chocks

Getting a pair of chocks for the wagon. Lot of hill parking going on. Want to get a set with the rope between then though, for the whole "your flight to Rio is about to depart" flourish when you yank them out.




You know how there is a website for eveything? Yes, there is a chocks.com. Or I could do what Pops does; just keep a pile of wood in the back and throw a log under the back tire...

decoys for decor

If your place is sparse, a row of decoys might seem a little OTT. Pushing it. If your house already is jammed with dust collectors collectables then they are just one more way to start a conversation. Each one has a story; where it was bought/found, who used it, who made it, remember that time when... For extra points you keep the decoys seasonally aligned, that is in the winter you face them to the south. No, not kidding.

You can find them all over but the cork bodied ones from LLBean look and feel great. If you are using these as the manufacturer intended (ie waterfowling), the compressed cork allows them to float even in rough water, but better still they are not absorbant -so won't rot. Last for years. Nice little potted history of the product below.




Duck hunting seson is next month in VT. Full details here, greatest hits above.

A lot of parephernalia associated with the all this. Good excuse to buy a decoy bag...

better than ends

You think you are slick with your connection to the local butcher who keeps you the bacon "ends"? Pops hits this place in Wallingford and gets a grip of "better than ends" haha. The scraps either have no fat or extra thick fat, yum. The eggs are from the henhouse 50 yards away.

fiddleheads

Foraged by Pops. You can boil or steam them. I fry them w/ pine nuts, garlic, chili pods maybe, and some S&P. Have to admit sometimes wacky DIY foods do not live up to the hype, but these are really good. Yes, you are eating the tops of spring ferns, don't let them pass you by. Bonus, huge tranche of ham...

Facts on Fiddleheads -via the University of Maine.

who moved my roadkill

Trying to think of a cutesy euphamism for roadkill... vehicular charcuterie? Anyhow, classic story from Pops the other night;

Headed out to work early A.M., all quiet.

Came back about along same road an hour later and spotted a wild turkey knocked down and out by the side of the road. That tail would make a nice fan mount thinks he, if not eat the bird too.

Flip the truck around and head back.

Someone had already stopped and snagged the bird for themselves. Ha!

Futher reading; fire/flood/pheasant insurance

doorstop

Had a brainwave recently to buy some doorstops and re-purpose them as bookends. LightBUlb! Pops reversed the idea and used an old suitcase as doorstop. Just use any small vintage leather traveling cases you happen to have around... Nassau sticker optional.

pond yachts

Photos via Clapham Model Yacht Club © of Francis Firth
Pond yachts are model wooden sailboats built for racing. They were popularised by small clubs in London in the 19th and 20thC.

During the 1820’s a group of [sailing] enthusiasts – including Cooper the Gunsmith, shoemakers and other mechanics – met on Sundays to sail small boats, up to 2’6’’, on the Green Park Pond; finishing in time for a glass of ale at the White Horse Cellar in Piccadilly before public houses closed for Church Time at 11 a.m. Cooper is credited with introducing external lead ballast; it is tempting to picture him discussing his designs in the cellar.
-via the history page of the London Model Yacht Club (Est. 1884)

At the height of their popularity in the United States (the 1920-40s) they were a common sight in public parks. The yachts had class (size) ratings and were raced in international competitions, including the 1936 Olympics.

The Marblehead-class (M-class) pond boat originated in 1932 and over the years, has became the popular example of a racing pond yacht. Sort of chest high. You know it when you see it. More info via a slideshow from the Marblehead Museum.






The Lannan Gallery in Boston houses over 400 model boats (tugs, frigates, steam yachts, vintage pond boats as above and more) and an insane collection of nautical antiques; for sale. I have walked by it a million times and never went in until today (ring the buzzer, tip your hat etc...). No prices listed, you know the saying... Other neat stuff includes Morse Mark V diving helmets, lanterns, portholes, ships' wheels, fog horns, bells, beacons, sea chests etc. Your basic nautical lookbook pr0n...

Pops has a few pond yachts of varying size. We managed to almost wreck a small one last summer when it blew into the standpipe in a storm. Unbelievably it popped out downstream a week later and Sis found it. Hurray.

mortgage button

A tradition from Nantucket that you may find in other New England homes; the mortgage button. When the mortgage was paid off, the papers were burned and the ashes placed in a prominent stairway's newel post, then the post topped with a piece of scrimshaw, often with the owner's initials etc but originally was plain. Now often made of ivory, not whale bone, and is common to be installed upon sale or construction and not stuck down until mortgage paid off. Photo and more info from NinaHelman. Forget scrimshaw, even ivory buttons run around $150... but just found the below on the 'bay... owner says it is plastic, could actually be ivory. For $7.50 might be worth finding out... (Item is handturned on Nantucket natch'.)


Below, an example of a squared newel post, sans button, via OldHouseJournal.

but first shoot your deer -venison stew

Foolproof recipe for venison (or even beef) stew, from Pops (as before). I missed out the juniper berries, and threw in some old mashed potatoes to thicken it. Man, when you brown the venison (or whatever) in the bacon fat, it is pretty tempting just to stop there... #ribsticker. Sidenote: Pawlet (southern VT) Game Supper 2009 coming up next week. 2008 post here.

Housekeeping: there is plenty room for discussion @10engines on the variety and ethics of hunting, or even eating meat for that matter. Just as healthy discussion needed on types of farming. I enjoy venison but have never shot a deer myself, though not opposed to it. Have only been bird-hunting, and was basically the cook on that occasion anyway (birds simmered in apple bubbly, not bad).

quiche = egg pizza

Good way to use up leftover whatevers. Tofu? Sure, fry it in garlic and throw it in. Eggs from Pops so nuclear yolks. Standard issue... TO quote from Uncle Buck (can't wait for ehh Criterion release...) "hey, he's cooking our garbage for breakfast."

farmer's meerschaum -cobb pipe

Supposedly you can make your own corn cob pipes but these simple, inexpensive cob pipes from the 19thC upstart Hirschl & Bendheim's Irvin S. Cobb marque (which come "Toasted and Broken In") get great play among pipe smokers, not least for their ease of use. Of course, better not to smoke atall. These pipes played off the aura of Irvin S. Cobb the Kentuckian humorist who it seems was actually more like a cigar smoker... Full story on this anyone??

The older and larger manufacturer of corn cob pipes is The Missouri Meerschaum Company, located in Washington, Missouri since 1869. The shots below from Life photographer Wallace Kirkland, seem to be from a visit there.




Finally, Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Photographer: Carl Mydans. MacArthur smoked a cob pipe made for him to precise specs by the Missouri Meerschaum Company. Dubbed the #98M (Mac). Natural cob with a straight stem.


Love this excerpt below from A Message to Boonville by Christopher Darlington Morley. (via Gutenburg Project)

"What is the subtle magic of a corncob pipe? It is never as sweet or as mellow as a well-seasoned briar, and yet it has a fascination all its own. It is equally dear to those who work hard and those who loaf with intensity. When you put your nose to the blackened mouth of the hot cob its odor is quite different from that fragrance of the crusted wooden bowl. There is a faint bitterness in it, a sour, plaintive aroma. It is a pipe that seems to call aloud for the accompaniment of beer and earnest argument on factional political matters. It is also the pipe for solitary vigils of hard and concentrated work. It is the pipe that a man keeps in the drawer of his desk for savage hours of extra toil after the stenographer has powdered her nose and gone home.

A corncob pipe is a humble badge of philosophy, an evidence of tolerance and even humor. It requires patience and good cheer, for it is slow to "break in." Those who meditate bestial and brutal designs against the weak and innocent do not smoke it. Probably Hindenburg never saw one. Missouri's reputation for incredulity may be due to the corncob habit. One who is accustomed to consider an argument over a burning nest of tobacco, with the smoke fuming upward in a placid haze, will not accept any dogma too immediately.

There is a singular affinity among those who smoke corncobs. A Missouri meerschaum whose bowl is browned and whose fiber stem is frayed and stringy with biting betrays a meditative and reasonable owner. He will have pondered all aspects of life and be equally ready to denounce any of them, but without bitterness. If you see a man on a street corner smoking a cob it will be safe to ask him to watch the baby a minute while you slip around the corner. You would even be safe in asking him to lend you a five. He will be safe, too, because he won't have it.

Think, therefore, of the charm of a town where corncob pipes are the chief industry. Think of them stacked up in bright yellow piles in the warehouse. Think of the warm sun and the wholesome sweetness of broad acres that have grown into the pith of the cob. Think of the bright-eyed Missouri maidens who have turned and scooped and varnished and packed them. Think of the airy streets and wide pavements of Boonville, and the corner drug stores with their shining soda fountains and grape-juice bottles. Think of sitting out on that bluff on a warm evening, watching the broad shimmer of the river slipping down from the sunset, and smoking a serene pipe while the local flappers walk in the coolness wearing crisp, swaying gingham dresses. That's the kind of town we like to think about."

[Note: meerschaum pipes are made of the epinonimous white bone-like mineral. Usually ornately carved.]

rabbit's foot -fourth in occasional series

things my father taught me

Fantastic series of "things my father taught me" over at allplaidout. Read my thoughts about Pops here.

restock the hives -details

Prepping. You can see dead bees at top left on floor of the old hive.
Frames visible with winter honey still there.
Here comes the queen. Out first.
Try that again, maybe use gloves this time...
Leave the workers to wiggle down into the frames and get settled.
Mason jar is full of sugar water to keep bees close.
Run inside...
The frames hold the honeycomb or brood comb within the hive (each level of the hive is a "super"). The frames are a key to the modern hive since they can be removed to inspect the bees for disease or to extract honey.
Further reading on the construction. Shallow supers, deep supers, movable hives, etc...

This process of installing new bees does not require the use of a smoker, that is for slowing down/pacifying bees during any inspection/work on the hive/stealing honey...