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  • Today my father passed. He was missing his wife, Prue, of 64 years. For the last 4 months, since her passing, he has been asking everybody that talks to him if they have seen Prue.

    I believe he is in a better place, with his wife, young and joyful, once again.

            

  • I was running behind the gun this week due to the long weekend. I’m tired after three days at the Fort, and all the packing and all the work while there. So I’m going to just toss some news spaghetti on the wall and see what sticks.

    Fort stuff – I went on Friday, and stayed until Monday afternoon. While there, I lit up the bake oven once, on Saturday, and turned out two *perfect* loaves of bread. I didn’t rush myself for patrons, for a change, and the result was that there was no burn on the bread at all, and the crumb was divine. By Monday morning, all that was left of those two loaves were some crumbs at the bottom of the bowl I’d had it sitting in. I decided to make egg noodles on Saturday, as well, and that turned out very well. I made a second batch on Sunday, because I wanted to try and get the dough a bit thinner. I succeeded, and the end result was a very consistent, 1/8″ thick dough that turned into quite lovely flat noodles similar to a pappardelle. They’re still a bit too thick for my taste, but these cooked up quite nicely.

    We had a decent turn out at the Fort over the long weekend. We had a slow but steady stream of patrons come through, all with fantastic questions. I wasn’t rushed for time, so I spent a lot of my “free” time going from place to place and giving tours. I definitely got my steps in, and ended up walking about 17 miles over the course of the weekend! After hours, I had two nice dinners with the volunteers (Saturday night and Sunday night), which included great conversation, friendship, and a bottle of wine to share. It was definitely a fantastic weekend.

    Harris stuff – I’m having a really hard time watching what Harris is putting out on media. Some of it I know is actual lies, because I have been paying attention. Some of it is just bizarre. Her documentary (because that was NOT an interview) was ridiculous, full of contradictory stuff. The fact that she’s repeating the same EXACT speech in city after city is getting a bit old, and the odd fake accents are incredibly grating. Her inability to give a straight answer is painful.

    That said, there are people putting false stuff out about her, and I dislike that, too. There’s plenty of fodder that’s real; we don’t need to make anything up. So no, she was not involved in a hit and run accident in 2011. Yes, Harris was born in America (in California, which explains a lot, but is still a US state). No, Harris did not make a campaign ad that disses herself (for heavens’ sake, why would she? she’s stupid, but she’s not dumb). And no, the Eagles did not endorse Harris. At this point, there’s so much misinformation out there that it’s almost impossible to tell what’s real and what isn’t. There’s a big question as to whether someone on the far Right is doing some of this, or if Leftists are messing with it in order to get caught and blame the Right. It’s crazy.

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  • My social feeds are full of people claiming that Trump’s campaign is imploding. That Kamala’s got the biggest crowds ever. That Vance has weird interactions with people.

    But the one thing that I keep seeing over and over again is crowd size claims.

    I’ve been aware of crowd size estimates since Glenn Beck held his tea-party rally back in the 00s. People were showing overhead shots and then doing counts.

    The numbers reported by the right were much larger than the number reported by the left. Taking them from the same images.

    Then there were the images from Watt’s Mommy’s Demand group. For years, it looked like they had massive crowds outside the NRA annual meeting.

    Then we were able to see photos from gun owners. The crowds were staged to look very dense, but there were barely a 100 people there.

    Before Kamala was installed, the media was constantly going on about how Trump’s crowds weren’t really that big.

    We would see photos seeming to show a rally half full. Then we would find out that the images were taken before Trump got there or after he left.

    Once Kamala was installed, suddenly the left was much more concerned with crowd sizes. They started to post images of the Kamala crowds with all their joy and excitement of getting to vote for a person who has received zero votes.

    Then I started to notice something, the images, and videos posted by Kamala’s people didn’t have the numbers that her team was claiming.

    “Look at this massive line of people to greet the annotated one!”. And there is maybe a block of people, barely 2 people deep.

    As a child, I watched Nixon’s inauguration parade. It was January in D.C. It was cold. My brother and I were bundled up in our winter coats. There were people lining both sides of the street, shoved up on one another 4 or 5 people deep. All to get a glimpse of our new President.

    That isn’t what I am seeing in the Kamala videos, posted by her people.

    Here is my point, the right is poking fun at Kamala’s crowd sizes based on her videos and images. The left has to take their videos and images that are of questionable integrity to attempt to show small crowds at Trump events.

            

  • I’ll write more about my experience at the Fort later, but I leave you with a video of some bread making I did, put together by my friend Garrett. He’s filmed me at ren faires before, but I made a specific invite for him to come this weekend and see me doing something new. He and his mother came, and they had a great time!

            

  • Video editing is from before CGI. An example of early VFX.

            

  • Some of you may have guessed that I like to collect cookbooks, in addition to writing them. I have, for a very long time, been interested in historical cookbooks. In particular, I like original recipes, even if the physical book I have is a reprint. One of the cookbooks I treasure most in my collection is The Original White House Cookbook. The first edition came out in 1887, but there have been several editions since then. You can buy many of the new volumes, but it’s hard to find originals (ie printed in 1887) of that first one. I have a reprint of the original edition, printed in the early 1900s, and I love it.

    I’m preparing myself for going to the Fort again this weekend. I’m hosting a “show and tell” event over the Labor Day weekend, and I want to have some yummy recipes. As I was cooking breakfast this morning, I was thinking about what I’d like to make. My eyes strayed over to the cookbook shelf (actually a whole bookcase, but whatever), and I noticed that the White House one was on its side and out of its usual place. Likely one of the kids had it out and didn’t put it back right. When I had a moment, I went to straighten it, and then stopped, because an incredibly profound thought hit me.

    That cookbook, that original one from 1887, was written for the American people. We were, at that time, barely a hundred years old as a country. We were essentially a toddler, in the grand scheme of things. And here we were, offering our entire people the opportunity to cook like the leaders of that country.

    Our people were (and are) eating the same food, prepared in much the same way, as our leaders.

    Do you get how very insane that sounds? To have a populace who eats what the elite are eating? In 1887, Queen Victoria was munching on oranges, locally sourced salmon, and an early version of the turducken (12 Tomatoes). Kaiser Wilhelm II was eating ice cream and “Fresh goose-liver medallions that have been seared and cooled before being coated with chaud-froid sauce, garnishes, and then sealed in a layer of Port jelly. (Royal Menus)” Napoleon wasn’t eating a lot of rich foods, but only because he suffered from gastritis and insisted on plain and even bland foods. The rich of Europe were eating well, and the poor and middle class citizenry were eating simple foods, and sometimes not much of them.

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  • While at the Fort, one of the visitors to come through, was from Australia.

    I wanted to break out into songs from Men At Work, but restrained myself.

    During our conversation, we were talking about the nasties that live in Australia.

    Of course, there were the spiders. We agreed that spiders were worse down under.

    We agreed that koala bears are cute to look at but nasty, vicious animals if they aren’t drugged.

    She explained that the big red kangaroos are nasty critters. They will lean back on their tails, then kick out with their legs in a way that will knock a strong man down.

    The little gray ones are not as nasty.

    Another thing I didn’t know, was that kangaroos are extremely destructive to crop land. They will eat a field bare.

    This led to a discussion about the definition of varmint. I am not a lawyer, so check the regulations where you are before you depend on some random guy on the net.

    It is my understanding that farmers are justified in removing destructive varmints. So when that cute deer is eating your crops, they are not deer, they are a varmint that can be removed. Same with several other animals.

    Which led her to talking about American’s having guns. I described the lever actions over the sofa. Bear, Deer, Raccoon and Squirrel rifles. Or in gun culture language, 45-70, 30-30, .357 Magnum, and .22LR.

    While we agreed that there were some nasty faunae in Australia, she felt that bears were worse. She wanted that 45-70, “Bear Rifle” if she was going walking in the woods of New England.

    For me, the most interesting part was getting to ask her about the gun confiscation.

    It was obvious that she had been asked this before. She started by trying to answer for the group. Not herself. I had asked her explicitly about her opinion, not the opinion of others.

    She explained that she had turned in their rifles. Not because the state knew that she had the rifle, but because she and her family were afraid that somebody would snitch on them.

    Once the guns were collected, crime started to go up. She wishes they still had guns, envoys the gun culture of America. And of course, strongly suggests that we not give up our guns.

            

  • It was a beautiful day for a visit to the Fort.

    You all would have had a chuckle if you had seen me.

    Remember the movie True Grit with John Wayne and Glen Campbell? Mattie Ross wore a black hat. That is the hat I felt I was wearing yesterday. Except mine didn’t have a tie strap. I kept waiting for it to fly away in the wind.

    This was topped with a white linen vest, about four inches too small across the belly and 2 across the chest. But it looked period.

    That was over a linen shirt. The shoulders of which were a little tight.

    Black pants finished the look.

    I had planned to do some spinning. I didn’t. I spent most of the day talking to people and learning and finding things that need to be fixed.

    My primary learning goal was to observe and ask questions about how linen is made. They didn’t have anybody in the weaving room.

    I did find a very knowledgeable lady, but she had knowledge but not skill.

    A bit later, I managed to get one of the interpreters to actual show me how it was done. It is an interesting process. There are some specialized tools that are needed for the processing. I don’t have them, I think I can make them.

    We bought a bound of flax seed from some monks a few years go. I think we might plant it this coming spring. Maybe at the fort.

    Subsequently, I ended up talking to guests. I do not have the skill to disengage when I am done. So many interactions lasted to long.

    Tomorrow’s post will be about some feedback I got from an Australian farmer who was there when they took the guns.

    My daughter spent several years working for a corporation where she didn’t feel her skills were appreciated. One of her coworkers did not interact well with her.

    When she changed positions and is in a new team, with a new chain of command, she was exposed to some people that she described as having “quiet competence”.

    Ally came to me with a sickle. Told me it needed to be sharpened. I found some sharpening stones and did so.

    I’m sitting out in the courtyard for the light on a capped well. The director took pictures.

    Seems that there is a skill to sharpening, which I have been working on, but which I didn’t have on my list.

    So I got another, “He just sharpened it, amazing.”

    All in all, I had a good time. My bad knee hurts, but that’s a good hurt. I was outside most of the day. I meet people.

    The only thing that would have enhanced it would have been if there was live fire involved.

            

  • I’m up at the Fort with Ally and my wife. They are having a show and tell.

    She picked out the garb to wear, and I have my black felt hat.

    Originally, I intended to do some wood working, but that is currently on hold until I get some raw lumber.

    The lathe needs bracing before it can be put into use. We could just use 2x4s, but that wouldn’t look very nice.

    My goal is to bring up a 4 or 5 foot length of Oak from the woods. It will be heavy.

    That will be fed through my bandsaw to make some rough blanks. The blanks will be taken up to the fort to be hand planed and turned into braces.

    So… What will I be doing up there today?

    I will be combing wool and spinning it. I have my wheel up there to use, but it is likely I’ll be using something a little older. Some 100+ years older than mine.

    I am also hoping to learn how to process flax into fibers for spinning. It is an example of something I have knowledge of but no skill.

    The next project is to make an inkle loom. My fine felt hat is too boring, even for me. I want a hat band. That requires me to make a hat band.

    To make the hat band, I will need some sort of loom. I’ve decided to use an inkle loom. I could spend dollars to buy one, instead I plan to make it.

    There will be some shortcuts used. The intent is to use the modern jointer, plainer, and lathe to make the components, but we will be starting from a log in the woods.

    The threads for the hat band? Those are what I will be spinning. My wife will be dying some of the thread, I will have to decide on colors.

    I hope that some of you make it out to the Fort this weekend.