Category Archives: events

Anyone want to be famous? Potential TV project . . .

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I was contacted via email by a casting producer for the ABC show “Wife Swap.” Apparently they are looking for a “frontier family” to take part in an upcoming show. I am not sure about compensation, but if you ever wanted to be on TV without being on a daytime talk show or being caught in your front yard in your skivvies on an episode of COPS, this may be just the opportunity for you.

Here are the details:

ABC’s Wife Swap Casting Frontier Era Enthusiasts for Primetime!

To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Danielle Gervais. I’m a Casting Producer for ABC’s Primetime show, “Wife Swap.” We’re currently casting our fifth season and we’re searching for dynamic families with plenty of personality to take part in the show. Specifically, we’re looking for families who are passionate about re-living the days of the past through Frontier Era reenactments, battles or lifestyles. Whether your family embraces the Native American way of life or the lifestyles of the Frontiersmen and women, if yours is a family that loves reliving history, we want to hear from you! Families who participate in this documentary-style program are given a unique opportunity to share their beliefs, lifestyles with another family. I’ve included some further information about the show…if after reading it, you have questions or would like to speak with me directly, please don’t hesitate to contact me. In addition, please don’t hesitate to pass this email on to whomever you think may be interested in this unique opportunity.

In case you are unfamiliar with the show, the premise of Wife Swap is to take two different families and have the moms switch places in order to experience how another family lives. Half of the week, mom lives the life of the family she is staying with. After making her observations, she introduces several “rule changes,” where she implements rules and activities that are important to her family. It’s a positive experience for people to not only learn but teach about other families and other ways of life. Wife Swap airs on Disney-owned ABC television on Fridays at 8 pm- the family hour!

Requirements: Each family must reside in the continental U.S. and must consist of two parents and at least one child between the ages of 6 and 17. (There may be other children living in the home who are older or younger than the required age…as long as one child is in the required age range.)

Participating in the show is a very unique experience that can be life-changing for everyone. Families that appear on the show will receive a financial honorarium for lost wages, time and commitment. Anyone who refers a family that appears on our program receives $1000 as a ‘thank you’ from us.

I appreciate you taking the time to read this email and I hope to hear from you soon. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me! If you’re interested in learning more, please include your contact information.

Ms. Gervaise can be reached at casting.daniellegervais@gmail.com

For more details, here’s the flier.

– Many Rifles

Fire Ban for TFT Rendezvous IX

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Buckskinners!

There is a fire ban in effect in Wilson County (and others).

Big John is trying to get dispensation for the hog roasting fire.

Bring stoves for cooking and candle lanterns for Council “Fire”, and maybe fuel lanterns with dimming control.

It’s supposed to rain lightly for a couple of days then turn beautiful again.

I went to the site yesterday to drop off 12 hawk blocks. We will try hard to get a Knife & Hawk Walk set up on Thursday.

Stay below the horizon…….shinin’ times are a comin’

– Grey Wolf and the Brigade

Rendezvous IX promo

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Folks are invited to join Joe Wolf and the Texas Free Trappers at Rendezvous IX on November 14-16. 2008.

It is a reenactment of the fur trade rendezvous 1825-1840 where beaver trappers met the wagon train of supplies that came out of St. Louis in the summer to sell their pelts and buy their supplies. It was a time to meet old friends that had survived since the last rendezvous, drink bad whisky, gamble, have shooting, knife throwing, tomahawk throwing and archery competition, have horse and foot races, etc.

We don’t do all of that, but we live a weekend in the 19th century as much as is practical and possible. Civilian clothing is the usual, though when the woolen and cotton clothing and leather boots they wore to the mountains were worn out they went to buckskins and mocassins. Weapons were the same as in Texas in the same period. Nothing modern is supposed to be in sight in camp.

The site is a 400 acre on historic Cibolo Creek near La Vernia. Indian dancer friends are invited. There will be a potluck supper Saturday evening with roast pig provided, and a Round Robin trading circle, so bring something to trade. Last year a piece of the Santa Maria’s sail was traded for something equally valuable (tongue in cheek).

A Lipan Apache drum group that includes Jimmy Gonzales did a music program at Council Fire at Rendezvous VIII. They enjoyed themselves so much they say they are coming to Rendezvous IX and bringing some dancers.

Download the flier
Download the map

– Grey Wolf – wolfbear@gvtc.com

Shoot yeah – It’s Match 53 time!

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The White Smoke Brigade’s Match 53

November 8th at 10:00 am

1 single shot pistol match
Minimum of 3 rifle matches

Let’s try again for a revolver match

At our range site on the west side of FM 306, just south of Purgatory Rd

Let’s camp Friday night at the site……

Look for the WSB sign by the gate

Bring your single shot pistols & revolvers!

Grey Wolf – wolfbear@gvtc.com

TAB Fall Rendezvous Pictures

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I just posted some pictures that Otter Woman and I took yesterday at the TAB Fall Rendezvous in Lampasas, TX. We just went up for the day – we’re not quite ready to overnight with Little Otter – but we wanted her to get to see her first rendezvous.

Pictures are here.

It was a great event in an amazing location – canopied by pecan trees and on the banks of a live creek. The weather was nice and warm during the day and cold at night. Quite a different experience from our first rendezvous there (anyone else remember May 2001?).

If you have any other pictures you’d like to post from the event, please send them over!

– Many Rifles

Notice from Grey Wolf about Texas Free Trappers’ Rendezvous IX

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Skinners and pilgrims …………….take heed.

The dates of Texas Free Trappers’ Rendezvous IX have been changed to a week earlier.

A Civil War battle reenactment is scheduled on our original date and we find it best to change our dates.

The new flier is attached, as well as a map to avoid having to send it later to those who were unable to join us at our previous Rendezvous at the La Vernia site.

There were 30 registrants at Rendezvous VIII plus two youngsters whose registration is not required and our new Native American friends, The Running Waters Drum. They presented a drum and song program for us after council fire and enjoyed themselves enough to say that they will be at Rendezvous IX and bring along some dancers.

I hope to get some of our Native American friends that we will see at the “Celebrate Bandera” powwow over Labor Day weekend to be a part of Rendezvous IX.

The TFT brigade has been invited to set up a mountain man camp at “Celebrate Bandera” for the second time. We will be doing demonstrations and talking to visitors about the days of the fur trade. Period camps and campers are invited to join us there. Contact me for more information and/or to let me know if you will be there. We need to reserve plenty of space for lodges, knife and hawk, and possibly archery demonstrations.

At Rendezvous IX we can expect to meet some new reenactors who have found us. I was told that they do well researched “personas” of Cherokee and Seminole individuals and are ready to portray the 1810-1840 period with us.

We will have “Trader Bucks” ready to award as prizes, in addition to the black powder, so be there, traders!

Grey Wolf can be contacted at wolfbear@gvtc.com for more information.

This event has been posted to the events page – Many Rifles

Don Ogg

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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.

Texas Free Trappers – Rendezvous VIII Report

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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

Fire Safety Tips

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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