Fort Frederick Juried Trade Fair

The Fort Frederick Trade Fair has been held yearly since 1995.  From 1996 until 2004 I was there every spring for 4 days of Shop-Till-Ya-Drop fun & frolic.  Most years Shelby’s Volunteers (my F&I/Rev War civilian militia unit) was there too.  We had grand times.  Then things got squirrely for a few years.  The time period and geographic area covered(historically speaking that is) got narrower and both traders & campers were tightly juried.  The jury rules kept changing and I just considered it more trouble than it was worth to attend.  Well things have settled down now mostly and while I haven’t gone back yet as a camper I have gone as a day tripping photographer and shopper. 

Frank as a Colonial Civilian

One pull to return is to see old friends.  I met Frank in the 2nd Rhode Island Volunteers Co. F, my Civil War living history and reenacting unit.  He’s the one who got me to time travel back another century into the 1740-1780 period.  Thank you Frank.  Its scoodles of fun and not as physically demanding as being a soldier wearing a dark blue wool sack coat and sky blue wool pants under a hot Virginia sun.  Of course I’ve made all sorts of new friends in the 18th century.

Missy Clark (far left) of Barkertown Sutler

Missy makes all sorts of everyday clothes for both men and women.  Fancy duds are available made to fit as are common clothes if her standard sizes don’t work for your body.  My bodices, stays and a shift have all come from her hand.  I can sew both by hand and machine but only made about half of the period clothes I have.  With a full time job there really isn’t always time to properly make the more intricate items.  Plus its often more cost efficient to buy things from sutlers or the trade blankets put out by private individuals. 

Beaver Bill & His New Book on Spike Tomahawks

Of course there are a great many more crafts in the 18th century than any one person can pursue.  Bill makes reproduced from original artifact knives, hawks and other sharp cutting implements.  My two favorite camp knives came from his shop.

Beaver River Trading Company

Ft. Vause is another of my favorite places to shop.  Of course it helps that it’s run by 2 of my favorite people, Henry & Deborah. 

Henry & Deborah of Ft. Vause

Part of Henry’s Products

Henry is primarily a leather worker.  Cartridge boxes, valise, shoot pouches, you name it, he can probably make it in a proper historic method for its era. 

Anvils & Swage Blocks from Ft. Vause

Henry also sells anvils and swage blocks for folks who do metal work.

Rolling Pins and Pottery

Ft. Vause also had a lovely table of pottery and rolling pins for the 18th century homestead.

Buckles & Buttons Cast from Original Pieces

Henry has high quality buckles and buttons too for the craftsman or your custom piece made by Henry himself.  Some of these can be found on a belt and some straps I made.

Mark Thomas – Gun Stocker & Engraver

Mark was demonstrating engraving at the Fair.  And yes it was warm enough to go barefoot on the day I was there.  Mark made my rifled fowler.

Tom of Mountain Forge

Tom is an OVPR regular on their trader’s row.  He offers a real general store of goods for the 18th century aficionado.  I originally met him at OVPR and look forward to shopping at his tent.  He generally has that little thing I was looking for at just the right time.  And a super selection of hard candies.

Dulcimer Dave

I did meet Dave at my 1st Ft. Fred Trade Fair.  Back then my lodge consisted of a Civil War Dog Tent, a straw filled mattress ticking, 3 off white wool blankets with thin blue stripes at each end and a candle lantern.  My cookware was a cup, a pint kettle with lid, a wooden spoon, a French trade knife and a twisted wire fork.  The cup and kettle were made by Peter Goebels of Goose Bay.  The cup, kettle and knife were all bought at that 1st trade fair.  I still have all 3 items and use them regularly.

Mary, Wife of Dave Hard at Work

Of course there’s all sorts of fantastic traders here who I don’t personally know.  I would dearly love one of these painted floor mats for my lodge.

Painted Canvas Floor Covering

And another fine long gun or two.

Various Smoothbores

Partially Finished Guns Needing Final Finishing

Even More British Muskets

For the more civilian buyer there is always fine tin lined copperware.  There are 2 coffeepots and a kettle or two here that could follow me home anytime.

Westminster Forge Copperware

How about some fine furniture for the parlor.

Plus some equally lovely furniture and such like for the bedroom and ladies workroom.  Although a poor farmer’s widow such as myself could never aspire to own such things.

All this 18th century finery in one place is enough to wear one out.  So perhaps a nap is in order.

Sleeping Girl

Some folks you buy from on a website only to meet up with at one event or another later on.  I have a small leather belt pouch for my guitar picks etc. I ordered from Pepe’s Possibles, a web site I found on a web ring.  Several years later I actually met Pepe.  We still need to get together sometime for the song jam I promised him.

Pepe’s Possibles

Like Henry, Pepe works in leather but he makes mostly shooting bags, belt pouches, belts, straps and portmanteaus.  He also does custom work. 

I was only able to go to the Fair for one day, but it was a grand day.  I bought a French flag for my camp, an early 1820s small coffee pot (for my Ohio River boatman impression as well as my morning coffee), a linen haversack kit and some buttons.  And I may yet decide its worth it to apply and actually attend the fair one year.

Mighty Mouse Chores

Winter Storm Damage

My Faithful Readers will remember this photo.  The 2 Ugly Wet & Heavy Snow dumbed by 2 storms at the house brought down a bunch of white pine branches & limbs, plus a piece of the maple tree. 

White Pine Trimmed Up & Ready to be Cut Up

Well I’ve gotten all the white pine & maple trimmed up & ready to be cut up on the new sawbuck I made.  The pile is about twice the size I originally thought it would be.

Branch & Limb Trimmings

These are 2 of the 3 piles of trimmings that will get burned on a windless evening in the near future.  (The 3rd pile is in the side yard & quite small.)  Oh the joys of home ownership.

Meanwhile, from the World is Weird:  I didn’t get my water bill earlier this month, so I went to the water company office to find out how much I owed & to pay my bill.  It seems no one in all of Ruckersville got their water bill this month.  They were delivered to Charlottesville’s main PO right along with the bills for the other 4 postal districts serviced by RSA, but Ruckersville’s bills have been each & everyone lost by the USPS.  And why is RSA (which is located in Ruckersville) forced to take its monthly bills to Charlottesville, which then sends them to a Richmond area distribution center, which sends them back to Ruckersville, so Ruckersville can deliver them in Ruckersville?  RSA has to do this because the USPS regional director has decided the Ruckersville PO is too small to handle the RSA outgoing mail.  The same director who keeps telling the 4 post offices in Greene County that they don’t have enough incoming mail to justify 4 locations.  Go figure.  It doesn’t add up to me.

What Happened to Spring ?

OK, I’m seriously confused here.  April opened with a half an inch of snow.  That’s right, a half an inch of snow at 7am on April 2nd.  Chilly, blustery, just what I’d expect for April.  Then POOF – its summer.  Temps in the high 70’s.  WHAT HAPPENED TO SPRING?  Where’s those 50 & 60 degree days that tease, the soft breezes that hint of summer-yet-to-come?  Nope.  Just an hour or two in the wee hours of the morning and then Bazinga - full blown summer.  The ticks are out, the stink bugs are out, the little wasps are looking for home sites.  The trees, bushes and plants are acting likes its May and they’ve overslept. 

The Forsythia

The snow in March confused the forsythia and it bloomed later this year than it ever has before.  Then it went from buds to full bloom in 2 days.  The crocus stayed confused but the daffodils came on like gang busters.

More Forsythia

Only the oldest 4 bushes put out a really thick display of blooms.  The other bushes just couldn’t figure out what to do.  Now the forsythia was way late, but the grass is way early.

The Back Yard Half Mowed

On Wednesday, the back yard had a lot of green onions and not much else.  By Thursday it was greening up nicely.  Friday it rained.  Saturday I struggled through mowing the back yard.  I have my mower set on the highest grass length setting, but you can see how much there was to cut on Saturday.  This is the 1st time in 21 years that I’ve mowed before income taxes were due.

Nicely Mown Back Yard

At least the initial mowing is done.  The front & side yard haven’t taken off yet, which is good because I’ve got about 2 hours more of white pine to trim up from the 2 snowstorms in March.  Right now I’m one sore Mighty Mouse with a date tonight involving a very hot bath followed by judicious application of liniment.

Bird Nest in a Forsythia Bush

I’m not sure who used this nest last year but there were 5 of these nests in the forsythia bushes.  Two years ago there were only 2 nests.  I suspect the Cardinals who are spending a fair amount of time in the forsythia in pairs.  I’m also seeing the Carolina wrens hopping about in pairs.  I really like the wrens, they have such sweet songs.  I’ve also got 6-8 Little Brown Bats using the kitchen side attic louvers as a hunting roost.  They rest there on and off during the night between bug catching.

The New Sawbuck

Last weekend when I visited Da Urchin I cut out the pieces to make 2 sawbucks, one for her and one for me.  I got her sawbuck put together while I was at her place and put mine together today.  The wood came from the not-to-code framing in her basement which we had already torn out.  I had just enough straight wood for the sawbucks, the rest of the wood from the framing is badly warped.  I also made her cheese Pascha while I was there.

Cool Toy, I Mean Tool Set

When I went to Lowes for screws for the sawbuck project they had this really really cool tool set on sale.  Yes it followed me home.  There’s a .5 inch drill, a 6.25 inch circular saw, 2 batteries, a battery charge and the bag to carry them in.  The guide rail is from my hobby 3.5 inch circular saw but it fits this one too.  I’ve been doing all my woodwork cutting for years with a Stanley cross cut saw.  This makes the job so much easier.  The drill also serves as a screwdriver and the saw adjusted for both depth of cut and beveled cuts.  The batteries give just over an hours of steady use at full charge.  I see a bunch more projects getting done real soon. 

Photographic Gear

OK, so last January Best Buy put the Canon 60D camera body on sale.  The price was really really good.  So I ordered one and sold my Canon 30D on Amazon.com.  I’m one happy camper here.

Canon 60D Body

Now don’t get me wrong.  The Canon 30D was a really really nice camera body.  But for me the 60D body is just plain awesome.  It fits my hand better, it’s a bit lighter,  the controls are easier for me to use and its just plain more fun.  Thank you Canon.

For the record, this is the lens I usually use with the 60D.  Almost all of the blog photos I’ve posted since I got the 60D were taken with this lens. 

So what’s this?  This is one awesome present from Gypsy Jane.  Its my lens except it’s a coffee travel mug.  Its got all the right markings and it even came with a lens bag. 

Here’s the lens and mug side by side.  THANK YOU GYPSY JANE !

P.S. I’ve finished editing my recent blog entries, so now there’s text to go with all the pictures.  Enjoy.

There I Fixed It

As you My Faithful Loyal Readers may remember, I had the driver’s side mirror smashed before the Ides of March.  I Gator Taped the mirror back in place but that was a stop gap measure.

Obviously this mirror isn’t going to give a good mirror image of much of anything, although it was enough to get on down the road.

WELL I FIXED IT !

I bought a replacement mirror through Amazon.com, read my Haynes manual for Methuselah the Awesome Chevy 2500 Express Cargo Van (aka “The Mule”), and consulted with Wandering John.  Wandering John in particular was very helpful. 

Helpful Wandering John

And here it is, The New Mirror all installed and everything.  The power & defrost hookups work.

Now its an after market mirror, so its not optically nice as a GM mirror.  The all plastic construction does vibrate a bit when I’m driving down the road too.  But it was less than half the cost of a recycled mirror assembly from an auto scrapyard and less than a quarter of the cost of a new unit from GM.  I’m happy, I spent less than $50, the van is fixed, and I can always get a recycled unit later if I want.  The Haynes manual has also now paid for itself. 

NO APRIL FOOL HERE

My Faithful Loyal Readers will also remember the mess the last 2 snow storms made in my yard.  White pine limbs & branches EVERYWHERE!  Well its not all cleaned up yet, but it’s a job well started.

The front yard has been cleared out of all the downed wood from the storm.  The brushy piles on the left will get burned out back on a windless day.  The heavier wood on the right will get cut up by the Mighty Chain Saw for use in the Backyard Fire Ring. 

Unfortunately I’m not done with Basic Cleanup as yet.  The side & backyard areas haven’t been worked on as yet.  But what doesn’t get started doesn’t get done.  Plus I’m trying to work until I’m slightly sore but stop before I’m wicked sore. 

MIGHTY MOUSE LIVES!