First Kayaking of the Year

Oy was I itching to get out on the water! The winter up here has been extra long and extra cold!  

The first promise of a medeochre day had me strapping my Oru Kayak together and shoving off into some chilly waters with my music and my snacks.

The day started off POURING rain as I drove out to Rattlesnake Lake, but as I parked and started putting my kayak together the sun popped out and I was actually sweating from the sun's warmth for the first time in...basically a hundred years.

MMmmmmm I felt extatic and giddy, pushing my wee vessel out onto the glossy green waters.  

One.

Two.

Three.

I wiggled my way off the ramp until...

Woosh!

*sigh of exhilarating relief*

Out into the expanse I paddled as fast as my very unconditioned arms would take me!

As I circumnavigated the lake I stopped every so often to rest, check out the underwater stumps of the trees of yore, chat with an old man walking his dog on a trail...

feel the wind ripple the water and move me along with it....

soak up the weak rays from a tentative sun

breathe in the fresh fresh oxygen in this green and growing place

eyeball some aggressive dark clouds over East.

As is natural...I reached the farthest point from where I put in just as the wind ripped across the lake quickly frothing white caps and pushing me into places I did not want to be....like the center of the lake.  Unconditioned arms be hanged, I power paddled as fast as I could manage.  My first thought was "oh this will just pass over real fast" as Washington spring storms are apt to do.  However that hope was dashed when there was a deafening BOOM and the bottom of the sky fell out...all over me.  The panic rose in the back of my throat as my spent arms struggled to make progress cutting though the rough waters and the boat ramp disappeared behind a veil, nay, drapes of rain.  

I took a moment and rested next to a giant stob sticking out of the water and started chuckling, then full on belly laughing.  

This is how it goes for me.

I have a grand plan of an epically photogenic Instagram worthy outdoor experience and feeling fulfilled with my outdoor prowess.  Instead I am a soggy, weak, and frightened novice kayaker who dropped her sandwich in the lake. 

Keep it real my friends.  

I'm never going to be one of those girls who has perfect Insta shots and get's a million followers and and sponsored by top outdoor brands.  Kudos to those ladies.

But for us normal humans, I'm going to share a little more reality and hopefully encouragement  for you all.  We don't have to be amazingly skilled before we go out there to experience the outdoors and we don't have to look cool while we're doing it.  

OUT THERE is where we grow the skills!  

So here's to all you folk like me, just getting out there, learning, trying, exploring, being refreshed by nature and building confidence in our abilities and sometimes...

getting our butt's handed to us, but having a good story after  :)

...basically the hipster's dream...

Aaaaand after a long journey back to Oregon to see family (and lots of pit stops for mountain biking and general outdoor shenanigans) I'm on my new adventure.

"Abigail, please tell us your new adventure! We're waiting with bated breathe!"

Aw guys you make me blush

And guess where I just re-located to!  

If you don't recognize the structure in the photo...I can only assume you've lived under a rock far away from the Pacific Northwest.

SO here I am!  Hopefully starting my coffee shop job soon to get me through the winter.  

I know...

Coffee shop job...

In Seattle...

How much flannel do you own, Abigail?

And just so you guys are aware...the glasses are prescription. No fakes.

So bam.

I'm in the land of Grey's Anatomy.

Of the gum wall (ew)

Pike's Market

The land of eternal rain except when the sun shines and then confusions runs through the streets like the bulls in Madrid. Not exaggerating. It's fo realz. 

It's a new chapter in adulting.

Sometimes I get scared and overwhelmed by all those nitty gritty things like changing insurance to Washington state...

or the fears of how this small town girl is going to manage in the big city...

what if I hate it?

or worse...

What if I really like it?

I don't know...there are a lot of unknowns in life and we can't hold still until everything is set and organized.  Otherwise we won't live.  

There you have it.   My little update is complete as I snoop around this new place...definitely not holding still!

Hello, I must be going...

Have you seen the Marx Brothers movie Animal Crackers? 

If you have not...well you are missing out on some verbal wit and rhetoric that staggers the modern comedic world.  For serious. It's pretty legit.

One of my favorite songs (and one that applies to my life every few months...or weeks...or days) is the one I put in the title of this post.

"Hello, I must be going,
I cannot stay, I came to say, I must be going.
I'm glad I came, but just the same I must be going.
La La."

In case you haven't noticed...Fall is basically wiping its feet on the door mat to come in and hang out.  That means I'm basically packing up my truck again to move on from #fireseason2015 and have new adventure/life/somehow survive.

In three days...October 1...I shall be once again done with a season, unemployed, free bird once more.  

Not exactly sure what my winter will all entail...but as of my planning right now it will involve...

1. Rain (right...this PNW is so original with that one)
2. Coffee (I just blew your mind again didn't I)
3. Backpacking (Possibly international...possibly back yard Oregon...possibly Mt. Rainier...)
4. Mountain Biking (I bought a mountain bike...and I'm in love with going fast...yes I wear a brain bucket)
5. Time with family (That is a must.  Little or long, it is a must)
6. Writing more (I have missed writing all summer and am STOKED to get back into a semblance of some kind of rough routine where I write more)

There you go.  I'm alive.  I'm on the move.  I'm setting up my next adventure.  Thanks for keeping up with me all summer as I worked my little tush off!

Here's hoping all of you had a happy summer and are ready for some fall pumpkin things and cooler weather and new happenings!

Stay tuned!

                                                 Just me being calm, cool, and collected near Diamond Lake.

Learning to Dutch Oven

New Year = New motivation to learn new skills.  Since I'm all about getting-back-to-basics, I thought I'd take my cooking skills to the next level and dry some Dutch Oven cooking.  

Lucky for me, my sweet sister-in-law has done tons of Civil War reenacting and learned from very skilled ladies how to cook meals on an open fire.  Having this wealth of of information right in the family was ideal for my venture of learning to use my Dutch Oven. 

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PS TIP

If you have a family member or friend with a unique skill, take the time to learn it!  Chances are they will be more than glad to share.  This is how I learned to knit originally.  Just ask!  Instead of paying for a class or online tutorial, just ask someone who already knows!

Think of the possibilities!

Learn to spin yarn, make soap, plant an herb garden, take film photographs, hand quilt a blanket...the list is quite endless.

This is also a great way to start, build, or maintain relationships.  Showing someone you respect their skill in an area you know very little or nothing can go a long way.  Take a humble pill, admit you aren't an expert at everything and revel in the freedom of learning!

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Here are the simple steps that led to scrumptious, fire cooked rolls.  Ours took approximately an hour to cook.

Any roll recipe will work.  This is the one my sis-in-law whipped up while I held her baby being a shameless Auntie.  I do not apologize. 

Follow your recipe instructions up to the part where you shape the rolls.  Don't put them in a pan, put them in the Dutch oven to rise.  Once risen, put the lid on and head for the fire.

1} Make a bed of coals.

This is done by having a medium to large fire, letting it burn down, and harvesting the coals.  My helpful brother took three shovel scoops full of hot coals and made a "bed" about 5 feet away from the main fire.  The coals were chopped up on a flat spot and allowed to cool for a few minutes so they were not glowing red.  Red is too hot and ABSOLUTELY NO OPEN FLAME! Flames will scorch your dish.  No fuego. 

Okay so we made the bed - Check

Evenly spread coals around the edges {Not touching the side...just radiating heat} - Check

One scoop on the lid spread evenly around - Check

2} Tend the fire

You know in historical books or fiction about pioneers when they say "the women tended the fire".  That wasn't just oh-let-me-pitch-another-log-on-the-fire-so-it-doesn't-go-out.  No, that was a careful and continuous shuffling of coals around to create an even heat source to cook an entire meal.  While they had children to care for, mending to do, churning, meat processing for winter, gardens to tend...women we do not have it hard today.  We have it easy.  No matter how tough you think you've got it...it could be a much much harder life.

Rant over

So every 10-15 minutes I stuck my hand down by the sides of the Dutch Oven to make sure there weren't hot spots and cool spots and then shifted {or had my trusty brother shift} the coals around, sometimes adding to, sometimes backing some off.  Around every 20 minutes we added another scoop on the lid as the old coals died down.  Again...don't get over zealous and heap red hot coals all over.  Slow and even radiant heat is the goal.

3} Check the Progress.  

Alright, listen up.  The whole point of the Dutch Oven is to trap the heat and cook your rolls {or whatever dish you chose} like a regular convection oven.  Lifting the lid every 10 minutes to see the progress only lets all the heat out from the top so you'll have done edges and soft middles. It's like trying to cook a turkey with the door open. Don't over do the checking!  

Granted, it is kind of a guessing game, but wait until the rolls have been cooking long enough that you think they are close to done.  Scrape the coals off of the lid, blow all the dust off, and using a hook {or bent stick as in my case} lift the lid a tiny bit to inspect.  

My rolls were brown on the edges and one side was starting to scorch but the tops of the rolls looked doughy.  I pulled the coals back from the edges and added a heaping scoop of coals to the lid.

10 minutes later they were done!

I had lined the Dutch Oven with foil in order to lift the rolls out easily.  Once the Dutch Oven is removed from the fire...it's still hot and will continue to cook what is inside, hence my roll evacuation plan.  Also I was surrounded by my hungry family who had partaken in this adventure and I wanted to gratify their appetites as soon as possible!

The side I thought had been scorched was only just.  One roll had a half-dollar sized dark portion on the edge, but it wasn't even burnt all the way.  I'd say one casualty is pretty good for a first try!

They were fantastic!  Oh my.  Eating hot rolls we just baked in the Dutch Oven on the fire as a family while standing in the fresh air on a beautiful Oregon afternoon was an AMAZING way to star the New Year!  I'm very thankful for the support of my Ranch Family as I explore new skills and adventures.  Pretty sure as long as I feed them yummys they will keep supporting :)

Now it's your turn!  Go learn something new.  Try the Dutch Oven or something else and broaden your horizons.  It's a New Year.  In 364 days, what do you want to have learned or accomplished?  Don't wait.  Make 2015 a year of learning and improving! Set a goal...you've got a little less than a year to reach it.  GO!

Meet My Ranch Family

We're an odd bunch but I love them dearly!

{He's a hoot...he's my bro...he's awesome}

{This is his lovely wife who is the best thing to happen to the Ranch since...well...Dad married Mom}

The newest Rancher.  He belongs to my Bro and his wife but I lay claim to him too.  Can a face get more precious?!}

{Sweet Mom.  Dad's best decision 30 years ago}

{Dad...the man who has had the same style since he graduated high school...the most steady person I know}

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{PS TIP}

If you have family you are close to...be thankful and do not let those relationships fall into disrepair.  Don't sweat the small stuff and be gracious about the big stuff.  Respect each others boundaries and care for each others needs.  Once those relationships are gone, it's near impossible to get them back.  

Don't be lazy about your loved ones!

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My family has had some of the BEST times around fires.  Bonfires, campfires, fires in our stove...we are a bit of a family of pyros...also considering two of us are wildland firefighters I suppose it's inevitable.  

I've never really been one for New Years Resolutions but this year I'd like to set some goals to reach.  Life is busy and all over the place for me spending my winter on the ranch and traveling then summers fighting fire in the Western US...it's easy to drop things along the way or think I don't have time in the whirl of my life to send a postcard.  

BUT one of my goals for 2015

Put my family and close friends first.  Don't cop out and think "they understand I'm busy".  Make a real effort to make them my priority. 

What are your New Years Resolutions?  Share them in the comments :)

Xtra Tuff

Here in the grand and wonderful Pacific Northwest, we have rain.  Heaps of rain.  Gobs of rain. Gargantuan amounts of rain.  Sometimes it's called liquid sunshine...yet it bears no warmth in its "rays" so I say nix to that analogy. 

I remember at college in Iowa when a few random drops would come out of the sky and umbrellas popped up EVERYWHERE!  I even had one offered to me and not being quite as gracious as I should have been asked in confusion "Why?".  But in my PNW brain...unless it's running off your nose, down your neck, and sopping into your jeans then it's not raining.  Simply a mist or light sprinkle.

These fabulous boots are XTRA TUFF brand that I picked up when I spent a summer in Southeast Alaska.  They saved me.  These guys have soft walls that roll down when you want to {I wear them with shorts on warmer days} and the seal nicely around pants when the cuffs are tucked down inside.  I know they aren't the chic Hunter boots that are all over Pinterest {follow me there too} But these are the real deal for real people who live in real rainy conditions and need something that lasts.  Plus they are American Made.  'Merica!

So there's my not so fashion-y tip for you this thunderously deluging Saturday! Stay dry folks and don't forget to follow my blog!