We got back from our re-enactment last night. IÂ’ve just been so out of it I havenÂ’t posted anything. We didnÂ’t leave until late Friday night. There was a Raptors game and Wes and I went to that, afterwards we headed straight home, grabbed the family, jumped into the truck and rove up to Fort Atkinson. Wes rode with us to the event. We got there around midnight. Unlike in years past, we didnÂ’t have a problem with finding someone to tell us were we could or couldnÂ’t set up. We just pulled in found a spot and set up. I didnÂ’t even try to find anyone to ask, since I have a hard time finding anyone at 5:00PM; I doubt IÂ’d be able to find someone at midnight.

The next morning when I finally got around to trying to register, it took me over an hour again. I went to the registration table and they werenÂ’t ready. After waiting for a while, they just gave me a packet and I went off and had breakfast. Even after breakfast they still werenÂ’t ready. Then when I was finally able to register I find out they increased their fees to $25.00. I guess if I had read the literature better I would have known that they made that change.

After that we took a walk around both the upper and lower camps to see if we knew anyone there. Other then a couple of the vendors, there were two demonstrators I talk to on a regular basis. The rest were all ones I know in passing or as acquaintances. The attendance for this event was down drastically from last year. There were no new faces that I saw, but a lot that werenÂ’t there from years past. Some of the people did a walk through, but didnÂ’t camp. After conversing with many of them, it seems that the quality of the event coupled with increased prices on everything is keeping them at bay.

The weather was actually pretty good. Of course we were rained on Saturday. We always plan on getting wet at this event. The temps were fabulous. Highs in the low 70s, lows in the mid 50s. We built a fire to help ward off a chill, but it never too cold. We couldnÂ’t have asked for better weather.

I also got hit with more bad news. Three re-enactors I know had heart attacks since my last event. And I just found out that another one had died a couple of months back. It seems that most people thought I knew so didnÂ’t repeat the information, thus I never found out. It has been a dark year for re-enactors. That brings the count up to 4 deaths and 9 with serious health issues for the year. That is not a good count this early on.

Saturday night the camp was pretty dead, which is very unusual. Finally later in the evening we had a bunch of people show up. Most of them committee members or spouses of committee members, it made us wonder they read some of my reviews of the event and were trying to butter me up for better ones. That and the way I was treated all weekend was kind of weird. Everyone on the committee was overly nice to me.

Saturday night also led to Wes and I having the most idiotic conversation weÂ’d ever had with other re-enactors. IÂ’m not going to go into all the details, but it started over me not wanting to pay $55.00 per person in my family to do an event, it devolved into one person not liking me calling my outfit costuming and my tent at tent. They wanted me to call it wardrobe and a lodge. I know that a lot of re-enactors do it, but itÂ’s a matter of semantics and I just donÂ’t care. Then they got pissed because I referred to re-enacting as a hobby, they said it was a lifestyle. I pressed on with it being a hobby, mainly because at that point I had been drinking for hours, and my inner arsehole had come out and I was just trying to piss the individual off. Finally it reached the point where one said Wes and I werenÂ’t really into it, and that we donÂ’t take rendezvous serious. YeaÂ… It was an interesting conversation.

Sunday was uneventful. Except for Wes making a name for himself in the re-enacting circle. He protected some kids from an animal attack. IÂ’d include that story in this post, but that deserves one all of its own.

All in all it was pretty much decided that unless we have some other friends going next year, we wonÂ’t be back to this one.

Posted by: Contagion at 06:51 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 804 words, total size 4 kb.

This weekend is the Fort Koshkonong re-enactment in Fort Atkinson. We are heading out to the event after the Raptors game Friday night. So we wonÂ’t get there until late at night, probably close to midnight. ThatÂ’s not big deal; we are used to setting up in the dark. Plus its better then trying to get up early and get up there on Saturday morning.

This very well may be the last year that I do this event. After last year's trying to get registered fiasco, the fact itÂ’s poorly run and the event is slowly dying, I just donÂ’t know if itÂ’s worth doing any more. The fact that it is dying is really what is weighing heavily on me. The main reason I do this event is to hang with friends and to shoot. Every year fewer and fewer of the vendors show up and most of my friends arenÂ’t going. In fact this year from what I can tell the only friend I know for sure is going is one I see on a regular basis, and one of them is riding up with me!

It seems that none of the River Scum are going to make it, and from what I hear Will and Red arenÂ’t going to be thereÂ… although I donÂ’t have first hand knowledge of that since they wonÂ’t return my e-mails. But IÂ’ve heard through the grapevine they wonÂ’t be there and they arenÂ’t responding to anyoneÂ’s e-mails. At the visitation last week, I spoke with others that usually attend this event, and they all said they werenÂ’t going.

So IÂ’m going to give this event another shot, see what happens, but it just might be falling off our schedule for next year.

Posted by: Contagion at 05:22 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 297 words, total size 2 kb.

Since Ktreva and I started re-enacting, we've always had a large tent. In fact for wall tents we have what's considered to be a larger then normal one. Yes, there are wall tents larger then ours, but you just don't see them that often. However, we've decided to downsize. We've had enough of these large set-ups at events that we don't need that much in order to participate. Normally our little wedge tent would be enough, but sometimes we need just a little more for the boys or if I decide to do an event alone, I don't need to bring that much gear with. So I bought myself a field tarp. What's a field tarp? It's roughly a 10 foot by 10 foot piece of canvas with ties on it. See:

Of if you want to see what it looks like on the inside:

It's actually more roomy then it looks. Now, this is just one way of setting it up, there are so many different styles that it would be almost impossible for me to list them all.

Oh, and the best part is that it took me all of about 5 minutes to set it up.

Posted by: Contagion at 08:13 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 192 words, total size 1 kb.

1 Welcome to the wonderful world of packing lite. I haven't set up anything more than a diamond in something like 4 years (ah the joys of being single). Now, is Ktreva signed on for weekends in the diamond?

And what took you so long to get it set up.

Posted by: Petey at May 21, 2007 09:22 PM (Tkl8J)

2 Should I ask what the paddle is for?

Probably not...

Posted by: Harvey at May 22, 2007 07:00 AM (L7a63)

3 Petey: Ktreva is warming up to it, but the privacy thing is kind of an issue. And hey, it was my first time setting it up.

Harvey: Paddling a canoe, and doubles as a pole. Jeez, what did you think it was for?

Posted by: Contagion at May 22, 2007 07:21 AM (Q5WxB)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Holy crap IÂ’ve been negligent! I just realized I hadnÂ’t updated The Spoon and Blade in almost a year. Then again IÂ’ve run out of Mortar Maidens AND the only event I did after the last update was canceled on Sunday.

Well tonight I rectified that. I finally put up the review from Gathering of Macktown this year, a couple of weeks late. But it does have some interesting pictures. I also updated our schedule of events, just in case any of you want to see where weÂ’ll be at this year.

Posted by: Contagion at 07:30 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 98 words, total size 1 kb.

A couple of weeks ago during my re-enactment I learned that a re-enacting friend, and one of my Mortar Maidens, had been diagnosed with cancer. It was told to me that she was terminal and that they didnÂ’t expect her to last much longer. From a phone call I received yesterday I found out that much longer meant until Monday.

I only really knew Denise for a short period of time. Her and her husband portrayed natives, as you can tell from the photos. Both of them really loved Clone and would play with him at the events or give him little re-enacting items. Denise always came across to me as one of those truly nice and fun loving people. Every time I saw her, she always seemed to be full of life and joy.

IÂ’ve heard people say that the world is a better place for having someone in it, and I never really understood that. But since learning of her passing, I finally understand. In my eyes the world will be worse off for not having her in it. I donÂ’t know if IÂ’m going to be able to make it to her funeral or visitation, but at least here I can leave a little piece of the internet to her memory.

For Denise I leave this Scottish blessing (Because even though sheÂ’s a native, IÂ’m a Scot.):

Please donÂ’t leave condolences in the comments. They should be reserved for her husband, close friends and family. I grieve not for me, but for them. That is all I have to say about that.

Posted by: Contagion at 05:55 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 388 words, total size 2 kb.

Good lord am I beat. This weekend was a great weekend. It jump-started my re-enacting bug, which is good. Now IÂ’m looking forward to my next one.

Originally we were going to head out Thursday night, but with it being on the cold and rainy side and us not participating on kidÂ’s day, we decided to head out Friday. I have nothing against kidÂ’s day; I use to do it all the time. However, after my leaving Clan Chattan I changed my demonstration from Surly Scotsman talking about weapons to Surly Scotsman talking about Distilling. It had been decided a while back that my demonstrating distilling to kids might be taken the wrong way. The event coordinators didnÂ’t want some parent complaining that they were promoting alcohol use to children. With todayÂ’s litigation loving society, I completely agree. There were some rumors floating around that the committee wouldnÂ’t let me participate. I did get those straightened out that it was a mutual agreement.

We arrived a little on the early side Friday. Kids day wasnÂ’t quite over, so we had to wait in the parking lot before they would let us in to set up. Since a nice warm front was coming through, the skies cleared up and it actually got warmer as the afternoon passed into evening. This is when all my love of re-enacting came flooding back. The sights, smells and old friends really warmed my heart. It was great seeing people that I hadnÂ’t been able to visit with since October. Unfortunately, there were some friends that werenÂ’t there. Some that either couldnÂ’t make it or just didnÂ’t come, and in a couple of cases ones that didnÂ’t make it through the winter or arenÂ’t long for this world.

Saturday was a hot one. The temperatures climbed into the 80’s. I didn’t participate in the battle, mainly because I spent most of my time demonstrating distilling, but also because I really didn’t want to participate. As the years have passed my desire to go run around the battlefield burning black powder is waning. My desire to go shoot at a target is more along my lines. Speaking of shooting, one of the re-enactors there brought with this huge blunderbuss. I believe he said the barrel was 1 and 9/16 diameter at the breech. It will fit a golf ball comfortably. He let me fire the thing. When asked how much powder it takes to shoot it, he replied with, “300 and some” He had a 100 grain powder measure. He would fill it three times and pour it down the barrel. Then he would fill it about half way and put that in as well. Using a slice of bread he would pack it into place. Yea, it rocked!

It's not the length, it's the girth

I went to the ONW meeting on Saturday. There wasnÂ’t enough there for my second introduction, but thatÂ’s okay. It was another opportunity to meet more of the guys. It was during this that I learned more said news about some other re-enactors I know. It seems that this off-season has really taken its toll. The guys all gave me crap for not going to Bloody Lake next weekend. Unfortunately there are too many reasons that I canÂ’t go. I canÂ’t even day trip it and itÂ’s almost in my back yard.

After the public left we went over to Clan Chattan for Dinner. Grau was making I canÂ’t believe itÂ’s not Blam stew, and invited us to help eat it. We werenÂ’t about to pass that up. It was damn good. He made the ultra-dense version of it. It didnÂ’t take much for you to get you fill. And if you ate even a spoonful too much, you where in discomfort. After dinner Clone was acting up so we headed back to our camp. I figured weÂ’d just sit and stare at the fire while listening to the other camps from ours. We canÂ’t leave Clone in the camp unattended. Wes, who was camping next to us, came over and started playing his Bodhran, and my friend Smokepoles came over to join in the festivities. I turned to say something to Ktreva, and I noticed that most of Clan Chattan AND the RogerÂ’s Rangers had wandered into our camp. We ended up having a party right there!

All was going well until Grau decided to bust out the wheel of pickled food. The pickled turkey gizzards were good, the herring was wonderful, but he had some pickled eggs that spelled my doom. I love pickled eggs. So of course I grabbed one and popped the whole thing in my mouth. What none of us realized is that these had some extra-spicy kick to it. It took a whole couple of minutes before my stomach problems kicked into an overdrive. Our camp was close to a golf course, all I know is that I feel sorry for the golfers that found my surprises on the back nine the next day. Let me just say, I am NOT sticking my head in a port-a-john.

Sunday went well. I spent more time walking around and visiting people. The temperatures again soared into the 80Â’s. Which kind of sucked because I only brought my cold weather clothes with. So I was sweating my nuts off. I also finished off a nice sunburn on Sunday. My nose is blistered; my ears and lips are burnt. ItÂ’s painful when I blink. Before anyone says anything about sunscreenÂ… yea I know. But you have to understand. IÂ’m half Scottish, half Norwegian. Me in the sun is like putting a fork in the microwave. Even with SPF 109,238, which is a thick paste, I get a sunburn. Then I peel, and then I go back to pasty white.

Clan Chattan revived the Voyage of Maelduin after a three-year hiatus this weekend. It used to be their signature play they would put on. There are parts in the play where the actors have water thrown on them “unexpectedly”. My long lost blog daughter, Virtue (whom is not dead as previously thought), had this idea to get the audience in by throwing water. Unfortunately she informed my wife and Smokepoles about this nefarious plan. After she left our camp Ktreva and Smokepoles filled a bucket with water and ice from the bottom of our cooler. I didn’t get the shot of Smokepoles dousing Grau with ice water, but I did get a couple of shots of them being splashed.

Yes, that is a wall of water heading for Grau!

All in all it was a good weekend. IÂ’m geared up for my next event, Fort Koshkonong in Fort Atkinson, WI. IÂ’m hoping that some of the River Scum from down state make the trip again this year. ItÂ’s always good hanging with them and I havenÂ’t seen most of them since last October. Anyway, we all had fun, especially Clone. He keeps asking when we can go camping again.

The boy on his way to harass Smokepoles

Oh, and by the way. Even though it didn't rain on us while we were at the event. Right after we finished packing up and headed out, the skies opened up on us. So even though my canvas was technically down and in my vehicle, it still got wet. There is no cover on my truck.

Posted by: Contagion at 07:30 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 1243 words, total size 7 kb.