May 31, 2006
Now this event has always been puzzling to me. I enjoy participating in it, yet at the same time I loathe it. Manly because it is the most piss-poorly run event I do. Everyone involved is really nice, but when you arrive there rarely is ever anyone around to tell you where you can and can’t set up. I spent a good 45 minutes to an hour searching for someone to tell me where I was supposed to camp. I was so pissed I about grabbed the family and drove home. Ktreva said she really wanted to stay so I just decided on Squatters rights and choose a spot. Sure enough as soon as we start setting up, who should appear, but the booshway (Man in charge) to collect our fee. Whenever you need to find someone “in-charge” after hours it’s almost impossible. It seems like any ounce of organization they attempt is done so poorly that they would have been better off not even trying to organize anything.
We could tell Friday night was going to be lonely. We didnÂ’t see any of our normal friends there. We were camped kind of by ourselves, we looked really anti-social, hoping that when our friends showed up they could camp next to us. By 10:30 PM it didnÂ’t look like any of the people that told us they were going to show up were going to. Saturday morning we awoke to a bake oven. It was already in the 80Â’s by 7:30 AM, and since it had rained so much the previous week the ground was saturated with water. That meant it was humid as all hell. Plus there was no breeze. After building a fire, (Yea, that sucked) and cooking French toast over it (That sucked more, especially since someone forgot the syrupÂ… KTREVA!) we headed out to make our day. Right away we found a camp that hadnÂ’t been there the night before. Our friendÂ’s Will and Red showed up. They also had one of their sons and a whole slew of the Illinois River Scum with them. Since they didnÂ’t have the big tent like I thought they had, they camped in the cooler shadier area. I donÂ’t blame them, if my tent would have fit down there, I would have too.
After making our rounds, picking up Boopie's custom made chair from Irish Ridge and talking to our vendor friends. Boopie and I hit the range to burn powder. BoopieÂ’s first time live firing was interesting. The gun handles fine. ItÂ’s just a little temperamental. That may have something to do with the farooking humidity making the black powder kind of gooey. I need to work on the boyÂ’s upper body strength; he had a hard time holding the rifle up. After a couple of shots he decided he liked shooting, but didnÂ’t like standing in the sun, so he gave it a rest. I on the other hand started the competition shooting. Again the humidity took its toll on my musket. The damn thing kept fouling up after every two to three shots and had to be seriously cleaned. Everyone shooting was having the same issues. Plus it was so hot that the lead balls were getting softer and starting to misshapen easier.
At the end of the weekend I ended up taking Second place in the Smooth bore competition, with out destroying the range. In fact this year range master Marty had a new rule, the “Seamus Clause” (In reference to last year when I exploded a two by four on my first shot). Anyone that hits one of the wooden supports or stands has to buy him a drink. I thought I was screwed. Funnily enough the only person all weekend to hit one of the stands was Marty.
My Friend Jim, his wife, his son and a friend of his son day tripped it to the event on Saturday to shoot. Since the award ceremony wasn’t until Sunday, he told Marty to give me any prizes they may have won. Well He took Second place in Adult rifle, His son’s friend took second place in the juvenile shoot, and his son took Third prize. I ended up collect 2 pounds of ham steaks, a pound of Canadian bacon, and two pounds of regular bacon. I was walking back from the award ceremony when someone asked what all I had, I couldn’t help but to say, “I won second place in the shooting competition. First place got a whole pig, Second gets an assemble your own pig.”
The ground at the range was pretty chewed up by the end of the event. However, most of the damage to the ground was my fault. My .75 caliber musket would chew up the ground behind the targets every time it hit. Other shooters and the audience would comment on the size of the divots I was shooting out of the ground. They also where amazed at the size of the furrows those round balls would create. At one point my buddy Jim was out on the range changing targets. He yelled back to everyone, “You should see the size of ditches Seamus is digging out here. It looks like World War 1 trench warfare.” He then proceeded to “Fall into” one.
After I was done shooting my competition rounds at the range. I helped Marty out by scoring other shooters. He was short handed and there where a lot of shooters there this year. ThatÂ’s when I ended up getting burnt so bad. I was in the sun from 10:00 AM until 2:30 PM. 20 minutes actual shooting, 40 minutes of loading, an hour and half of cleaning and two hours judging. The whole time with out any sunscreen. Yep, my own damn fault.
Saturday afternoon is when the rain hit us. It wasnÂ’t a heavy rain, and it lasted for only about 20-30 minutes. After it finished it did two things. Cooled everyone off some, and increased the humidity.
Saturday night we had a good time around the campfire and I had a couple more Mortar Maidens volunteer. That should last me until my July event. Both of my new Mortar Maidens portray Natives… that’s Indians to the PC crowd. We had fun trying to name them; ideas like, “Beaver on a stick” and “She who eats beaver” where two of the many ideas.
Sunday was even hotter then Saturday, and there was no cloud cover or wind to provide any relief. It was so hot that even the public stayed home and the re-enactors where all huddled under flies or in the shade of trees to stay out of the heat. Fortunately no one went down from heat stroke. We did have a couple of close calls. I had been drinking water all day, and immediately sweating it out. A lady comes up to me and asks me, “How do you do it? How do you stay so cool when it’s hot out.” Me, “You get used to it.” Lady, “You’re not even sweating.” Me, just realizing she was right, “Yea, that’s called dehydration.” The lady looked at me surprised and walked off. I don’t know if she now believes everyone in 1756 dehydrated themselves on hot days or not. But I did get something to drink.
All weekend I had a bunch of re-enactors tell me I was daft (the polite version of what they really said) for wanting to change to the 1830Â’s. I donÂ’t know what was more fun, arguing the history with them, or just watching them get flustered at me for even thinking of changing eras. In fact at one point I think Will was going to have a conniption fit on Saturday night.
Sunday night most of the campers packed up and left. We stayed so we could pack during the cooler morning hours on Monday. We were able to hang out with the River Scum and some new friends we made. We cooked many pork products over fire and had a good time.
For some pictures and other stories see the review at the Spoon and Blade.
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May 29, 2006
On the upside it was only on Saturday, when the temperatures were in the 90Â’s with 90% humidity. The rain was welcomed with the joy that only a re-enactor wearing wool and black canvas on a hot miserable day can understand. While the public was fleeing for shelter, every re-enactor I saw was relishing the rain like a nice long shower. Unfortunately, between the sweat, funk and sun block I donÂ’t think a one of us actually got wet. Our natural water repellent kept us dry. Water was bending around us like light through a prism.
I would love to tell you more, but IÂ’m baked. (Not from Drugs.) We packed and loaded the vehicles in upper 80 temps. I drove all the way home from Fort Atkinson (about an hour and 15 minutes from my house) with no AC so I could conserve on gas mileage. Then just unpacked the vehicles. But I did get some serious sun this weekend. Check out this nice sunburn. If you look closely you can see where my bonnet was as there is distinct line between burnt and unburnt flesh.
Once IÂ’ve recouped IÂ’ll give you all a worthy breakdown of what happened. Boy do I have stories for you!
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May 25, 2006
Do you know what the mathematical odds of that happening are? It would the equivalent of you winning the lottery! It rains on me over 75% of the events I do every year. Add to that the fact that there is a 90% chance that it will rain at least one of the days on Memorial Day Weekend.
At this point I just want to say goodbye to all my friends. I figure this must be the end of the world. ItÂ’s never that warm or nice up here on Memorial Day weekend. If the weather service is not playing a cruel, yet funny, joke on me, then this must be the end. Either that or IÂ’m going to be struck down by a fluke storm in the middle of the night.
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May 04, 2006
Friday was beautiful. The weather was nice and Boopie and I where able to get cartridges rolled for the battle re-enactment. He was very excited as this was going to be his first one. I bought him that rifle for his thirteenth birthday. During the day school kids were going from site to site (That had a demonstration) learning about different aspects of history. They had stopped by my site, but I had to move them on. I wasn’t doing a demonstration. As it was stated to me, “We love your display, and appreciate what your bring to this event. Unfortunately some of the teachers and parents don’t think distilling is a good demonstration for children, they don’t want you promoting alcohol. We know that’s not what you are doing, but the public can be narrow minded.” So I didn’t do my demonstration. No skin off of my back, it made for a relaxing day. That night we went into town (in costume) to a restaurant for dinner with some friends of ours. We had a good time, and watching people’s reaction to French Voyagers and Scottish Mercenaries invading a Chinese food restaurant was hilarious. That and we stunk of campfire and body odor.
When we returned to camp, I abandoned my family to visit some other camps. Ktreva stayed with Clone, we canÂ’t leave him unattended in a tentÂ… stupid modern laws! In 1756 I could have tied him to a tree and been okay! I visited the RogerÂ’s Rangers camp and drank some of the most god awful homemade liquor on the face of the earth. Then I drank some of the stuff they made. I was up until almost 3:00 in the morning drinking and bullshiteing with my fellow re-enactors. Which isnÂ’t a good idea when you have a 6:00 AM wake up call in the form of a 3 year old.
I felt a bit rough on Saturday and the crappy weather didn’t help any. I was nursing a bit of a sore head and upset stomach all day. Then around 12:30 I was talking to a group of people about distilling when a wave of nausea came over me. One of them asked, “Do you ever drink what you make?” (Which is water, it’s illegal to distill any liquor in the US with out a distiller-manufacturing license, and they are cost prohibitive.) Right as they asked that question, I responded with, “O’ course Aye do. I canno’ sell mah whiskay wi’ out samplin’ it first! Now excuse me, I think I’m going to get sick.” I took about ten steps through the crowd and proceeded to vomit all over the road. I whipped my mouth, walked back to my still and continued my presentation with out missing a beat. The public just stared at me like I was insane. The weird part was that I had bacon and eggs for breakfast, and that wasn’t in my vomit. Nope, it was mainly liquid with bits of rice from the night before, but no sign of bacon or eggs. I want to know how that happened.
That afternoon I took Boopie with me to his first battle. He was instructed on how to handle his rifle and to stay with me at all times. For the first 15 minutes of the battle I was busy making sure he was following the safety rules and not hurting himself or anyone else that I only got one shot off. He was so excited he kept forgetting the rules and I had to keep reminding him of what to do, including the proper way to hold a rifle. And that is how he got hurt. My son, in his first battle almost (wait for it)… shot his eye out. Instead of shouldering the rifle properly so that the butt was firm in his shoulder, he put the top of the butt in his armpit and brought his eye close to the barrel, “To aim”. I had told him 5 times that day not to hold it like that, but he kept doing it. The last time I was just yelling at him to hold the rifle correctly when he pulled the trigger. If you are familiar with Flintlocks, then you know that when you pull the trigger there is a small explosion in the pan by the hammer. If you didn’t know that, you do now. He caught black powder all along side his face. He was okay, a little more freckled and bloodshot eye. I sent him back to camp to have Ktreva check him out to make sure he was okay. After the battle I went back to check on him and he was okay, he was more worried I was mad at him then he was hurt.
That night the rain and wind got heavier. We were invited to numerous camps to socialize; however we had to turn them all down. We canÂ’t leave Clone unattended. I offered to let Ktreva go out and IÂ’d stay with the boy, but she didnÂ’t want to. We ended up sitting around the fire just talking for a while, and then went over to a neighboring camp to join their festivities. That and they had a better set up to block the wind and rain.
Sunday morning we were awoken to the sounds of vehicles and people packing. I stepped out of the tent, found an even coordinator and confirmed they canceled the event. The weather was supposed to be worse then the day before, so they where letting people pack in and go home early. Ktreva and I took the break in the rain as a chance to break camp, pack up and get home so we could hang the wet canvas to dry.
We had a good time for the time we were out there. Although we are kind of saddened and worried. We found out that four re-enactors that we know are looking to sell off their gear and get out of re-enacting. There are a lot of people that have been either getting so old they retire or give up re-enacting of late. Not too many younger people are getting involved. Hell, Ktreva and I are pups in the re-enacting crowd. The average age for what we do has got to be 55, and that may be a young estimate. We just hope some younger people pick it up; I donÂ’t want to have to find a new hobby.
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April 30, 2006
The wind got heavier all day and into the night. During the night the rain started coming down in buckets and the wind picked up enough that it frightened me out of dead sleep thinking the tent was blowing away. Trust me, if youÂ’ve ever been tent camping, strong winds are not your friend. My tent is pretty sturdy and surrounded by other tents. I never took a direct hit from the wind all night, yet one time I woke up to my tent swaying in the wind. Fortunately I can report that there was no damage in my camp. One camp blew a loop, but nothing serious.
This morning we were wakened by the sounds of vehicles and hammering. Pulling myself out of the tent, I looked to see what was going on. There were cars all over camp. I talked with one of my neighbors and they advised that the even was canceled. They were calling for more rain and high winds all day.
I confirmed what I was told with one of the committee members. Thus Ktreva and I packed camp and headed home. It was nice to see some of our friends, but I really wish I had another day to do my re-enacting.
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April 26, 2006
Yep, thatÂ’s right. We are going to be rained on all weekend. That always makes for a fun event. We need the rain so that doesnÂ’t bother me, but canÂ’t it rain during the week and give me my re-enacting weekend just rain-free????
Eh, I guess I should be used to it by now. Over the last two years IÂ’ve only had 5 events that we didnÂ’t get rain. We do 8 events a year, that means only 31.25% of the events weÂ’ve done, we didnÂ’t get wet at.
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April 25, 2006
That is no small feat around here. If it was just me, IÂ’d be able to pack everything I need in the CAB of my truck. When you throw in the family, it then takes my entire truck, the bed overflowing with equipment, and whatÂ’s left being packed into KtrevaÂ’s van. ItÂ’s hard to tell from pictures, but we have a lot of gear. As the boys get older, we need even more. It also doesnÂ’t help that Ktreva and me purchase more items that we find every year. ItÂ’s not because we need it, but because we want it.
To give you an example, this is our camp from two years ago this weekend (April 2004). It includes the smaller wedge tent behind our fly.
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This is our camp from the end of last season (October 2005), with out the wedge tent. (Boopie didnÂ’t participate in this event so we didnÂ’t bring his tent.)
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Over a year and a half our camp dressing and equipment grew by that much. Since the time of the second picture, weÂ’ve purchased more items to make our camp look nicer. If youÂ’ve ever thought of becoming a re-enactor, let me share some information with you. This is not a cheap hobby. That is why we build our camp gradually, we buy what we want when we find it, and we can afford it. The nice thing is since we are in our ninth season; we rarely are in need of anything anymore. WeÂ’re finally in the stages of buying the want itemsÂ… like the still! Maybe some year Ktreva will break down and let me buy one of those $4,000.00 custom made flintlock rifles IÂ’ve been drooling over for years. What? A guy can dream canÂ’t he?!?!
This weekend we are doing the Gathering at Macktown in Rockton, Illinois. IÂ’ve attended this event for the last 8 years. We didnÂ’t attend this event for the first time until our second year of re-enacting, and it is one of my favorites. Unfortunately there is only one event left on my schedule from my first season, Trail of History. All of the other events we did either folded, we stopped portraying that period of history or are just too far to travel too.
As I stated earlier, this is my ninth season as a re-enactor. That means this is my last rookie season. After this year I’ll actually be considered by some of the long time re-enactors as, “Not a greenhorn”. Ie, “I was over at Seamus MacPhail’s camp checking out his still. He’s come a long way since that first year when he was making people drink his bottle of Jack Daniel’s. He’s definitely not a green horn. Some of my readers who have seen my camp, or known me as a re-enactor might laugh at this and think I’m joking. I’m really not; I was called a “tenderfoot” just six months ago by one of those grizzled re-enactors.
IÂ’m tired from all the lifting, so IÂ’m going to hit the sack. If any of you are in the Rockton, Illinois area and want to experience some history, head on out to the Gathering at Macktown. I think you would definitely have a good time.
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April 19, 2006
IÂ’m kind of hoping that the weather holds out and they finish relatively quickly so I can actually make something out of the day. I have start re-enacting in a week and a half and there is a lot of work to do. Well, okay there isnÂ’t that much work to do. We are pretty much set. I do have to do some staining and treatment of a collapsible rifle/musket rack. All the equipment seems to be in good shape, nothing really needs repairs or replacing. However, if these guys take to long or we get the rain they are calling for, there will be no outdoor work for me today.
Part of me was thinking that I could get together with a friend or two and help the local economy by depleting an over abundance of beer. For reasons I just canÂ’t fathom, I have the idea my wife would NOT be happy with that decision.
So if you see me around through out the day, making comments or just leaving tracks on site meters, donÂ’t worry. Nothing happened, IÂ’m just supervising some housework.
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April 06, 2006
Recipes
Minced Callops
Colcannon
Barley with Mushrooms
What is a Jacobite?
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Just for a picture of me in a modern kilt, go to Who am I. Also if your curious about my Scotish family heritage, don't forget to check out my post about my ancestry.
For More Posts regarding Scotland and Tartan Day; follow the fiery cross to these sites:
of the Blogs 2006
Absinthe & Cookies
Tributaries
Not Exactly Rocket Science
Lintefiniel Musing
Villainous Company
The Pirate's Blog
Ninjababe's Ramble
BabyTrollBlog
Miasmatic Review
TacJammer
Misplaced Keys
Mixolydian Mode
The Bull Speaks!
Frizzen Sparks
Llama Butchers
Jenna Thomas-McKie
Physics Geek
Aaron's cc:
MB's Blogasm
Blackfive - The Paratrooper of Love
Swanky Conservative
MB's Blogalicious
Doggie's Blog
Target Centermass
Recipe Blog
Consul-At-Arms
Hilbilly White Trash
Miasmatic Review
Stix Blog
The Gun Line
what a sad old goth...
And then I woke up...
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March 28, 2006
As you may recall a couple of weeks ago my wife and I went to a re-enacting trade fair. The main item I was looking for was a flintlock rifle for Boopie. I wanted to get a used one so that if he messed it up I wouldnÂ’t be too upset. Since I knew I was going to be looking at used rifles, I grabbed my bore light (A light you slide down the muzzle of a rifle to make sure the inside of the barrel is not messed up.) before leaving. The bore light I have is supposed to fit .45 caliber rifles if I take the locking ring off.
While walking around at Kalamazoo, I found the perfect rifle for him. .45 caliber, flintlock, and the owner was only asking $200.00. Pulling out my trusty bore light I slide it into the barrelÂ…. And it gets stuck about 5 inches down. I turned the rifle on the side knocked on it, tried pounding on the barrel, it would not move. Since I hadnÂ’t found a better rifle I decided to purchase it, it helped that my bore light was stuck in the barrel. The guy was telling me how to get it out, which was a long convoluted method. I figured IÂ’d just push some black powder through the touchhole and slowly blow it out. IÂ’m talking a very small and light charge. There would be more powder in the pan than in the barrel.
The guy assured me that the rifle was clean and that he had used it numerous times. He swore up and down that he cleaned it at least once a month. From the 5 inches of the barrel I could see, it looked clean. I carried the rifle around for a while, and then decided to take it to the van so I would stop knocking things over on tables with it as I walked around. While I was out at the van, I turned the rifle muzzle side down and whacked it my steel toed boots a couple of times to see if the light would come out, it didnÂ’t.
When we got home on Sunday I took the rifle out back to get the light out and really check it out. (I had bought a much smaller bore light). I poured a liberal amount of gun oil down the barrel and let is soak while I grabbed some other items. I decided to try knocking the light out first before blowing it out. I grabbed a chunk of 2 X 8 scrap, set it on the driveway and dropped the rifle muzzle down on it a couple of times. The third time the bore light slid right out. Then I slide the new smaller light down the barrel. Yep, it was pretty clean, a little surface rust but nothing bad. It took two wet patches and a dry before the barrel was perfect.
But there was still something wrong with it. When I was swabbing the barrel there was no sound of air bellowing through the touchhole. I cleaned the touchhole out with a pick and still nothing. When I poured cleaning solution down the barrel, nothing came out. Unfortunately bore lights donÂ’t let you see the breach. I figured it was gummed up pretty bad. I had purchased Boopie a field rod and the tips for it as well. Much to my chagrin I had accidentally bought a breach scraper for a .50 call, not a .45. To see how gummed up the breach was I put the ball puller on the end of the field rod and ran it down the barrel. I could feel the grime at the bottom. I twisted a couple of times and I felt the bullet puller bite.
This can’t be right, breaches are not that soft. Pulling out the rod, I look at the ball puller. Sure enough there is metal shaving on it. What the hell? I put the rod back down the barrel and start twisting it. It bites again and keeps digging. Two thoughts cross my mine. The first is “That breach is screwed!” the second was, “ Wait, this thing can’t be loaded can it?” Using the rod puller I just purchased, I pulled the rod out after I had sunk it as far as I could go. Sure enough there is a .45 caliber round ball with patch on the end of my rod. There is unburned black powder on the patch.
That damn thing was loaded! Fully farking loaded! To say I was pissed would be like saying the sun has a mild glow. ItÂ’s near impossible for a flintlock to go off with out powder in the pan, nearly impossible. That doesnÂ’t mean it isnÂ’t possible. I had dry fired it a good doze times to test the lock and frizzen. I even did it in front of the guy. He also heard me say I was going to blow the light out, and didnÂ’t say anything.
I can picture what would have happened. There I am in the back yard, IÂ’m pushing about 5 grains worth of 4F powder through the touchhole. Gently I tap the side of the rifle so it is near breach. I pour powder in the pan, point the rifle at an upward angle and from the hip pull the trigger. Instead of a small pop and a brass light flying 5 feet, there is a large bang and somewhere in the city a lead ball takes out a family pet or member. Either that or the obstruction in the barrel (the bore light) causes the barrel to explode in my hands.
Yea, not a happy man at all. If I had a way to contact the guy that I bought the rifle from I would have, but I have nothing on him.
Just a reminder it is my turn to be interviewed at BasilÂ’s Blog. The deadline for my questions is 04/02/06. That just under two weeks away. If you have any, you can send them to Basil at basil dot interviews AT gmail.com Subject: Questions for Contagion of Miasmatic review. Or you could just click the link.
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March 19, 2006
Friday we left work and had the adventure of driving through Chicago on Saint PatrickÂ’s Day. People. Let me give you some advice, unless you HAVE to go to Chicago on St. PatÂ’s, avoid it like the plague. It didnÂ’t help that our esteemed (cough) governor has all the toll ways being revamped for his new I-pass system. I-pass in and of itself is not a bad program. Ripping out every tollbooth at the same time to make it more efficient caused a crapload of unnecessary back ups.
We arrived in Paw Paw, Michigan at 5:30 (local, stupid time zones) were we stopped at GallagherÂ’s Pub and Eatery. (Exit 60 on 94) We discovered this place last year on accident; it is now a destination spot for us if we are passing through. Great food, good beer, decent prices, you canÂ’t go wrong with that combination. Folks, let me just tell you the corned beef and cabbage was excellent. After eating we proceeded to Kalamazoo, checked in our hotel, had a couple of drinks and hit the sack.
Saturday we hit the show. We went last year and couldnÂ’t believe it. This year we were just as impressed. The only thing we couldnÂ’t find was a corset for Ktreva. There was a lady at the show last year that made customized period corsets, unfortunately this year she wasnÂ’t there. We spoke with some friends we saw there both vendors and re-enactors, they were surprised the corset lady wasnÂ’t there. Hopefully nothing bad happened to her.
I went looking to buy a rifle for Boopie. HeÂ’s turning 13 this year and I felt that as a right of manhood he should have his first firearm. This is where life gets tricky. There where all kinds of black powder firearms at this show, ranging from about $150 to $5,000.00. I was able to find a nice starter flintlock .45 caliber rifle for Boopie around $200.00. There are some funny stories about this rifle, but that is for another post. I tried talking Ktreva into letting me buy a rifle I found that I liked. She however decided that I did NOT need to drop $3,500.00 on this custom .50 cal. She also wouldnÂ’t let me buy any more artillery. There was a guy there selling some brass cannons and mortars that was willing to give me a great price on a brass swivel gun with a 2-inch bore. Her theory was that I already had an artillery piece; I donÂ’t need another. IÂ’m going to remember that the next time she decides she needs another hat for out at the events.
DonÂ’t get me wrong I didnÂ’t come home empty handed. Besides the rifle for Boopie, I was also able to finally find a period correct bonnet. It wasnÂ’t black like I wanted, but Jacobite Blue is just as good. Ktreva also purchased a bunch of stuff for herself. Really people, if you are looking for someplace to get those hard to find re-enacting items. You can get it at Kalamazoo. I donÂ’t know if IÂ’m going to need or want anything next year, but weÂ’ll be back. Even if it is just to see what the new items on the market are.
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March 06, 2006
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February 01, 2006
This month we have yet another lovely Scottish Lass, Rosslyn MacKinnon. Go see Ms. February and see if you can meet her standards!
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January 30, 2006
IÂ’m sure by now all of you are familiar with the Howling Jezebel, my half scale mortar that I use with the mortar maidens. Of course, this isnÂ’t a cannon, but it is still artillery. It can launch a cement filled pop can over a half a mile. Someday IÂ’m going to get to test that out; I just have to find someone that will let me launch cement filled pop cans on their property. IÂ’m so used to having it around the house, that I donÂ’t think twice about it. Nor do I find it unusual that I actually own a piece of artillery. Then again, I donÂ’t find it unusual that I have more swords than firearms in my house, and IÂ’m currently up to twelve firearms counting black powder.
Having items like that around really distorts your sense of “normal”. Once I upset some females at work because they where talking about people breaking into houses and I said, “I’m not worried about it, I sleep with a battle axe.” One of the females gasped and said, “You shouldn’t talk about Ktreva like that!” After I was finished laughing I explained that no, I really have a real battle-axe next to my bed (well I did at that time, I know have a Roman Gladius). I don’t think about it too often, but I have weapons all over the house. Guns, swords, knives, axes, daggers, flails, pole arms and artillery, now I’m wondering if people who come to my house get a little nervous with all the various accoutrements of violence around.
Anyway, I went off on a tangent there. The other three people I know that own artillery are all also re-enactors. I guess we are a “special” breed. Oh and all the artillery we own is from the French and Indian war to the Civil War. Nothing with modern shells, maybe that disqualifies us from Eric’s question.
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January 24, 2006
) a dog. My last re-enactment was October 15, 16 and 17. That was over three months ago! My first real re-enactment isnÂ’t until April 28, 29 30, thatÂ’s 94 days, 14 hours and 44 minutes away (at the time of this writing, No I didnÂ’t calculate that, itÂ’s on my side bar.) That my, fine contaminants, is over 3 months away! I have two trade shows I do coming up, one in February and the other in March. They take the edge off, but it wonÂ’t break the fever.
ItÂ’s gotten bad too. Just yesterday, when Ktreva was distracted by Clone, I snuck down to the basement. Finding my clothing box, I opened it up. The scent of campfire, black powder and leather came wafting out. A smile spread across my face as my eyes rolled back into my head. Memories came flooding back.
Memories of past re-enactments, of friends, of good times of good food and good spirits filled my brain. Burying my face in my clothes, I took a big whiff. The smells, the glorious and wonderful smells of campfire and grass, of pipe tobacco and bacon, of body odor and funk… Apparently, I had forgotten to wash my clothes after the last re-enactment. Even when you wash them, they will still smell of campfire, pipe tobacco and other woodland scents. Opening the box and smelling that isn’t unusual. Smell what I lovingly refer to as “Arse and funk” can be a very unpleasant surprise.
The sad part is that the rondyflu has sat in so firmly that it didnÂ’t prevent me from going in for a second whiff
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January 05, 2006
I was contemplating on doing a Mortar Maiden of the Year, but I don't know exactly how I could do that. Plus I'm worried their may be some favoritism as Ms. January 2005 is my wife.
UPDATE: Just for Tammi, I'm going to see if I can't get Ms. January and Tammi together for an Artistic photo shoot. Based soley on Tammi's comment.
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November 03, 2005
Remember ladies we are always looking for new Mortar Maidens every month.
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October 29, 2005
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October 17, 2005
Why were we so popular? For the first time I ran the still. We had it set up and making whisky… well okay I was distilling water due to federal law. However, the public didn’t need to know that, and back in 1756 there were no laws about that in the frontier. Thus, I told them all I was making whisky. The interaction I had was wonderful. Other re-enactors would try to trade me for whisky through out the day. And I even walked to some of the other trader displays with gallons of “whisky” to trade them for supplies I needed. What was great about the whole experience was the fact that everyone was curious as to what I was doing.
When public would go walking past, sometimes they would do a double take at the still to make sure they saw correctly. One of the hooks I would use to draw in public was when I saw someone do that I would say, “Yes, that is what you think it is. And yes I am.” The smiles on their faces would spread ear to ear, especially the guys. That’s not to say I didn’t have a lot of women and even children stand there for my 15-minute spiel.
What I found even more satisfying was at the end of the event being told by re-enactors that had been doing this for 15+ years that they thought my display was great. They had never seen anyone do distilling before AND they couldnÂ’t believe no one ever thought about it. They liked my camp, display and spiel so much I was invited to join one of the old guard re-enacting groups, a group that is considered an institution of re-enacting in our area. They have set standards in Historical and Period correct displays at three of the events I do. I was very honored to have been asked to join. However, I declined their offer. After explaining that I left one group and had no desire to join another group at this time, they all understood. They then told me to take a year or two and if I change my mind the offer is open.
The only problem I had this weekend was a severe lack of time. There was a shortage of people willing to fight in the battle this weekend. On Saturday they scheduled a walk through of the battlefield at 12:30 with the battle at 2:00. That took me out of camp a lot. If they hadn’t been short of fighters I probably wouldn’t have gone. Some of you that have read me for a while know how much I love doing the battles, so you are probably asking yourselves, “Why would you not do what you love?” Simply because when I left at 12:20 to get to the battlefield I had to turn no less then 20 people away from my camp. I gave a brief talk about distilled spirits in the frontier and then explained I had to go “kill some Brits”. A large part of me wanted to stay in camp just to talk to the public, to educate them on distilling AND distilled spirits in the frontier.
That is why I had started re-enacting and I had lost that feeling over the last 3 years. This weekend brought it back. Numerous friends of mine at this event saw me and commented on how happy I looked. I guess Homer Simpson was correct when he said, “Alcohol – the cause of and solution to all of life’s problems.”
Oh and yes I did get a lot of comments on how it was “appropriate” that I, the surly Scotsman, was running the still. People that have known me and all the re-enacting stories about me (including a certain Jack Daniel’s incident), found it highly amusing.
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October 05, 2005
Remember ladies (And ladies only!), If you are interested in becoming a Mortar Maiden, we are always looking for volunteers!
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