Modern Chef Pants

Our three hives

noreply@blogger.com (John Kendall) — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 20:52:00 +0000

Honey Harvest

noreply@blogger.com (John Kendall) — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 20:50:00 +0000

We harvested honey this week. Things went much better than I was expecting. The last time we checked on the bees there was no sign of eggs or larva in two of the three hives, which means the queens were most likely dead. The third hive (the swarm we caught this year) was looking really weak and we thought it was doomed for sure. That was about a month ago. I really didn't think we were going to be able to harvest any honey this year. And the possibility of losing all three hives was looking all too real.

Since then they have started laying eggs and the swarm is growing! We took 12 frames of honey from the two healthy hives (we're going to let the swarm keep what little they make this year.) We took more frames last year but the frames we took this year were much more full.

We took the frames home and extracted them that night. It only took about 3.5 hours this time. We're getting better at it! We ended up with about 3.5 gallons. It's less than last year, but we did two harvests last year, too. We'll see how things go over the next month. Maybe we can get another harvest in this year.

The honey is different than last year. It's more mild. Last year we started at a berry farm then ended up next to a large clover field. We left the hives next to that clover field again, but this year they planted potatoes instead. Too bad. There was a field of red clover about a mile away that must have added to out honey, and of course the wild blackberries, which are a given in this area.

We look forward to a good year of cherry tomatoes in the garden and the delicious salsa that comes from that!

I took this a mile from my house.

noreply@blogger.com (John Kendall) — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 03:59:00 +0000

(see full image)

Bee lessons learned

noreply@blogger.com (John Kendall) — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 02:56:00 +0000

This year has been quite a learning experience as a beekeeper. I'm happy to tell you that our hive survived the winter and is going strong. We also had a new addition to the family, if you will. A friend of my mother called us about a month ago and told us there was a swarm in the neighbors yard. We ran over there and captured them in a large rubbermaid tub. We put them in a short box, which was all we had at the time, with the intent of expanding their living conditions a little later on. The next week we got a deep box and added it to the bottom.

That was a mistake. We add boxes to the top of hives all the time with no problems. Apparently it confuses them if you add boxes to the bottom. The next time we checked on them there was a large cluster trying to get in where the old entrance was, now the middle of the box (you can see it in the photo). We also left a gap in the frames (the spot were we poured the bees into the hive). They built all kinds of crazy wild comb in that spot, and filled it with eggs and brood. The next time we opened the lid it shredded the comb and destroyed their next generation of workers. They haven't done well since then. I've been feeding them, but I'm not sure they're going to make it.

Now for some good news. Our original hive has really taken off this year! So much so that we split it into two hives a couple weeks ago. This involved finding the existing queen, and dividing the frames equally in two. We bought a queen for the new hive. They always say that the queen determines the attitude of the hive. I always though that was one if those things that you notice once you've been beekeeping for decades. Not so. This new queen is a grouch. I opened up the hive to take out the cage the new queen came in and got stung on the ankle in about 20 seconds. They are very aggressive! We'll be using the smoker a lot with these guys.

We got a mini beekeeping suit for Ethan this year. He is super excited about it. He has almost always been with us when we check the bees, but he used to have to stay in the car. Now he gets in there with us, moving frames around, and working with the tools. He's lovin' it! It's pretty cute.

So we are on track for success this year. Even if we do lose the swarm we will still double in size, and hopefully in honey.

Busy year for Bees.

noreply@blogger.com (John Kendall) — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 16:00:00 +0000

Brazilian Sweets: Bolo de Banana

noreply@blogger.com (John Kendall) — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 02:09:00 +0000

Many of you probably know that I lived in Brazil some years ago. I grew to love the place, it's people and food. Every now and then I get a hankering for Brazilian food and make up a batch of black beans with pork, rice, and a side of sautéed kale just to take the edge off. A few weeks ago I was in such a mood and noticed that we had 5 or 6 bananas that were past their prime. Normally it would have been banana bread for them, but his time I decided to go Brazilian.

Bolo de Banana (banana cake) is sort like the Brazilian version of pineapple upside-down cake. You slice bananas in half (or thirds) longwise and lay them in caramelized sugar prepared in the bottom of a 13 x 9 pan. Then you pour the cake batter on top of that and bake away. After its baked and cooled, you flip it over and let them caramelized sugar soak into the cake. It's a humble cake that lives in even the poorest homes of Brazil.

Like most traditional cuisine, there are about 3 million slightly different versions of this recipe. This is the one that I used:

The dough:

1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup milk
3 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder

The topping:

1 cup sugar
5 - 6 bananas

Bake for 30 - 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put the sugar in the baking dish. Put it in the oven but watch it closely. Stir it as it starts to melt. It will turn into a beautiful liquid gold color. Don't let this liquid siren lull into complacency, and don't turn your back on it. This is delicious culinary napalm! CAREFULLY lay the sliced bananas in the sugar. I got carried away when I was putting the bananas in and got splattered real good. I had a blister the size of an almond on my thumb that I swear went to the bone.

After you get the bananas placed the batter goes on top. Its thicker than most cake batters. It's more like a sweet biscuit dough. Bake it until it turns a nice golden brown on top. You might want to put a cookie sheet under the pan to catch any sugar than boils over the edge.

If you try it, let me know how it goes. I'll be posting some more Brazilian recipes later.

The fall of Summer

noreply@blogger.com (John Kendall) — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 02:28:00 +0000

It has already started. This summer, that arrived so late, is making it's exit. I've begun wearing sweaters and dreaming thanksgiving dinner. I hate to see summer go, but fall has it's charm and perks. The food for example. I love the food.

Last week it was pears. We ordered a box of pears from a farm in Medford. The climate there seems to be perfect for pears. Harry and David (who are famous for their pears) grow there. They arrived green, and we watched them with ripening anticipation. As pears do, they ripened all at once. We at them plain, make pear tarts, and about 20 pints of pear butter.

We did pear butter last year with success. I made it different from the recipe I had found (as I do with everything). The recipe called for a teaspoon of nutmeg. I searched our spice cupboard in vain for the spice, but discovered that pumpkin pie spice contains nutmeg. Since I was already in the middle of the process, I forwent the trip to the store and subbed the pumpkin pie spice. It turned out smashingly. In fact, the flavor seemed to work better as time passed. I opened our last jar a month ago, and was pleasantly surprise with how the flavors had blended in a years time. I decided to stick with the recipe this year.

This years pear butter took two batches. One more successful than the other. The first I put in a crock pot and let it simmer all night. The problems that the crock pot keeps all the juices in and it doesn't cook down enough to be called pear butter. It was more like pear sauce. I was hoping to skip the laborious step of stirring it for 2 hours as it reduces down over low heat. I guess there's no way around it. The crock method also caramelized the sugars more than usual. It wasn't bad, just not what I was looking for.

The second batch I did on the stove. It reduced better and didn't caramelize.

I tried something different this year. I did a small batch of spicy pear butter. I included a bit more sugar to emphasize the difference in sweet and spicy, and added a teaspoon of Cayenne pepper for an amount that cooked down to 2 pints. It turned out nice. It's smooth and sweet at first, the the warm spice sneaks in at the end. I'm not exactly sure what to do with it, but it does taste good. I would imagine it would be a nice sauce to go on chicken or pork.

I'm looking forward to much more delicious food this fall.

The summer of local food

noreply@blogger.com (John Kendall) — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 16:19:00 +0000

Mary and I have been trying to make more conscious choices about the food we eat. This came in part as an incremental change as we move toward a more ideal lifestyle. It was accelerated a bit by a recent viewing of Food Inc. But change was in the air even before that.

Mary came across a local Community Sponsored Agriculture program (CSA) that we decided to get on board with. In this program you buy shares, which equal percentages of the crop. Every Friday you go to the farm and pick up your share. You get a health dose of whatever is in season, still wet with morning dew. It has been the most delicious food I have had in recent memory. Even foods that I don't typically care much for (I'm looking at you, asparagus) have been perfection. We've been getting kale, cabbage, blue berries, cherries, watermelon, carrots, onions, garlic, potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, and loads of other goods.

The food delicious, and pesticide free, and locally grown (avoiding shipping costs, which can be measured in both carbon and flavor). More than that it gives us a chance to support our local farmers directly. We began calling him "our Farmer" after Mary contacted him trying to find rhubarb for a batch of jam. He got us rhubarb all right. 30 pounds of it! We're set for a while on rhubarb.

The farm is the Dinihanian family farm.

http://www.yourcsa.com/

They also have a farm store that anyone can purchase food at. They have the best watermelon I have ever tasted, and for pennies more than you would pay at a supermarket.
We also decided to get some locally raised, grass feed beef. We ended up splitting a quarter of a beef three ways, between my parents and a friend.

Last night we had the perfect local meal. A roast from our beef, potatoes, onions, and carrots from the farm share, tomatoes from our garden, homemade wheat bread and freshly harvested honey. The only out of place was the butter. Were not quite ready to get our own cow, but when we do we'll be set!

Honey Harvest

noreply@blogger.com (John Kendall) — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 07:11:00 +0000

This is our second year as beekeepers. My mother and I got a hive last spring. There is always some hope that the first season will yield honey, but it didn't happen for us. The poor bees suffered through a late spring that killed a lot of good nectar gathering time. We were afraid of the same thing happening again this year. It rained consistently all the way through the end of June. Most people here weren't even able to plan gardens until July. We were sure that the honey crop would be meager, if we were able to harvest at all.

To compound the issue, our queen died in early May. The bee population fluctuates greatly from season to season. In the winter the queen stops laying eggs, and the existing crew just hang out during the cold months. In the spring the queen machine guns out thousands of eggs a day in preparation for the nectar flow of spring and summer. To have a queen right at that exact moment is pretty much the worst case scenario. The hive is capable of replacing the queen (a worker bee will lay about a dozen queen eggs and let the ones that hatch fight to the death for the crown) but it takes at least a few weeks for them to hatch, mate and begin producing eggs. Then it takes a couple more weeks to begin producing worker bees. So were talking about a month of down time at the most important part of the year. Needless to say, we did not have high expectations for the year.

The queen that the hive produced has surprised us. She began producing vast amounts of eggs right off the bat. The eggs were laid in an almost O.C.D level of organization. She runs a tight ship! We let them do their thing for three months with out checking on them much. In late July we check to find, to our surprise, that 6 frames were ready to be harvest! We took them out and replaced them with empty frames.

Today was extraction day. We got a two frame extractor and all the equipment together and started working. We tried the more traditional method of cutting the caps off the frames, but we felt like too much honey was getting cut out that way. Instead we scrapped the seals off of the frames and put them into the extractor. I think we ended up straining out more wax bits that way, but I think we ended up with more honey. We extracted the 6 frames and started straining it. While we were waiting for it to strain we decided to take the old frames back to the hive. After they're extracted they're still coated with honey, but the honeycomb can be used the next year. In fact they're awesome to use, because they already have honeycomb built and saves the bees lots of time. The best way to clean them up is to put them next to the hive. The bees will find them and lick 'em clean. The next day they'll be totally free of honey.

So we decided to open up the hive to check on them while we were there dropping off the hives. To our surprise there were 6 more frames loaded with honey, just begging to be extracted! So we took them out, and replaced them with the extracted frames. We took them honey and extracted them as well. Interestingly enough, the honey from the two batches was quite different. The first back is a lighter color and has a strong floral taste. The second batch is more mild, and a darker amber.

After a year and a half of care, and a solid Saturday of extracting, we have 3.25 gallons of the sweet golden nectar! Not bad from a year that started to poorly.

I kept all the wax trimmings, and I'm planning on melting it down, cleaning it up and making something with it. I don't know what yet. Any suggestions?

50 mile hike

noreply@blogger.com (John Kendall) — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 03:36:00 +0000

Last month our Scout troop embarked on an epic journey through the wilderness in the Three Sisters area. The plan was to hike from The Dee Wright Conservatory to Elk Lake by Wednesday, then continue down the Pacific Crest Trail to Charlton Lake. It totaled a little over 50 miles. We had been working on this plan for about 8 months. We had all of our over night camp spots planned out and were we were going to be get water, etc. We felt pretty well prepared.

Then we started hiking. The first day was 11 miles. It was pretty rough. There were a couple of pretty steep passes, and over a thousand feet of elevation gain over all. Toward the end of the day we started to get into snow. Lots of snow. It started out with us following the trail through patches of snow and ended with us trudging through snow looking for patches of trail.

Day two started poorly. We slept later than we should have, but felt justified, because the day before had really taken it out of us. We picked up the trail where we had left off, following footprints through the snow. Trouble was, the fools leaving the footprints didn't know where the trail was. So we followed them for about a mile and a half down an insanely steep, snow covered drop before we realized we were not where we thought we were. We got out the GPS and discovered that we were directly west of were we had camped, when we were supposed to be heading south west. So we headed back up the insanely steep drop, scrambling through branches and brush and snow. When we reached the last confirmed sign of trail it was 2 p.m. and we still had 14 miles ahead of us that day. We headed out, this time more cautiously. We stopped every 100 yards or so to get Longitude and Latitude readings and to orient ourselves with map and compass. There were several heated debates about whether we should continue on or head back to the trail head. We decided to push on, in spite of the fact that we were only covering about a half a mile per hour because of the snow. After the point that we felt we had our navigation system down we ran into another hapless group in the snow. They were an Outward Bound group trying to go our direction. We consulted maps together and discovered that they were under the impression that we were about 2 miles farther down the trail than we really were. We showed them the GPS coordinates, and showed them the spot we knew to be our correct location. They seemed doubious. So we wished them well, and headed off into the snow.

The next leg off the trip was exhausting, terrifying and incredibly beautiful. We crossed snow covered ridges and ravines for another few miles with only occasional sightings of trail. We knew that there was a parallel trail that dropped about 1000 feet and hopefully out of the snow, but we weren't sure we would be able to find the junction. With some tricky navigation we managed to find the trail and took it another 2 miles to a mostly snow free clearing where we camped. That day we had covered over 14 miles. Only about 3 of it went towards our original plan of 11. That left an extra long leg on the next day.

We had originally planned on having a nice easy 5 mile day on Wednesday. We would get to Elk Lake early and enjoy the resort. With the new plan we had to cover 17 miles. We were sure how much of it was under snow, but every mile that was took 3 times longer to cover. The first mile and a half was heavy snow, like the day before. I began imagining us dragging in to Elk Lake at 11:30 that night. Fortunately it cleared up and we began covering a lot of ground fast. It was mostly a nice wooded trail with an occasional clearing and some epic views of the South Sister. Beating my most optimistic expectations we arrived in camp at 6:30 P.M. just in time for dinner. We were all beyond exhausted.

The next day we did nothing. The boys played cards for 5 hours, and I sat in the shade trying not to move unnecessarily. I had been nursing some pretty intense blisters that started on day one, mile 2. It was simple by a miracle that they hadn't popped and worn down to the bone. My knees were still, and my hips were numb. We had covered 42 miles in the first three days. If we had continued on as planned the course would have totaled over 65 miles. We decided to do a day hike of Friday to round out the 50 miles instead.

That left some time for a little fishing and crawdaddying (if that's a word).

It's been almost a month since the trip and I've almost recovered from it. The blisters are only flaky craters and my knees have almost stopped clicking!

Can't wait until next year!

The Urban Homestead

noreply@blogger.com (John Kendall) — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 18:36:00 +0000

Mary bought me this book for Christmas last year. I have really enjoyed it! I've always been a fan of books about self sufficiency. You know the kind. The ones that show you how to build your own log cabin, tan leather, raise goats and make furniture from raw timber. Stuff like that. But most of that stuff is out of reach at this point in my life. It ends up just being frustrating for me to read them.

This book is geared towards people living on small lots, or apartments. There are all kinds of good stuff, like tips of growing plants in buckets, making cheese, raising (small) livestock in urban areas, and more. I've done quite a few projects from this book, including making fresh cheese, and creating my own sourdough starter. Both were very tasty and fulfilling. And I didn't need to have more than 10 acres of land to do either!

Apartment gardening

noreply@blogger.com (John Kendall) — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 17:54:00 +0000

This is the second year we have made an attempt at apartment gardening. We have a plot of earth about 7' x 3' in front of or patio. We have mint growing there year round and in the spring we plant other things. Last year it did go so well. We only had two tomato plants that I killed with a home remedy for aphids. This year we have three tomatoes, a zucchini in a bucket, basil, kale, Swiss chard, rosemary, thyme, sage, and a sunflower. It's creeped slowly onto our patio in buckets, and the halved wine barrel I bought Mary for mothers day.

In spite of the fact that it was too wet to plant until late June this year, things are going well! Were starting to get some delicious tomatoes and some sweet basil (always a good combo). The zucchini is doing well in it's bucket, and we should be getting some kale soon, too. Some day I'll have a place with a real garden plot, but for now the bucket method is working for us.

I've been making a delicious fried egg, fresh tomato and basil sandwich for breakfast this week. So tasty.

"Funny things my kids say."

noreply@blogger.com (John Kendall) — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 00:33:00 +0000

I decided to make a book for Mary's birthday this year. The idea was to have a notebook to keep track of the funny things that Ethan says. I gave it to her, and found out three days later that she thought that I had bought it somewhere. She convinced me (not that it took much effort) to make another one to sell on Etsy. So here it is! You're welcome to purchase it, if you'd like...

http://www.etsy.com/listing/50272300/funny-things-my-kids-say-notebook

Eagle Creek

noreply@blogger.com (John Kendall) — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 14:52:00 +0000

Yesterday our troop did a day hike at Eagle Creek as part of the preparations for the 50 mile hike we will be doing in a little over a month. All in all, we covered 13 miles yesterday, with full packs. That's fairly close to our hardest day on the trek.

Eagle Creek is only about an hour away from where we live, which is why we chose it. I had never been there before, but I have heard endless praise of the beauty found there. It started to get a little ridiculous, in fact. I thought, for sure, that I would be let down by the reality of the place after all the hype I have been exposed to. That was not the case. This has to be one of the most amazing places I have ever experienced. The trail winds along a cliff that, in several locations, had to be carved out of vertical basalt, leaving you only three options for travel: up the trail, down the trail, and straight down 400 feet into a raging river that ate boulders for breakfast and is picking it's teeth with a Douglas Fir. One of the most epic of these sections is Tunnel Falls. As the name implies, it is a tunnel that goes behind a waterfall. Awesome. The trail also includes the famous Punch Bowl Falls (which we didn't get to see from the ideal spot) and countless other waterfalls, bridges and points of interest. If you get a chance, I would recommend it. Unless you're afraid of heights.

Anthropomophins and more

noreply@blogger.com (John Kendall) — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 23:33:00 +0000

Vigilante Carlstroem

noreply@blogger.com (John Kendall) — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 23:32:00 +0000

This is a painting I did a few weeks ago that looks kind of (coincidentally) like the guitarist for The Hives, Vigilante Carlstroem.

new sketches

noreply@blogger.com (John Kendall) — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 06:09:00 +0000

A new year, and a renewed creative drive.

Happy New Year!

Liam Thomas

noreply@blogger.com (John Kendall) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 04:04:00 +0000

I am pleased to announce a new addition to the family!

Liam was born on Sunday. He weighed in at 6 lbs. 15 oz. and is very healthy and content. Mommy and Baby got to come home from the hospital today and are adjusting to life without nurses. We're all really excited to have another little dude in the family.

For more pictures and story feel free to visit the family blog.

Sketchbook

noreply@blogger.com (John Kendall) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:00:00 +0000

I started drawing again. It's been a while, but I've been feelin' it again. I've been thinking about getting some things produced, finally. You know, posters, postcards, etc. I've had an Etsy account for a while, but I never do anything with it. I'll let you know when I do start putting stuff up for sale.

Here's my latest couple of sketches.

Ramona Falls

noreply@blogger.com (John Kendall) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:04:00 +0000

I came across an excellent music video and band this week. The band is Ramona Falls. They're a Portland band. Their album "Untuit" is a side project of Brent Knopf, of Menomena.

I haven't been in the mood to listen to music recently, but this song has shaken me out of that. Here's the video:

The Mighty Columbia

noreply@blogger.com (John Kendall) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 23:41:00 +0000

I did something that I've been wanting to for quite a while now. Fish for Salmon. I went with my buddy, Steve, who goes at least 6 times a year and knows the good spots. He's been inviting me for years now and I finally took him up on it.

It was an incredible experience. Everything from wadding waist deep into the murky water of the Columbia river before dawn to the intense struggle against a Jurassic sized fish.

Not to say that I caught one. Because that would be lying. But I did witness the catching of one. And a big one at that! It weighed in at 35 pounds of pure chinook Salmon. We were actually fishing for Coho Salmon, but it's the early part of their run right now. Steve happened to catch the tail end of another chinook run.

Steve said after the fact that it was the hardest fighting fish he'd ever landed. During the struggle the reel even popped off his pole! Fortunately he had already worn the thing out and it he managed to bring the fish all the way in.

We got it up on the bank and realized quickly that it was going to take both of us to haul it the quarter of a mile back to the tent. We put it on a 10 foot branch and carried it Caveman style.

Even thought I did not catch anything, I'm hooked. I'm planning another trip in just a few weeks.

A long meeting doodle

noreply@blogger.com (John Kendall) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 23:38:00 +0000

My son is pretty into Giraffes right now, so I drew him this during a meeting.

High Adventure

noreply@blogger.com (John Kendall) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 14:52:00 +0000

Some of you may know that I work with the Boy Scouts. The 16-18 year old group to be exact. We have camp outs almost every month that are usually just over nighters. But once a year we have a camp out that is a week long. The High Adventure. Ours occurred the week of July the 13th this year. This year it was my responsibility to plan and execute it for the 6 youth and 4 leaders involved. I started thinking about it about 9 months ago. The plan changed an evolved up to the very last minute. Here are the basics of what happened:

We camped at a beautiful little lake called Boulder Lake.

It's not a large lake, but it's beautiful and clear. There are about 6 campsites around the lake complete with picnic tables originally constructed in the 1930's as part of the Job Corps CCC project. There were two "restrooms" that looked to be about as old and mostly unusable.

But that's fine, because this camp out was about survival, and self sufficiency. So we made our own latrine. We also made our own shelters, and slept in them all week. Even with the mosquitoes made the forest hum like a florescent bulb at night. I was really proud of the boys for sticking to it!

Here are some of the shelters we made:

This was mine:

I slept in that thing for 4 nights.

The Boy Scouts have a lot of rules. Seriously, a ton. One of which is not to cut green wood. So we made our shelters out of whatever was laying around on the ground. Basically we ended up with great structures that really needed some green boughs to fill them out. That's okay, though. It was a fun experience.

Along with shelter building, we spent the week developing skills as fisherman and even spent some time learning to make snares. The lake is stocked with a fair amount of Brook Trout, and most of them were legal size. We even got a few that were 11-12" long. They weren't exactly record book fish, but they were quite tasty.

One of the other leaders (we'll call him Steve) and I would wake up at 5:30 or 6:00 in the morning (mostly because of the mosquitoes) and take one of the canoes out on the lake until the boys woke up. They usually slept until about 9:30 or 10.

(This is "Steve" in a pose I like to call "the Creepy Santa")

Now most of the time when the scouts sleep in until 10 on a camp out it bothers. It's a waste of time. Mine and theirs. But this camp out was different. This camp out was a "self serve" camp out, if you will. Most other outings involve the leaders making food for the scouts while they sleep, just in time for them to wake up to eggs and bacon. Not this time. It was a strict, "you eat what you make" camp out. There was a little bit of a learning curve, but eventually it worked out. The first day Steve and I had some pretty killer sausage, fried egg and fresh biscuit sandwiches going on. Top grade stuff!

When the first of the scouts wandered down from his shelter and saw them, his eyes lit up. "I want one!" he said. I said "Great! Go get some fire wood, build a fire and make some." He looked at me as if I had lost my mind. Then he wandered around the camp for about 15 minutes, trying to piece together the mysteries of biscuit making in his head, I guess. Eventually he got a fire going and got some biscuits. Of course, we had started almost an hour before woke up, so by the time they ate, we were back in the canoes again. It was clearly an experience many of them had never had before. Considering some of them are going to be going to college within the next year, it was one they needed to have. There's no one to cook for you while you sleep once you move away from home.

That being said, we did eat like kings! Even if the boys did have to cook for themselves, they ate well. We made carne asada tacos, and taco soup and (the tour de force) Cornish game hens roasted over coals. Oh yeah. Caveman style.

This is "Steve" man handling one of the game hens.

They were DELICIOUS!

No of us had ever done anything quite like this. It seems pretty simple, and it turned out to be, but there's always the thought of food poisoning kickin' around the back of your head when you see something like this. I'm happy to report that the latrine did not receive any extra use due to the hens.

Here are some other cooking photos:

That's right! Corn on the cob and fried SPAM!

There's another lake called Little Boulder just south of Boulder lake. We took the short hike there one of the days. It's a shallow lake even smaller than Boulder lake without any established camp sites.

We also enjoyed a bit of rifle shooting and archery. No one got shot, scoped, or arrowed, so it was a total success.

(For the record, that's the real deal. No photoshop required.)

Most of the rest of the time we spent swimming, hiking and catching things.

All in all it was a great trip. I can't wait until next year.

A Letter to Bob Dylan

noreply@blogger.com (John Kendall) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:46:00 +0000

I want to spotlight a friend of mine today, Randy Peterson. I have known Randy since the 8th grade. In high school we were members of the worst garage band in the western United States. After high school Randy gained several years experience in radio, starting out as the morning show intern, one of the most abused and feared positions in the working world. After working his way up to actual DJ level he decided to return to school to complete his degree. Randy graduated in April with a degree in broadcast communications, and is faced with the challenge of finding a job. I don't need to explain the difficulty of the task given the current economic situation. But he approached it with the charisma and gusto that is typical to Randy. He planned an epic road trip across the country, stopping in most of the major cities, dropping off resumes and talking to who ever will listen. He's staying in campgrounds and playing his guitar on street corners for money. Awesome.

He has been sharing his experiences on his blog, A Letter to Bob Dylan. I would recommend following it. He stories included being given "air time" at concerts to tell stories and an interview he landed on Fox and Friends in New York City.

If anyone out there has any connections in radio of television, please drop him a line!

You're a brave man, Randy. We're all proud (and slightly envious) of you.

The Nehalem River

noreply@blogger.com (John Kendall) — Sun, 31 May 2009 16:11:00 +0000

Yesterday my Dad and I went fishing on the Nehalem River. The river runs from the coast range in a curly-q around Vernonia and out the the coast. We went to a spot about 15 miles north of Vernonia. This is what it looked like at 5:30 when we got there:

It was an amazing day. We saw an abundance of wildlife. On the ride out there was a cluster of young Elk frolicking in the foggy fields. The river contained otters and beaver. Eagles soared overhead in the narrow channel carved from the hills by the river.

I know what you're thinking, "Forget the otters! Did you get any fish?" Short answer, yes. Did we have fish for dinner? No.

When I decided to start fishing again recently, it was because of the abundance of fish that Oregon has to offer. Salmon, steelhead and the like. I'm talking big fish. Fish like this:

Fish that can feed a family for a week. That's what I'm talking about. I figure, if I can catch just one monster like that, it will totally pay for the license and the tag. That's what everyone says, right? I going to do it! Mark my words! By the end of summer, I'm gonna be up to my gills in fish!

Back to yesterday. I caught two fish. Two rainbow trout. They looked about like this:

At first I though I had snagged a sandwich baggy full of rocks. It was not the epic battle I had imagined would occur. Naturally, I let the little fellow go. About a half an hour later, I caught another one about the same size. Frankly it was probably the same one. Not the brightest crayon in the box.

So that's how it begins. There will be more to follow. Even without catching fish, a day of fishing is worth it. There's something powerful about watching the day begin in the forest. It's something that shouldn't be enjoyed by fisherman and hunters alone.