Dog Days

Many many years ago Da Urchin rescued a Heinz 57 Stray on her way to 4-H Camp where she was an instructor.  Said pooch is still with us and just as sweet as ever.

Sophie the Heinz 57 Pooch

Sophie will be 16 later this year.  She’s slowed down but still likes snow and gets around just fine.  She can still see and hear although both senses aren’t quite what they used to be. 

Sophie Watching the World

Sophie is living with Da Urchin now and really likes having a fenced yard .  Da Urchin also has another rescue pooch, a Doberman-Lab named Lexi. 

Lexi the Doberman-Lab

Da Urchin brought Lexi with her last June when she came to visit.  We took Lexi to the Charlottesville Dog Park for an hour or so.

This proved to be a wonderful idea.  Lexi sniffed everything, she ran with the other dogs, she chased leaves on the ground, she had a glorious silly doggie time.

Lexi and Playmate

She was a very good girl and got on well with all the other dogs including those much smaller than her.

Tired Lexi

After it was all said and done she was one tired pooch. 

Front Royal also has a dog park, so Da Urchin and I took Lexi there to check it out in August.

Lexi & A Few New Friends

Front Royal’s Park is older than Charlottesville’s park.  There are 2 dog play areas.  The smaller one about an acre and is for the older and smaller dogs.  The larger one is just over 2 acres, big enough to make an excellent horse paddock.  Its for larger dogs and there are some very large dogs that come here for play time.

Da Urchin, Lexi & Friends

Both areas are rectangular in shape and well fenced.  There aren’t many trees inside the areas but there is plenty of shade along the fencing provided by the large trees along the river side of the park. 

Da Urchin Watching the Doggie Play Group

I haven’t been back to the park yet but Da Urchin takes Lexi there regularly.  Lexi likes this a great deal.

 

Lodge Table Project

OK, so between The Rainy Summer and My Crazy Work Schedule this summer wasn’t much for home maintenance or hobby projects.  I got some sewing repairs done, I got some wood cut up, and I generally kept the storage side yard read up.  The yard got mowed.  That pretty well covers it.

Back in late spring I found this neat little table for $2.50 at a local Goodwill store.  It was rather wobbly and the wood was showing its age but it had potential.  So I bought it, disassembled it, and then tried to find time to work on it. 

It got sanded in June, stained in July and put back together in August.  I glued and clamped everything when I screwed it back together and replaced all the hardware with brass fittings.  When all was sanded and done it cost me $9.37.

I don’t have a specific purpose for it in my camp but figure its just a handy way to keep things off the ground and within reach.  I plan to use it at the fall OVPR for my Halloween candy. 

Wood Project Recipe

Take 1 yard of Storm Downed White Pine

Apply Hand Ax with Vigor & Stack

(This may take several days)

Place on Sawbuck & Apply Chainsaw

(This will take several more days)

Yield: Double stack of White Pine firewood

(N.B. Requires 13 wheelbarrow loads to transport to rear of yard.)

May Showers Bring May Floods

Rapidan Mill & Dam in Mid-Summer

April showers may bring May flowers but this spring’s April showers brought more April showers which in turn brought May showers which lead to still more May showers.  Basically it rained between the rain storms.  And then it rained some more just because it could. 

Rapidan Station Mill Dam

Yes folks there is a dam under all that water.  This is the 2nd of 3 floods in a 2 week period.  The flood after this closed the road so I don’t know just how high it went.  This photo is about 5 hours after the flood crest.  The flood before this one was about 1/3 this one, which is typical for a spring flood at this location.

Very Large Tree Stuck on the Dam Spillway

This tree is totally buried under the water, most of the roots are above the spillway but under the river.  Its got a 3+ foot diameter truck right about where the limb is broken off.

Mill Spillway Door

I’ve seen this area in flood about a dozen times and this is the 1st time the overflow gates on the spillway doors were working at capacity.

The Downstream View from the Bridge

The river is half again as wide as its normal banks.  There was a great deal of debris in the water also.

Backyard Storage Shed

About 200 yards from the dam a storage shed was washed into the river from its bankside pilings.  It literally floated off down the river at quite a clip and was intact at least as long as it was in sight.  That red bit in the photo is the shed roof. 

Canada Goose

This goose came floating down the river right in the main current quacking up a storm of its own.  Obviously it made it into quieter water and then exited onto dry land.

Of course the Rapidan river area wasn’t the only area to flood this spring.

My Backyard Fire Ring

I don’t think I’ll be using my backyard fire ring anytime real soon.

Brook Behind My Yard

The little brook just into the woods behind my house was running high enough to be at the cedar log bridge I made to cross it easily.

Secondary Flood Made Brook Channel

There was enough water over the rear edge of my yard to flatten the grass down for about 30 yards on my side of the brook.  A new secondary channel was also cut which has been used off and on since.  These photos were taken several hours post flood crest.

Standing Water at the Wood’s Edge

It took about 2 weeks for all this to dry past standing water.  Of course the subsequent rainstorms didn’t help the drying out part one little bit.  (This was the worst flooding I would see all year.)

 

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.