Thursday, August 20, 2009

Summer Travels

I guess a late update is better than none!
We had a great trip in July as we wandered our way down to Nevada for the annual Happy Birthday America BBQ. We spent several days at Eagle Lake, just north of Susanville in California. We’d never stayed there before so it was an experiment. A nice quiet campground which we had almost to ourselves, a nice view of the lake, and though we never saw him, we had an antelope snorting and whistling at us every evening.

We lounged in camp, read, and whipped up a great new Dutch Oven recipe, "Pete's Pot roast". Check The Cookhouse blog for that. We took a side trip one day, down to Susanville to visit a bookstore and stock up on some California history titles, then over to the Belfast petroglyphs. If it hadn’t been so hot we probably would have stayed longer, but we got several nice shots, enough to study the glyphs at my leisure.

The 4th of July BBQ was the usual success. Matt won the croquet match this year, but my camera was acting up so I don’t have shots of the “awards ceremony”. There was a really good turnout this year, with some folks showing up that we hadn’t seen for awhile.

Closely following that trip was the annual Tailgate Training Camp. We tossed horseshoes, did several sets of 12 oz. curls, tent set-up, and the camp cook hustle, and I think we’re ready for the first game!

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Coast Fork Cowboy Festival 2009

It’s 8 PM and it’s 82 degrees outside, and 71 in, so guess here I am?
I keep promising myself I’ll update this blog, so I’m starting with today and working back through events we’ve missed.
’Just got back from the Coast Fork Cowboy Festival up in Creswell. An evening out was my reward for spending most of the day putting garden produce in the freezer. This year the festival was a little different than past years. In honor of Oregon’s 150 birthday, and Creswell’s 100th, all the entertainers are homegrown Oregon stock. I bought CD's from two of the acts.... it's great to be able to hear them in person, sort of a test-drive before you buy!

Joni Harms is a local Oregon girl from Canby. In addition to being a member of the Grand Ol’ Opry she’s won a bunch of awards for her music, which is very western, not “country”. Her family ranch was homesteaded back in 1870. It’s not on the CD I bought, but she performed one called the Oregon Trail about a Texas cowboy following an Oregon cowgirl as she heads back to Oregon. I need to get that one! She writes as well as performs, and since I don’t track such things it was interesting to hear in her introduction to songs who else had recorded them.

The other album I bought is by the High Strung Band. This is a family band with three really talented kids. Their performance was mostly instrumental, which is the best way to really enjoy their great fiddle and mandolin playing. It’s really uplifting to see such talented kids.