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...
June 3rd, 2022
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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....
Good Morning
4/11/26 5:30 50F (10C) Overcast and raining. Dark, wet, and quiet. A light, steady rain is falling. A single frog croaks in the dark, all alone and without hope or enthusiasm. The birds have yet to wake. Walter inspects the perimeter, ever vigilant....
Good Morning
4/10/26 5:30 48F (8.8C) Cloudy. No wind. The moon is hiding. The air is thick with pollen and the smell of fresh mown grass. No fans or sprayers yet this morning. The songbirds have center stage with a turkey calling in the distance. ...
Good Morning
4/9/26 5:30 39F (3.8C) A clear and windless dawn. The waning half moon floats over the southeastern rim of the canyon. This morning clamors with a thousand birds, two frogs and the incessant whine of one really loud orchard sprayer. Walter can't take it...
Good Morning
4/8/26 5:30 41F (5C) Clear sky with no wind. The moon is waning gibbous, low and due south, above the head of the canyon. The frogs have surrendered the stage to a chorus of birds who are enthusiastically serenading the dawn. Walter Dawg keeps watch as...
Good Morning
4/7/26 6:30 54F (12C) Mostly clear blue with pink shading a few wisps of clouds. A light breeze is rising, then losing its ambition, fades away. The moon is three-quarters and waning . It peeks through the pines as it sets. The oaks are budding. The...
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...
