Things went well, despite the fairly wet and cold beginning. Cuz, Robert, Yip, Bobby, Blackpowder Jim, and Og were out there Thursday night. I had just gotten my Mother out of the hospital that day after 48 hours with her in there and was pooped so I stayed home and rested after work, went out on Friday. Mom is doing ok, just had a touch of flu or something and they wanted to make sure it didn’t turn into pneumonia at her age (93).

So I made sure she was all right Friday and came on out Friday night. Had a small turnout, maybe 20 folks, but it was kinda neat as they all used Companeros dining fly as party central. 🙂 We cooked over one fire mostly, had shooting events and such on Saturday with 9 men & one woman (new to ‘voos) competing, plus one kid – Abby (age 4). So we did a pie plate toss for Abby and gave her a nice prize too. 🙂 It faired off Saturday afternoon and was warm Sunday. Blue Cheek, Debbie Fowlkes, and the blond gal (dang I forgot her name!) were mostly the only women who camped. Whorehouse Ken Krueger and his wife came in for the day Saturday, so did Kristin the new gal from Pennsylvania. Yip and Bobby had happy hour at tea time, and even that small number emptied Cuz’s water barrel filled with margaritas! of course Og was there and Rick Quinn, camp dogs deluxe, so the rest of us didn’t have to drink much to accomplish floating the keg! LOL

Jack Booth came out for the day Saturday and brought his daughter and her baby. Little girl is 8 months old now, cute as a button, half as big as her mama already! Of course her mama is a little bitty thing like Kildee Jack. Big John came in the same time I did and gave me and my gear a ride from the parking lot into camp Friday night in his 4-wheel drive truck, roads in were muddy after the parking lot. Big John held that baby girl for I bet two hours and they both had a ball. He is a sweetheart.

Blackpowder Jim has a new Blue Heeler puppy named Dawg. 8 weeks old and cute as a button too. Sweet little pup, got spoiled rotten with all the camp leftovers he was getting from every hand in camp! So he gor an addition to his name – his last name is Dawg, but his first name is “Camp”! LOL. Told Jim he was gonna shit like a pet coon on the way home with all that rich human food !

Re: spring TAB ‘voo – John Billington is talking about booshwaying it with Cuz’s help, and having it up in Lampasas at a site they had it at before, quite a few years ago, down on Sulphur Creek just east of town (Update – The spring TAB will be April 11-13 in Centerville at MickeyDave’s and Judy’s place).

But wherever it is, we are looking forward to meeting young Miss Genevieve and passing her around like a football and spoiling her too.

I didn’t take any pics, but Debbie did and I will see if I can get some posted to the TAB site.

I made some commercial braintan leggings with horsehair drops, and a black flannel breechcloth with red trim for Gene Nagelmueller lately, as a trade for him doing the formica in my new house. Was gonna give them to him there, but he got sick as a dog and he and his wife couldn’t come to the ‘voo. Bummer.

By Patsy “Magpie” Harper

Just got this great announcement from Andrea “Blushing Ankle” Raum, that I had to pass along:

GRAND OPENING SOUTHWESTERN REGIONAL RENDEZVOUS 2008 IN OKLAHOMA!

Andrea “Blushing Ankle” Raum and Rusty “Turtle Woman” Morris are proud to present the new party place. Bring a drink and a seat and have fun with our wenches. We do not sell anything but soft drinks and beer will be offered. House Tips accepted!

Facilities: 20’ x 30’ Marquis with gaming tables, chandeliers, and serving bar.

Activities: Men’s Social, Specialty Nights (Come as you were when the Indians raided!; SWRR Crew Appreciation night, and more)

The rumor mill says that there will be a “trial run” at the Greywood Colonials event – February 15-17. Here’s Andrea’s notice about that:

After hearing many laments about the Palace not coming to Voos, Andrea “Blushing Ankle” Raum and Rusty “Turtle Woman” Morris are proud to present The Blushing Turtle, the new party place!

It will operate in the same basic manner as the Palace – we don’t sell anything, but will offer beer and soft-drink mixers served by our wenches. House tips accepted. Facilities are a 20′ x 30′ marquis with tables for game play. Our ladies are WENCHES and will be happy to serve you.

Our trial premier will be February 15-17 at the Greywood Colonial February Frolic in Palestine. If we miss you there, the grand opening will be in Oklahoma at the Southwestern Regional Rendezvous. Come see us there!

Everyone who’ s ever met Blushing Ankle knows that she puts together a great camp, so if you are on the fence about attending the Greywood Colonial event, it would be well worth the drive to check it out.

And ladies remember – they host the Greywood Colonials event at Andrea’s place and it is know for its first-class hooters!

There is info on the Greywood Colonials rendezvous on the events page. Here’s more on the Greywood Colonials group.

– Many Rifles

I recently got an email from the website that had a few questions from a new pilgrim (beginner) who was interested in buckskinning. The below were her questions and my answers about getting started in the hobby.

This is just my perspective on things and like any other hobby I am sure if you asked 25 different people, you’d get 25 different answers. 🙂

My husband and I have talked about coming to an event. What about women in this game? What parts do they play? I saw 1 woman in camp and 1 holding a rifle. What percentage of the players are women?

Great to hear from you. My wife and I go to rendezvous together and have been involved for the past 5 years or so. Most of the events are family-focused, so you do see a lot of different folks there. It’s a lot of fun and like any hobby everyone takes it to a different level – depending on what they want to get out of it.

Though I would say there are probably more men then women in buckskinning, it’s probably really closely divided – like maybe 60% men and 40% women. Here is a link to info on a women’s group:
http://www.buckskinning.org/groups_hanta_yowin.htm

There are also links to other groups down the left-hand side of the web pages, so you can take a look and see what they offer.

No arts and crafts were mentioned. Do you have arts and crafts contest? What percentage of items are made by the people? From what I saw most were store bought.

There are not arts and crafts contests per say, but a lot of the gear is hand made by people who attend events. Each event will have a “trader’s row” where folks come and sell their wares – and a lot of stuff comes from these traders. I do blacksmithing and leatherwork, so a lot of that stuff is handmade and then I’ll trade for clothes from folks that do that. There aren’t really a whole lot of stores that sell stuff, so a lot of it has to be ordered from specialty places.

What part does real research and documentation play in theses groups?

Some of the events have very, very strict rules on what you can and can’t bring and most items have to be documented to the Western Fur Trade period. However there are general rules for what works and doesn’t – most things must adhere to items that would have been in the fur trade, pre-1840, no blue jeans, no zippers, no nylon or plastic, etc. You would check in with the booshway (person that runs an event) prior to showing up. Most folks are really nice and love to help point new pilgrims in the right direction.

To get started in the hobby, I would really recommend reading either The Book of Buckskinning I or Buckskins and Blackpowder to get a good perspective on rendezvous and events. Both of these are great books. The Book of Buckskinning I can be had at Scurlock Press (same folks that put out Muzzleloader Magazine – http://www.muzzleloadermag.com/) and though Buckskins and Blackpowder is out of print, it can be found sometimes on eBay or through http://www.alibris.com/ – which is a good source for out-of-print books.

I have heard that you (the group organizers) give the people their names, how can this be?

Names come from experience and time spent at events. Usually there will be something that happen more than once or a really wild experience and that will earn you a name. Names are not given right away and are always given in fun. You usually have to earn a name.

My name – Many Rifles (or 50 Rifles depending on who you ask) – comes from a few things:

1) I usually show up to events with various different rifles

2) Some of my skinner friends tried to trade my wife for a rifle and I told them it would take “50 Rifles” 🙂

I don’t have experience with all of the groups, but TAB (Texas Association of Buckskinners) and Fritztown Freetrappers are great groups for folks who are new to the hobby.

You can find their info here:
http://www.buckskinning.org/texas_listing.htm

– Many Rifles