buckskin and cannons and fur oh my!

last weekend i attended my first rendezvous. the kind of rendezvous i'm talking about is a gathering of folks reenacting pre 1840 fur trapping, black powder shooting, knife throwing, homemade apple pie drinking type of rendezvous. my low rider subaru made it thru the two creeks to get to the rendezvous that was taking place in the beautiful rolling hills of valley oaks,wild flowers and cow poop. gun shots rang thu the air.

luckily i was forewarned about the pie. recipes abound on the net if you are so inclined.

Now i wouldn't have attended the annual Brushy Creek Rangers Rendezvous if it hadn't been for my son. he was invited to the gathering by his best friend-a birthday celebration sleep over. ah well, being that the main activities had to do with guns, knives and hawks-mama bear had to intervene and come along to keep a watchful eye on the whole affair.

as he was going to be shooting guns- black powder pistols and rifles. made me a wee nervous ya know. but as a homeschooler, this is a wonderful way to experience and learn history hands on. i must admit the guns have a beauty all their own. Here's the .45 caliber pistol he was shooting. there were some rifle malfunctions so he didn't get to try that.

i love reenactment activities. it's like playing dress up for grown ups-only you have the real thing. i was a total tomboy as a kid. i sported a real coon skin cap, loved fishing, spent my time copying animal tracks into a notebook from the tracking books i'd checked out of the library. dressing like daniel boone was not just for holloween. i loved animal fur and taxidermy. it's funny-being a big time animal lover i never thought about such items as cruel, gross or inhumane. i found them fascinating. i carried a rabbits foot around with me religiously and looked forward to our summer trips to idaho. growing up in the midwest-idaho became my wild frontier-i loved it. boots,sage brush, dust, snakes, mountains- everything a tomboy could ever dream of. i'm still a tomboy. so naturally- i slipped into the scene effortlessly. sporting a calico shirt, linen skirt and my old buckskin shirt-that i adore.

can you believe i have these items in my closet? i have had the buckskin for 20 years- got it at a thrift store in new mexico(SCORE!) it was too hot for my fur pants-but i did bring them. note- the rabbit pelts-yes, i have rabbit pelts. i'm not a member of PETA.
remember-i'm the pescitarian that needs to have a bit of salami every now and then.

there is a hawk and knife area that you have different targets to try and hit. here's the practice logs. the boys spent a lot of time there. they could be there without adult escorts. i particularly enjoyed the primitive camp.

folks cooking on open fires. check out all the types of shelters. i really like the washing stand in this one.

check out the don't tread on me flag.

i love the simplicity of this one.

now this is something i have never seen before- a cow hoof vessel. it really holds liquids! I wonder if there is any pie in there?

beans cooked all day in the cauldron for the evening potluck and friends provided music into the night by the campfire.

a variety of colorful folks attend the rendezvous-along with colorful names. like bonehead-interesting story how he got his name, miss fire and cloud dancer. here's a photo of homeless bill.

one does not come with a name-one has to earn it. others will name you according to legend -by doing something really great or something incredibly stupid. my son's friend earned the name "dryball" as he forgot to add black powder to his gun several times. once named-that is who you are at the camp. kind of a secret society thing. at the end of the rendezvous they have prizes for the competitions, a raffle and a naming ceremony where all the folks who acquired a name will be announced.

sunday morning was the cannon shoot-that was incredible. the cannons were lined up with targets on the hill. this is only a few of them.


see the black mortar?-it belongs to homeless. it shot bowling balls-yes, bowling balls. it was my favorite.

this father and son team had a cannon as well. i couldn't resist this shot.


okay all you gnome lovers-i know you are out there. check out this site.

yes, i borrowed the photo from that site. thought you might want to check it out!

time to meander out of cyber space and get some wool dyeing done. it is mother's day after all. i asked for guilt free dyeing time:)

happy mother's day to all you fabulous wonderful moms out there!