Ktreva and I got back from our last re-enactment of the season yesterday. We had a beautiful weekend and had a ton of fun. The wind on Thursday and Friday was killer. Event staff told us it was gusting up to 45 mph at a time. I ended up assisting in setting up or rescuing 20 pieces of canvas from the wind. After Ktreva and I got our wall up, we decided not to set up our fly because the wind was just too strong. We arrived out there at 10:30 AM on Thursday. When we drove to our camp we saw two tents already blown down. After we finished setting up our tent, a Trader that was setting up a large marquee and having a hard time with the wind. Ktreva and I ran over to give them a hand. Now I know that normally they can set up their canvas by themselves, but the wind really makes it ten times more difficult, so they were grateful for the help.

To give you an idea of how bad that wind was at one point Ktreva was holding down the edge of the canvas as we tried to attach the large center ridgepole. A gust of wind came up and picked her up 2-3 feet off the ground. The owner in a panic said, “Hold down the canvas!” Ktreva replied, “It’s not that I’m not holding it down, It’s that it is picking me up!” She went through the same thing two other times on Thursday.

Friday was much of the same, only with an off and on light rain. Saturday was beautiful. Highs in the 70Â’s, lows in the 50Â’s with a gentle breeze and sun. Sunday was even warmer except the wind picked up a little. Nothing like what was on Thursday and Friday, I it gusted up to 15 mph.

I was sadly disappointed about one thing at this event. I brought two coolers filled with beer to this event. I started drinking on it Thursday night, Saturday night when all was said and done I still had about a third of my beer. I could not give the stuff away and I had good beer. Two growlers of Scottish Ale, two growlers of Black Walnut Stout, six bottles of DragonÂ’s Milk, 28 bottles of Edmund Fitzgerald, 2 bottles of Arcadia Ale Scotch Ale. The two growlers of Scottish ale, the arcadia Ale and 3 of the Edmund Fitzgerald didnÂ’t get drank. Except for 4 bottles of the DragonÂ’s Milk, maybe half a growler of the Walnut Stout and a couple of the Edmund Fitzgerald, I drank the rest. This was on top of hitting a bar Thursday night and an Irish Pub on Friday. I was so disappointed to have to dump all that good beer out.

Other then the lack of beer drinking I had a great time. A friend of mine that I havenÂ’t seen in 4 years because he moved to upper Minnesota actually came back for the weekend. It was great to hear him playing his pipes in camp. We have a piper that is with the local Ranger group and she does a fine job, but Jeremy is a master at the pipes and can really make beautiful music on them.

If you want to see some pictures from Fort Obie last weekend and Trail of History I have the reviews up over at the Spoon and Blade. I also finally got around to putting up the Galesburg Heritage Days review from last August up as well.

Posted by: Contagion at 06:57 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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This last weekend I did the Fort Obie re-enactment. Last year I day tripped it to this event and it looked like it was going to be fun so Ktreva and I added it to our calendar of events. After this weekend, this is going to be a permanent addition. If you do pre 1830Â’s camp and are looking for a good October event, I would highly recommend this event.

After arriving we quickly staked out a spot and set up our wall tent. Since itÂ’s a colder weather event and Ktreva and Clone tend to get cold we had to bring the big tent and the heater. To be honest with the new blankets we have, we never used the heater, which means we could have brought the wedge, which means I would have been happier than carrying around our wall. Now donÂ’t get me wrong, I love the wall tent. But in the direction IÂ’m taking my re-enacting, less is more. I donÂ’t want the big camp anymore. I want the nice small compact camp.

Since my beer consumption has been cut back drastically I had a ton of left over beer from all of the reviews. I also happened to get my hands on a case of Dragon’s Milk. That’s right a case of it. I brought 6 of the 22 oz bottles with. Friday night as soon as we were set up and dressed in costume, I busted out the beer. I gave a bottle of Dragon’s Milk to frequent commenter and good friend Petey and a bottle to my good friend Will. Neither of them have had Dragon’s Milk before. They were pleasantly surprised by how good this beer is. Anyone they let take a drink tried to steal the bottle. Such comments were made as, “Dragon’s Milk, it’s rocket fuel for fat men!” Now I kept warning them too be careful, it has a high alcohol by volume. Will finished off his bottle, snagged a second one from me and I kid you not power slammed it. Later on Petey and I figured out that drinking one bottle of dragon’s milk is equivalent to 4 regular beers. Between the Dragon’s Milk, the Edmund Fitzgerald and all the other review beers, we had a damn good time Friday night, and to quote someone, “Contagion, you are a good man.”

The next morning as I leave my tent I’m greeted with, “Contagion, you are an evil, evil man!” Will and Petey were nursing some hangovers. Will lost a chunk of his life, including where he put his glasses. Petey started referring to Dragon’s Milk as “The Scaly Teat”. There were some other bleary eyed individuals walking around camp that would occasionally give me acknowledgement for their condition. I brought over 60 12 oz bottles of beer and 6 22 oz bottles of Dragon’s Milk. Saturday morning I had 10 12 oz bottles left. Other than the good natured ribbing I was getting for the hangovers, I’m pretty sure everyone that shared of the cooler appreciated it. In fact I know they did, I had a lot of people compliment me on the quality and range of beers I brought.

Saturday morning I participated in the black powder shoot. Yea, IÂ’m not going to go into much detail, but letÂ’s just say I didnÂ’t end up in last placeÂ… but not by much. They also had a tomahawk, knife, bow and fire building competitions. I didnÂ’t play in any of those, but I did watch and commentate.

After the competitions were over I had my final introduction for the Old North West Company (The O. N. W.). I had my first introduction at this event a year ago. At this meeting I was voted in and am now officially a “Company Man”. I’m actually pretty damn psyched about this. Once I decided it was something I wanted, I started to wonder if I would make it in or not. After the meeting my sponsor, Garrett gave me my medallion. This wasn’t just any medallion though, it was his. Apparently it was given to him by his sponsor and so he was giving it to me, which is really cool. These are a good group of guys and I’m proud of that fact that I can count myself among their numbers now. But I think all that beer from the night before played a part in me getting voted in.

After dinner that night they opened up the period tavern. You walk in and no modern equipment was in sight. Beer bottles and cans had to stay outside. Their was one exception made. I brought four growlers of Scottish Ale from Carlyle per a request from Will. So we passed those around. I had never seen growlers of beer disappear so fast in my life. Wes of Bodhran Roll, Please day tripped it in to sing songs and play music. ItÂ’s too bad he couldnÂ’t camp the night, I think he could have had a lot more fun AND been able to entertain us much later into the night. Unfortunately he had family obligations, and we all know how that goes.

All in all it was a great weekend. Good people, good friends, and just a lot of fun. I was able to get to know some people a bit better after this weekend. There were a ton of good conversations and jokes. People laughing and singing and just carrying along, good times. IÂ’m just sad that this very well will be the last re-enactment I will see them at until April. Most of the people at this event donÂ’t do Trail of History next weekend.

Posted by: Contagion at 02:23 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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I'm off to Fort Obie in Colona, Illinois this weekend. If any of you want to stop by, this event is open for the public, and the weather is looking to be GREAT!

Posted by: Contagion at 03:40 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I have a re-enactment both this weekend and next one. This weekend I'm going to be doing Fort Obie in Colona, IL. The weekend after I'm going to be at Trail of History in McHenry, IL. (oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!) I'm looking forward to doing both events, even though they are definitely nothing like each other. Fort Obie is a rendezvous with a shoot and competitions. Trail of History is a re-enactment that's demonstrations and battles. This will be my first year participating in Fort Obie, last year we just day tripped it. Trail of History is the event that Ktreva and I got engaged at and the only event we still do from our very first season of re-enacting. It has sentimental values.

We have friends at each of these events that this will probably be the last time we see them until next year. It's sad that we don't get to see them that often, but it makes those weekends hanging out with them that much better.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go stare at the calendar and try to will the week to go by faster.

Posted by: Contagion at 04:30 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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