Miasmatic Review

Good Times and Bad News.

Good lord am I beat. This weekend was a great weekend. It jump-started my re-enacting bug, which is good. Now I’m looking forward to my next one.

Originally we were going to head out Thursday night, but with it being on the cold and rainy side and us not participating on kid’s day, we decided to head out Friday. I have nothing against kid’s day; I use to do it all the time. However, after my leaving Clan Chattan I changed my demonstration from Surly Scotsman talking about weapons to Surly Scotsman talking about Distilling. It had been decided a while back that my demonstrating distilling to kids might be taken the wrong way. The event coordinators didn’t want some parent complaining that they were promoting alcohol use to children. With today’s litigation loving society, I completely agree. There were some rumors floating around that the committee wouldn’t let me participate. I did get those straightened out that it was a mutual agreement.

We arrived a little on the early side Friday. Kids day wasn’t quite over, so we had to wait in the parking lot before they would let us in to set up. Since a nice warm front was coming through, the skies cleared up and it actually got warmer as the afternoon passed into evening. This is when all my love of re-enacting came flooding back. The sights, smells and old friends really warmed my heart. It was great seeing people that I hadn’t been able to visit with since October. Unfortunately, there were some friends that weren’t there. Some that either couldn’t make it or just didn’t come, and in a couple of cases ones that didn’t make it through the winter or aren’t long for this world.

Saturday was a hot one. The temperatures climbed into the 80’s. I didn’t participate in the battle, mainly because I spent most of my time demonstrating distilling, but also because I really didn’t want to participate. As the years have passed my desire to go run around the battlefield burning black powder is waning. My desire to go shoot at a target is more along my lines. Speaking of shooting, one of the re-enactors there brought with this huge blunderbuss. I believe he said the barrel was 1 and 9/16 diameter at the breech. It will fit a golf ball comfortably. He let me fire the thing. When asked how much powder it takes to shoot it, he replied with, “300 and some” He had a 100 grain powder measure. He would fill it three times and pour it down the barrel. Then he would fill it about half way and put that in as well. Using a slice of bread he would pack it into place. Yea, it rocked!

It's not the length, it's the girth

I went to the ONW meeting on Saturday. There wasn’t enough there for my second introduction, but that’s okay. It was another opportunity to meet more of the guys. It was during this that I learned more said news about some other re-enactors I know. It seems that this off-season has really taken its toll. The guys all gave me crap for not going to Bloody Lake next weekend. Unfortunately there are too many reasons that I can’t go. I can’t even day trip it and it’s almost in my back yard.

After the public left we went over to Clan Chattan for Dinner. Grau was making I can’t believe it’s not Blam stew, and invited us to help eat it. We weren’t about to pass that up. It was damn good. He made the ultra-dense version of it. It didn’t take much for you to get you fill. And if you ate even a spoonful too much, you where in discomfort. After dinner Clone was acting up so we headed back to our camp. I figured we’d just sit and stare at the fire while listening to the other camps from ours. We can’t leave Clone in the camp unattended. Wes, who was camping next to us, came over and started playing his Bodhran, and my friend Smokepoles came over to join in the festivities. I turned to say something to Ktreva, and I noticed that most of Clan Chattan AND the Roger’s Rangers had wandered into our camp. We ended up having a party right there!

All was going well until Grau decided to bust out the wheel of pickled food. The pickled turkey gizzards were good, the herring was wonderful, but he had some pickled eggs that spelled my doom. I love pickled eggs. So of course I grabbed one and popped the whole thing in my mouth. What none of us realized is that these had some extra-spicy kick to it. It took a whole couple of minutes before my stomach problems kicked into an overdrive. Our camp was close to a golf course, all I know is that I feel sorry for the golfers that found my surprises on the back nine the next day. Let me just say, I am NOT sticking my head in a port-a-john.

Sunday went well. I spent more time walking around and visiting people. The temperatures again soared into the 80’s. Which kind of sucked because I only brought my cold weather clothes with. So I was sweating my nuts off. I also finished off a nice sunburn on Sunday. My nose is blistered; my ears and lips are burnt. It’s painful when I blink. Before anyone says anything about sunscreen… yea I know. But you have to understand. I’m half Scottish, half Norwegian. Me in the sun is like putting a fork in the microwave. Even with SPF 109,238, which is a thick paste, I get a sunburn. Then I peel, and then I go back to pasty white.

Clan Chattan revived the Voyage of Maelduin after a three-year hiatus this weekend. It used to be their signature play they would put on. There are parts in the play where the actors have water thrown on them “unexpectedly”. My long lost blog daughter, Virtue (whom is not dead as previously thought), had this idea to get the audience in by throwing water. Unfortunately she informed my wife and Smokepoles about this nefarious plan. After she left our camp Ktreva and Smokepoles filled a bucket with water and ice from the bottom of our cooler. I didn’t get the shot of Smokepoles dousing Grau with ice water, but I did get a couple of shots of them being splashed.

Yes, that is a wall of water heading for Grau!

All in all it was a good weekend. I’m geared up for my next event, Fort Koshkonong in Fort Atkinson, WI. I’m hoping that some of the River Scum from down state make the trip again this year. It’s always good hanging with them and I haven’t seen most of them since last October. Anyway, we all had fun, especially Clone. He keeps asking when we can go camping again.

The boy on his way to harass Smokepoles

Oh, and by the way. Even though it didn't rain on us while we were at the event. Right after we finished packing up and headed out, the skies opened up on us. So even though my canvas was technically down and in my vehicle, it still got wet. There is no cover on my truck.