Good Afternoon
11/9/25 Clear, sunny, and warm. We decided to forage for cranberries and mushrooms instead of doing yard work, so Amy, Walter, and I piled into the car and headed north. We picked up Mike on the way and by noon, we were on the road to Trout Lake....
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. ...
Good Morning
8/19/26 6:30 54F (12.2C) Foggy, calm. Fog horns echo mornfully across the bay. Mist blankets the ocean, cool but not wet or uncomfortable. The tea is on. I hear Amy moving in the tipi. She had a rough night. Apparently the sand is not as soft as it appears. I,...
Good Morning
8/18/26 7:00 59F (15C) AQI 55 Blue sky. No wind. The sun has topped the ridge. I hear a sprayer's whine. I wonder what they are spraying - maybe stop drop? There is very little haze this morning. The Grasshopper fire has crept over 91,000 acres and is now 49%...
Good Morning
8/17/26 7:00 56F (13.3C) AQI 57 Blue sky, no wind. The Grasshopper fire is over 90,000 acres and 47% contained as of last night. Good morning. ...
Good Morning
8/16/26 7:00 61F (16C) AQI 54 Slightly hazy blue sky with no breeze. Good morning. ...
Good Morning
8/15/26 6:15 61F (16C) AQI 68 It smells cleaner today, and the haze is barely discernable. A brief rain squall blew through last night. This morning scattered clouds dot a windless, blue sky. Good morning. ...
Cranberries and Chanterelles
Cranberries and Chanterelles Cranberries ripen at the height of chanterelle season. It was inevitable eventually I would try cooking them up together. I'm only surprised it took me so long to get around to it. Ingredients chanterelles wild cranberries...
Dutch Oven Cornbread
This is a variation of the cornstick recipe I posted earlier. Cornbread recipes are pretty flexible. You can start with equal parts cornmeal, flour, and sugar Use more cornmeal and less flour for more texture; proportionally more flour than meal yields...
Campfire Chili Dinner
Until recently, I seldom used a tripod for anything more than boiling water. Why go to the effort to make a tripod when you can cook directly over the coals? But I have come to appreciate the heat control a tripod affords. You can hang your pot high over a flaming...
Beer Bandoleer
Carhartt 276100 - 6 Pack Beverage Sling - essential summer equipment. Brown polyester exterior, with an adjustable web carry strap and silver insulated inside, the bandoleer fits six cans of beer. We were out for 4 hours in 95 degree(35c) heat. The beer was cool, but...
Cornbread and Blackberries
I enjoyed a relaxing morning, another day off, due to The Contagion, with Dutch oven cornbread and fresh blackberries for breakfast. The cornbread was left over from a recent camping trip; the blackberries were picked this morning. I tarted it up with butter,...
