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Camping, Found Stuff, Gifted Charcoal, Firebox

stike
stike Posts: 15,597
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
semi-OT, but not enough room in the subject line...

Took the family camping this weekend. I spent summers as a kid on Lake Bomoseen, near Fair Haven Vermont, and so we headed up.

...on the way up, on Route 4, stopped to show them Quechee Gorge,. I've probably crossed this bridge a couple hundred times... just not in the last 15 years.

QuecheeGorge.jpg

We camped off the road near the barn where my mother and father took us 35+ years ago. Barn's been in the family nearly fifty years. Dad bought it when he was 17 or 18. My older brother and his family also came. First time camping with the kids. Car camping may be cheating, but I haven't been camping in 25 years.

The camp site. Typical Vermont barn

campsite.jpg

my wife cooking scrambled eggs on the small.

DCookingScrambledEggs.jpg

other than her special scrambled eggs, I cooked all weekend. the only issue was timing the cook. Basically just had everyone eat things as it came off. so it wasn't a case of bacon, homefries and scrambled eggs, but more like bacon, THEN homefries, THEN scrambled eggs. hahaha

the egg was a big hit with the crowd. might need to bring the large next time

when prepping it to take it (did a long hi-heat burn), i remembered that i have the exceptionally rare experimental "extra flow" firebox, with twice the number of air holes.

smallfirebox.jpg

found some stuff in the barn and took it home

castironbarnfinds-1.jpg

family of skunks lives in the barn. one of them "terrorized" camp at 2 am, and i was the only one to deal with it. my everyone else stayed quiet not so much to avoid the skunk so much as to avoid ME asking for help with the skunk.

my son's favorite thing was finding this in the barn. grandpa skunk, i presume.

deadskunk.jpg

went out on Bomoseen for the day. here are the kids (three of four, anyway) trying to maximize the bridge echo

bridgeecho.jpg

got home to find this, sitting at my doorstep. the gift of some lurkers on the forum. I was amazed. i didn't do anything to earn it, but they thought i did. thanks very much, secret santas!

wickedgoodgift.jpg

The kids had a great time. We saw (besides the skunk), a fawn, a beautiful healthy fox, plenty of cows and sheep...

Brought the telescope, and wowed the kids (and the other adults, and myself, frankly) with an incredible sights of the moon and its craters, followed by jupiter. Kind of amazing the dial in on a bright spot in the sky and show the others that it isn't a star, but rather jupiter (complete with giant stripes in its atmosphere and four of its moons).

i spent summers there when i was older (teenager), but my mother says we only really went camping there twice when we were younger. i remember it vividly, and this was an attempt to create a few memories for the next generation.
ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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Comments

  • AlaskanC
    AlaskanC Posts: 1,346
    Skunks have big teeth like that?? eeeew so what do they need the stink for???

    I wish someone would send ME some Wicked Good. :)
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    i dunno if that's a skunk. my dad always thought the holes in the barn floor (dirt) were from hedgehogs, but that doan look like a hedgehog either .hahaha
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • BENTE
    BENTE Posts: 8,337
    man what a warm welcome home!!!!


    we are planning on gong camping this weekend on the lake here in a campground so i think that is cheating but oh well better to cheat at camping than at something else :laugh: great looking barn had to be a couple snakes in there :ohmy: i wonder if they taste like chicken :)

    happy eggin

    TB

    Anderson S.C.

    "Life is too short to be diplomatic. A man's friends shouldn't mind what he does or says- and those who are not his friends, well, the hell with them. They don't count."

    Tyrus Raymond Cobb

  • Fidel
    Fidel Posts: 10,172
    Beautiful place.

    The wife looks a little different from what I remember......
  • Bacchus
    Bacchus Posts: 6,019
    Great post Stike, thanks for sharing! Thats what it is all about. I consider this post ON TOPIC.

    Car camping is NOT cheating. I go twice a year, and always sleep in a tent(on a full size air mattress). Besides how would you get your cooler full of beer and steaks to the campsite without a car, not to mention your egg?
  • nice pics stike. .. .i was thinking that dead animal was more attempt at "aging" meat on your part that got a little out of hand!! . ..
  • thats the vermont wife!! ..you met the boston wife!! that stike gets around you know .. if you look close, its a different batch of kids as well ... .that stike gets around you know!! :evil:
  • no offense buddy, i'm thinking thats an old dead dog there!! legs are way too long to be a skunk. ..
  • Big'un
    Big'un Posts: 5,909
    It's great to show your kids things that you did at their age and the places you did them. Unfortunately, when I do that, I have to tell them, "See where that hotel is, we used to go camp and go crabbing from there." or "we used to fish all night right where that restaurant is". Just not the same. Glad yall had a fun and safe trip!
  • Celtic Wolf
    Celtic Wolf Posts: 9,773
    Dead dog.. Skunks don't have canines..
  • RRP
    RRP Posts: 25,880
    and two too many legs to be Jimmy Hoffa... :whistle:
    Re-gasketing America one yard at a time.
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
     
    Thanks for sharing. Loved the 2 am skunk episode.

    GG
  • Fidel
    Fidel Posts: 10,172
    Yes they do! Big ones.
  • Fidel
    Fidel Posts: 10,172
    Tell this skunk he doesn't have canines

    sm-430-lg.jpg
  • Celtic Wolf
    Celtic Wolf Posts: 9,773
    Hmmmm good thing I am going back to college
  • lowercasebill
    lowercasebill Posts: 5,218
    Wow, that looks like a really good time. I'm sure the kids will remember that. My parents took us to New England when I was about your kids age. We stopped by the kankamangus highway and slid down the rocks and then we went to the cold River. I remember it was really cold. Thanks for bringing back the memories.
    bill
  • emilluca
    emilluca Posts: 673
    I have a cast iron set with wooden handles that I bought over 35 years ago. Still use them. I have 2 that I can't get the handle to screw off and they need
    fire cleaned and reseasoned so I don't use them alot.
    They were a promotion item at the supermarket I worked for and cost 19.95 for Dutch Oven small saucepan medium saucepan 6 inch skillet annd 10 inch skillet.
    E
  • Hoss
    Hoss Posts: 14,600
    How cool!Glad you did that.They will be too. ;)B)
  • RGBHV
    RGBHV Posts: 1,318
    That looks interesting - how's it working out?

    Starting? Temps? Airflow, Control? etc?

    Michael
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    no real effect that i could tell. my lower vent is also about 25% wider, as is the opening in the firebox to the lower vent.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    i hopeso. they had fun. was surprised how well it went, frankly. hahaha
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    when i saw the one with the wooden handle i thought "very cool...." . my great uncle had been in the service, and i was wondering how old it was. turned it over and in magic marker it said "6.99" and was stamped "made in taiwan.

    damn.

    my dad had gotten it at a yard sale not too many years ago. ah well, i liberated it just the same. the dutch oven was made in india. boo hiss.

    but free is free!
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    was there a trestle bridge at the campground?

    our next trip will likely be a place called "silver springs" (at least it was called that when i was a kid).

    was a river leading to a small lake with a trestle bridge above it. you could get in the river and slide down the rock slide all the way to the lake. had a great time there with some neighbors and my parents.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • WingRider
    WingRider Posts: 326
    Looks and sounds like a good time :laugh:

    Went camping with the camping club this weekend and cooked three pork butts to go with the turkey breasts and hunk-o-beef.

    Here's two of the three pork butts.
    IMG_0020.jpg
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    you have no idea.

    i heard something rusling in the trash, figured it was a racoon. my tent was the one with the rain fly on it, covering the windows. so i unzipped the thing to get a look. Z_I_I_I_I_I_P! at 2am. pretty loud.

    hit him with the flash light and see it's a skunk.
    damn.

    i get out, grabbed some ice from the cooler and tossed it at him and he ran into the barn. for some reason i figured that was enough to scare him away. so i went back to bed. drifting off after 15 minutes and i hear him again. well. i get up and before i opened the tent i yelled "git!' or something fairly noisy.

    i look out and he's gone. i decide to check the barn and as i step in with the flashlight, i'm looking way in the back and from side to side. finally, i look down, and he's right at my feet by the door opening.

    i jumped about twenty feet back and yelled "whah!!" hahaha

    very manly. imagine getting sprayed at 2am? damn. but i dodged it. he never even turned around

    scared him off, and hung the trash from a hook in the barn. that'll teach him.

    back to sleep, barely, when i hear him into the coolers which were right by our tent (see the pic of the wife making eggs).

    dammit.

    i whack the coolers through the tent and he runs into the barn again, i get out and put the coolers in the cars. screw you pal, i'm getting some sleep now.

    my wife was awake and we were laughing trying to get to sleep. the oldest girl and my brother also awake (but no one helping) in the next tent, and we were all laughing back and forth. suddenly we hear him walking along my tent, along the back, around theirs, and then between the two tents again (which were pretty close). he was brushing along us the whole way because we were right up against the brush and he was taking the easy path, but he finally took off.

    hahaha
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    the one last thing i wanted to show them was the mini golf and driving range i worked at when i was maybe 14, 15, 16.

    drove out to castleton, 8pm on a beautiful saturday night, and the place was CLOSED. talked to someone and they said they have no idea when the place is open. was trimmed beautifully, though the mini-golf side was ramshackle and looked like it had been barely maintained since I worked there. my dad had worked there, too, circa 1950.

    ah well, back to the camp for a fire and some smores and the kids did skits.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    i bet alaskanC could tell me (or her husband, rather) how long that thing has been there....
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    she never really wears makeup. must be the hair...
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    things are a little loose up there...

    hahaha
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    giant (well, more than an inch wide) skin at the top of the stairs.

    a girl walking down the road and bumming a light from us (the girls/cousins pronounced her "sketchy" lookin) offered us some advice about the giant black cow snakes everywhere in the grass and barns.

    thanks. thanks alot. luckily the wimmin weren't scared.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante