American Indian Museum

For various reasons too complicated to discuss, I ended up with some time off this month.  Seeing as how time off from my work is a bit like finding hen’s teeth, I didn’t turn it down.  Believe me, I’ve plenty off leave to use & was coming up on a use or loose situation.  Besides, most of this month revolved around helping my Urchin move (see next post.)  Then my friend Gypsy Jane found herself working in the Northern VA area and thus ended up at mutual friends for a weekend.  Since I was also off that weekend we decided it was time – well past time actually - to go visit the American Indian Museum. 

WOW – way better than the previous displays in the Natural History museum.  Much better lighting, better signage and larger displays.

I’d read descriptions of painted skin dresses, but this was the 1st I’d ever seen.

I’ve seen a few repro war shirts at rendezvous and most were well done – but here’s the real deal and its most excellently done.

The displays are all full size and that gives each artifact an environment so the relationship of one thing to another makes sense. 

Anyone want a complete set of teepee organizers?

There’s a section dedicated to horse tack and lore. 

Great Plains cultures feature large here.

But French influenced work is also displayed.

Metis culture gets its space too.  This is an Assumption River area sash, the sort of thing that was the height of fashion in the time & place that interests me most as a living historian.  Not that there is much call for a 1700’s era piece from the waterways of Canada here in Virginia.

Anyone want the ultimate in ice fishing machinery?  This 20th century adaption of military surplus gear is another Metis invention – this time from the Lake Winnipeg area.

Yes folks, that’s all quill work on this horse mask.

This one is also all quill work but much newer – I loved seeing the timeline effect of older pieces alongside new ones.  The museum makes it very clear that these are living cultures.

There’s also the full range of American cultures in the museum from the Arctic to Terra Del Fuego, the Atlantic to the Pacific.  Even the ponds and garden areas outside the building are mini-ecosystems important to the First Peoples. 

This won’t be my only trip to this museum.

Little Brown Bats (I Think)

Periodically I get 4 to 8 small bats roosting in the louvers in the roof peak eves.  They don’t show up every year but if they do appear they arrive in May or early June, stay for about a week and then go to what ever other roosts these bats like.  My neighborhood has 4 or 5 dozen bats flying around grabbing dinner most evenings, so my place seems to just be a sleep stop they use now and then.  They usually use the sunny kitchen entry end of the house but have used the other shaded end twice that I know of.  They have also roosted in the shaded louvers for a week in September at least once.  It’s probably either too hot or too cold to use my eves the rest of the year.

Last year I didn’t seem to have my seasonal visitors and I rather missed them.  This year I seem to be the budget motel of choice – there were 16 to 20 bats in my kitchen side louvers today.  Enough that they were actually noisy around 7:30 pm.  Its now 9 pm and they have all gone hunting.  I’ll check on them again late tonight and early tomorrow morning.  They all seem healthy, which is a good thing what with White Nose Disease and all.  I’m fairly sure they are Little Brown Bats.

Did I mention that I really like bats?

Comments on Posts

I’ve just altered the Comments section for this blog so anyone can comment and it will post once I approve the comment.  I also discovered that I have had readers of at least one post from all kinds of places:

United States           2,595

Russia                          51

China                           45

Germany                      40

Canada                        24

Poland                          23

United Kingdom            22

Iran                               20

Japan                           20

France                         16

The US, UK, Japan and even Iran I understand because I have a friends there, but I had no idea anyone in any of those other countries had ever read my blog even if it was only once. I’m not exactly setting the interwebs on fire here but I’m totally amazed that anyone outside a small circle of friends would even bother to check out a post of mine.

Well greeting to you all whoever you are. Maybe we can share songs and laughter at my lodge someday. There’s always room at my campfire for you.

April Labors

I’m currently not able to get any vacation time at work, which means both my house & history projects have all been put on hold & even routine house maintenance is hard to accomplish.  The lawn took off as it does each spring but is now in good shape & staying that way as long as I mow it weekly.  I have gotten a few small history projects done.

I bought this Brit canteen at the OVPR and initially covered it with some Whitney Lachine blanket scraps.  The Whitney blanketing proved to be a burr magnet in the woods.

So I took the Whitney wool off & covered my new canteen as well as my Goose Bay Workshop tin lined copper canteen with scraps from a Brit military surplus blanket.  This works much better - the wool means the canteen doesn’t  clank when I walk & it keeps the canteen cooler too.  I didn’t have enough striped material for both canteens.  I also made up a bunch of egg carton + wood chips + wax fire starters.

My faithful blog readers may remember remember that I had a tree in my yard come down last year.

These are the before pictures

Well I did as much as I could with an ax, then borrowed a chain saw from a friend.  The chain saw was clearly the solution to this cleanup job, so I spent part of my tax refund on an electric 16” chainsaw of my own.

Here’s the current status pictures.  Clearly I’m not done but steady progress is being made.

I expect this pile will be much bigger by the time I’m done.

April is the month when all my backyard critters reappear. 

I had to move this fellow into the woods before I mowed the yard one day.  Two or three turtles show up in my yard each year.

There have been skinks in my yard every year, and last year there were both adult & baby skinks around the Norfolk Pine stump.  So far this year there are several around the kitchen door porch.  I hope they eat ticks. 

Don’s Party

Da Urchin, my much beloved offspring, works in the field of animal control & rescue.  A restaurant in the northern VA area set up a benefit night through her employer wherein every 10% of the cost of every meal sold on Rescue Evening went to animal rescue funding.  WooHoo!  And it turned out that Rescue Night was the day after Don’s birthday, so an expedition was in order.  Don & Dolores, their good neighbors from across the street, Carly & Dean, Da Urchin, & yours truly all made went out to eat at this really really good south of the border restaurant.

(OK, I’m bad, I‘ve forgotten both the name of the restaurant & Don’s neighbor ).

Presents were given, laugher was shared, & a good time was had by all.

And here’s a thanks to all our furry friends: the dogs who joined us for the hunt, stayed with us to guard our homes & herd our flocks, & yes even came with us into battle; the cats who followed the mice to our grain stores, strayed into our homes after the same vermin & self domesticated themselves into our hearts; and all the other creatures great & small who share the Web of Life with us.  May we always treat them well for they remind us that we are not the Web of Life but only a stand in it.

Spring OVPR

Winter is Over and its time to RENDEZVOUS!  Mind you, I’m not quite sure where the winter went, it seems like only yesterday it was fall rendezvous time.  But spring has sprung, the grass has riz, I wonder war da Vous iz?.  End of March = OVPR Rendezvous!

My Lodge at the OVPR.  The 9x9 tent opens at both ends, so ya don’t roast when it gets hot.  And it hit 80 at the Vous.  Well at least it didn’t rain hardly any.  It doesn’t show, but the snaps on the door sod cloth to hold it up when the door is used worked just fine.  So I don’t trip over my door anymore.

These fine Ladies started hosting a formal tea several vous back – a most excellent idea.  Observe the richly laden table . . .

Among other things, the tea is a good excuse to put on your finest duds (or not as you prefer) & converse with you friends & make new ones.

Of course, the tea isn’t the only time we socialize – these ladies are discussing a repair problem.

The Ladies also get together to work on crafts & help each other out on technique.  The Madam Du’Farge Society at work.

Of course socializing isn’t restricted to the ladies – the gents do just as much tale tellin’ too.

Everywhere around camp folks is having chats – friends are the best fun & most of us don’t get enough friend time in our lives.

Of course, a Vous isn’t a Vous without some shooting time too.  These aren’t for sale, it’s the gun stand for the lodge.  From the top; blunderbuss, Brown Bess carbine, double barrel shotgun, left hand rifle.  They’re all flintlocks.

Music time at yer lodge is a given too.

Most the crafts for sale in camp are hobby related, but this fellow had artwork for sale.

Of course primitive camping takes primitive skills.  Here’s the Preacher splittin’ logs into cook fire size.

And Stacy using said wood to cook.  Yes, smoke gets in your eyes.  No matter where you sit, it gets in your eyes.

There was also a Women’s Wine Tasting (complete with sparkling cider & juice for the non-alcohol drinkers) and a Tea Tasting Party as well as the traditional Ladies Social at the Spider Inn on Saturday.  We Ladies Know How to Party!  In fact, there’s a Ladies only Vous scheduled for this September.  I don’t have that weekend off but sure plan to try for it.

The only downside to this Vous was the ticks – its March and they shouldn’t be in evidence, but the mild winter & a warm March sure got them up & about!  I had over a dozen latch on the 1st day alone!  I even had raked the leave cover off my camp spot, but it didn’t seem to make much of a difference, although I did get bite while asleep only on my 1st night there.  Everyone at camp had the same problem, so it wasn’t just the spot I was in.  Ah well, its all part of outdoor living.

Tina Visits

Tina, my Urchin’s Totally Awesome Roomie from college, came to visit Da Urchin for a week.  I was working for most of the time Tina was there but was off for a day the Urchin was not, so I got to spend a day & a half with Tina.  So I drove down to Clifton after work one morning, slept a couple of hours & then Tina & I wandered around Historic Clifton checking out the cool houses.  The weather was awesome, warm & sunny.

This is one of the smaller family homes in town.

This one is average for the village.

Almost all the homes are tin roofed & were enlarged early in their history.  They also frequently have more than 1 “front” door.  The homes were commonly also business establishments, so there’s a business entrance & a private entrance.  There’s also usually both a kitchen door & a tradesman/servant entrance. 

Porches are also the norm.  So is a checkered history.  Several homes were illegal ordinaries during prohibition.

This is my personal favorite.  Its one of 2 stone houses in town.  (My friends Carly & Dean live in the other.)  The stone was locally quarried.

This Baptist church was built in 1910 to replace a smaller one.  Its one of several in the village in active use. 

This Primitive Baptist Church was built in 1871 on land donated by a Freedman.  The village was founded by freedmen & a few buildings from that era still stand.  This church is still used on a monthly basis.

Of course no village is complete without its Cat supervising the great & small, making sure they do their jobs.

Tina & I went to Old Town Manassas the next day.  We shopped at a fabric store (I found what I needed, she did not), did a McKay’s Used Bookstore run, had a great lunch at the Cajun restaurant and then visited  various art galleries & studios.  The day was ended with a grand meal with Carly, Dean, Urchin, Tina & I after an evening of playing with Urchin’s cats.