
5/27/25 3:30 80f (26.6c) Clear sky, warm breeze. Mike and I went up the mountain to have a look around. Found coral mushrooms, shaggy manes, and a handful of morels at between 3000 and 4000' under mixed conifers. ...
Mardingtop 25L Backpack M6347A
For years my EDC was a Wolfman tankbag. When I was still working, I kept it filled with maps and tools and fuses for my moto, emergency kit, knife, a roll of T.P. and my lunch. I could leave straight from work for the woods when the notion took me. When that bag wore...
Good Morning
4/25/26 5:00 38F (3.3C) Clear and calm. Stars dot the dark blue sky above. Birds are bursting with the morning gossip, vying to be heard over the loud rattle of orchard fans. Walter, still exhausted from yesterday's excursion, sprawls sleeping on the...
Good Morning
4/24/26 6:45 36F (2.2C) Clear, calm, and beautiful. I am surrounded by the thunder of orchard fans. Three ducks wheel overhead, twisting and turning, describing great arcs and figure eights as they fly through blue sky tinged with pink. Where are they...
Good Morning
4/23/26 6:45 42F (5.5C) A hint of a breeze stirs the leaves beneath a blue sky delicately laced with clouds. Birds are singing, dashing and gliding between the trees. Up on Willow Flat an orchard sprayer drones. Dogs are barking. The sun yawns and...
Good Morning
4/22/26 5:30 51F (10.5C) Light rain, breezy. There is a dark glow illuminating the gloom. A cacophony of birds fills the damp pewter dark of predawn with whistles and trills, chirps and fragments of melody. The jungle awakens. ...
Good Morning
4/21/26 6:30 51F (10.5C) Faint breeze, partly cloudy with rain predicted for later today. The baby chicks are in feathers and growing fast, the rabbits are putting on weight. I got some seeds in the ground yesterday, corn and pumpkin. We have starts...
Beef Stroganov
What can you do with a bucket of chanterelles? I don’t like them dried and you can only eat so many omelets. You can freeze or can them, but they are never as good as when they are fresh. Ah, Stroganov… Stroganov is tasty, and you can use a ton of mushrooms if you...
Roast Bacon Wrapped Chanterelles
Roast Bacon Wrapped Chanterelles Fall mushroom season is just around the corner. Soon we will be tromping through the woods and, with a little luck, collecting buckets full of chanterelles. There is no better way to conclude a successful foray than to sit around a...
Broth
Waste not, want not. Take every opportunity to turn left overs and the scraps from carving meat into broth and stock. The turkey carcass after Thanksgiving, the bone from a roast or that steak, wings, scraps, what’s left over from that deli rotisserie chicken...
Rueben Handpie
Last camping trip, we made reubens in the pie irons. They were fabulous! Ingredients rye bread oil, butter, or lard thin sliced corned beef 1 small can sauerkraut horseradish sauce Swiss cheese We preheated the pie irons over hot coals while assembling...
Roasted Pepper and Eggs
Amy found a recipe for roast pepper and eggs in Backpacker Magazine. I think the original recipe called for doing all the prep at home, but since we were car camping, Amy did it in camp. It was simple and made a wonderful breakfast. Ingredients: Yellow or Red Bell...
