Halloween on the Big Lava Bed
It was a beautiful, crisp autumn day when Kent and I drove north into the Big Lava Bed. The road was rugged, just ruts worn into jagged rock, winding between collapsed lava tubes and stunted trees finally arriving at a flat...
Good Morning
11/2/25 6:00 40f Overcast and calm out on the lava bed. The weather has moderated. It was still dark when I made the treacherous trek to the latrine. I was relieved when it hove into view. Andy and Kent put some much appreciated effort into its...
Good Morning
11/1/25 8:00 Temperate but raining hard. We had a puddle form by the door last night. It has grown to a lake with a river running into it. Constant rain all night with no hope for it letting up today. The tipi won't draft and is filled with smoke. We had...
Good Morning
10/31/25 8:00 cool calm and beautiful . A lovely sunrise Halloween morning out on The Big Lava Bed after a beautiful moonlit night. Got a slow start this morning and had breakfast for lunch. ...
A Wet Day With the Grub
Amy, Walter and I took the kniece and knephew out with their grub to look for mushrooms. It was a damp day but we had a good time and managed to find a few lobsters and chanterelles. ...
Good Morning
3/4/26 6:00 45F (7.2C) No wind. Gray and wet. It is raining here. Apparently it is snowing on the mountain with the freezing level just over 5,000'. That is good. Whether it is good enough we will discover come fire season. I expect a long summer...
Good Morning
3/3/26 40F (4.4C) 3:00 - 4:45 full moon eclipsed like a round, pink, salmon egg. I slept through my alarm and almost missed the eclipse. It was a red ember when I got outside. Descending into the tops of the oaks, it went from a glowing red...
Good Morning
3/2/26 5:00 34F (1C) Clear and calm. The moon, waxing to full, round and bright against the dark sky, hangs above the west ridge between Willow Flat and Middle Mountain. Early tomorrow morning there will be a lunar eclipse. As the nieghbors begin to...
Good Morning
3/1/26 6:30 35F (1.6C) Calm with broken overcast. The sky is incompletely hidden behind ragged white tufts. The clouds look like stuffing pulled from a dog's toy. Dawn was beginning to lighten the sky. I rolled over to check the clock just as the...
Good Morning
2/28/26 5:45 29F (- 1.6C) Cold, mostly clear with a slight breeze. It is quiet and dark. The light breeze has not moved the strand of clouds hanging over the trees to the southwest. Overhead it is clear and dark. The moon, waxing gibbous, set hours ago,...
K.P.
Nothing beats a meal cooked over an open fire and eaten outdoors, but how do you deal with clean-up? Dirty dishes and scraps of food are sure to attract pests if not attended to. Rinsing your cook ware in the creek will leave an unsightly mess on the stream bed and...
Rusty Brogue
I recently discovered Shanky’s Whip. A dark, sweet liqueur, somewhat analogous to Drambuie, Shanky’s Whip is a mixture of Irish whiskey, vanilla, caramel, and other ingredients. I have been mixing equal parts of Tullamore Dew and Shanky’s...
Mountain Man Breakfast
Dutch Oven Mountain Man Breakfast The Mountain Man Breakfast is a popular Dutch oven recipe which has been around in one form or another for years. If you need to feed a hearty breakfast to a crowd, this is good one. I used a variation from Gary House I found on...
Dutch Oven Rhubarb Cobbler
Dutch Oven Rhubarb Cobbler Spring hasn’t officially arrived until the rhubarb is up. One morning a few leaves poke through the frost covered mulch; by the end of the week, giant rosettes of primordial leaves on bright red stalks cover that corner of the garden....
Tequila Eggs
Tequila Eggs Like Scotch Eggs but I used chorizo mixed with cilantro, dried tomatoes, diced green chilis, and diced jalapenos for the sausage and crushed tortilla chips and roasted chilis for the crust. cook...
