I got the word this weekend from Smoke-In-Face that Don Ogg died late last week of a massive heart attack.
Ogg was one of my first friends at TAB and I’ll miss him dearly.
I’ve posted a remembrance of him here.
The funeral service will be this Tuesday, July 22nd at Austin Street Baptist Church in Yoakum, TX and the interment will be at 2:15 PM at Ft. Sam Houston National Cemetary in San Antonio.
Don Ogg – A Remembrance
When I came back home and called all of my camping buddies about this new old hobby I had discovered, one of the first stories I told was of the man named Ogg – the self-described Oggliest man in camp – and how he didn’t just camp in the woods – his camp became the woods.
I recall his camp, not in a tent or a bedroll, but literally carved out of a grove of trees – his weathered tarp strung-up between several trees, his blankets neatly laid out on the ground to fit between the bushes and brambles, and numerous candle lanterns hanging from branches here and there.
I asked him about his camping style – one of my typical newbie-journalist questions – and with dubious eyes he regaled me with the comfort of a camp built into the natural lines of nature (my words, Ogg would have laughed at me describing him in Thoreau-esqe terms). It was a weekend event – but Ogg looked ready to basically leave polite society and live right there in the trees.
He showed me his gear, his famous top hat with the firemaking kit secreted inside its stove-pipe top. For a new skinner, Don was a wealth of information, and his Dutch-oven cookery showed me that camping never meant starving and certainly didn’t have to mean meager rations.
Later, at my wedding, Don Ogg and Smoke-In-Face would always be remembered fondly by my family as those “two guys who came dressed in blackpowder clothes.”
Smoke-In-Face, Many Rifles and Don Ogg – Medina Apple Festival – 2003
Ogg and I were invited in an AMM pack-in back in 2005 and I was glad to see him and some other familiar faces among the group of skinners I had always stood in awe of. Ogg had packed himself a pretty comfortable camp, while I – taking a clue from Mark Baker some of my Buckskinning reading – decided that I was going to sleep through the night with only one blanket.
Sometime in the middle of the night, I had to sneak back to my truck to get a second blanket and of course, Ogg slept comfortably through the night in his first-class pack-in set-up. I remember the next day as we were changing camps, Ogg was struggling a bit with his gear – I tried in vain to let me help him carry his pack – but he would hear nothing of it.
Years ago, when Melissa and I were just getting started in the hobby, Ogg invited me to a Boy Scout camp he was hosting with his troop up near Hearne. Melissa and I wanted to go and I brought my Dad to give him a glimpse of what Rendezvous was all about.
I had volunteered to help lead some of Ogg’s Boy Scouts in a demonstration of shooting black powder rifles. However, when I got there I realized that “help lead” and my understanding of what that entailed was far off-base. Ogg took me to the riflery area – a clearing in the forest with rifles aimed down into a slight cliff – and quickly left me surrounded by a herd of pre-adolescent boys – all nervously groping for my rifle and trade gun. I could hear Ogg’s laugh in the distance as I quickly came up with the firing line and the “circle of safety” around the shooter – improvised safety ideas I still use when teaching folks today.
Thankfully no one was injured and I learned a lot about showing patience and compassion when sharing your prized hobby – and weapons – with new skinners and green horns.
Walking back through the camp, I passed by diamond shelter after diamond shelter – each with its own cooking fire and brace of excited boys. They were excited because Ogg gave them the experience they really wanted – the feel of the old mountain man times and the responsibility of being out on their own hook.
Ogg was further down the trail showing another group how to make rope using a twirling contraption that wound strand after strand of smaller twine into usable rope.
I was amazed that this was a Boy Scout camping trip. It had nothing of what I remember from my brief stint in the scouts – no nylon cots, $100 technical backpacks, or a gigantic trailer filled with all of the “necessities” needed for a weekend trip.
Had I met Ogg in an earlier time I am sure I would have been pushing aside everything to attend his scout camps. No wonder he irked those parents – they were probably jealous of his time – and shocked by the way he challenged each boy to . . . gulp . . . act like a responsible young man.
Some of my best memories of Ogg were at the Medina Apple Festival – back in 2003. The preacher who married Melissa and I was the chairman of a local festival down in Medina, that took place on the banks of the cool Medina River. We had folks coming in and out of our camp last weekend and Ogg’s wonderful Dutch oven cooking kept us well fed and happy. I remember floating in the river with Ogg and Smoke and thinking I was truly experiencing “shining times.”
And of course . . . there was the car.
Don Ogg and his famous “car” – January 2005
Ogg rolled up to a rendezvous in Shiner in a vehicle of his own design and build. At its core, it was a Toyota truck – how it was registered down at the Gonzales County Assessor’s office – he assured me – but in reality it was nothing of the sort. It was built of plywood, miscellaneous car parts, and even the door from a drier as access to the engine. Despite the obvious miracle of its conception, it was Ogg to the core; it had storage compartments specifically designed for Rendezvous-related equipage, including longer bays for tent poles – something never often found in those ill-designed “vehicles” that come off the line in Detroit.
Another shot of the car – January 2005
Ogg will always be an indelible memory on my Rendezvous experience. I’ll remember him for all of the bizarre moments over the years, watching him walking a cat on a leash through camp, and seeing him as the madcap – getting into his cups and hooting and hollering with the best of them over at Rowdy Camp.
But mostly, I’ll remember him sitting across a campfire from me, always ready to listen, always ready to offer a kind word, and always ready to laugh.
I’ll never forget Don Ogg.
– Paul “Many Rifles” Laster, July 20, 2008
Smoke-In-Face and Don Ogg – On The Medina River – 2003
Friends of TFT,
We thank you for taking part in our eighth rendezvous, the fourth one at the La Vernia site.
The event is growing, mostly due to your helping us to get the word out about the quality of the event and the beautiful site that a generous landowner allows us to use.
Previous participants will notice that we are constantly improving the facilities and targets. At Rendezvous IX we plan to have installed at least 12 knife and hawk blocks for a separate knife and hawk walk near the present blocks. There will be no pacing off of throwing distances allowed. We will advise that when a competitor walks to the block to retrieve his or her weapon a straight path should not be taken to and from the target block. This is to prevent fellow throwers from counting the steps to the block and gaining an advantage.
We plan to buy 3D archery targets so we can have an archery walk in addition to the matches we now have. However, they are so expensive it will probably not be in the near future. The catalogs I have seen have small game targets starting at around $100. We appreciate “Catfish” Jackson’s loan of his 3D deer.
At Council Fire the informal “vote” to increase registration fees for competitors in order to increase the number of prizes was noted. TFT members will discuss a new approach to awards, keeping the black powder prizes as a basis with options for less valuable prizes. Everyone should appreciate the current retail price of powder, though we buy it in quantity. Current retail price is around $20 per pound. In order to encourage Cuz to continue coming to rendezvous we will consider optional “Trader Bucks” that can be exchanged for his merchandise, probably in $5 and $10 denominations.
Would any ‘skinners be interested in a raffle for a valuable print or book on a fur trade subject?
Until interest and participation increase we will hold Round Robin trading separate from Council Fire activities. Now that you have seen how it works maybe you will come up with an object that you would part with in a trade for an equally priceless historic item.
I’m sure that everyone enjoyed the program that the Living Waters Drum did for us. The members said that they enjoyed being there and would return for Rendezvous IX….and would bring some traditional dancers. This is something I have been trying to do ever since my Taos Free Trappers rendezvous days in New Mexico, 1990-1999. We thank Jacob Nishimura and Jimmy Gonzales, two friends from San Antonio Living History Assn. and fellow reenactors of the battles for Texas Independence, for inviting the Drum and for demonstrating Lipan Apache and Plains Indian dances.
Many thanks are due to Cold Bear and Herb for preparing the meat for potluck supper. They also mow the site a few weeks before each rendezvous and pitch in at our pre-event work days. They do these things for nothing but the love of rendezvous and the many friendships they have formed.
The tentative dates for Rendezvous IX are November 21-23, with early setup day on the 20th. That’s the weekend before Thanksgiving.
One of my hopes is to bring to Council Fire a sharing of knowledge of the era of the fur trade. It is a subject that is almost totally ignored in our schools. The American Revolution gets decent coverage, the War of 1812 a tiny bit, the Lewis & Clark Voyage of Discovery gets some mention because of the passing accent on its 200th anniversary, then history skips to the Civil War. Texas schoolchildren get a small bite of the story of the struggle for creating the Republic of Texas and nothing of the War with Mexico to keep the entire southwestern United States. I have asked TFT members to study the characters of the fur trade and try to bring them to life at Council Fire. I encourage you skinners to do the same. I was inspired by a member of a club in New Mexico who talked for a few minutes about history at its semiannual rendezvous. He would pick a year between 1820 and 1840 and talk about what was happening in the US and the rest of the world that affected our nation. I am an enthusiastic fan of “painless history” that comes through living history reenacting.
Nitty gritty facts:
We don’t do rendezvous for the money, but try to cover expenses.
TFT members (there are 11 of us) do almost all of the work. 7 of us were at R VIII.
Non-member volunteers are welcomed.
Income from R VIII registrations was $230.
Expenses were 14 lbs BP – $168, retrieval rope for flying turkey target – $16, landscape timbers for hawk blocks and future hawk walk – $26, toilet paper for Taj Mahooter – $13, copying of scoresheets, etc. – $17 – total $240
Lost & Found:
Sony camera lens cap
stainless steel cup
stainless steel ladle
linked pair of ¼” x 9” bungee cords
Your thoughts and constructive suggestions are welcome; write, email or call me.
We look forward to seeing many of you at Fritztown Free Trappers Rendezvous in October.
Watch your back trail……………
– From Grey Wolf, 8 June, 2008
June 14th at 10:00 am
Minimum of 3 rifle matches and 1 single shot pistol match.
Let’s try again for a revolver match at our range site.
On the west side of FM 306 just south of Purgatory Rd – click here for the map.
Look for the WSB sign by the gate
Bring your single shot pistols & revolvers
For more details contact Grey Wolf at wolfbear@gvtc.com
I received this from Liz and Ken of Ennis, TX. Keep your eyes open!
Our home was robbed Thursday, May 22 and they took all our guns, including black powder ones. While some of them are common, a couple are pretty rare. Those of you in the North Texas area will notice that Canton trade days is coming up next weekend. Here’s the black powder stuff they took, damn their hearts and curse their souls.
Navy Arms 12-gauge double barrel shotgun, black powder
Thompson Center Firearms Co.
.45 cal Cherokee rifle
.45 cal Seneca rifle
.45 cal Patriot pistol
.50 cal Hawkins rifle
.52 cal Renegade with Leopold scope
.58 cal Renegade with Green Mountain barrel
Ken and Liz Moucka Krajca
April 12th at 10:00 am
Minimum of 3 rifle matches and 1 single shot pistol match
Let’s try again for a revolver match
At our range site on the west side of FM 306 – just south of Purgatory Rd
The new backstops are in place!
Look for the WSB sign by the gate
Bring your single shot pistols & revolvers
For more details contact Grey Wolf at wolfbear@gvtc.com
With the three tents burning up at the SW, I thought it might be time for a little discussion on fire safety, and picking y’all’s brains for ideas to keep us all safe. I have been coming to ‘voos for nearly 6 years now, and have (knock on wood) never seen a tent fire till now. But I think all of us at the SW were conscious of how much we take for granted after that experience, and how lucky we all may have been before now. At the AMM doin’s in January up in Linden, we had a spark jump the logs in our camp while we were all at the meeting and camp feed, but thankfully the neighbors woke up from a nap in their tent to go pee, and saw the grass afire and beat it out. It came within literally two inches of our diamond fly before they got it out
So, here’s some fire safety tips for us Rendezvous-ers, gleaned from recent experience at the Southwestern, and other advice – please reply with additions to the list!:
1. Rules of most ‘voos say you MUST have a fire extinguisher (A-B-C type is the one you need) and/or a two-gallon bucket of water near the fire at all times. DO IT. Booshways and dog soldiers, please enforce it. This isn’t an arbitrary nit-picky rule, it could save your own life and your neighbors’.
2. Good idea to keep a burlap tow-sack or a piece of other strong cloth/blanket near that bucket, to wet the cloth/sack and slap out grass fires and early canvas fires. It is very effective and doesn’t use up as much water as throwing it on the fire.
3. A thick wool blanket thrown over a fire will often smother it, they say.
4. Do not throw water on a grease fire in a skillet. A CLUMP of flour (not a thin scattering of flour, it will burn too) will smother it, so will putting a lid on it(safer), or using baking soda (but it takes a LOT of baking soda). Easiest is to find a lid (not glass, it will break. Do not try to carry the grease outside, you will get burned and drop it. Find a lid, tin plate, etc, and put it on it.
5. Better to make a canvas PC cover (labeled fire) for the fire extinguisher and keep it out, than in the tent or under canvas where it is hard to find.
6. If your tent has BLACK POWDER in it and it is on fire, let someone know! That way they don’t get killed going in there when it blows up.
7. Ladies, be careful with those long skirts on and long loose sleeves, around the fire. Burning to death was a common cause of death among pioneer women. Stop, drop and roll.
8. Some of us geezers/city-slickers need/want heat in the tent at night. Some bring propane and keep it out of sight. As evidenced at the SW, this can go awry, but so can an open fire. Be careful with any source of heat in the tent or tipi. Leave the flap cracked a little to let in oxygen if you are burning propane, especially if you are sleeping on the ground – propane is heavier than air. Some propane heaters will cut off if the CO2 level gets too high, and we have never had a problem with John’s, but a battery operated CO2 detector in the tent on the floor, might not be a bad idea. Propane safety info:
http://www.gasco-propane.com/Files/safety.html
9. “Fire-retardant” does NOT mean “fire-proof”. ANY canvas will burn. Fire retardant means that probably a stray spark will not be enough to catch it on fire, but a steady flame source will ignite it every time.
10. wood vs. metal candle lanterns – we all love the ambiance of candle lanterns at a ‘voo, but we have all seen the wood-framed ones catch on fire or nearly do so if the candle tips against the wood. Keep those outside the tent, and maybe think about getting a metal/tin-framed one to use inside. Be careful with that one too, if it tips over and the glass shatters, fire gets out of that one too.
11. Do not leave a fire unguarded. If you are leaving camp and have something cooking, ask your neighbor to come over and watch it. Better yet, stay in camp. Bank the fire at night or any time you leave camp, with dirt or thick ashes, so it doesn’t flare up again and get out of hand. Of course, dig the usual fire pit and keep some logs around it too to contain sparks. Rake/hoe/dig the dry grass away from the fire area for a couple-three feet.
12. One guy said he taught his kids to sleep with their knives ON THEM, to cut their way out of a tent in an emergency (fire, grizzly attack, etc.). At least put it in the same place every night, within easy reach – like under the pillow, or right by the center pole next to the flashlight and hooter bag. If you had been in that tipi when the grass fire hit the only door, what would you do? I doubt if you could pull up the stakes and wriggle out under a tight canvas in time. A knife makes a handy “back door” anywhere you need it.
13. When there is a fire, yell “FIRE”. You may think, “well, DUH!”, but in a panic folks often yell other things that are not as effective. The Cajun guy yelled “help me”, other folks at Bugs’ fire yelled “bring water”. Yell “FIRE” as loud as you can and repeatedly in all directions – that word alone tells folks what to do, and will wake them up. Designate someone to keep yelling “fire” to summon more help as you fight the fire. Maybe that is why Cuz and John and I slept through the first two fires, we thought it was just rowdy-camp noise from 40 feet away. I mean I was asleep, they probably did yell “fire”, but I didn’t hear it.
14. Booshways and future booshways, make sure you tell folks at the ‘voo what county you are in so the campers will know what to tell 911 operators if they have to call out on a cell phone in an emergency. Tell or show the local EMS and firefighters and county sheriff how to find your remote campsite, before the ‘voo. That will save time and possibly lives in an emergency situation.
15. Cigarette butts should never hit the ground at a ‘voo (or anywhere else, for that matter). Do not flick your ashes onto dry grass or the hay-covered floor of a saloon or tent. Put it out safely and put it in the fire pit, or put it in your pocket to carry home to your trash. Spit on that ciggie-butt and make sure it is drowned out before putting it in MY trash, or I’ll kick YOUR butt.
I am repeating the part about grass fire speed from the last email, in case you didn’t have the patience to get through that long-winded one and read about it:
“Funny thing is, as I was driving home from the SW ‘voo there was someone on the radio talking about fire danger and how fast a grass fire can move. He said it can burn along at 4 miles an hour. Now that may not sound too fast, but if you do the math, that is one mile of country in 15 minutes, so…(5280 feet divided by 15 minutes is 352 feet per minute – yikes!) that means a grass fire fueled by a high wind and dry grass CAN BURN AN AREA THE LENGTH OF A FOOTBALL FIELD IN LESS THAN A MINUTE. LESS. THAN. A. MINUTE. That’s about SIX FEET PER SECOND. That is why George’s tipi burned – only took a SECOND or two for that fire to jump the 8 feet or so to the canvas, even with him carefully watching and only 20 feet away. FIRE IS OUR FRIEND BUT IT IS A DANGEROUS BEDFELLOW…”
Dry leaves and pine needles burn just as fast as grass, and yaupon burns like Kleenex also. Yaupon and other brush and low branches makes a nice “fire ladder” up into the tree canopy in a forest, and it the fire gets up in that pine/cedar canopy, you and all your neighbors are literally toast unless you call 911 and get bulldozers in there to clear a firebreak and let fire trucks in to it, to stop it. I helped save my friend Paul St. Louis’s house from a forest fire in the pine woods north of Bastrop one time, and it gave me a serious respect for fire. All I had experienced up to that time, were grass fires, but that big bad boy made a grass fire look like a birthday candle by comparison!
So anyway, I ain’t trying to make anybody paranoid, just trying to keep my friends safe! I am by no means an expert on fire safety either, so please reply with any corrections or helpful hints/additions to this list, so we can all be safe and relax and have a good time, knowing we have taken all reasonable precautions. After we get a few more good suggeations, hints, and advice, let’s pass this on to other ‘voo groups, so we can all be aware and safe. Yeah, I know I used “safe” a lot in this last paragraph, but I mean it!
Contributed by Patsy “Magpie” Harper
Short story: 3 tents burn in one day, nobody seriously hurt. Two tents belonged to Cajun Johnny, & Bugs and Linda, and the tipi was George Wilburn’s.
Long story: (scroll down for fire details)
I have some pics of the SW, including fire-damage, up on my Photobucket website here:
http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y208/soquili/Southwestern%202008/
click on the box at left on that page for pics of the buffalo skinning demo in another folder, or use this link:
http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y208/soquili/Southwestern%202008/
Buffalo%20skinning%20demo%20SW%202008/
Um, if you are squeamish or the sight of blood bothers you, or you are a vegetarian, better not go to that second link!LOL It’s for carnivores only…
Other than the fire thing, we had a good time at the SW! Cuz and John went up on Thursday and ran into snow around Dennison, last 3 hours were 20 miles an hour in 4-wheel drive in a blizzardy near-white-out, pulling the ‘voo trailer. So they grabbed a motel room in Atoka for the night and drove out on Friday morning and set up then. Muddy conditions at the site due to the melted snow, but it had good grass cover so it was ok except for the road in.
I got there late Friday (had 20-mile-an-hour driving too for a while as I hit Dallas at 5:00 on a Friday – LOL) and promptly got stuck but had sense enough to shut the car off and not spin the wheels and wait till the next day to get out. It froze during the night and the road in was easier after that.
Camp was in a beautiful valley with some seeps and springs in the middle. Camp wound up being kind of strung out, as folks camped along the road going in, due to wet conditions the first weekend. Long-term was on the right end going in, traders strung out along the middle and around the camp meeting place, and rowdy camp and short-term on the left side. So ya got yer exercise wandering from one end to the other!
John Billington got hisself a fancy new pony for this one, a red 4-wheeled electric scooter, so he got to go “cruisin’ and perusin'” any time he felt like it! Said it was like being let out of jail, he didn’t realize how much he missed that freedom since he had to go on oxygen and be tied down. I tried to talk him and Iron Hand into a race with their scooters, but they wouldn’t do it! Iron Hand’s scooter had 3 wheels, so my money was on John’s hoss! John will probably bring his new red pony to the TAB, so git ready for him to come say “hello the camp” and bum a beer off ya!
Sterling and Kelly did a great job as booshways, handling all the fun things that a big ‘voo throws at ya. It’s always a challenge! For folks who complain about such things, my thought is, “here’s yer clipboard, let’s see how you would do it”. I know I appreciate all the hard work and planning that goes into an event like that, or even a regular weekend ‘voo, so my hat’s off to all of you who have stepped up and given it your best shot. Thanks!
We camped next to Lil’ Griz, and he’s always a riot to be around. 🙂 Jonathan Carlin was on the other side of us and James Bryan camped with him for a few days, good neighbors too – thanks for the wine selection, Jonathan! Slayer and Bobcat weren’t too far away, and brought us some grilled trout one day – delicious!! There was an older couple behind us who had a big gooseneck trailer with a winch and offloaded a cool log cabin for the week! Beautiful painted tipi behind us too, belonging to Russ and Marnie from Wisconsin, I think. Russ played a mean guitar, and Marnie plays harmonica, so they added to the ambiance over near Bugs and Willie Glover’s tents for music around the fire. Daing I can’t remember their names, but the two guys who play bagpipes and bodhrans were there, and Steve Sprinkle too, and Critter, and several other folks. Cyrus showed up later in the week with his Jew’s harps and string bass. CRS, can’t remember the long-haired bushy-bearded fellow who has the website with pics on it (something-Bear) but he was there too, and played at Miss Andrea and Turtle Woman’s “Blushing Ankle” saloon/tavern a couple of nights. John and Cuz and I had a good time there too, and John developed a new fondness for grapes! 🙂 Serving wenches were very talented, and so were the strapping young serving boys at the ladies’ social held there! I hear lots of quarters were won and lost at the nightly card games there too.
I took my Malamute, Shadow, and he had a fun time going “wooo-woooo” and getting folks to pet him and tell him he was purty. Crafty lil’ devil made an escape from his crate one night when I didn’t quite get the bolt latch all the way closed after a midnight pee trip, and sneaked out of the tent to do a little “tipi-creeping'” of his own at about 3am. One of the folks he surprised was No-Nose’s wife Teresa, who had stepped out of the tent to answer the call of nature, and she looked up from a squat to find herself eye-to-eye with what she thought was a wolf at first, till she saw his collar! She found out she could cut it off in mid-stream! His next visit was over to the other traders who had a full-blood female wolf (half timber, half red wolf) named Baby, who had been flirting with Shadow the day before. Turns out she only wanted to play and wasn’t in the mood, but the racket they made woke up her owner twice. So the second time he caught Shadow but didn’t know exactly where I was camped, so he took him out to the gate where there were some trailers for trash and the water buffalo, figuring that trailer’s safety chain would hold his big ass till morning. Naturally I had a heart attack when we woke up a little after sunup and Cuz said “Where’s Shadow??” and his crate was empty!! The last time he went on walkabout at my house, he was gone 4 days and I found him 5 miles as the crow flies from the house! Luckily then too, some folks had tied him up – he’ll git shot for a wolf if a rancher catches him on their place. So as I dashed out to find Shadow, some neighbors said they had seen him at the gate and saved me time in the search. Found him wet but warm, thanks to his thick waterproof fur, and glad to see me. But he did git a serious lecture about his escapades. So we came home and found out the story about his new almost-girlfriend from her owner on the way, and I thanked him profusely for containing my rascal and saving him from causing any more trouble.
John’s dog Dakota went too, and she had a fine time fetching the rubber foot squeaky toy and badgering everyone but us into playing tug-of-war with her! Shadow and Dakota get along and he got to meet lots of dogs, but I think his favorites were Jan’s little Jack-Rat terrorist named Mouse and Irish Kat’s little 6-month old Lhassa named Princess. They were gutsy little pups who made friends with the big dog pretty fast.
OK, now for the tent fire stories, compiled from eyewitnesses.
1. First one happened not far from our tent just after folks had shut down the music and gone to bed. There was a Cajun guy named Johnny from Lafayette, thick Cajun accent, good cook by all accounts, and had some good homemade hooch that was about 140 proof and would shoot a blue flame 4 feet high when he spit a mouthful into the fire, and he had a great sense of humor too – this was his first Rendezvous and I hope it won’t be his last, despite what happened. I heard all this after the fact, so correct me if I’m wrong, but apparently Cajun Johnny had one of those Coleman gas cylinders with a heater on it in his tent, and was changing out the cylinder. They say if you get them cross-threaded, it can break off a little needle thingy in the valve, and apparently that is what happened, and when he turned the heater on again, gas was spewing out and it caught his tent on fire. Cajun Johnny ran out and called for help and folks came running, but his tent was on the ground in less than 60 seconds. So they helped him pack what was left of his gear and got him on his way to a motel for the night.
2. About 30 minutes after the first fire, folks were taking care of Bugs who was a close neighbor there, because he was having a pain in his chest. Then they noticed that Bugs’ and Linda’s tent was glowing pretty red, and daing if it wasn’t on fire too, on the back side!! So folks came a-running again with fire extinguishers and water and put it out. Had some trouble doing it, flames from the gas were shooting way up above the roof. Somehow, Cuz and John and I slept through it all. With the tents being so close together over there, it is a wonder more tents did not catch from the two that burned. So what happened with Bug’s is, either when he and Linda jumped up to help Cajun Johnny, or later when their dogs were in the tent, somehow a candle or candle lantern got knocked over onto a pillow on top of the big propane tank they had in there for the heater and Coleman cookstove, and it caught the pillow on fire and burned through the hose on the propane tank. So that fire got a little propane help too, and burned up the back wall of Bugs tent. He rushed into the burning wall tent, with help from others, to rescue his dogs and his 3 guitars, which were fine. In the process he and another guy inhaled a good bit of smoke, and Bug’s chest was still hurting, so the medics gave oxygen to the other guy, and sent Bugs to the hospital to get checked out and to treat the minor burns on his hand. He was released the next day and is fine, other than a light minor burn on two fingers and a little singed beard hair. They lost a few things, some hanging clothes, but their buckskin shirt and dress and Whitney blanket survived. Lil Griz even fixed up Bug’s hat for him.
3. AS IF that weren’t enough, the next day about mid-afternoon, folks hollered “Fire” again and came a-runnin’ to the other end of camp where George Wilburn’s tipi was on fire. According to George, he was cooking a pot of beans for supper on the fire out in front of the tipi, and had just put some link sausage into the beans. He had set a pan of bread dough to rise near the fire, and was watching it as he went across the road to speak to a neighbor for a minute. Wasn’t gone but a minute, and kept looking back at his fire. The wind was blowing pretty hard from his fire toward the tipi, and next time he looked, a spark had jumped out of the pit and across the log ring and had caught the dry grass and was headed for the door of the tipi! Before he could run across the road (20 feet) and grab the pan of dishwater by the fire it had caught the canvas at the base of the door and tipis being the good chimneys that they are, it went right up the canvas and burned it to the ground. George and his wife lost a lot of gear, but no one was hurt. Good thing the wind wasn’t blowing from the other direction too, because his daughter was in the tent on the other side of the fire changing the grandbaby’s diaper and there is no back door to that tent. George was devastated, he has been Rendezvous-ing for 30 years or so, and knows fire safety and is very careful with it, but it just shows how fast things can go south on ya. He had made that tipi himself, and he and his wife had just harvested the poles and trimmed and sanded them and oiled them. Most of the poles can be re-used, but a few were too charred. The tipi canvas was a total loss.
So camp had an emergency fire safety meeting later that afternoon, bringing certified EMS medics in attendance to the front so folks could see who their medic-neighbors were and know who to call, and having the folks who had a fire extinguisher in camp to raise their hand and keep it up so folks could see who their neighbors were again and know where to turn in case of another fire. They had fire patrols out at night after that, if your fire was not out and banked with dirt, they put it out and you got a lecture. I don’t think they had to give many lectures, as folks were pretty paranoid and careful after that. Found out you need an A-B-C fire extinguisher, not a B-C one. B-C is for electrical and chemical fires, The “A” in A-B-C is for wood, paper, canvas, basically anything that will make an Ash. So the A-B-C kind is the one to get. I think I’m going to make a canvas cover for Cuz’s and put a flame symbol or the word Fire on it and keep it out by the fire instead of under the canvas by the coolers or in the tent. That way anyone who needs it can come get it, and find it easily. One real nice thing, there was a guy at the ‘voo who refills fire extinguishers for a living, and he refilled anyone’s fire extinguisher for free in the parking lot, who had used it up on fighting the fires. Great fellow, real nice thing to do.
Funny thing is, as I was driving home from the ‘voo there was someone on the radio talking about fire danger and how fast a grass fire can move. He said it can burn along at 4 miles an hour. Now that may not sound too fast, but if you do the math, that is one mile of country in 15 minutes, so…(5280 feet divided by 15 minutes is 352 feet per minute – yikes!) that means a grass fire fueled by a high wind and dry grass CAN BURN AN AREA THE LENGTH OF A FOOTBALL FIELD IN LESS THAN A MINUTE. LESS. THAN. A. MINUTE. That’s about SIX FEET PER SECOND. That is why George’s tipi burned – only took a SECOND or two for that fire to jump the 8 feet or so to the canvas, even with him carefully watching and only 20 feet away. FIRE IS OUR FRIEND BUT IT IS A DANGEROUS BEDFELLOW…
At any rate, like I said, we had a great time otherwise. Enjoyed visiting with old friends and met a lot of new folks, including a trader named Lisa from Arkansas, the “Gypsy Potter”. She has some great white-glazed pottery dishes and cups made from historical examples of the colonial era, some pretty green-glazed ware too, and she made some cool historically accurate pit-fired bowls and pipes from the Moundbuilder culture that were fine too. One Cherokee pipe had a squirrel on it, and another was a beaver (pipestem was his tail), and there was a frog with a rattle in his head too, and a stylized deer. Had some fun playing with clay with her, picked her brains for pit-firing advice, and look forward to seeing her at future events, now that she is doing this full-time. Had fun visiting with other traders that I knew, and seeing what wares they had.
The buffalo skinning demo on Sunday went well, provided meat for the meat-cooking contest which was served at the camp feed on Tuesday or Wednesday. Other parts were sold at auction to pay for the price of the buffalo. I scored some buffalo fat for tallow, and the pericardium (heart sack) to be dried and used for wrapping horsehair danglies under quills, and wrapping the red wool “firecracker”-looking trim at the top of ermine and horsehair danglies. Scored the buff’s…er…”manhood” (pizzle) for John to make a walking cane out of, while Paul Jones got two new “ball bags” out of the deal. 🙂 I got to eat some fresh raw buffalo liver and fresh raw kidney, and it wasn’t bad! Trust me, I HATE liver in any form, and if I say it wasn’t bad, it wasn’t bad!! One fellow was collecting various innards to make haggis (liver, kidneys, lungs, second stomach to cook in, etc.). He served the haggis at the camp feed, cooked with barley I think, and it was GOOD too! I know you don’t believe me, but that’s ok, your squeamishness means there will be more haggis for me next time!LOL There were a couple of young boys there watching the buffalo skinning, and someone suggested that the boys get a knife and cut off a piece of buffalo meat so they could tell their grandkids about it. So Bill Vannoy helped them pick out a good spot and showed them where to cut, and each boy “made meat” to take home to his mama to cook. Great experience for them.
Oh well, that’s enough running on for one day. If you weren’t there, you missed a good time! Better make up for it by coming to the SW in 2009, that Jan Kitlinger is booshwaying, located just north of Austin TX – here’s the flyer:
http://www.woodenhawk.com/SWRR/
Flyer2009SWRR/tabid/102/Default.aspx
Contributed by Patsy “Magpie” Harper
Ballad of the Alamo
In the southern part of Texas, in the town of San Antone
There’s a fortress all in ruins, that the weeds have overgrown
You may look in vain for crosses andÊ you’ll never see a one
But sometimes between the setting and the rising of the sun
You can hear a ghostly bugle, as the men go marchin’ by
You can hear them as they answer to the roll call in the sky
Colonel Travis, Davy Crocket, and a hundred eighty more
Captain Dickinson, Jim Bowie, present and accounted for
Back in eighteen thirty-six, Houston said to Travis
Get some volunteers and go, fortify the Alamo
Well, the men came from Texas and from ol’ Tennessee
And they joined up with Travis, just to fight for the right to be free
Indian scouts with squirrel guns, men with muzzle loaders
Stood together heel and toe, to defend the Alamo
You may ne’er see your loved ones, Travis told them that day
Those who want to can leave now, those who’ll fight to the death, let ’em stay
In the sand he drew a line, with his army saber
Out of a hundred and eighty-five, not a soul to cross the line
With his banners a dancin’, in the dawn’s golden light
Santa Anna came prancin’, on a horse that was black as the night
Sent an officer to tell Travis to surrender
Travis answered with a shell, and a rousin’ rebel yell
Santa Anna turned scarlet, play Deguello, he roared
I will show them no quarter, everyone will be put to the sword
One hundred and eighty-five holdin’ back five thousand
Five days, six days, eight days, ten Travis held and held again
Then he sent for replacements for his wounded and lame
But the troops that were comin’, never came, never came, never came
Twice he charged and blew recall, on the fatal third time
Santa Anna breached the wall, and he killed them one and all
Now the bugles are silent, and there’s rust on each sword
And the small band of soldiers, lie asleep in the arms of the Lord
In the southern part of Texas, near the town of San Antone
Like a statue on his pinto, rides a cowboy all alone
And he sees the cattle grazin’, where a century before
Santa Anna’s guns were blazin’, and the cannon used to roar
And his eyes turn sorta misty as his heart begins to glow
And he takes his hat off slowly…to the men of Alamo
To the thirteen days of glory…at the siege of Alamo
Now the bugles are silent, and there’s rust on each sword
And the small band of soldiers, lie asleep in the arms of the Lord
Lie asleep…in the arms…of the Lord
By Marty Robbins
Around 5:00 A.M. on Sunday, March 6, [Santa Anna] hurled his columns at the battered walls from four directions. Texan gunners stood by their artillery. As about 1,800 assault troops advanced into range, canister ripped through their ranks. Staggered by the concentrated cannon and rifle fire, the Mexican soldiers halted, reformed, and drove forward. Soon they were past the defensive perimeter. Travis, among the first to die, fell on the north bastion. Abandoning the walls, defenders withdrew to the dim rooms of the Long Barracks. There some of the bloodiest hand-to-hand fighting occurred. Bowie, too ravaged by illness to rise from his bed, found no pity. The chapel fell last. By dawn the Centralists had carried the works. The assault had lasted no more than ninety minutes. As many as seven defenders survived the battle, but Santa Anna ordered their summary execution. Many historians count Crockett as a member of that hapless contingent, an assertion that still provokes debate in some circles. By eight o’clock every Alamo fighting man lay dead. Currently, 189 defenders appear on the official list, but ongoing research may increase the final tally to as many as 257.
From – http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/AA/qea2.html
Here’s a website on the AMM: http://www.xmission.com/~drudy
September/October is the best time to gather them here. Found some wax myrtle seeds too, Ed says they make a good gun lube, leaves on these make a good tea too. Learned that tea from dewberry or blackberry root is good for stopping you up if you have the…um…runs. Learned to identify dogwood in the winter by the little round seed cases left on the ends of the twigs, and to know eastern persimmon by the bark texture. Learned that a dried grapevine stem is an easy way to carry a coal from one campsite to another during the day’s travel, it smolders all day, once you light one end. I used to “smoke” grapevines as a kid, never thought of carrying fire that way though. 🙂 Ed is the nicest fellow, always a pleasure to learn stuff from him.
Contributed by Patsy “Magpie” Harper
