Friday, February 25, 2011

I Told Ya...







Daddy

I set our big red coffee can of boot grease and my hunting boots behind the wood stove to warm up.  It wasn’t long, and the smell of old leather boots and boot grease filled the air.  Most of you know what an old boot smells like, but homemade boot grease brings it to a whole new level.  It’s a combination of deer fat, bear fat and neatsfoot oil with a rather special aroma.

It was spring time and that meant high lake fishing.  Uncle Bill, Daddy and I were hiking into Blue Lake early in the morning.  I was greasing my boots with an old rag and using a matchstick to work the grease into the creases like my daddy showed me.  Hiking in the snow is no fun if your boots leak.

Momma, she fixed us a nice breakfast of pancakes, bacon and eggs.  Daddy noticed I was still wearing my sneakers and told me to get my boots on.  I figured I’d get them on after I loaded my old Army surplus haversack.  Then we were driving up Hwy. 20 towards the Baker Lake turnoff.

When I stepped out at the trail head, I realized that I’d forgot to get my boots on.  All I got from Daddy was, “I told ya to put them boots on.”  All the way into that lake... ankle deep snow, I told ya to put them boots on... knee deep snow, I told ya to put them boots on... thigh deep snow, I told ya to putt them boots on...

By the time we reached the lake, my feet were freezing.  Uncle Bill and Daddy found open water around the edges of the lake to fish.  Me, I was thinking fire and trying to find tinder.  Building a fire when you really need it is something you can’t hurry.  You have to get all your tinder and wood ready and find a good spot.  At last, I had a curl of smoke, a flicker of flame and pretty soon a lively little fire.  I kicked off my shoes and socks hanging them on sticks over the fire to dry.  As my toes warmed up, I got me a great big smile, ahhh... life is good. 

I grabbed up my fishing pole and stood on a big rock, figured I’d catch me a fish to roast on the fire.  Looking over my shoulder, I screamed, “Nooooo!”  Running barefoot, I knocked my flaming socks and sneakers into the snow.  All Daddy could say was, “I told ya to put them boots on.”  All the way down the mountain, I told ya to put them boots on... all the way home, I told ya to put them boots on.  For years and years, all I heard was, "Ya got your boots on?"  



Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Raspberries

You plant, dig posts, run wires, cultivate and pull weeds.  Why all the bother?  You can drive to the store, and buy raspberries anytime you want.

Then they bloom and bees descend by the thousands singing psalms of joy and praise to all who grow raspberries, and I feel like a god!

I like picking raspberries in the morning.  The leaves give wet kisses and whisper sweet nothings in my ear. The tires of trucks and cars on the highway sing traveling songs going places I only dream of.

My grand children eat berries ‘till they look like chipmunks with red lips. They fill little baggies to take home, and my oldest tells me, “I like the sour ones Grandpa.”

Then it’s winter, the garden is silent, and it’s time for holidays.  There’s raspberry Jello salad, raspberry blackberry pie, and raspberry rhubarb crisp.  When I eat these comfort foods, I hear bees singing psalms of joy and praise, I feel wet kisses and the whispering of sweet nothings in my ear.  I see my grandchildren looking like chipmunks with red lips.

And this is why I’m out there every spring - weeding, cultivating, thinning and tieing off those wonderful raspberries.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness


President Abraham Lincoln's dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg became the most remembered speech in America's history.  The president closed the Gettysburg Address by saying that the thousands who died there, did not gives their lives in vain.  President Lincoln said, "... this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

In this modern age of endless campaigning and corporate lobbying, the people are no longer being represented by the politicians they elect.  We are fast becoming a government of the corporation, for the corporation, by the corporation.  The endless hemorrhaging of taxpayer money spent on corporate welfare, money that does not trickle down in America, is sucking this nation dry.  Since 1980, we have been combining tax cuts and loopholes for the wealthy with massive spending increases at the top.  Our politicians are using the taxpayers' credit card to borrow, borrow and borrow.  The deficits and borrowed money will have to be paid back with tax dollars.  In short, the very politicians who promised no tax raises, used the back door to load the largest tax burden in the free world square on the backs of America's middle class taxpayers!

In the Declaration of Independence, our founding fathers said, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."  In this age of record corporate profiteering, the politicians are telling us that we can not afford a living wage, health care, parks, pensions, public education, libraries, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, or even the United States Post Office.  All while we continue the insane deficit spending on massive corporate welfare programs that have impoverished our great nation.       
I am sure that Abraham Lincoln and the soldiers who died at Gettysburg are all "rolling over in their graves" as America's representative democracy perishes from this earth.  So long as our nation's political institutions are for sale, the people will not be represented and the pursuit of Life, Liberty and Happiness are in jeopardy.  As patriots, it is our duty to demand that campaign reform and lobbying laws be changed so that we are once again a nation of the people, by the people, for the people.



Saturday, February 12, 2011

Scottish Shortbread

Great Grandparents Neil and Julie Gorrie

Great Grandfather's family tried immigrating to the United States, but Scotland's annual quotas were always full, so they immigrated to Nova Scotia, and finally to the United States.  Great Grandfather was a stone carver and started a successful monument company in Seattle where he specialized in carving angels and lambs.  If you visit the grave of the famous Seattle pioneer, Mr. Yesler, you can see an example of his stone carving.  Because of my Scottish heritage, I began making shortbread and experimented for some time.  These are awesome and leave the house smelling like a bit-o-heaven, so put on the coffee and enjoy!

1.  Mix 2 cups brown sugar with 6 cups flour

2.  Cut in 1.5 lb. of softened butter

3.  Add ¾  cup warm water (30 sec. in microwave),
     form into 2 balls and roll out to ½ inch thick on a lightly floured surface

4.  Cut into bars with a pizza cutter and prick with a fork

5.  Place on cookie sheets and bake in the oven for 25 min. @ 325, then bake
     overnight at lowest oven setting.

6.  Store in gallon bags with a folded paper towel.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Mugger Attempts to Steal Cookies

Cookie Mugger


I walked to the post office to mail some home made cookies.  This squirrel tried to steal them.  We had us a knock-down, drag-out fight over those cookies.  I finally gave him a big kick and he landed on the stump.  My leg's a little chewed, but I think I'll be okay.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Scottish Oatcakes - Recipe

Great Grandpa McDougle holding my mother.

My mother was a McDougle and Dad's mom a Gorrie (sept of clan Donald), so when I make these, I can really say they are Scottish Oatcakes.  This is my personal recipe, one that I adapted some time ago.  I put them in the oven at the lowest setting overnight, and by morning, the whole house smells good.  They are amazingly crunchy and flavorful, all you need do is make the coffee.

 Ingredients
6 cups oatmeal
2 cups flour
2 cups brown sugar
1 1/2 cups olive oil
1 cup water
1 ½ t. baking powder
½ t. salt

Directions
• mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl
• add the wet ingredients and mix well
• let stand 1 hour with a dish towel over the top
• divide the dough in half, roll out to 3/8 in. and cut into bars with a pizza cutter
• load on lightly greased cookie sheets
• bake @ 375 degrees for 15 min. then overnight on your oven's lowest setting
• store them in gallon bags with a folded paper towel inside