A Lesson in Cooking with a Dutch Oven

Cheryl's News from Camp Webegone
July 29, 2016

Cathy, Rich, Cheryl, Howard

Rich and I had a wonderful early morning visit from my cousin Howard and his wife Cathy. They came bearing many gifts: Wood, water, wild flowers, books and food to cook in dutch ovens. I do mean ovens. A 10" and a 12". Having never cooked in a dutch oven Rich and I were clueless about the whole process which begins with heating the charcoal until they are coals. You can buy a gizmo for this, but Howard made one by piecing together a couple large coffee cans. Once the charcoal is just right you get ready to cook. They brought cornmeal bread

to bake and peach cobbler. Cathy prepared both while Howard prepped the coals.

The peach cobbler went into the 12" dutch oven. The corn bread into the 10" oven. The appropriate number of coals, 15 I think, went onto a wok like disc. The 12" dutch oven sat over those the coals. Eight hot coals were put on top of the 12" dutch oven lid. The 10" dutch oven was placed on top of the 12", and Rich and seven or eight coals were put on the 10" lid.

Then a 40 minute wait and bingo! Brunch!

The four of us had very happy tummies!

Corn Bread

Peach Cobbler

Crater Lake with Snow

A Story in Pictures. Crater Lake.  Snow. And a sunny day.

Surprise. Flowers!

A dressed up Wizard Island.

Reflection of thunder clouds.

The building is the Gift Shop.

View toward the Klamath Basin

Reflections on an Aging Body

Rich's News from Camp Webegone

July 15, 2016

The other morning as I awoke with my shoulder aching from overdoing raking, I thought about pioneers who lived “off the grid” before there was a grid. The physicality of life. Chop wood carry water takes a lot of physical strength that

they had to do all their lives. No wonder when we look around we find people overweight. But also a measure of my own age as I near 70. Each year another diminishing of my physical capacity. It is humbling.

I am reminded of a bus ride in Haiti during my Peace Corps days, 1998 - 2001. Sitting next to a man who was old but who knows how old. He was next to the window and I finally realized he was peeing into a cup and tossing it out the window. Now with prostate issues I have greater understanding. It was so discrete and done with dignity. Life closer to the edge.

Rich with his work lance.

Life at Camp Webegone takes more physical effort. I am in better shape. Now to figure out how to make that happen when we are trailer bound in the winter. A challenge for us to address as we noticed a slug quality in our life as we hide from the rain and cold.

A Life Perspective Gazing at Trees

Rich's News from Camp Webegone

July 8, 2016

I noticed something the other day. Our first stint here at Natural Bridge at some point I got focused on the trees. I would walk the trails my head up trying to identify and remember which were Doug Fir, white fir, Ponderosa pine, white pine, Sugar pine, chinkapin tree, yew tree, vine maple, dogwood, lodgepole pine. I did learn to look at my feet and identify trees by the cones. The second year I managed to remember the trees and still focused there... But now I have become more familiar and my gaze has dropped and I am seeing more on the ground. I realized that as I identify more I can take in other things.

I am in the process of reviewing my letters from Haiti, 1998 – 2001, and notice the same process. The overwhelming macro view in Haiti eventually gets replaced with more individual views. Views that come from a backlog of experience.

This is a pattern of my life. Being overwhelmed by a county library or Powell's book store until I can find familiarity and identity particular pieces. I wish my parents had been good at helping me identify the natural life around me. It would have helped me. I get a sense of how Thoreau, living in the area around Walden pond, got to see the life there over a long period of time and seasons. He had incredible observational skills and took the opportunity to live in nature. Life in a Seed is a book of his observations as a Naturalist.

Bird nests, interesting rocks, geology in motion before your eyes, a white pine

with new foliage at its tips looking like skirts with fringes dancing.
Oops! Am now more sure these are Grand Fir..... stay tuned. The Macro view of the the Rogue river is now being more micro views as I see different views each year.

Breakfast in Bed

Cheryl's News from Webegone

July 1, 2016

The weather has finally warmed enough that we are sleeping in the tent. Mimi joins us sleeping through the night in the tent.

Mimi checking out critter homes in a stump

In Mimi's case night ends early, like about 5:00 am when she hears mice, chipmunks and birds foraging. To keep the peace, Rich and I let her out. Yesterday morning she returned and plopped a dead mouse on my sleeping bag. And yes, I was in the sleeping bag. She was excited and exuberant about her catch. The reaction she received was not the one she expected, I imagine.

This may have been her first catch of the season. With the winter snow, the mouse population has been greatly reduced. Brown mouse on white snow is an easy catch. At any rate, Mimi was excited, I wasn't.

One challenge is managing Mimi in the tent at night. When she hears a critter she claws at the tent door. In an effort to corral her, this year we purchased a metal pet play enclosure. Using fiberglass window screen material over the top of the enclosure so she can't jump out, Rich and I are ready for her. After one night of staying in the enclosure she figured out her best option; to leave the tent door alone. Sweet dreams for everyone.